Chapter Twenty-Four · The Sutras We Chant · 大悲咒

大悲咒 The Great Compassion Mantra — Guanyin's 84 phrases

Stand at the back of any Chinese Mahāyāna temple on 初一十五 and you will hear it rolling like a river: the Great Compassion Mantra, Guanyin's root dhāraṇī, eighty-four phrases of sound you may not be able to translate but can feel in your chest. Here is the full text we chant, the story behind it, and what the sound is actually doing.

What it is

The Mahākaruṇā Dhāraṇī — full name, the "Dhāraṇī of the Vast, Perfect, Unimpeded Great-Compassionate Heart of the Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara" — is one of the most important, most recited mantras in Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. The standard chanted version is the 84-phrase transliteration made by the 7th-century Indian monk Bhagavaddharma (伽梵達摩), between 650 and 660 CE, preserved in the Taishō Tripiṭaka as T20n1060 — about 415 characters. A dhāraṇī keeps its original Sanskrit sound in Chinese transliteration, so it is chanted as sound rather than "translated" word for word.

— Alison's thoughts

The thing about a dhāraṇī is that you don't translate it — you sound it. Eighty-four phrases of Sanskrit-in-Chinese that most chanters can't parse word by word, and that's the point. The mind can't grab hold of it to analyse, so for those few minutes it finally stops narrating and just rides the sound. I think of the aunties at the back of the temple, eyes closed, lips moving — they're not decoding, they're arriving. In a life of notifications and mental tabs left open, the Great Compassion Mantra is a rare thing: a practice that asks nothing of your understanding, only your presence. The compassion is in the showing up, not the knowing.

The origin story — Guanyin's vow, the thousand hands and eyes

According to the Great Compassion Dharani Sutra: in a past age beyond measure, the Buddha King of One Thousand Lights Who Abides in Stillness (千光王靜住如來) taught this dhāraṇī to the then young bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, out of compassion for him and for all beings. On first hearing it, Avalokiteśvara leapt from the first bodhisattva stage to the eighth. His heart overjoyed, he made a great vow:

"If in the future I am able to benefit and bring happiness to all living beings, let me at once be endowed with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes."

The moment the vow was made, his body was filled with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes; the ground of the ten directions quaked in six ways, and a thousand Buddhas of the ten directions shone their light upon him. Hence the thousand-armed, thousand-eyed Guanyin 千手千眼觀音 statues seen in temples — each hand holding a tool of compassion (lotus, sword, bowl, scripture…) for rescuing beings in different situations. The mantra is said to have been spoken by past Buddhas as numerous as the sands of 99.9 billion Ganges rivers (九十九億恒河沙諸佛).

— Alison's thoughts

Guanyin's vow — "if I can benefit beings, let me have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes" — always makes me a little breathless. Not "let me be powerful" or "let me be praised," but "let me have more hands to reach with, more eyes to see with." Every hand holds a different tool because every being is stuck differently — one needs a sword cut, another a lotus offered, another a bowl of food. That's the real picture of love: not one size, but a thousand responses, all of them "I see you, here, let me help." I want to be that kind of person — not with a thousand arms, just with enough attention to notice what the person in front of me actually needs.

Where and when SG/MY Buddhists chant it

A standard part of the daily morning liturgy (早課) in Chinese Mahāyāna temples, chanted to purify the ritual space.
Chanted at funerals and memorial rites, during 中元節 (hungry ghost) ceremonies, and as part of the 大悲懺 (Great Compassion Repentance) service.
Laypeople recite it for protection, healing and purification, and for wishes — the sutra lists fifteen kinds of good rebirth and relief from fifteen kinds of bad death for those who uphold it.
The shorter 六字大明咒 (Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ) is Guanyin's short mantra; the Great Compassion Mantra is the "long" one.

