The Great Compassion Mantra through Guan Yin’s Ten Minds

When we uphold and recite the Great Compassion Mantra (Long Dharani), it is essential that we simultaneously cultivate a profound experiential understanding of Guan Yin’s (Avalokiteshvara) Ten Minds: the mind of great compassion, the mind of equanimity, the unconditioned mind, the non-attached mind, the mind of emptiness, the reverential mind, the humble mind, the undistracted mind, the mind free from grasping at views, and the mind of unsurpassed bodhicitta. Only through such deep internalization can the Dharma gateway of Guan Yin be truly imprinted upon the mind. Each of these Ten Minds functions, during the recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra, to gather and stabilize the mind, returning awareness to one’s own mind. This experiential absorption is what is meant by right mindfulness in the recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra.

Each of Guan Yin’s Ten Minds is capable of leading to realization. Yet realization does not mark the end; after realization, one must continue to engender the unsurpassed bodhicitta and ceaselessly liberate all sentient beings. This constitutes the work to be undertaken after attaining enlightenment. Just as Guan Yin, having realized the truth, never regresses in bodhicitta nor abandons the path, but continually abides in steadiness of mind and diligently advances in the path of practice. 

If, in reciting the Great Compassion Mantra, one fails to cultivate and experientially realize these Ten Minds, one cannot genuinely comprehend Guan Yin’s compassionate aspirations and commiseration. For the Great Compassion Mantra gives rise to great compassion, and over the long term enables sentient beings to gradually transform non-virtues into virtues, and from virtuous karma further into unsurpassed bodhicitta, eventually progressing step by step toward the attainment of buddhahood. Therefore, we should learn from Guan Yin and continuously recite the Great Compassion Mantra—reciting until the mind is free from abidance, conception, and notions; reciting until the mind free from grasping at views arises. What is meant by being free from grasping at views? It is precisely the absence of attachment to false views. Ordinary beings habitually generate discriminative attachment toward whatever they perceive, thereby giving rise to various afflictions.

When, through recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra, each moment of mind accords with Guan Yin’s Ten Minds, afflictions naturally cease to arise. Each moment of mind then harmonizes with Guan Yin’s liberative qualities, giving rise to unsurpassed bodhicitta, adapting accordingly accomodating all sentient beings, and steadfastly following Guan Yin’s aspiration over the long course of time.

From the moment Guan Yin first undertook the liberation of sentient beings until the present, the recitation of the Great Compassion Mantra has never ceased. As followers of Guan Yin, we likewise must never allow it to be interrupted. Thus, it should not be limited merely to a twenty-one-day retreat; rather, we should generate the aspiration to follow Guan Yin perpetually, diligently upholding the Great Compassion Mantra until the attainment of buddhahood, deeply realizing the Ten Minds, and using the Great Compassion Mantra to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings—together enabling all beings to be free from suffering and attain happiness, and to realize harmony and peace throughout their lives.