惟夫聖力難准、靈心罕究，六神通之妙業、八自在之玄功，持恭實而納崇山、析毫端而容大海，豈止分身百億、現影三千而已也。千手千眼菩薩者，即觀世音之變現、伏魔怨之神迹也。自唐武德之歲，中天竺婆羅門僧瞿多提婆，於細㲲上圖畫形質，及結壇手印經本至京進上，太武見而不珍，其僧悒而旋轡。至貞觀年中，復有北天竺僧，齎千臂千眼陀羅尼梵本奉進，文武聖帝勅令大總持寺法師智通共梵僧翻出呪經并手印等。智通法師三覆既了，即祈心懇切佇流徵應，於是感慶憙尊者之俯降形儀。通悲喜驚嗟投身頂謁，蒙存慰喻，問欲何求？通曰：「擣昧庸心輒此詳譯，不審情詣稍符聖旨以否？」默而印許。竊表深衷，便錄本進上。帝委問由緒，通具以事述，感愜帝心。於是齎藁本出內，將示弘福大德，玄謩法師一見此文嗟稱不已。有人云：勅未流行，何因忽茲漏洩？其本遂寢，不復弘揚。又有西來梵僧，持一經夾以示智通，通還翻出，諸餘不殊舊本，唯闕身呪一科。有常州正勤寺主慧琳法師，功德為務、定慧是崇，深入總持、周窮藝術，歷遊京邑拪遲實際伽藍，思廣異聞、希誠脫簡。爰有北天竺婆羅門僧名蘇伽施，常持此法結壇手印，朝夕虔祈。琳罄折諮詢，每致歎阻。後同之洛下，漸示津途。即請一清信士李太一，其人博學梵書、玄儒亦究，紆令筆削潤色成章，備書梵音身呪具至。神功年中，有一仁者自京都至，將通師所翻後本，有上下兩卷惟闕身呪，琳參入其中，事若一家婉而備足。又佛授記寺有婆羅門僧達摩戰陀，烏伐那國人也，善明悉陀羅尼呪句，常每奉制翻譯，於妙㲲上畫一千臂菩薩像并本經呪進上。神皇令宮女繡成或使匠人畫出，流布天下，不墜靈姿。波崙又於婆羅門真諦律師，聞此僧由來。云有大力鬼神毘那翼迦，能障一切善法不使成就，一切惡業必令增長，雖有妙力通心無能制伏。觀音菩薩現作千臂千眼之形以伏彼神，及有呪印用光不朽。將來好事者佇無惑焉。

The power of the sacred is hard to fathom, and the spiritual mind is rarely plumbed. The wondrous deeds of the six supernatural powers and the mysterious workings of the eight freedoms—holding a mustard seed yet containing a towering mountain, splitting a hair's tip yet holding the great ocean—how could they be limited to merely dividing the body into a hundred billion forms or manifesting shadows across three thousand worlds?

The Bodhisattva of a Thousand Hands and a Thousand Eyes is a manifestation of Guanyin, a divine trace for subduing demons and enemies. In the Wude era of the Tang, a Brahmin monk from Central India named Quduotipo drew the figure on fine cotton cloth, and brought the altar-building hand-seal sutra texts to the capital to present them. Emperor Taiwu saw them but did not treasure them, and the monk returned home disappointed. In the Zhenguan era, another monk from North India brought the Sanskrit text of the Thousand-Arms Thousand-Eyes Dharani and presented it. The civil and military sage emperor ordered Dharma Master Zhitong of the Great Zongchi Temple to work with the Brahmin monk to translate the incantation sutra and hand seals. After Dharma Master Zhitong had verified it three times, he prayed earnestly and awaited a sign. Then he was blessed by the venerable Qingxi who descended in form before him. Zhitong, overwhelmed with grief and joy, threw himself down in homage. The venerable one comforted him and asked what he sought. Zhitong said, "I have clumsily undertaken this detailed translation with my dull mind. I do not know whether my understanding accords with the sacred intent." The venerable one silently gave his approval. Secretly expressing his deepest feelings, Zhitong recorded the text and presented it to the emperor. The emperor questioned him about its origins, and Zhitong recounted everything, which pleased the emperor's heart. Then the text was brought out from the palace to be shown to the great virtuous monks of Hongfu. Dharma Master Xuanmo, upon seeing this text, praised it without end. Someone said: "The imperial order has not yet been issued for its circulation—how has it suddenly leaked out?" So the text was shelved and no longer propagated.

Later, a Brahmin monk from the West came holding a sutra folder to show Zhitong. Zhitong translated it again. It was no different from the old version except that it lacked the body incantation section. There was Dharma Master Huilin, abbot of Zhengqin Temple in Changzhou, who devoted himself to merit and revered concentration and wisdom, deeply entering the dharani and exhaustively mastering the arts. He traveled through the capital and lingered at the Shiji Monastery, wishing to broaden his knowledge and hoping to recover the missing text. Now there was a Brahmin monk from North India named Sujiashi who constantly practiced this method of building the altar and hand seals, praying devoutly day and night. Huilin bowed and consulted him, but each time met with sighs and refusals. Later they went together to Luoyang, and gradually the monk showed him the way. He then requested a lay believer named Li Taiyi—a man broadly learned in Sanskrit and deeply versed in the mystic classics—to polish and embellish it into a complete text, fully recording the Sanskrit sounds and the body incantation in full.

In the Shengong era, a virtuous person came from the capital bringing the later version translated by Master Zhitong, in two volumes, lacking only the body incantation. Huilin incorporated it, and the work became complete as if from one house, elegant and entire. Also, at the Foshouji Temple there was a Brahmin monk named Damozhantuo, a man of the Udyana country, skilled in understanding dharani incantation phrases, who often translated by imperial command. He painted a thousand-armed Bodhisattva image on fine cotton cloth along with the original sutra and incantations and presented them. The Divine Emperor ordered palace women to embroider it or craftsmen to paint it, spreading it throughout the world so that its sacred form would not be lost.

Polun also heard from the Brahmin Vinaya Master Paramartha about this monk's origins. He said there is a powerful ghost-spirit named Vinayaka who can obstruct all good dharmas so they cannot be accomplished and cause all evil karma to surely increase. Though one may have wondrous powers and a penetrating mind, one cannot subdue him. Guanyin Bodhisattva manifested in the form of a thousand arms and a thousand eyes to subdue that spirit, and there are incantations and seals that shine with undying light. Let those who take interest in the future have no doubt about this.

Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara Dharani Sutra (千眼千臂觀世音菩薩陀羅尼神呪經)

Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara Dharani Sutra (千眼千臂觀世音菩薩陀羅尼神呪經)