Chanting The Kannon Sutra

Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra is a popular devotional text in East Asian Buddhism. It is often referred to as the “Avalokiteśvara Sutra”, or kannongyō (観音経) in Japanese, or more formally the kanzeon bosatsu fumonbongé (観世音普門品偈, “Chapter on the Universal Gate of Kanzeon Bodhisattva”).

Despite the name, it is not a stand-alone text, but simply a famous chapter in the larger Lotus Sutra. This particular chapter is the main introduction to one of the most popular Bodhisattvas in Buddhism: Avalokitesvara (Kannon in Japanese, Guanyin in Chinese, etc.). The chapter describes the attributes of Kannon that are familiar to Buddhists, such as their vows to help all beings who call on them, their ability to take on various forms to teach people, and their unwavering compassion to lead all beings to Enlightenment.

The chapter as a whole is long and would be difficult to chant, so the verse section, not the narrative section, is frequently used for liturgical purposes. The Lotus Sutra often describes things in narrative form, then summarizes again in verse form. However, even the verse section alone is longer than the Heart Sutra, or the Shiseige, so just chanting the verse section is a bit challenging. In my experience it takes about 5-7 minutes.

For this reason, medieval Buddhists in Japan also devised an even shorter version called the Ten-Verse Kannon Sutra.

The sutra is frequently recited in both Zen and Tendai liturgies, among others, but it is not well known to Westerner lay-Buddhists. I had difficulty finding an online copy I could use as a reference here, even in Japanese, due to its length.

However, ages ago, I picked up a sutra book at the famous Sensōji temple in Tokyo, and once I figured out what the Kannon Sutra was, I copied it character by character to an old version of the blog, but then lost it later when I changed blogs. Recently, I was able to recover the text (not easily) from the original HTML I wrote, and posted it back on here with minor edits.

I have also provided a PDF version here if you want to print it out and use at home.

Also, special thanks to this website for providing much needed reference information on pronunciation and Chinese characters. My original, recovered text had a few errors, embarrassingly.

Examples

I found a few examples on Youtube that you can follow along if you are learning to chant the Kannon Sutra as shown below.

These examples are very similar, other than slight differences in pacing and pronunciation of certain Chinese characters. For people who are learning to recite the sutra, just pick what works until you get the hang of it.

Translation

I decided not to post the translation side-by-side with the text, the way I do with the Heart Sutra and such. This is due to formatting reasons on the blog, plus also length of the text makes this more difficult. I may revise this later.

For now, I highly recommend checking out a modern translation here by the excellent Dr Burton Watson. In that translation, the verse section starts after the phrase “At that time Bodhisattva Inexhaustible Intent posed this question in verse form“. The Buddhist Text Translation Society also has an excellent translation of the verse section here.

Disclaimer and Legal Info

I hereby release this into the public domain. Please use it as you see fit, but if you attribute it to this site, greatly appreciated. Also, please bear in mind this is an amateur work, and should not be taken too seriously.

Dedication

I dedicate this effort to all sentient beings everywhere. May all beings be well, and may they all attain perfect peace.

Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu

The Kannon Sutra, verse section

(2025 edition, with minor typo fixes)

Preamble

Original Chinese	Japanese Romanization
妙法蓮華經 観世音菩薩　 普門品偈	Myo ho ren ge kyo kan ze on bo satsu fu mon bon ge

