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Thousand-hand Bodhisattva

PHOTO: EPA

How many hands can you count in this picture?

No matter how hard you look, you won't be able to find 1,000, but the dance these people are doing is called "Thousand-hand Bodhisattva."

In some kinds of Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who lives to help other people become better and better. In one very old Buddhist story, a bodhisattva was trying to reach all the people of the world, but the bodhisattva's two hands were not enough, so the bodhisattva was given a 1,000. This dance is a way of showing how beautiful that might be. Imagine all those hands on one person!

Do you know? MANY NAMES The bodhisattva with 1,000 hands is worshipped in many countries. In some countries the bodhisattva is shown as a woman, and in some countries as a man. The bodhisattva is called "Chenrezig" in Tibet, "Avalokitesvara" in India, "Guan Yin" in China, and "Kannon" in Japan.

The words of the day Buddhism 佛教 (fo2 jiao4) to reach 觸及 (chu4 ji2) Can you help me? I need a book from the top shelf, and I can't reach it. 你可以幫我一下嗎？我想拿書架最上層的書，可是我拿不到。

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