敦煌寫本=Dunhuang manuscripts; 佛頂心觀世音菩薩大陀羅尼經=the Sūtra of Great Dhāraṇī of the Uṣṇīṣa-cittā; 漢字文化圈=the Sinosphere; 傳播學派=the school of transmission; 觀音信仰=the Kuanyin cult; 靈驗故事=the story of verification
The academic value of the Buddhist literature from Dunhuang is no doubt important. In hundred years the foundational textual studies on Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang is tremendous. With great prospectus on the future development of Dunhuang manuscript studies, it seems that scholars can either trace the origins of some texts or focus on the spread of some texts. One of possible approach is to apply the concept of Chinese culture as a great river to look at the reception of some texts in the Sinosphere. This paper aims to focus on the Sūtra of Great Dhāraṇī of the Uṣṇīṣa-cittā and to examine its spread in the Sinosphere by using the theories and methodologies of transmission studies and historical geography. This text is an apocryphal text so its versions were very rich after the Song period, such as versions from the Tanguts kingdom, the Liao, the Jin, and even Korea, Japan and Vietnam, as well as the version in Turkic-Uighur script. This paper will examine the different stages and areas of its spread. Basically in the Tang and Song periods, its main spread area was the northwestern region. We can find it in the Dunhuang manuscripts, in the Tangut and Liao printed edition, and the stone-pillar version in the Jin dynasty, and also in the woodblock printed version in the Southern Song dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, many printed editions entered Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, which made it enter into a new international stage of transmission. The first chapter of this sūtra was about the Great Dhāraṇī of Kuanyin and instructed readers to uphold and recite, patron, and write this Dhāraṇī text. The second chapter was about the healing of illness and saving of mother in delivery, which provided the methods of protecting mother and child. Last chapter included four stories of verification to attest the validity of reciting this text. Nevertheless, this text also contributes to our understanding of copying sūtras for establishing spiritual stūpa for the deceased, protecting the delivery of mother, dispersing disasters and saving from difficulty in many other texts as we look at folk beliefs and funeral culture in history.
