本篇論文將討論《華嚴經》〈入法界品〉中之觀自在菩薩章。該品之主人公善財童子是發心修行菩薩道者的典型，而觀自在菩薩在該品之中，是以善財童子所參訪的五十三位善知識中之一位的身份出現。觀自在菩薩在〈入法界品〉中的角色是一位良師，而非如後期大乘所見的救苦救難、法力無邊之大菩薩。在〈入法界品〉所採用之教化體系中，他教導使眾生解脫一切怖畏的大悲法門，俾將眾生導入無上正覺。本篇論文中提出與此相關之章節與專門術語，並詳作分析。 作者得到的一個假設，是根據〈入法界品〉中之觀自在菩薩章所反映的，於觀音思想演變最初期，一般人心目中的觀自在菩薩之觀念和形象。當時觀音信仰尚未成形並廣泛流傳於佛教世界，而他顯然還停留在普賢、文殊、彌勒等其他三位原型菩薩的陰影底下。作者也不排除，觀自在菩薩這個人物是以佛教的慈悲教義，以及某些地方性的保護神崇拜的融合信仰為基礎，所演變而成的。論文中也討論到觀自在菩薩以補怛洛迦山為居處的問題。 依據與《法華經》(Lotus Sūtra)、《無量壽經》(Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra)、《心經》（Heart Sūtra）、《楞嚴經》（Śūrangamasūtra）等若干經典的概略比較，作者推斷，〈入法界品〉中之觀自在菩薩，正如他在《心經》中一樣，代表教化與禪觀的積極面；而他在《法華經》與《無量壽經》中代表的，則是以消極信仰面為主。《楞嚴經》出現較晚，故把這兩方面合併在一起闡述。

In the present paper the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gandavyūhasūtra will be examined. In this text, Avalokiteśvara appears as one of the 53 benevolent friends or kalyānamitras of Sudhana, the protagonist of the sūtra and prototype of all aspirants for bodhisattvahood. Avalokiteśvara’s role in the Gaṇḍavyūha is rather that of a teacher and not of the “superbodhisattva”, almighty savior, as in the later Mahāyāna. He teaches the method of great compassion, the aim of which is to free all sentient beings from any kind of fears in order to lead them into the supreme perfect awakening, thus being adopted in the didactic scheme of the Gandavyūha. The relevant passages and terminological lists are presented and analyzed. The author develops the hypothesis that the Avalokiteśvara chapter of the Gandavyūha reflects a very early phase of the development of the concept and image of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara when the cult of the latter had not yet taken shape and widely spread in the Buddhist world and he clearly remains in the shadow of the three other archetypical bodhisattvas─Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, and Maitreya. The present writer does not exclude the possibility that the figure of Avalokiteśvara might have been developed on the basis of syncretism of the Buddhist teaching of compassion and the cult of some local protective deity. The question of location of the mount Potalaka as the residence of Avalokiteśvara is also discussed. On the basis of a glimpse comparison with a number of other sources (Lotus Sūtra, Sukhāvatīvyūha, Heart Sūtra, Śūrangamasūtra), the author concludes that in the Gastavyūha Avalokiteśvara represents the active way of education and meditation as he does in the Heart Sūtra, while in the Lotus Sūtra and Sukhāvatīvyūha the aspect of passive faith and devotion is dominant. In the Śūrangamasūtra, being a later source, the combination of those two is elaborated.