[Buddha-l] Great Compassion Dharani

[donna Bair-Mundy]

Aloha,
   So many questions that I've put off asking, thinking that if I could 
just get through THIS semester I'd have time for the things that are 
really important...

   Those of us affiliated with a Chinese Buddhist temple may have had the 
experience of chanting a series of unintelligible (to me, anyway) 
syllables beginning with:

Na Mo Ho La Dan No Duo La Ye Ye
Na Mo O Li Ye
Po Lu Jie Di Shou Bo La Ye
Pu Ti Sa Duo Po Ye
Mo Ho Sa Duo Po Ye
Mo Ho Jia Lu Ni Jia Ye
...

These syllables are supposed to be a transcription of Sanskrit text and 
are chanted at break-neck speed.

I've found what is supposed to be the Sanskrit but that may be one of 
those reverse-engineering jobs.  Can anyone point me to a really good 
article (or book) giving the history of the Great Compassion Dharani 
and/or the Great Compassion Dharani Sutra?

Did a quick search in a database of scholarly articles I have access to at 
UH and came up empy-handed.

Mahalo (thank you) in advance for any help you can provide.


                    	Have a safe and joyful day,

 			donna Bair-Mundy, Ph.D.
 			Instructor, LIS Program
 			Information & Computer Sci. Dept.
 			Hamilton Library, Room 003-B
 			2550 McCarthy Mall
 			University of Hawai`i at Manoa
 			Honolulu, HI 96822
 			Voice: 808-956-9518 Fax: 808-956-5835
 			<donnab at hawaii.edu>