The Chinese chant text (84 phrases, with pinyin)

Cross-checked against two independent transcription sources (CBETA T20n1060 via sutramoments.com, and a pinyin transcription blog). Character variants (啰/囉, 卢/嚧, 娑/婆) are simply traditional-versus-simplified forms; the pinyin reflects how it is actually sung in SG/MY temple services. Some booklets write line 18 as 怛姪他 and others 怛侄他 — the same word.

南无喝啰怛那哆啰夜耶　ná mó hé là dá nā duō là yè yē
南无阿唎耶　ná mó ā lì yē
婆卢羯帝烁钵啰耶　pó lú jié dì shuò bō là yē
菩提萨埵婆耶　pú tí sà duǒ pó yē
摩诃萨埵婆耶　mó hē sà duǒ pó yē
摩诃迦卢尼迦耶　mó hē jiā lú ní jiā yē
唵　ōng
萨皤啰罚曳　sà pó là fá yì
数怛那怛写　shù dá nā dá xià
南无悉吉栗埵伊蒙阿唎耶　ná mó xī jí lì duǒ yī méng ā lì yē
婆卢吉帝室佛啰楞驮婆　pó lú jí dì shì fó là léng tuó pó
南无那啰谨墀　ná mó nā là jǐn chí
醯利摩诃皤哆沙咩　xī lì mó hē pó duō shā miē
萨婆阿他豆输朋　sà pó ā tā dòu shū péng
阿逝孕　ā shì yùn
萨婆萨哆那摩婆萨哆那摩婆伽　sà pó sà duō ná mó pó sà duō ná mó pó qié
摩罚特豆　mó fá tè dòu
怛姪他　dá zhí tā
唵阿婆卢醯　ōng ā pó lú xī
卢迦帝　lú jiā dì
迦罗帝　jiā luó dì
夷醯唎　yí xī lì
摩诃菩提萨埵　mó hē pú tí sà duǒ
萨婆萨婆　sà pó sà pó
摩啰摩啰　mó là mó là
摩醯摩醯唎驮孕　mó xī mó xī lì tuó yùn
俱卢俱卢羯蒙　jù lú jù lú jié méng
度卢度卢罚阇耶帝　dù lú dù lú fá shé yē dì
摩诃罚阇耶帝　mó hē fá shé yē dì
陀啰陀啰　tuó là tuó là
地唎尼　dì lì ní
室佛啰耶　shì fó là yē
遮啰遮啰　zhē là zhē là
摩么罚摩啰　mó mó fá mó là
穆帝隶　mù dì lì
伊醯伊醯　yī xī yī xī
室那室那　shì nā shì nā
阿啰嘇佛啰舍利　ā là shēn fó là shě lì
罚沙罚嘇　fá shā fá shēn
佛啰舍耶　fó là shě yē
呼嚧呼嚧摩啰　hū lú hū lú mó là
呼嚧呼嚧醯利　hū lú hū lú xī lì
娑啰娑啰　suō là suō là
悉唎悉唎　xī lì xī lì
苏嚧苏嚧　sū lú sū lú
菩提夜菩提夜　pú tí yè pú tí yè
菩驮夜菩驮夜　pú tuó yè pú tuó yè
弥帝唎夜　mí dì lì yè
那啰谨墀　nā là jǐn chí
地利瑟尼那　dì lì sè ní nā
婆夜摩那　pó yè mó nā
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
悉陀夜　xī tuó yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
摩诃悉陀夜　mó hē xī tuó yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
悉陀喻艺　xī tuó yù yì
室皤啰耶　shì pó là yē
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
那啰谨墀　nā là jǐn chí
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
摩啰那啰　mó là nā là
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
悉啰僧阿穆佉耶　xī là sēng ā mù qié yē
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
娑婆摩诃阿悉陀夜　suō pó mó hē ā xī tuó yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
者吉啰阿悉陀夜　zhě jí là ā xī tuó yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
波陀摩羯悉陀夜　bō tuó mó jié xī tuó yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
那啰谨墀皤伽啰耶　nā là jǐn chí pó qié là yē
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
摩婆利胜羯啰夜　mó pó lì shèng jié là yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
南无喝啰怛那哆啰夜耶　ná mó hé là dá nā duō là yè yē
南无阿唎耶　ná mó ā lì yē
婆嚧吉帝　pó lú jí dì
烁皤啰夜　shuò pó là yè
娑婆诃　suō pó hē
唵悉殿都　ōng xī diàn dū
漫多啰　màn duō là
跋陀耶　bá tuó yē
娑婆诃　suō pó hē

