page_title: Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī
section_title: Nīlakaṇṭha-lokeśvara
hierarchical_section_title: Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī / Background / Nīlakaṇṭha-lokeśvara
caption_attribution_description: English: Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara (青頸観音 Shōkyō-kannon), from the Besson-zakki (別尊雑記 "Miscellaneous Record of Classified Sacred Images"), as reproduced in the Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō Zuzō-bu (大正新脩大藏經 圖像部), vol. 3.
context_page_description: The Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī, also known as the Mahākaruṇā Dhāraṇī, Mahākaruṇika Dhāraṇī or Great Compassion Dhāraṇī, is a Mahayana Buddhist dhāraṇī associated with the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.
  The dhāraṇī is thought to have originally been a recitation of names and attributes of Harihara said to have been recited by Avalokiteśvara, who was sometimes portrayed as introducing popular non-Buddhist deities into the Buddhist pantheon by reciting their dhāraṇīs. Over time, these deities became considered to be the various forms or incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, who was described in texts such as the Lotus Sutra as manifesting himself in different forms according to the needs of different individuals; the dhāraṇī thus came to be considered as addressed to Avalokiteśvara as Nīlakaṇṭha, now understood to be a manifestation of the bodhisattva. From Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara, this particular dhāraṇī eventually became associated with another of Avalokiteśvara's forms, namely the thousand-armed one, and became attached to Buddhist texts concerning the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara.
context_section_description: According to author Lokesh Chandra (1988), the dhāraṇī in its original form was a recitation of the names of the deity (lokeśvara) Nīlakaṇṭha recited by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara: "Avalokiteśvara was responsible for introducing popular (loka) deities (iśvara) into the Buddhist pantheon by pronouncing their dhāraṇīs which averted evils to the person who obtained his wishes as soon as he recited it (paṭhita-siddhaḥ, Dutt: text 44)." In Vajrabodhi's longer version (T. 1061), the dhāraṇī is explicitly referred to as Āryāvalokiteśvara-bhāṣitaṃ "uttered (bhāṣita) by noble (ārya) Avalokiteśvara;" at this stage, Avalokiteśvara is portrayed as pronouncing the dhāraṇī, but is not (yet) identified with Nīlakaṇṭha.
  As late as the 15th century, the tradition knew at least that Avalokiteśvara is the dhāraṇī's locutor, as is clear from a Chinese manual of the liturgical service of the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara, presented to the Oriental scholar Samuel Beal by the monks of Hoi Tong Monastery (a.k.a. Hai Chwang Temple) on Henan Island.  Its preface, authored by the Ming emperor Yongle, says thus:
  It is reported by Kwan Tseu Tsai Bodhisattva, prompted by her great compassionate heart has engaged herself by a great oath to enter into every one of the innumerable worlds, and bring deliverance to all creatures who inhabit them.
  
  For this purpose she has enunciated the Divine sentences which follow, if properly recited, will render all creatures exempt from the causes of sorrow, and by removing them, render them capable of attaining Supreme Reason.
  During the process of transmission, however, Nīlakaṇṭha became increasingly identified with Avalokiteśvara, so that the dhāraṇī eventually became understood as being addressed to Avalokiteśvara as Nīlakaṇṭha, now considered to be one of Avalokiteśvara's various forms or manifestations - most of whom were themselves originally folk deities who were assimilated into Avalokiteśvara upon being integrated into Buddhist belief and practice (e.g. Hayagriva, Cundi, Tara or Mazu; cf. also Shinbutsu-shūgō).
  The dhāraṇī proper contains a number of titles associated with the Hindu gods Vishnu (e.g. Hare, Narasiṃha-mukha , gadā- / cakra- / padma-hastā 'the wielder of the mace / discus / lotus') and Shiva (e.g. Nīlakaṇṭha 'the blue-necked one', Śaṅkara, kṛṣṇa-sarpopavita 'the one who has a black serpent as a sacred thread'), suggesting that Nīlakaṇṭha was in origin Harihara - a fusion of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) - assimilated into Buddhism. This is more explicit in the longer version of the dhāraṇī, where Nīlakaṇṭha is invoked with more names and epithets associated with the two gods such as Tripūra-dahaneśvara 'the Lord (Īśvara) who destroyed / burnt down Tripūra' (Shiva) or Padmanābha 'lotus-naveled' (Vishnu), as well as a short description of the iconography of Nīlakaṇṭha Avalokiteśvara in Amoghavajra's version (T. 1111), which combines elements from depictions of Shiva and Vishnu.
   
  次當說此青頸觀自在菩薩畫像法。
  其像三面。當前正面作慈悲凞怡貌。右邊作師子面。左邊作猪面。
  
  首戴寶冠。冠中有化無量壽佛。
  
  又有四臂。右第一臂執杖。第二臂執把蓮花。左第一執輪。左第二執螺。
  
  以虎皮為裙。以黑鹿皮於左膊角絡。被黑蛇以為神線。
  
  於八葉蓮花上立。瓔珞臂釧鐶珮光焰莊嚴其身。其神線從左膊角絡下。
  "Next, I shall explain here the manner of depicting the bodhisattva Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara.
  
  "His figure is three-faced: in the center is fashioned a compassionate, serene face, on the right a lion's face, (and) on the left a boar's face.
  
  On his head is a crown, (and) within the crown is an emanation (i.e. an image) of the buddha Amitāyus.
  
  "In addition, he has four arms: the first right arm holds a rod, the second (right) arm grasps a lotus; the first left (arm) holds a wheel, (and) the second left (arm) holds a conch.
  
  "(Wearing) a tiger skin as his lower garment, a black antelope skin is draped diagonally from his left shoulder, and a black serpent is his sacred thread.
  
  Standing on an eight-petaled lotus, the effulgence of necklaces, armlets and ornaments adorn his body; his sacred thread hangs diagonally from the left shoulder downward."
  The status of Shiva and Vishnu in the dhāraṇī follows a similar pattern to the one identified in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtr
caption: Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara (青頸觀自在), from the Besson-zakki, a Japanese (Heian period) compendium of Buddhist iconography. Note the differences between this particular depiction and the description from Amoghavajra: while the four attributes - conch, mace/rod, discus/wheel and lotus - are depicted, the boar and lion faces, the garments of animal skins, and the serpent upavita are omitted.
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