There is a koan in the Blue Cliff Record of two monks talking.
One asks the other what it is like for the great bodhisattva of
compassion to have so many hands. The bodhisattva of compassion,
Avalokiteshvara, or Quan Yin, or Kannon, sometimes is depicted with
many, many handsa thousand hands, 84,000 handsand often each hand
has a different implement in it. Most monks in East Asia would have
known that the reason Avalokiteshvara has all these hands and all
these implements is to be infinitely useful to all the beings in
the world. No matter what situation different beings find
themselves in, the bodhisattva will have the tool to go and fix
that, to help that being. Having so many different hands means that
they are infinitely capable of reaching out in all
directions.
"What is it like for the great bodhisattva of compassion to have so
many hands?" The second monk responds: "It's like groping in the
dark at night for your pillow." That's kind of an unusual answer.
The idea of "groping at night for the pillow" is that you're kind
of sleeping or half asleep or not comfortable and the pillow has
gotten a little off base somehow, and, even without thinking, your
hands will kind of puff up the pillow or fold it over or do
whatever you do to make it more comfortable for your head. This
idea is of not even thinking, of taking care of some situation that
needs taking care of without even necessarily thinking about it but
responding from some other place. When you are arranging the pillow
when you're half asleep, perhaps you're almost not even aware that
the pillow is different from you. Maybe you're hardly even aware
that there's a problem that needs to be fixedit's kind of
automatic. It's just that this needs to happen.
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