Dàbēi qǐqǐng 大悲啟請
Invocation of the Great Compassion [Avalokiteśvara] anonymous (Dunhuang manuscript)
About the work
A single-juan anonymous Dunhuang Buddhist devotional-invocation text addressed to Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara (千手觀音 = the Mahā-kāruṇika form of the Bodhisattva of Compassion), preserved in the Taishō canon’s gǔ-yì bù 古逸部 at T85 no. 2843. The text is structured as a verse-invocation followed by dhāraṇī recitation — opening with a four-character note prescribing that the practitioner first chant Amitābha three times (since Amitābha is Avalokiteśvara’s “original master”), then invoke Avalokiteśvara directly through verse and dhāraṇī.
Prefaces
The text opens with a brief liturgical instruction (paraphrased): “According to the sūtra: whoever wishes to receive-and-uphold [this dhāraṇī], first with dedicated heart should chant Amitābha three times — in causal connection, Amitābha is the original master of Avalokiteśvara.” Then immediately the verse-invocation begins:
仰啟月輪觀自在 廣大圓滿紫金身 千臂恒伸現世間 …
Looking up to invoke the Moon-disc Avalokiteśvara, vast and great, perfectly round, with body of purple-gold; the thousand arms always extend, manifesting in the world…
Abstract
Authorship and date are unrecoverable. The text belongs to the late-Táng Esoteric–Pure Land devotional synthesis in which Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara (a major Esoteric yidam) is invoked through the standard Esoteric ritual sequence (verse-invocation + dhāraṇī) but framed in Pure Land terms (with Amitābha as causal master). This synthesis is characteristic of mid-to-late Tang Buddhism and is heavily attested in the Dunhuang manuscript corpus. notBefore = 700 (the establishment of the Tang Esoteric Avalokiteśvara cult through Bù-kōng 不空 and his successors); notAfter = 1000 (the standard Dunhuang bracket). Catalog dynasty 唐.
The Dà-bēi 大悲 name in the title invokes the Mahā-kāruṇika epithet of Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara, the central deity of the Dà-bēi xīn tuó-luó-ní 大悲心陀羅尼 (Nīlakaṇṭha-dhāraṇī) tradition (T1060 etc.). The work is one of several Dunhuang Avalokiteśvara invocation-texts that constitute the liturgical practical literature of the late-Táng / Five-Dynasties western-frontier Dà-bēi devotional cult.
The pairing of Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara in the opening rubric reflects the standard mid-Tang doctrinal teaching that Avalokiteśvara is the principal bodhisattva-attendant of Amitābha in the Western Pure Land (per the Sukhāvatī-vyūha-sūtra tradition); the practice of beginning Avalokiteśvara invocations with three Amitābha-chants is therefore canonical and reflects the late-Tang Pure Land–Esoteric integration distinctive of Dunhuang Buddhism.
Translations and research
No substantial dedicated Western-language secondary literature located. See general Dunhuang-manuscript references at KR6s0026. Specific to Avalokiteśvara cult:
- Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara (Columbia, 2001) — comprehensive treatment of the Tang-period Avalokiteśvara cult, with substantial Dunhuang material.
- Henrik H. Sørensen et al., Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia (Brill, 2011) — context for Esoteric Avalokiteśvara invocations.
Other points of interest
The text is one of the principal Dunhuang witnesses to late-Táng / Five-Dynasties practical Avalokiteśvara devotional literature as it was actually performed at the western frontier — invoking the Thousand-Armed Mahā-kāruṇika form through the standard Esoteric ritual sequence while framing it within the Pure Land Amitābha cult. The work’s preservation reflects the centrality of Avalokiteśvara devotion in Dunhuang religious life.