Fān dàbēi shénzhòu 番大悲神呪
Foreign-Recension Great-Compassion Spirit-Spell (translator unknown; Yuán-period rendering from a Tibetan / “fān” 番 source)
About the work
A one-fascicle Yuán-dynasty alternative recension of the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī under the rubric fān 番 — “foreign,” conventionally referring to Tibetan or, more broadly, Inner-Asian Indic-derived sources rendered through a Mongol-period translation apparatus. The zhòu-text uses a distinctive Yuán transcription system featuring densely-clustered 二合 (“two-conjoined”) consonant graphs, a high frequency of 啞 / 葛 / 諦 / 拶 / 麻 / 哩 / 斡 syllabaries — all features of the Yuán-dynasty Tibetan-Sanskrit transcription apparatus standardised under the Mongol Yìjīng program led by the Sa-skya hierarchs.
Abstract
Comparison with the earlier Tang and Sòng Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī recensions (KR6j0260, KR6j0262, KR6j0265, KR6j0269) shows the Fān dàbēi shénzhòu to be an independent translation from a Tibetan-derived (or Sanskrit-via-Tibetan) source rather than a Chinese editorial revision. The phonological apparatus matches the Yuán Tibetan-Sanskrit zhìyīn 直音 (“direct phonology”) method documented in the Mèngwén zhēnzhū 蒙文真珠 and other Yuán transcription manuals. The text is anonymous; the translator is sometimes provisionally identified in modern reference works with Yuán-period Tibetan-trained Buddhist masters at the Mongol court (e.g. Pa-chos-pa / ‘Phags-pa 八思巴 circles), but no firm colophonic attribution survives. As an independent witness to the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī that bypasses the Tang transmission altogether, it is of considerable value for reconstructing the Sanskrit Vorlage.
CANWWW (T20N1063) cross-references KR6j0260 and the other Sahasrabhuja recensions.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993 — discusses the Yuán fān recension as a Tibetan-derived parallel.
- Franke, Herbert. “Tibetans in Yüan China.” In China under Mongol Rule, ed. John D. Langlois. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981 — context for Yuán-period Tibetan-Buddhist translation activity.