The Great Compassion Mantra: The Great Compassion Divine Mantra of the Sūtra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī of Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva

Introduction

The Great Compassion Mantra is also a pretty common Buddhist scripture. We hear it quite often, but the version we usually hear seems to be the Tibetan one (or a transliteration from ancient Indian languages)?

Great Compassion Mantra (Sanskrit: महा करुणा धारनी, transliteration: Mahā Karuṇā Dhāranī), full name the Great Compassion Divine Mantra of the Sūtra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī of Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, also known as the Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī (Mahā Karuṇā-citta Dhāranī), the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Guanyin Great Compassion Mantra (Sahasrabhuja Sahasranetra Avalokiteśvara Mahā Karuṇā Dhāranī), the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī, the Unobstructed Great Compassion Dhāraṇī, the Vast and Perfect Dhāraṇī, the Wish-Fulfilling Dhāraṇī, the Following-the-Heart-at-Will Dhāraṇī, the Suffering-Relieving Dhāraṇī, the Life-Extending Dhāraṇī, the Dhāraṇī for Extinguishing Evil Destinies, the Dhāraṇī for Breaking Evil Karmic Obstacles, the Dhāraṇī for Swiftly Transcending the Ten Grounds; sometimes also called the Blue-Necked Guanyin Great Compassion Mantra (Sanskrit: नीलकण्ठ धारनी, transliteration: Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī, meaning “Blue-Neck Dhāraṇī,” but sometimes also referring to the thousand-phrase Great Compassion Mantra), while the Korean Peninsula customarily calls it the Great Dhāraṇī of Marvelous Phrases (Korean: 신묘장구대다라니); it is the main part of the scripture concerning Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, the Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī Sūtra. The Chinese transmission has eighty-four phrases in total, which are mantra verses composed in Sanskrit.

Origin of the Name

In the Sūtra of the Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī of Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī Sūtra), the Buddha told Venerable Ānanda: “This divine mantra has various names: one is Vast and Perfect, one is Unobstructed Great Compassion, one is the Suffering-Relieving Dhāraṇī, one is the Life-Extending Dhāraṇī, one is the Dhāraṇī for Extinguishing Evil Destinies, one is the Dhāraṇī for Breaking Evil Karmic Obstacles, one is the Wish-Fulfilling Dhāraṇī, one is the Following-the-Heart-at-Will Dhāraṇī, one is the Dhāraṇī for Swiftly Transcending the Ten Grounds.”

The name of this mantra manifests Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s vast, perfect, unobstructed great-compassion vow-power to bring peace, joy, and benefit to all sentient beings, as well as this mantra’s awe-inspiring special virtues: not only can it remove all disasters and the sufferings of illness from all evil karma; it can also accomplish all wholesome dharmas and fulfill wishes according to one’s heart; it can keep one far from all fears and swiftly ascend to the Buddha-ground. People today abbreviate it as the Great Compassion Mantra, naming it after Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s great-compassion vow-power that compassionately covers sentient beings.

This mantra was proclaimed by the Buddhas of the past ninety-nine hundred million Ganges-sand kalpas (a kalpa is a unit of time). Later, in the pure land of Thousand-Light King Still-Abiding Tathāgata, Thousand-Light King Still-Abiding Tathāgata transmitted the “Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Dhāraṇī” to Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, and said to him: “Good man, you should uphold this heart-mantra, and universally bring great benefit and joy to all sentient beings of future evil ages.” At that time, after Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva heard this mantra, he rose from a first-bhūmi bodhisattva to the eighth-bhūmi Immovable Ground bodhisattva fruition. Thereupon, his heart filled with joy, he made a vow, saying: “If in ages to come I can benefit and bring joy to all sentient beings, may my body immediately be fully endowed with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes.” After making this vow, he indeed instantly grew a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, and the great earth in the ten directions all shook because of it; the Buddhas of the ten directions also emitted immeasurable (“immeasurably great number”) lights, illuminating the boundless worlds of the ten directions.

