Avalokiteshvara Padmapani (the lotus bearer) is a bodhisattva that embodies the compassion of all Buddhas (tib.: Chagna Padmo). He is one of the most revered bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. Avalokiteshvara is standing in a gracefully inclined attitude (abhanga) on a circular double lotus pedestal. His right hand is extended in the gesture of charity (varada-mudra), and the left hand originally held the stalk of a separately cast lotus (padma) which was blossoming upon his left shoulder level. Avalokiteshvara is clad with a cloth (dhoti) tied around his waist with a belt with folds falling down at the front, and a sash is tied around his hips. He wears princely ornaments: a threefold crown, a pair of earrings, a necklace and the “investiture with the sacred thread” (upavita). His head is surrounded by a pointed nimbus.
Bodhisattvas are beings that have  generated bodhicitta (mind of enlightenment), and vowed to help all sentient beings until each and every one is free from suffering. Bodhisattvas can live incarnated in this world or dwell in a subtle body in the realm of sambogakaya, where they can be reached through meditation. Bodhisattvas are also named “the Buddhas lions”. Bodhisattvas put into practise the six basic paramitas (virtues): charity, morality, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom (dana, sila, ksanti, verya, dhyana and prajna) and the four paramitas which derive from the basic ones: skillful means, vows, power and knowledge (upaya, pranidhana, bala and jnana). Among the many, there are eight great or divine bodhisattvas. In the Nispanna Yogavali of Mahapandita Abhayakara Gupta three sets of sixteen bodhisattvas are mentioned.