The , also known as the , or Great Compassion Dhāraṇī / Mantra (Chinese: 大悲咒, Dàbēi zhòu; Japanese: 大悲心陀羅尼, Daihishin darani or 大悲呪, Daihi shu; Vietnamese: Chú đại bi or Đại bi tâm đà la ni; Korean: 신묘장구대다라니 (Hanja: 神妙章句大陀羅尼), Sinmyo janggu daedarani), is a Mahayana Buddhist dhāraṇī associated with the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (popularly as Guanyin in the East Asian Buddhist sphere).
Avalokiteśvara came to be associated with attributes linked to Shiva and Vishnu, such as Nīlakaṇṭha and Harihara, as Buddhism developed within the Indian religious milieu and reinterpreted widely recognized divine symbols and epithets within a Buddhist framework. In Mahayana Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara was understood as a bodhisattva who manifests in different forms according to the needs and capacities of sentient beings, an idea expressed in texts such as the Lotus Sutra. In this context, Avalokiteśvara came to be understood not only as an independent bodhisattva but also as a figure incorporating certain attributes and functions associated with Shiva and Vishnu. The association of Avalokiteśvara with Shiva’s epithet Nīlakaṇṭha and with elements associated with Harihara may therefore be seen as the result of a Buddhist reinterpretation that presented the bodhisattva’s power of salvation in a broader and more inclusive form. Over time, Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara also became linked with the thousand-armed (sahasra-bhuja) form and came to be understood as one of the bodhisattva’s many manifestations.
Different versions of this dhāraṇī, of varying length, exist; the shorter version, as transliterated into Chinese characters by Indian monk Bhagavaddharma in the 7th century, enjoys a high degree of popularity in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism, especially in Chinese Buddhism, comparable to that of the six-syllable mantra Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ, which is also synonymous with Guanyin, who is Avalokiteśvara as venerated in China and other East Asian countries. It is often used for protection or purification. In China, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities, it is typically chanted as part of daily morning liturgical services in Chinese Buddhist temples as well as recited during ritual and ceremonial contexts to purify the ritual space. In Korea, copies of the dhāraṇī are hung inside homes to bring auspiciousness. In Japan, it is especially associated with Zen, being revered and recited in Zen schools such as Sōtō or Rinzai.
Versions
Various different recensions of this dhāraṇī are in existence, which can be classified into two main versions: the shorter text and the longer text.
Chinese The text currently considered to be the standard in most of East Asia is the shorter version, specifically the one found in the so-called 'Sūtra of the Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded Great-Compassionate Heart of the Thousand-Handed Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's Dhāraṇī' (; T. 1060, K. 0294) translated by a monk from western India named Bhagavaddharma (, birth and death dates unknown) between 650 and 660 CE.Chandra (1988): p. 92.
Twelve scrolls of texts in Chinese were found at Dunhuang along the Silk Road in today's Gansu province of China.Giles (1957): pp. 105-106. One of the texts contains a colophon at the end: "Translated at Khotan by the śramaṇa Bhagavaddharma of Western India" (西天竺伽梵達摩沙門於于闐譯). The milieu of this transliteration is evident from Bhagavaddharma's rendering of the word Nīlakaṇṭha as 'Narakindi' (), a Central Asian form of the Sanskrit word.Chandra (1988): p. 95.
Other notable Chinese versions of the dhāraṇī include:
Two versions by or attributed to esoteric Buddhist teacher Vajrabodhi: (1) 'Copy of the Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded Great-Compassionate Heart of the Thousand-Handed Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara's Dhāraṇī' (; T. 1061) and (2) 'Ritual Recitation Manual on the Vajraśekhara Yoga on the Great Compassionate King Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara' (; T. 1112) The former contains a Chinese transliteration of the dhāraṇī and its corresponding Sanskrit version (in Siddhaṃ script), with the latter being an esoteric ritual manual.Chandra (1988): p. 186. Three versions of the dhāraṇī proper by or attributed to Vajrabodhi's disciple Amoghavajra: (1) The Thousand-Handed Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara's Great-Compassionate Heart Dhāraṇī (; T. 1064) is an extract from Bhagavaddharma's version, with interlinear glosses and an accompanying explanation of the forty hands (forty standing for the full number of one thousand) of the Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara, each with a mantra of its own; (2) Sutra of the Bodhisattva Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara's Heart Dhāraṇī (; T. 1111) is a new transliteration, followed by a description of the iconography of Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara and his particular mudra; and (3) The Greatly Merciful (and) Greatly Compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara-lokeśvararāja's Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded Great-Compassionate Heart of Nīlakaṇṭheśvara Dharani (; T. 1113b) is a Sanskrit (Siddhaṃ)-Chinese interlinear version with glosses. A version of the dhāraṇī proper by 14th century by Dhyānabhadra (, died 1363) with the title Dhāraṇī of the Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded Great-Compassionate Heart of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (; T. 1113a)Chandra (1988): p. 238. Unlike the aforementioned versions, Dhyānabhadra's text is based on the longer form of the dhāraṇī.
In addition, there are texts bearing the "Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara" title, but which feature a completely different dhāraṇī within the text.
Two translations by a monk named Zhitōng () made between 627 and 649, both entitled Sūtra of the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara's Mystic Dhāraṇī (; T. 1057a and 1057b, Nj. 318) This is the earliest of the Chinese "Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara" sutras. Despite the title, the sutra's dhāraṇī is completely different from the Nīlakaṇṭha dhāraṇī found in other versions.Chandra (1988): pp. 238-264. A translation made by north Indian monk Bodhiruci in 709 entitled Sūtra of the Thousand-Handed Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva-mother Avalokitasvara's Dhāraṇī-body (; T. 1058, Nj. 319)Chandra (1988): pp. 44, 48. Bodhiruci's version contains the same dhāraṇī as Zhitōng's.
