Dharani pillar

[1] A distinctive style of dharani pillar developed in the far south of China, in modern Yunnan, within the non-Chinese kingdoms of Nanzhao (737–902) and Dali (937–1253).

In 1962 two Ming Dynasty Tangut dharani pillars were discovered in a village in the north of Baoding, where a Buddhist temple with a white, stupa-shaped pagoda once stood.

According to a Chinese inscription on one of the pillars, they were erected in the 10th month of the 15th year of the Hongzhi era (1502), and are the latest known examples of the Tangut script.

As an example, we can cite the Dharani of Great Compassion , the Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī (Chinese: 大悲咒 Dàbēi zhòu ), one of the most popular hymns of the mahāyāna Buddhism (the only one to be recited in Chinese-speaking monasteries (China, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Singapore), Korea, Japan[5] and Vietnam), which was carved not on an octagonal pillar, but on a monumental block of stone of rectangular shape, rounded at its top.

The stele was erected in 2005, in the grounds of Fo Ding Shan temple in Sanyi, Miaoli, on the island of Taiwan, in East Asia (see picture).

Ming dynasty octagonal dharani pillar, engraved with the Dharani of the Victorious Buddha-Crown , originally standing at the Temple of Azure Clouds (碧雲寺) in Beijing.
Tangut dharani pillars erected in 1502, now at the Ancient Lotus Pond (古蓮花池) in Baoding .
The Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī engraved on a stele.Temple Fo Ding Shan Chao Sheng in Sanyi Township, Taiwan. Erected in June 2005.