— Alison's thoughts

Eighty-four phrases, each with its pinyin, sung the same way in temples from Singapore to Malaysia to Fujian. There's a comfort in that continuity — you could be a stranger in any Chinese temple in the world and still know this song by heart. The character variants (啰/囉, 卢/嚧) are just traditional-versus-simplified, the same word underneath, like two spellings of the same love. I find that reassuring. The details differ, the dialects differ, but the sound we're making together is one. That's the whole Metta project in miniature: many flowers, same root.

An English rendering of the meaning

A dhāraṇī is chanted for its sound and blessing, not translated word-for-word — but the devotional meaning runs roughly as follows:

Opening (homage, phrases 1–17): "Homage to the Three Jewels; homage to noble Avalokiteśvara the great bodhisattva, the greatly compassionate one." It salutes Guanyin and the Triple Gem.
Heart of the mantra (phrases 18–47): the invocational core — "Come, come, great bodhisattva; do the work; hold fast, O Victor; destroy every poison; enlighten me, enlighten me; be swift to help" — calling on the bodhisattva's presence, protection and transforming power.
Petitions and assurances (phrases 48–75), each ending 娑婆诃 (svāhā, "may it be so"): a series of invocations to the enlightened one, the Great Lord, the Triple Gem and noble Avalokiteśvara, each sealed with the traditional closing of a mantra.
Closing (phrases 76–84): the homage and blessing are repeated and sealed: "Om, all these things are accomplished — svāhā" (唵悉殿都, roughly "may it all be fulfilled").

The overall meaning for the chanter: a humble, wholehearted calling upon Guanyin's vast compassionate power for protection, purification, healing and the fulfilling of good wishes. Practitioners are taught that the mantra's true "appearance" is not a shape but ten states of mind named in the sutra — 大慈悲心 (great compassion), 平等心 (equanimity), 無為心 (non-action), 無染著心 (non-attachment), 空觀心 (contemplation of emptiness), 恭敬心 (respect), 卑下心 (humility), 無雜亂心 (focused mind), 無見取心 (non-grasping of views), and 無上菩提心 (the supreme bodhi-mind) — the mantra is meant to ripen you into compassion, not just to ask for favours.

Ref: 大悲咒 Great Compassion Mantra, 千手千眼觀世音菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼, Bhagavaddharma trans., Taishō T20n1060 — chant text cross-checked: sutramoments.com (CBETA T20n1060 pinyin), Buddhist Sutra Sharing blog (84-line pinyin), DRBA/CTTB 万佛城 sutra edition; English: Buddha Weekly, Wikipedia Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī; story: DRBA/CTTB, Dharma Drum Mountain.

— Alison's thoughts

Stand at the back of a temple on 初一十五 and the 大悲咒 rolls like a river — eighty-four phrases you may not be able to translate but can feel in your chest. The thousand hands aren't a horror image; they're a promise that compassion is enough to reach everything at once, the way a grandmother's hands seem to be everywhere at a funeral, patting a shoulder, straightening a collar, pressing a biscuit into your hand. "娑婆诃" — may it be so — comes round like a heartbeat. And the quiet teaching underneath, that the mantra's real "shape" is ten kinds of kind heart, is the reminder that all that power is meant to land, finally, in how we treat the people in the next row.

— Chapter Twenty-Four · The Sutras We Chant · Metta 慈悲