Verse Section

Original Chinese	Japanese Romanization
世尊妙相具 我今重問彼　 佛子何因縁 名為観世音	Se son myo so gu  ga kon ju mon pi bus-shi ga in nen myo i kan ze on
具足妙相尊 偈答無盡意　 汝聴観音行 善応諸方所	gu soku myo so son ge to mu jin ni nyo cho kan on gyo zen no sho ho jo
弘誓深如海 歴劫不思議　 侍多千億佛 発大清浄願	gu zei jin nyo kai ryak-ko fu shi gi ji ta sen noku butsu  hotsu dai sho jo gan
我為汝略説 聞名及見身　 心念不空過 能滅諸有苦	ga i nyo ryaku setsu mon myo gyu ken shin shin nen fu ku ka no metsu sho u ku
假使興害意 推落大火坑　 念彼観音力 火坑変成池	ke shi ko gai i sui raku dai ka kyo nen pi kan on riki ka kyo hen jo ji
或漂流巨海 龍魚諸鬼難　 念彼観音力 波浪不能没	waku hyo ru go kai ryu go sho ki nan nen pi kan on riki ha ro fu no motsu
或在須弥峰 為人所推堕　 念彼観音力 如日虚空住	waku zai shu mi bu i nin sho sui da nen pi kan on riki nyo nichi ko ku ju
或被悪人逐 堕落金剛山　 念彼観音力 不能損一毛	waku bi aku nin jiku da raku kon go sen nen pi kan on riki fu no son ichi mo
或値怨賊繞 各執刀加害　 念彼観音力 咸即起慈心	waku ji on zoku nyo kaku shu to ka gai nen pi kan on riki gen soku ki ji shin
或遭王難苦 臨刑欲寿終　 念彼観音力 刀尋段段壊	waku so o nan ku rin gyo yoku ju shu nen pi kan on riki to jin dan dan ne
或囚禁枷鎖 手足被杻械　 念彼観音力 釈然得解脱	waku ju kin ka sa shu soku bi chu gai nen pi kan on riki shaku nen toku ge datsu
呪詛諸毒薬 所欲害身者　 念彼観音力 還著於本人	shu so sho doku yaku sho yoku gai shin ja nen pi kan on riki gen jaku o hon nin
或遇悪羅刹 毒龍諸鬼等　 念彼観音力 時悉不敢害	waku gu aku ra setsu doku ryu sho ki to nen pi kan on riki ji shitsu bu kan gai
若悪獣圍繞 利牙爪可怖　 念彼観音力 疾走無邊方	nyaku aku shu i nyo ri ge so ka fu nen pi kan on riki jis-so mu hen bo
蚖蛇及蝮蠍 気毒煙火燃　 念彼観音力 尋聲自回去	gan ja gyu fuku katsu ke doku en ka nen nen pi kan on riki jin sho ji e ko
雲雷鼓掣電 降雹澍大雨　 念彼観音力 応時得消散	un rai ku sei den go baku ju dai u nen pi kan on riki o ji toku sho san
衆生被困厄 無量苦逼身　 観音妙智力 能救世間苦	shu jo bi kon yaku mu ryo ku hitsu shin kan on myo chi riki no ku se ken ku
具足神通力 廣修智方便　 十方諸国土 無刹不現身	gu soku jin zu riki ko shu chi ho ben jip-po sho koku do mu setsu fu gen shin
種種諸悪趣 地獄鬼畜生　 生老病死苦 以漸悉令滅	shu ju sho aku shu ji goku ki chiku sho sho ro byo shi ku i zen shitsu ryo metsu
真観清浄観 廣大智慧観　 悲観及慈観 常願常瞻仰	shin kan sho jo kan ko dai chi e kan hi kan gyu ji kan jo gan jo sen go
無垢清浄光 慧日破諸闇　 能伏災風火 普明照世間	mu ku sho jo ko e nichi ha sho an no buku sai fu ka fu myo sho se ken
悲體戒雷震 慈意妙大雲　 澍甘露法雨 滅除煩悩燄	hi tai kai rai shin ji i myo dai un ju kan ro ho u metsu jo bon no en
諍訟経官処 怖畏軍陣中　 念彼観音力 衆怨悉退散	jo ju kyo kan jo fu i gun jin chu nen pi kan on riki shu on shitsu tai san
妙音観世音 梵音海潮音　 勝彼世間音 是故須常念	myo on kan ze on bon on kai jo on sho hi se ken on ze ko shu jo nen
念念勿生疑 観世音浄聖　 於苦悩死厄 能為作依怙	nen nen motsu sho gi kan ze on jo sho o ku no shi yaku no i sa e go
具一切功徳 慈眼視衆生　 福聚海無量 是故応頂礼	gu is-sai ku doku ji gen ji shu jo fuku ju kai mu ryo ze ko o cho rai

Conclusion

Original Chinese	Romanization
爾時持地菩 薩即從座起 前白佛言世 尊若有衆生	ni ji ji ji bo sa soku ju za ki zen byaku butsu gon se son nyaku u shu jo
聞是観世音 菩薩品自在 之業普門示 現神通力者	mon ze kan ze on bo sa bon ji zai shi go fu mon ji gen jin zu riki sha
當知是人功 徳不少佛説 是普門品時 衆中八萬四	to chi ze nin ku doku fu sho bus-setsu ze fu mon bon ji shu ju hachi man shi
千衆生皆發 無等等阿耨 多羅三藐三 菩提心	sen shu jo kai hotsu mu to do a noku ta ra san myaku san bo dai shin

In the coming weeks, I hope to post a couple more such chants from the Lotus Sutra, as they are popular both in Tendai and Nichiren communities in particular, and I am learning to chant these too.

P.S. Featured photo was taken by me at Zojoji temple in Tokyo, Japan, with an image of Kannon Bodhisattva wearing a crown that features an image of Amitabha Buddha.