Guānzìzài púsà guǎngdà yuánmǎn wúài dàbēi gēnběn tuóluóní 觀自在菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲根本陀羅尼
Root-Dhāraṇī of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara by 金剛智 (Jīngāngzhì, Vajrabodhi, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle gēnběn tuóluóní 根本陀羅尼 (Skt. mūla-dhāraṇī) preserved as Fángshān shíjīng F24n761 — i.e. inscribed on the Liáo-period stone canon at Fángshān 房山 (suburban Beijing). The colophon identifies the translator as 南天竺國三藏金剛智 — “Vajrabodhi, Tripiṭaka of the Southern-Indian state” — i.e. 金剛智. The text is paratextually noted as “出大悲經中卷” — “extracted from the middle fascicle of the Mahā-karuṇā sūtra.”
Abstract
This mūla-dhāraṇī is closely parallel to the zhòuběn of KR6j0262 (the same Vajrabodhi recension preserved in the Taishō at T20n1061): both extract the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī from the parent Sahasrabhuja sūtra and present it as a stand-alone spell-text. The Fángshān recension preserves the dhāraṇī in the form in which it was inscribed on stone in the Liáo-Sòng shíjīng programme (10th–12th century) for purposes of preservation and merit-making: the cult of carving the canon on stone at Fángshān, founded by Jìngwǎn 靜琬 in the early seventh century and continued through the Tang, Liáo, Jīn and Yuán, generated independent text-witnesses that are particularly valuable for early dhāraṇī materials. The Fángshān witness preserves variant readings against the Taishō transmission (T20n1061) and is therefore a key textual control for the Tángmì Mahā-karuṇā spell-tradition.
Translations and research
- Ledderose, Lothar. “Carving Sutras into Stone before the Catastrophe: The Inscription of 1118 at Cloud Dwelling Monastery near Beijing.” Proceedings of the British Academy 125 (2004): 381–454.
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.