The monastics chant the phrase “Namo’valokiteshvara.” This is a chant to invoke the name of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Avalokiteshvara. A “bodhisattva” is a great being who has developed human qualities to a very high degree. We each have a bodhisattva of compassion within us, and this chant is an opportunity to get in touch with that seed of compassion in our hearts, to invite it to manifest right in the very moment of chanting.