Nīlakantha dhāranī

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The Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāranī (नीलकण्ठ धारनी) also known as Mahā Karuṇā Dhāranī (महा करुणा धारनी), popularly known as the Great Compassion Mantra in English, and known as the Dàbēi Zhòu (大悲咒) in Mandarin Chinese, is a dharani of Mahayana Buddhist origin. It was spoken by the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara before an assembly of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas and kings, according to the Mahakarunikacitta Sutra. Like the now popular six-syllable mantra, it is a popular mantra syonymous with Avalokitesvara in East Asia. It is often used for protection or purification.


[edit] The Origin

Twelve scrolls of Nīlakaṇṭha Lokeśvara (नीलकण्ठ लोकेश्वर) (lit. "blue-necked Lord of the world") texts were found in the Dunhuang (敦煌) stone cave along the Silk Road in today's Gansu (甘肅) province of China. It is notable that Sramana Bhagavaddhrama accomplished the translation at Khotan in south India. The text of the Nīlakaṇṭha was translated into Chinese by three masters in the seventh and early eighth century, first by Chih-t'ung (智通 Zhitōng) twice between 627-649 AD (T. 1057a and T. 1057b, Nj. 318), next by Bhagavaddharma between 650-660 AD (T. 1059 and T. 1060, Nj.320), and then by Bodhiruci in 709 AD (T. 1058, Nj. 319).

The Siddham script of Chinese Tripitaka (T. 1113b, 20.498-501) was corrected by a comparison with the Chih-t'ung version, which is found in the Ming Tripitaka. All the Sanskrit texts in the Ming Tripitaka were collected together by Rol-pahi Rdorje in the quadrilingual collection of dhāranīs which bears the title: Sanskrit Texts from the Imperial Palace at Peking. The prime objective was to restore the Sanskrit text with the help of the Tibetan texts. The Rol-pahi rdorje’s reconstruction (STP. 5.1290-6.1304) of the Nīlankanthaka as transcribed by Chih-t'ung during 627-649 (T. 1057b, Nj. 318) is longer than that of Amoghavajra (不空金剛) and is a remarkable effort at textual reconstruction, undertaken as early as the first half of the eighteen-century. However, Chih-t'ung's version is rarely mentioned in the Mahayana tradition.

The Nīlankantha Dhāranī was translated into Chinese by Vajrabodhi (金剛智, worked 719-741 AD T.1112), twice by his disciple Amoghavajra (worked 723-774 AD, T. 1111, T. 1113b) and in the fourteenth century by Dhyānabhadra (worked 1326-1363 AD, T. 1113a). Amoghavajra's version (T. 1113b) was written in Siddham script in the Chinese Tripitaka (T. 1113b, 20.498-501). This version is the most widely accepted form today.

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