The Circumstances of Its Proclamation

According to the Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī Sūtra: “Śākyamuni Buddha was just about to extensively expound the dhāraṇī dharma-gate when suddenly the great earth in the ten directions shook, and the three-thousand great-thousand worlds all turned golden, because Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva had secretly released supernatural power. But because the great assembly was all puzzled, Dhāraṇī-King Bodhisattva, seeing this rare situation, stood up, joined his palms, and asked Śākyamuni Buddha: ‘This appearance of supernatural power—by whom was it released?’ And Śākyamuni Buddha replied: ‘In this great assembly here, there is a bodhisattva named Avalokiteśvara, who from immeasurable kalpas past has accomplished great kindness and great compassion, and is skilled at cultivating immeasurable dhāraṇī gates; in order to bring peace and joy to sentient beings, he has released the might of his supernatural power.’ When Śākyamuni Buddha had finished speaking, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva rose from his seat, joined his palms toward Śākyamuni Buddha, and said: ‘I have a Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī mantra that I now wish to speak, in order that all sentient beings may obtain peace and joy, be rid of all illness and suffering, obtain longevity, obtain wealth and abundance, be rid of all evil sins whatsoever, stay far from all demonic obstacles and difficulties, accomplish pure merit, be able to accomplish all wholesome roots, stay far from all fear and dread, and swiftly be able to fulfill all that they hope for and seek. I hope the World-Honored One will compassionately allow me to proclaim it to the assembly.’ When Śākyamuni Buddha heard Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s request, Śākyamuni Buddha said: ‘Good man, you with such vast compassion wish to proclaim the Great Compassion Mantra to the assembly; now is precisely the time. I rejoice in your merit, and the Buddhas of the ten directions also rejoice in and praise your merit.’”

Full Text of the Chinese-Transmitted Great Compassion Mantra

The reason the Great Compassion Mantra is a “mantra” is that it has only the mantra text, no translation~ (not sure if understanding it this way is even right)

And from ancient times to the present there have been many different versions, but they are all more or less the same; they are all phonetic transliterations of the Great Compassion Mantra that came from ancient India~

The full text is as follows: From the Sūtra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dhāraṇī of Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva

南无喝啰怛那哆啰夜耶，南无阿唎耶，婆卢羯帝烁钵啰耶，菩提萨埵婆耶，摩诃萨埵婆耶，摩诃迦卢尼迦耶，唵，萨皤啰罚曳，数怛那怛写，南无悉吉粟埵伊蒙阿唎耶，婆卢吉帝室佛啰愣驮婆，南无那啰谨墀，酰利摩诃皤哆沙咩，萨婆阿他豆输朋，阿逝孕，萨婆萨哆那摩婆萨哆那摩婆伽，摩罚特豆，怛侄他，唵阿婆卢酰，卢迦帝，迦罗帝，夷酰唎，摩诃菩提萨埵，萨婆萨婆，摩啰摩啰，摩酰摩酰．唎驮孕，俱卢俱卢羯蒙，度卢度卢罚阇耶帝，摩诃罚阇耶帝，陀罗陀罗，地唎尼，室佛啰耶，遮啰遮啰，摩摩罚摩啰，穆帝隶，伊酰伊酰，室那室那，阿啰僧佛啰舍利，罚沙罚参，佛啰舍耶，呼嚧呼嚧摩啰，呼嚧呼嚧酰唎，娑啰娑啰，悉唎悉唎，苏卢苏卢，菩提夜菩提夜，菩驮夜菩驮夜，弥帝唎夜，那啰谨墀，地唎瑟尼那，波夜摩那，娑婆诃，悉陀夜，娑婆诃，摩诃悉陀夜，娑婆诃，悉陀喻艺，室皤啰耶，娑婆诃那啰谨墀，娑婆诃，摩罗那罗，娑婆诃，悉啰僧阿穆佉耶，娑婆诃，娑婆摩诃阿悉陀夜，娑婆诃，者吉啰阿悉陀夜，娑婆诃，波陀摩羯悉哆夜，娑婆诃，那啰谨墀．皤伽啰耶，娑婆诃，摩婆利胜羯啰夜，娑婆诃，南无喝啰怛那哆啰夜耶，南无阿唎耶，婆卢吉帝，烁皤啰夜，娑婆诃，唵悉殿都，漫哆啰，跋驮耶，娑婆诃。

Without phonetic annotation it’s really hard to recite. When I was learning it, I only managed to learn it after finding a version annotated with Hanyu Pinyin~

I’d suggest that anyone who wants to try learning to recite it look for a Pinyin-annotated version. I won’t provide one here~ (afraid of giving the wrong version)

You can also choose a different version~ Whichever conclusion one adopts, one should keep firmly in mind what the sūtra says:

• “Excepting only the unwholesome, excepting those who are not sincere”;
• “Those who give rise to even a little doubt will certainly not have it fulfilled”;
• “There is only one exception: those who give rise to doubt toward the mantra—even small sins and light karma cannot be extinguished, let alone heavy sins”……