Shèng qiānshǒu qiānyǎn Guānzìzài púsà móhēsà guǎngdà yuánmǎn wúài dàbēi xīn tuóluóní 聖千手千眼觀自在菩薩摩訶薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼
Great-Compassion-Heart Dhāraṇī of the Noble Thousand-Hand Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle stone-canon witness of the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī in Amoghavajra’s (不空) recension, preserved in the Fángshān shíjīng at F27n1050. The colophon identifies the translator as 唐開元三朝灌頂國師和尚三藏沙門不空 — “Bùkōng, the Tripiṭaka monk and Empowering Preceptor of the State who served three sovereigns from the Kāiyuán reign onwards” — using the well-known senior-court rubric for Amoghavajra after his appointment as imperial Tantric guóshī under 肅宗 Sùzōng (746 onwards).
Abstract
The text is the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī in Amoghavajra’s transcription, preserved on stone at Fángshān. It is parallel to but textually distinct from KR6j0269 (Amoghavajra’s recension as preserved in the Taishō at T20n1064) and from the earlier Vajrabodhi recension of KR6j0262 / KR6j0263. The Fángshān witness preserves variant readings that supplement the Taishō transmission, particularly important for reconstructing the pada-segmentation and the orthography of the Sanskrit. As with KR6j0263, the Liáo-period inscription cycle at Fángshān provides an independent text-base for early Avalokiteśvara dhāraṇī material.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
- Ledderose, Lothar. “Carving Sutras into Stone before the Catastrophe.” Proceedings of the British Academy 125 (2004): 381–454.