Nīlakantha dhāranī

[Jainarayan]

Is it OK to recite the Nīlakantha dhāranī without empowerment?

[vinodh]

Well.. It is a /dhāranī/.. which doesn't need empowerment.

Additionally, the abridged version of the Dharani is very popular and also chanted regularly by Mahayana Buddhists in S.E. Asia.

V

[Jainarayan]

Thanks. This is the version I was thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%ABlak ... n.C4.AB.29 not the Mahā Karuna Dhāranī.

[Karma Dorje]

Thanks. This is the version I was thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%ABlak ... n.C4.AB.29 not the Mahā Karuna Dhāranī.

Fascinating, as it is yet another clear equivalence between Avalokiteshvara in the Buddhist tradition and Shiva in the Hindu traditions. That's certainly nothing controversial on the Hindu side, but it must give Buddhists fits.

[Jainarayan]

Yeah, that could very well be a stotram to Lord Shiva. Nilakantha is one of his epithets, from the time he drank the poison from the churning of the ocean of milk; his consort Parvati grabbed his throat so he wouldn't swallow the poison. It stayed there and colored his throat blue. And he is known to be covered in ash. But don't kid yourself, there are a lot of Hindus who have hissy fits when there's any comparison outside of Hinduism to the Hindu deities. Most don't care, though, or know that Tara is one of the Mahavidyas, manifestations of Durga, a form of Parvati.

[Karma Dorje]

Yeah, that could very well be a stotram to Lord Shiva. Nilakantha is one of his epithets, from the time he drank the poison from the churning of the ocean of milk; his consort Parvati grabbed his throat so he wouldn't swallow the poison. It stayed there and colored his throat blue. And he is known to be covered in ash. But don't kid yourself, there are a lot of Hindus who have hissy fits when there's any comparison outside of Hinduism to the Hindu deities. Most don't care, though, or know that Tara is one of the Mahavidyas, manifestations of Durga, a form of Parvati.

In the case of Tara, the cross-pollination went the other way. Amongst the Mahavidya her name is Mahacinna Tara, and Mahacinna is an archaic name for Tibet.

[Jainarayan]

Ah, thanks. I'm amazed at how much flow there is and who borrows from whom... always something to learn.

[vinodh]

Thanks. This is the version I was thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%ABlak ... n.C4.AB.29 not the Mahā Karuna Dhāranī.

Both are the same.

Nilakantha-ka or Nilakantha Dharani seems to be the original Sanskrit title (and the complete version).

IIRC Maha Karuni"ka" Dharani (Dharani of the Great Compassionate one i.e Avalokitesvara) is just the Sanskrit backtranslation of the Chinese title Da Bei Zhou (and the abridged version).

You may want to read Lokesh Chandra's book "Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara". He has analyzed all the variants of the Dharani in detail (Chinese, Korean and Tibetan versions of the Dharani)