The Great Dharani Sutra is a copy of the Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī Sūtra, a scripture of Mahayana Buddhism, which is considered to be one of the oldest printed texts in the world.

[1] The Great Dharani Sutra was discovered in October 13, 1966 during repairs of Seokgatap (the three-storied pagoda) in Bulguksa which is located in South Korea.

Joseph Needham assumed it was made between 684 and 704, but since the Dhāraṇī Sūtra was translated into Chinese from Sanskrit in 704, and Bulguksa was built in 751, it is assumed that it was built between the two periods, and is considered to be one of the oldest woodblock prints (on hanji) in the world.

The text contains Chinese characters of Empress Wu which were used only when the Tang dynasty of China was ruling, so it is acknowledged to have been printed before Seokgatap was repaired.

The scripture which was largely prevalent in the Unified Silla period is the "Mugujeonggwang Daedaranigyeong (無垢淨光大陀羅尼經)" translated from Chinese in 704.

This scripture states that when building or repairing a tower, it is necessary to use 99 or 77 bundles of darani to put it in a small mud-tower and seal it in, which extends the life span and extinguishes all sins.

"The Great Dharani Sutra" means "a Buddhist text for a clean and luminous big mantra without the time of despair".

At this time, Bodhisattva (除業 障菩薩) made this Dharani to wash away the sins of the sattva and to extend life.

This has been criticized by Chinese and Japanese historians while other Korean scholars have advised caution towards the claims.