Deyuan Guanyin HallLight a Lamp · Make a VowScriptures
40 scriptures about Guanyin: her role, translations, interpretations through the ages, and modern scholarship.
Scripture texts are shown in the original classical Chinese. Titles and summaries are site translations unless a published translation is named.
Ārya-tārā Dhāraṇī Ārolik Sūtra (T1039)
Translated by Bukong (不空, Amoghavajra) in the Tang dynasty, in one fascicle. Before the Buddha, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva pronounces the mantra "oṃ ārolik svāhā," calling it "the heart of the entire Lotus family," and explains rites of accomplishment such as daily recitation, fire offering (homa) and painting and worshipping images. In the later image-painting instructions, Amitābha Buddha is placed at the centre with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta in attendance, and the bodhisattva Ārya-tārā (阿唎多𠼝) is also painted.
Sūtra of the One Hundred and Eight Names of Ārya Avalokiteśvara (T1054)
Lists the one hundred and eight names of Ārya Avalokiteśvara (Shengguanzizai 聖觀自在) and describes their merits. The Nepalese and Tibetan iconographic system of the "108 Lokeśvaras" is a later development and is not identical to the 108 names of this sūtra; the two simply belong to the same tradition of using the number 108 to express Guanyin's many virtues.
White-robed Guanyin Dhāraṇī Sūtra of the Five Mudrā Mind-Seals
Not found in any scriptural catalogue, yet very popular from the Song and Yuan dynasties onward, and connected with the cult of White-robed Guanyin and with praying for children. Chün-fang Yü (于君方) uses it to show how Guanyin scriptures outside the catalogues reflect indigenous devotion.
Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra (Sūtra of the Mahāyāna Jewel-King Adornment, T1050)
This sūtra is the earliest textual source of the six-syllable mantra 「唵嘛呢叭咪吽」 (oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ). It portrays Avalokiteśvara as a being like a lord of the cosmos, from whose body the devas are born. On this basis Tibetan Buddhism established its devotion to Guanyin as the protector of the Land of Snows.
Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka Sūtra (Compassionate Lotus Sūtra, T157), Chapter on the Original Predictions of the Bodhisattvas
Prince Bushun (不眴) vows that if beings in suffering call his name and are not freed from their suffering, he will never attain perfect awakening; he also vows to become a buddha immediately after Buddha Amitāyus enters nirvāṇa and the True Dharma has perished. Buddha Ratnagarbha (寶藏佛) names him "Guanshiyin" (觀世音) and predicts that he will become a buddha named Tathāgata Universal Radiance, King of the Mountain of Merit (遍出一切光明功德山王如來). This is another important scriptural source for Guanyin's past life and the origin of the name.
Amoghapāśa Sūtra (Sūtra of the Divine Transformations and Mantras of the Unfailing Lasso, T1092)
The lasso symbolizes rescuing beings without a single one slipping through. The scripture was gradually expanded into a large compendium of esoteric ritual. In iconography a shawl of eṇa-deer skin is often seen, resembling the image of Maheśvara (摩醯首羅).
Great Compassion Dhāraṇī Sūtra (Sūtra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassionate Heart Dhāraṇī of the Thousand-armed, Thousand-eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, T1060)
Guanyin first teaches making the ten great vows and invoking his own teacher Amitābha Buddha, then reciting the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī; the sūtra describes the merits of reciting it, being spared fifteen kinds of bad death and obtaining fifteen kinds of good birth, and says that Guanyin already became a buddha long ago, named Tathāgata Bright Light of the True Dharma (正法明如來). This sūtra is the most widespread Guanyin dhāraṇī scripture in East Asia and is closely tied to funeral, repentance and deliverance rites.
Sūtra of the Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva (T412), Chapter on the Benefits of Seeing and Hearing
Here Guanyin is not the protagonist but the one who requests the teaching, prompting the Buddha to praise the benefits of seeing and hearing of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva. This example shows that Guanyin also appears in a supporting role in the scriptures of other bodhisattvas.
King Gao's Guanshiyin Sūtra (T2898)
Tradition says that Sun Jingde (孫敬德) of the Northern Wei recited this sūtra when about to be executed and the blade broke without harming him. The text kept growing as it circulated, and in the Song dynasty the Seven Buddhas' Mantra for Eradicating Sins was added, producing the present version. Although the catalogues list it as doubtful or apocryphal, it has been recited very widely among ordinary people.
Contemplation Sūtra (Sūtra on the Contemplation of Amitāyus Buddha, T365), Tenth Contemplation
The sūtra describes Guanshiyin's height, body color, the uṣṇīṣa on the crown of the head, and the transformation buddha standing in the heavenly crown, and says that whoever contemplates this bodhisattva is freed from the sins of countless kalpas of birth and death. The thirteenth contemplation again contemplates Amitābha and the two bodhisattvas together. This passage is an important textual source for the iconographic feature of a transformation buddha in the crown.
Guanshiyin Samādhi Sūtra
One of the early apocryphal Guanyin scriptures. Chün-fang Yü (于君方) points out that although Zhisheng (智昇) condemned it as spurious, it was still preserved, reflecting the early needs of Guanyin devotion in China.
Iconographic Method of Hayagrīva (Heyejielipo xiangfa, T1073)
The method for making images of Horse-headed Guanyin (Hayagrīva), detailing the faces, attributes, garments and the preparations before the painted image; an important source for the study of Hayagrīva iconography.