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 (parallel recension b) by 智通 (Zhìtōng, 譯)
About the work
The “b” recension of Taishō No. 1057, a parallel transmission of 智通 Zhìtōng’s two-fascicle Sahasrabhuja dhāraṇī-sūtra (cf. KR6j0256 for the “a” recension). Both recensions are ascribed to Zhìtōng of Zǒngchísì 總持寺 in the Zhēnguān 貞觀 (627–649) period; the divergent textual transmissions are preserved in different Tripiṭaka editions and were collated together by the Taishō editors as 1057a / 1057b.
Abstract
Textually the “b” recension is closely parallel to the “a” recension (KR6j0256) but exhibits divergences in mantra-transcription, mudrā-name, and occasional ordering of the central twenty-five mudrā / spell pairs. The two recensions diverge in places where one transmission has preserved an older Sanskrit phonology and the other a Tang revisionist phonology, suggesting that one is an older copy and the other a partly-revised version that travelled separately into the canon. The Korean canonical recension (TK) preserves one of the two as part of K0292; the divergent copy entered through Sòng kānjīng 刊經 channels and was kept distinct because the editors could not safely collate them.
For the textual matter and the Structural Division refer to KR6j0256; CANWWW does not give a distinct toc for the “b” recension.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens des Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara mit Tausend Händen und Augen. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
- Chandra, Lokesh. The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1988.