Qiānyǎn qiānbì Guānshìyīn púsà tuóluóní shénzhòu jīng 千眼千臂觀世音菩薩陀羅尼神呪經
Dhāraṇī Spell-Sūtra of the Thousand-Eye Thousand-Arm Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara by 智通 (Zhìtōng, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Esoteric dhāraṇī-sūtra on the Sahasrabhuja-Avalokiteśvara, the earliest surviving Chinese translation of a Sahasrabhuja- sūtra; Sanskrit underlying the Nīlakaṇṭha-(ka)dhāraṇī family. Translated by Zhìtōng (智通), a Tang monk of Zǒngchísì 總持寺 active in the Zhēnguān 貞觀 (627–649) period. The work circulates as Taishō No. 1057, with the “a” recension here representing the principal witness; a parallel “b” recension is given as KR6j0257.
Prefaces
The Taishō text carries an editorial xù 序 (“千眼千臂觀世音菩薩陀羅尼神呪經序”) at the head of fascicle one praising the bodhisattva as the embodiment of karuṇā and itemising his salvific powers. The preface is anonymous and does not bear the marks of the original translator’s hand; it is most plausibly a later editorial addition that travelled with the text in the Korean canon, where the recension (TK11, p0941) preserves it.
Abstract
The Buddha, addressed by Avalokiteśvara in the assembly, recounts the bodhisattva’s “former-life inconceivable merit-cause” of receiving the dhāraṇī. The two fascicles enumerate twenty-five named mudrā / spell-pairs (摠攝身印, 摠持陀羅尼印, 解脫禪定印, …), each consisting of a hand-seal description, an associated mantra, and the worldly or supramundane benefit obtained by combining them. The work belongs to the early seventh-century kriyā-tantra / caryā-tantra phase of Indian Esotericism — predating the systematised Sahasrabhuja-corpus of the eighth-century Tángmì masters by some three generations — and the Sanskrit underlying the spell material is recognisably the Nīlakaṇṭhaka family of dhāraṇīs that culminate later in the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī of KR6j0260 (Bhagavaddharma).
Structural Division
CANWWW (T20N1057) records a list of 25 named mudrā sections, of which the principal headings are:
- 摠攝身印 (Zǒngshè shēn yìn) — Body-Encompassing Mudrā
- 摠持陀羅尼印 (Zǒngchí tuóluóní yìn) — Dhāraṇī-Holding Mudrā
- 解脫禪定印 (Jiětuō chándìng yìn) — Liberation-Dhyāna Mudrā
- 千眼印呪 (Qiānyǎn yìnzhòu) — Thousand-Eye Spell-Mudrā
- 千臂摠攝印 (Qiānbì zǒngshè yìn) — Thousand-Arm Encompassing Mudrā
- 通達三昧成印 (Tōngdá sānmèi chéng yìn)
- 呼召天龍八部神鬼集會印 — Mudrā for Convening the Eight Classes of Devas, Nāgas, and Spirits
- 呼召大梵天王及憍尸迦來問法印 — Mudrā for Summoning Brahmā and Śakra to Inquire of the Dharma
- 歡喜摩尼隨意明珠印 — Joyful Cintāmaṇi Wish-Granting Pearl Mudrā
- 乞願隨心印 — Wish-Following Mudrā
- 入滅盡定三昧印 — Nirodha-samāpatti Mudrā
- 請佛三昧印 — Buddha-Invocation Mudrā
- 辯才無礙印 — Unhindered Eloquence Mudrā
- 破大千世界滅罪印 — Trichiliocosm-Destroying Sin-Eradication Mudrā
- 降伏三千大千世界魔怨印 — Triple-Cosmos Māra-Subjugation Mudrā
- 廣大無畏印 — Vast Fearlessness Mudrā
- 水精菩薩護持千眼印呪 — Crystal-Bodhisattva Thousand-Eye Protection Spell-Mudrā
- 成就印 — Siddhi-Achievement Mudrā
- 成等正覺印 — Perfect-Awakening Mudrā
- 呼召三十三天印 — Trāyastriṃśa-Summoning Mudrā
- 呼召天龍八部鬼神印 — Eight-Classes Spirits-Summoning Mudrā
- 解脫印 — Liberation Mudrā
- 自在神足印 — Free ṛddhi-pāda Mudrā
- (and following).
CANWWW additionally cross-references KR6j0258 (T20N1058, Bodhiruci’s parallel Mātṛ-dhāraṇī-kāya-sūtra) and KR6j0269 (T20N1064, Amoghavajra’s Mahā-karuṇā-citta-dhāraṇī) as related texts.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens des Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara mit Tausend Händen und Augen. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993 — extensive philological treatment of the Sahasrabhuja-Nīlakaṇṭhaka dhāraṇī family, including Zhìtōng’s recension.
- Chandra, Lokesh. The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1988.
- Yü, Chün-fang. Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.