Guānzìzài púsà suíxīn zhòu jīng 觀自在菩薩隨心呪經
Sūtra of the As-One-Wishes Spell of Avalokiteśvara (alt. Duōlì xīnjīng 多唎心經, Tārā-hṛdaya-sūtra) by 智通 (Zhìtōng, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric Avalokiteśvara suíxīn (隨心, “as-one-wishes” / yathākāmaṃ) dhāraṇī-sūtra translated by Zhìtōng (智通) of the Chángān Zǒngchísì 總持寺 (“Dhāraṇī Monastery”). The colophon: 大唐總持寺沙門釋智通奉制譯 — “Translated by Imperial Decree by śramaṇa Shì Zhìtōng of the Zǒngchí Monastery of the Great Tang.” A note at the title gives the alternate name Duōlì xīn jīng 多唎心經 — i.e., the Tārā-hṛdaya-sūtra — indicating that the female-emanation Tārā is here identified with the suíxīn (Cintāmaṇi-) form of Avalokiteśvara. The text is paired with KR6j0312 (T20n1103b, Guānzìzài púsà dáwāduōlì suíxīn tuóluóní jīng), also by Zhìtōng — both witnesses are designated “T1103a” and “T1103b” in the Taishō because they preserve closely related but textually distinct redactions of the same material.
Abstract
The discourse is set at Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa (耆闍崛山, Qíshéjuéshān) outside Rājagṛha (王舍大城) — a more conventional Mahāyāna setting than the Mt. Potalaka frame of the Amoghapāśa cycle — with a great audience of bhikṣus, deva-nāga-yakṣa-gandharva-asura-garuḍa-kinnara assemblies, and the lay fourfold congregation. Avalokiteśvara rises from his seat, prostrates, and announces the suíxīnzhòu — the “as-one-wishes spell” — for the benefit of sentient beings. The text expounds the mūla-mantra, the vidyā-formulae, the mudrā repertoire, the abhiṣeka sequence, and the siddhi-applications.
The work is one of the earliest Chinese Esoteric witnesses to the Avalokiteśvara-Tārā syncretic material, predating the more developed Tang Esoteric yoga-tantra texts (e.g. T1102, KR6j0310) by several decades. Zhìtōng’s translation period (c. 645–680) places it among the very earliest kriyā-tantra translations of the Tang. The dating is by inference from his other dated translations and his attestation in the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (KR6s0093).
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.