Dàbēi xīn tuóluóní 大悲心陀羅尼
Great-Compassion-Heart Dhāraṇī by 慈賢 (Cíxián, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Liáo-dynasty recension of the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī, preserved in the Fángshān shíjīng 房山石經 (vol. 27, no. 1064). The colophon reads “大契丹國師中天竺摩竭陁國三藏法師慈賢譯” — “translated by Cíxián (慈賢), Tripiṭaka master from Magadha in central India, State Preceptor of the Great Kitan.” The translator’s standard self-styling identifies him explicitly as a Liáo-court translator (大契丹國師), so the dynasty is Liáo, not Sòng.
Abstract
Cíxián was the principal Liáo-period Esoteric translator (fl. 1030–1080) and was responsible for re-rendering several core Tantric dhāraṇīs from his own Sanskrit manuscripts at Fángshān. The present Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī is one of five Cíxián texts at Fángshān (F1060–F1064) that re-establish the central Esoteric dhāraṇī corpus on the basis of fresh North-Indian / Central-Indian sources — alongside the Mahāpratisarā (F1061), Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya (F1062), Sitātapatra (F1063), and the present Mahā-karuṇā (F1064). The transcription has the polished phonological apparatus typical of the Cíxián recensions and is a particularly important witness for the eleventh-century received text of the Nīlakaṇṭhaka-dhāraṇī in continental Esoteric practice. Cross-reference: KR6j0260 (Bhagavaddharma’s parent sūtra), KR6j0269 (Amoghavajra’s Tangmí recension).
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.