Guānzìzài púsà guǎngdà yuánmǎn wúài dàbēi xīn tuóluóní 觀自在菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼
Vast, Perfect, Unhindered Great-Compassion Heart-Dhāraṇī of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit-transliteration recension) edited/collated by 指空 (Zhǐkōng, Śūnyadiśya / Dhyānabhadra, 校 — collator)
About the work
A one-fascicle Yuán-Goryeo collation of the Sanskrit-transliterated form of the Nīlakaṇṭha-Mahā-Karuṇika-Avalokiteśvara-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī — that is, the Great Compassion Mantra (Dàbēizhòu 大悲咒) preserved in pure phonetic-Sanskrit form. Collated by Dhyānabhadra (指空, Skt. Śūnyadiśya, 1289–1363), the Indian master from Magadha who travelled to Yuán China and Goryeo Korea, becoming the principal Indian master of the Yuán-Goryeo Buddhist exchange. The colophon: 西天嗣祖禪師指空讎校 — “Collated by Dhyānabhadra, Western-India successor-patriarch Chán-master.” Companion to KR6j0324 (T1113B), the Chinese-rendering parallel.
Abstract
The text begins with the Sanskrit-transliterated opening: 抳羅簡陀縛囉摩訖哩多野賀羅賀羅陀囉尼那謨囉怛那怛囉夜野那謨阿哩夜縛路枳… = Nīlakaṇṭha vara mākṣitāya hara-hara dhāraṇī, namo ratna-trayāya namo āryāvalokita… — preserving the Sanskrit phonetic structure of the Nīlakaṇṭha-dhāraṇī. As a vorlage-witness preserving the original Sanskrit phonetic form against which the Chinese translations could be checked, this text is of high text-critical importance: Dhyānabhadra’s collation reflects the Indian-Sanskrit recension of the dhāraṇī as it circulated in early-fourteenth-century Magadhan Buddhist circles.
The text serves as the vorlage-witness against which the Chinese-rendering parallel KR6j0324 (T1113B, by Amoghavajra) and the earlier Tang Avalokiteśvara kriyā-tantra texts (KR6j0321–KR6j0322) can be compared. Dhyānabhadra’s prestige as an Indian patriarch-Chán-master gives the collation special authority: he is the only Yuán-period Indian master to have produced a Sanskrit-form witness of the Nīlakaṇṭha-dhāraṇī for the Chinese canon.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993 — discussion of the various forms of the Dàbēizhòu.
- Lokesh Chandra. The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara. Delhi: Abhinav, 1988.
- Waley, Arthur. The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces. London: Allen & Unwin, 1952 — chapter on Dhyānabhadra (śūnyadiśya).
Links
- CBETA T20n1113A
- Kanseki DB
- 指空 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1360) — T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.