This wooden statue of Quan Ãâm Nghìn Mắt Nghìn Tay (Quan Am with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands) was fashioned in 1656 in Bắc Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. It is now located in the History Museum in Hanoi. One Buddhist legend from the Complete Tale of Guanyin and the Southern Seas (Chinese: Ã¥Ââæµ·è§â¬Ã©Å¸Â³Ã¥â¦Â¨Ã¦â°; pinyin: NánhÃŽi GuÃÂnyën Quánzhuàn) presents Guanyin as vowing to never rest until she had freed all sentient beings from saá¹ÆsÃÂra or cycle of rebirth.[16] Despite strenuous effort, she realised that there were still many unhappy beings yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, her head split into eleven pieces. The buddha AmitÃÂbha, upon seeing her plight, gave her eleven heads to help her hear the cries of those who are suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, AvalokiteÃ
âºvara attempted to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that her two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, AmitÃÂbha came to her aid and appointed her a thousand arms to let her reach out to those in need. (Wikepedia)
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