Tibetan At least three versions of the longer form of the dhāraṇī exist in Tibetan. One was made in the middle of the 9th century by a translator named Chödrup (Wylie: Chos grub; Chinese: 法成 Fǎchéng) supposedly from Chinese, but which does not correspond exactly to any Chinese version, being more akin to that of Vajrabodhi.Chandra (1988): p. 233. Among the various versions of the dhāraṇī, it is the longest and fullest.Chandra (1988): p. 13. Preceding Chödrup is an anonymous translation of the same text.
A third version was made by Changkya Rölpé Dorjé (Wylie: Lcang skya Rol pa'i Rdo rje) in the 18th century. While claimed to be a reconstruction of Zhitōng's text using a Tibetan version as a base, Changkya Rölpé Dorjé's text actually completely follows the Tibetan readings, with significant differences from Chödrup's version in a number of places, rather than Zhitōng's.Chandra (1988): pp. 233-234, 238.
Others
A manuscript fragment (currently in the British Library) dating from around the 8th century containing the longer version of the dhāraṇī (Or.8212/175) in both late Brahmi and Sogdian scripts was discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and published by Robert Gauthiot and Louis de La Vallée-Poussin in 1912.
The dhāraṇī's title is given in this manuscript as 1 LPw δsty ʾʾryʾβṛʾwkδʾyšβr nyṛknt nʾm tʾrny "the dhāraṇī of the names of Āryāvalokiteśvara-Nīlakaṇṭha with a thousand hands." The text shows a very close affinity to that found in Vajrabodhi's T. 1061 text. The dhāraṇī is followed by a short, unidentified mantra named wyspw ʾʾγδʾk δβrʾynʾk δrzyʾwr ptsrwm "hṛdaya mantra fulfilling all the wishes."
Background
Nīlakaṇṭha-lokeśvara According to author Lokesh Chandra (1988), the dhāraṇī in its original form was a recitation of the names of the deity (lokeśvara) Nīlakaṇṭha recited by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: "Avalokiteśvara was responsible for introducing popular (loka) deities (iśvara) into the Buddhist pantheon by pronouncing their dhāraṇīs which averted evils to the person who obtained his wishes as soon as he recited it (paṭhita-siddhaḥ, Dutt: text 44)."Chandra (1988): p. 31. In Vajrabodhi's longer version (T. 1061), the dhāraṇī is explicitly referred to as Āryāvalokiteśvara-bhāṣitaṃ "uttered (bhāṣita) by noble (ārya) Avalokiteśvara;" at this stage, Avalokiteśvara is portrayed as pronouncing the dhāraṇī, but is not (yet) identified with Nīlakaṇṭha.
As late as the 15th century, the tradition knew at least that Avalokiteśvara is the dhāraṇī's locutor, as is clear from a Chinese manual of the liturgical service of the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara, presented to the Oriental scholar Samuel Beal by the monks of Hoi Tong Monastery (a.k.a. Hai Chwang Temple) on Henan Island.Beal, Samuel. "An Attempt to Translate from the Chinese a Work known as the Confessional Service of the Great Compassionate Kwan Yin, possessing 1000 Hands and 1000 Eyes." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1866, pp. 403-426.Chandra (1988): p. 16. Its preface, authored by the Ming emperor Yongle, says thus:
It is reported by Kwan Tseu Tsai Bodhisattva, prompted by her great compassionate heart has engaged herself by a great oath to enter into every one of the innumerable worlds, and bring deliverance to all creatures who inhabit them. For this purpose she has enunciated the Divine sentences which follow, if properly recited, will render all creatures exempt from the causes of sorrow, and by removing them, render them capable of attaining Supreme Reason.
During the process of transmission, however, Nīlakaṇṭha became increasingly identified with Avalokiteśvara, so that the dhāraṇī eventually became understood as being addressed to Avalokiteśvara as Nīlakaṇṭha, now considered to be one of Avalokiteśvara's various forms or manifestations - most of whom were themselves originally folk deities who were assimilated into Avalokiteśvara upon being integrated into Buddhist belief and practice (e.g. Hayagriva, Cundi, Tara or Mazu; cf. also Shinbutsu-shūgō).Chandra (1988): pp. 29ff.
The dhāraṇī proper contains a number of titles associated with the Hindu gods Vishnu (e.g. Hare, Narasiṃha-mukha, gadā- / cakra- / padma-hastā 'the wielder of the mace / discus / lotus') and Shiva (e.g. Nīlakaṇṭha 'the blue-necked one', Śaṅkara, kṛṣṇa-sarpopavita 'the one who has a black serpent as a sacred thread'), suggesting that Nīlakaṇṭha was in origin Harihara - a fusion of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) - assimilated into Buddhism.Chandra (1988): pp. 11, 13-14, 17, 187, 274.
This is more explicit in the longer version of the dhāraṇī, where Nīlakaṇṭha is invoked with more names and epithets associated with the two gods such as Tripūra-dahaneśvara (Īśvara who destroyed Tripūra, an epithet of Shiva), and Padmanābha (lotus-naveled, an epithet of Vishnu) as well as a short description of the iconography of Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara in Amoghavajra's version (T. 1111), which combines elements from depictions of Shiva and Vishnu.Chandra (1988): pp. 187-188.Chandra (1988): p. 234.
Other examples are found in the following section:
The status of Shiva and Vishnu in the dhāraṇī follows a similar pattern to the one identified in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra (4th-5th century CE): the two gods are repeatedly invoked one after the other, indicating that they stand in a "complementary" relationship to each other. At the same time, however, Shiva is portrayed as the dominant of the two.
The thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara