eRe Buna fi SL ah anskrit Lessons [Editor's Note: The English part of this lesson was originally published in Issue 21, December 1972, of Vajra Bodhi Sea.) —VBS is pleased to publish the fizst in a new series lessons in Sanskrit based on Buddhist texts. Samskytam: This is the title (above) written in the English alphabet and also the Sanskrit name for the Sanskrit language. The word samskrtam falls into two parts: sam-and kréam. Sam- is not a word on its own but contributes the idea of ‘together’ or ‘complete’; krfam means ‘made’ o: ‘done! Samskrtam can have two meanings: 1. Made together’ or ‘made up’; and 2 ‘Completely made’ or ‘perfect’. ‘The first meaning, ‘made up’, can in turn be explained in two ways: a. Made up’ or ‘ertificial’ in contrast to Prakrtam the ‘natural’ spoken language; and, b, ‘Made up’ or ‘put together’, because, acording to the Indian grammarians, Sanskrit is assem- bled from root syllables and other parts of words. Although Sanskrit was the dassical literary language of ancient India, people also spoke many other languages in their daily lives. These dialects varied depending on ‘where a person lived, and on what class he belonged to in society, At first Sanskrit was not universally used. But by the time of the great debates between the leamed Buddhist monks and the externalist philosophers of the Dharma Image Age, Sanskrit had become the stendard language for the writing and communication of ideas. GEPTY by Bhikshuni Heng Hsien Hea RERMGEE Siidde + ACRESCRR SE SCL Se BL FRE AT > dnio72 1278258) FASATUE © ) LAPEER ATE RS « HARE Samalqtam Dh FFM LIK © Sampskrtam 24 — (iia AGTE-OEOAAI MEE EUR krtam Hla eOUiat senk » Ar LA Sapsketam =] 1) BBs 2) EMRE ° ABEL ROY GES TRE —) ERENT A « BEE BBS Pritam CHER BK ABR e CREA HN > fA BNGHUEHT ER HE Al nes Bene © he SHITE S 48 BLAH (6H EERE CONE APRA SIT Fl > TES (CFG ANBRE © HA) 7 RATGRE > HE HAN LADNER FGA HERI RETA AACR LES GRE 1997 40 ASanskrit can be said to be ‘made up’ o ‘artificial’ in the sense that, while spoken languages are constantly changing, at one point the sounds and shapes of words in Sanskrit were very thoroughly described by grammarians in terms of rigid rules. ‘These rales were rigorously followed in speaking and writing Sanskrit. The language was not allowed to change, and so it could be said to be ‘artificial’ while the popular languages were ‘natural’. Sanskrit is an Indo-European language, which is to say that itis very closely related to the languages of the West such as Greek, Latin, Russian, French, or English. Sanoksit and English belong to one family, while such languages as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean belong, o another different family. But if you look at Sanskrit very closely, you see it is pervaded by words and ways of speaking thet come from more native Indian tongues, and by ways of the popular speech. So one may even say itis ‘made up’ of ‘put together’ from these, Its, then, called Samskrtam, ‘made up’ in conteast to Prakyfam which means ‘natural’ or ‘original’. Pra-means ‘first and Aytain, as before, means ‘done’ or ‘made’ This explanation then considers the Prakrit languages as the ‘original material’ from which Sanskrit is made, By Prakrtam or Prakrit we mean the many local popular dialects used by people in their daily lives. It is just these which were spoken by the Buddha and the Buddha's disciples. In fact the Buddha specifially instituted the Bhikshus not to put the teaching into one fixed and elegant literary or recitation form, but to teach in the languages people normally used. Later when Sanskrit was also widely spoken it qualified as a popular language. Pali, the language in which the Ceylonese Buddhists wrote down the Buddha’s teachings for the Small Vehicle, isa very old Kind of Pralkrit which was converted into a literary language when the Buddha's teachings were written down, The Small Vehicle teachings were also recorded in Sanskrit, and in Sanskrit we have as well the Great Vehicle Sutras and Shastras which the Small Vehicle lacks. The second meaning of Sumskrtam is ‘completely made! ot ‘perfect’. The ancient Indians were not especially interested in the historical development of Ianguages. For them Sanskrit was given by the gods just as it was, ancl was the most perfect of languages. In fact, they said, if someone spoke some other tongue, he wasjust trying to speak Sansiart but it came outa little strange. And so, including all other languages, how could Sanslerit be less than perfect? Don't you want to study it? \Prakrtam is, of course, a secondary derivative as the long 4 shows. ‘The related word pmakrtimeans ‘nature’ or ‘original substance’ October 1997 Vaira Bodhi Sea SPAT CAE BE ACTS RAE RBCK >) ERB HAASE © SCR MPSS ABO iol — AE 8 ASN A: THWART REBT GRE» ATS » PLA SALAS a) TASHUSEN MBAR TER Wa ° XMAS PPE AU tlh > ATT OC > > RMR ARAL AY > AEDES Ei lao orp SHAE SC + HIRST Ps Jk: eR, EXSRAAS a BE MUMMERS BGG) ° AIRE GE Samskrtam Flas Pralertam S663 AAD, Be UZAY ROG) + krtam ERE emaR [HE] © DL Pealgtom OTe ERIE © Prakylam AEBS ACE DHE iS EAA ARS A 2 ERIE AOR AATEC © TA ELORE SS Ad it I ae TRALEE CHK EBT EES | Teac ek WERTRCLAT ISN © CHE Prakrit HVE EA eft Teas ieee + Praloit at Je BCR i SRT RE DIRATATNY & 7 ARBAB 1 JE 1 Prakram FIA 8 FRCS IES ° BE SF prokrt BB AM ORB © 35Sanskrit Lesson #2 aaa FE SL wh by Bhilshuni Heng Hsien LR ENS IF 3 'God-city writing’, devandgari, is this Sanskrit lesson's title. Deva means ‘gad! or ‘divine’, and nagartis'city’. Originally this was just an adjec- tive, a word describing the noun /ekhd ‘writing’, but gradually people just said De- vanagart and everyone knew they were talking about the script or alphabet in which Sansleit was written. We leave it to our readers to discover which city of which gods In ancient times Sanskrit was written in many alphabets, and now it can be written with the letters we have inherited from the Romans. But since the Sanskrit system distinguishes more sounds than English does, we need to add dots and long marks to the Roman letters, or write what is one letter in Sanskrit with two of ours. Devanagari also differs from the Roman alpha- bet in taking the syllable, rather than the individ- ual letter, as the basic unit. Being used to writing, we are able to divorce letters from sounds, The ancient Indians, however, inchiding the early Buddhists, were not in the habit of reading and writing, but would learn texts by heart as they heard them recited from others. Consequently they were far more aware of the sounds of lan- guage, and mew perfectly well you can't pro- nounce a consonant, for example a k, without at the same time saying something like ‘Kal or ‘k/ o: ‘kal, You have to say a vowel or there's no sound. Therefore the Indians called vowels ‘sounds’ (svarah) and consonants —_'manifestors! (vyaffanani), because consonants allow you to make finer distinctions between the vowel sounds. RAZH devanagan FE REE > Deva BABMMUER » Nagant Biers (AER © ASB A | WAL deka CBR) (MBIA MIRAE devanagart 7 AS BATE WOT MAK ° BU AWS EU lamb TIRH © SHEERS TES BM RAR BREET DAUR © (UE HO HORCERURERR » DLR WH RRL > Fie LGR AIET Devanagart SUE GEA RIE » CAEL HORE MEINERS - LIED AGES AB DeEIEA — ~ AEE RRT AAUCREDLAteaeSieny » MACZIAGESE + DAMA PSE ak » ea LRA ARTS Ale —We o Hed KF RA ERT (VEE Wn be, Ki, BR ku, PRSBBELY Hh RARER « FALIEDIE NI OS (svarah) 1 FER ARH ( vyanjanani ) © PAF RMU ED NE MM LT ER mI ER © SRR 1997 118When we say the names of the letters we use fo write English, we are not always giving the sound they have in actual words. The letter c's called something like 'see’, but when it is used to spell a word it's often pronounced like a Kas is the first cin the word consciousness—and what about the second ? In Devanagari on the other hand, every written letter corresponds +o. sound (there are no silent letters), and the sound is always the same as that used in naming the letter. In the Devanagari alphabet the sounds are listed firsi, and then the manifestors. Sanskrit Vowel Sounds RUE E + A (ere naat ee AOR RH HARA © bean TC 4 > Fels "sees > (DEB CRF ANS + BR Ky Bo BiB FRA — lll TC > RET HV 2 Ze devanigart APTA © BASHMAAS > MF PEAeSM Fi ARTA REA RIE] ¢ Devanagari FEM IHE > BTA EBT E ° FASE SErl Aa a aiirrf | Pe uniform sounds FA is the first letter of the alphabet, pronounced like the ‘a’ at the end of Buddha, This 'a' sound is considered the basic one from which the others come, and in fact, when people make neutral’ sound with no special meaning and no special muscu- lar effort, they end up saying ‘a’, Any consonant in Sansktit is understood to be pronounced with a following 'x' unless: p> some other mark is added. For example, our & is always read ‘ka’; this is a syllable and not just a letter. You find a syllable every time a vowel appears, and the surrounding consonants are just marks or adornments’ of that vowel. A syllable in Sanskrit is called aksaram, an ‘imperishable’, some- thing that does not decay. “Ah!” you say, “because it's ‘put together’ from these aksaza is another reason it's called Notes: S yaifjana ‘consonant’ is the same word used for the Buddha's 80 minor charectaristice ‘Samskrtam, which is Sanskrit for ‘Sanskrit’. See Lesson #1, VBS #329. It elso means ‘perfect’ or ‘complete Test your wisdom (and attention to this lesson) on the Sanskrit sentence written in two alphabets here below: eai o au bl T composite sounds FT errsos wee een 6 ay 14 "Buddha s NOFA ° MBIA Tay FE maxis - MAREE OE SMES LORRY 1571 BOA TES» ROSH [as FR oH {LAY > nS Lhe BREECH + AAAUERAS EER ay & BRE © teas & hs Ska HORE MERLE ok) Fae 1 7Re IE © ABET LSI wea + BH Se RS RLMELMLER akoaram BR AMEE. = (OR CWE MORE MAH MMMM S - REAR RET ad: (—) (CME 2 vyahjane SE AGT RNA (=) Samskrtam fi — MH LE EIR Ee & ROE > A SRY WER © FM IMERRG MEER HMiEEE? Aa ha FePAR FRO Samskrtani Buddhasvaravyafijanani November 1937 Vajra Bodhi Sea 41ae Po Ho Bodhi Field Sanskrit Lesson #3 Caete feat by Dhikebni Heng Hsien ESRB IESE Chinese translation by Shikshuni Heng Yipee This Sanskrit lesson discusses Svarangavibhakti, “The Division into Sounds”. Lesson 2 described the Devanagari script in which Sanskrit is gener- ally written. In this issue we will introduce the Sanskrit vowels. The Avatarnsaka Sattra says of the Bodhisattva on the Seventh Ground: Although he's firmly intent upon the un- utterable, the noiseless, voiceless, and natu- rally—still Tathagata voice, nonetheless he strives for realizations which will adorn this purity by dividing up all sound in separate parts.! The Bodhisattva of the Seventh Bodhisattva stage realizes that the Buddhe’s voice is apart from anything said or any sound. But he, while never losing sight of this, nevertheless at the same time goes ahead and discriminates the pure Bud- dha sound into separate sounds, and doing so he makes it concrete and actual, This practice, far from being a defilement, further ornaments the purity of the Buddha's sound. The letters of the Devanagart alphabet even look like ornaments strung along a cord, and the sounds they represent are clearly distinguished. It's not 2 case of one letter being pronounced one way in this word and another way in that, Even if we're not Seventh Ground Bodhisattvas, we don’t want to be sloppy and confused in our sounds discriminations. Learning the Sanskrit syllabary helps us become more aware of sounds and where they come from, and the very order of the alphabet helps us describe those sounds. The last Sanckrit lesson introduced the four- teen Sanskrit yowels. Here they are again with their approximate pronounciation: Note: 1. Anabhilapya-rute-ghosa-apagatam ca praktidaintam tathagataghosam adhimucyate/sarva svara-afige-vibhalti- visudldhy-alamka sabhinirharam ca abhinicharati Daa bhamila-cotea 74. Deceinber 1997 Vejra Bodhi Sea re NIA Svariigavibhakti BELO: BORE ANES TT + TET AA CASS & CHER) LAUR CAVE tf eA SHOR TARE EL > ROT » MME — DARE THAT ENP ° 4 SCHR | USAR AVA RLS ME TSS Hh ARMIES > SLUSH < MEET ARs + STRATES © FEK Devanagan WEED» ABLES EER LASSE SAT AVE ABM © IB: + 48 SAAT > AER RIEBINS L > Me DUNE Cite he (EDN BEE PUGS AR SMEETE - BE RKLSRAB DEMAND BAS A L s tee eRe TBR» ADI “LSS LEE WERMIEMR EAS > does SIH © In last estes Sanskrit Lesson #2, the list of Sans ‘Vowel Sounds on page 11 wes missing thetwa vowels uand a. The complete isis given below, MESH (H.00-—F) Sansbrit Vowel Sounds JERR) oH 2 OAL © Simple (Uniform) Sounds AMES PRRESTS tl aeiiuanas T Complex (Composite) wtada eai o au 39Simple Sounds 22 = ‘a2 the ‘a! in ‘about! a |e Bein Vatout y thay Fay SL [a |as the ‘ein father Hein CTahers PENT ey + B | 7 [asthe ce’ of ‘teen’ said fast apeiin “toon chit Cee, + (HaReHNRETOK © B | 7 [asthe ‘ee’ in teen’ aeerh0 "toon, ohity Fees © 3 | w [asthe ‘00’ of ‘moon’ said fast Bein Toon , AHH) Foo, + AREF HATAD « BH | a [asthe ‘oo’ in ‘moon’ Bye Tmoon s HHH Too, = a | or (as ‘ti’ said fast with tongue tip curled back. | Se "ri, Yr (HST Fe | F [as ti’ tongue tip curled slightly back, | 4 Tri # > (HBESTGEH « T | J tongue asbefere, say Z BE, > BUBH > @& | / |isnever found, but ‘should exist’. Weer AAR > (BKEATUCET < All these are pronounced with a single, uniform pure sound, unlike English vowels which glide between one sound and another. The long vowels in Sanskrit, such as 4, I, 0, take twice as long to say as the short ones, but they sound essentially thesame. Complex Sounds #2 LHe RE — Be > MRE + he BERS MRMR aM [4 i, 0, SEER R— (SALES StHaN « TL | © [asin‘day’;isteally ai said together fast. [aaa "day y +0 Tay 5 FERYE a Ai SFeARRTNRMY © TU | af [asin aisle’, +1 together Bein Caisle HY Vai 3B a AD He BY | © [asin ‘go's is 2+ wscid fast. Bin go, hey Toy: Ea Aw FAMMTIORRET « ait asin ‘out’; made up of 4 +u eho Touts PAY ous + aA uA RLY Quite sensibly, the letters go from simple to complex, and within each group the letters go in order, starting, with sounds produced in the back part of the mouth, and working towards the front, Thisis the order used in Sanskrit dictionaries and in indices to Sanskrit works, If you know the place in the mouth that each sound comes from, you den’t need to consult a pho- netic chart-just check your mouth, Between the vowels and consonants are found two other letters: RSA FRUEBSE > MENA PPD = Sere EOP IBD > Be HARRELL | FAERIE ° WERT SRAM —ABS » FRM ze ARORA eat T EET ELMAR * nasalizing the vowel before it, «|B | visarga, a kind of puff of air, only found | visarga» BRE» WEARS > REE ‘ at the end of words. Rik m |anusvara, ‘after-sound’ amounts to lanusvara RE) CEEGTZ E> REC ‘to be continued 40 SHR Suess 1997 F125‘Sea Bodhi Fleld Sanskrit Lesson #3 (Continued) by Bhikshunl Feng Fisiet LEEA Chinese translation by Bhikshoni Heng Yi YAN PAE % ie The arrangement of the consonants, or mani- FARE (vyatjonant) GEL festors, (vyafijanani’) is similiar to that of the (USAGE) SRE vowels. There are five different types, all given ~ below: Manifestors (consonants) -SRane 38 >t att Stops +4 ® ka © kha Wca B cha gta S tha ata Q tha U pe pha J ba Yobha} Wma Semi-vowels G3 aya tm Gh Gra Sibilants at |Aspirate At Zsa Bsa Asa | @ ha This completes the Sanskrit alphabet or syllabary. CLERAPARRSCHE - waa When it comes to writing actual words, these gn, SSEE-P ELDIATGIIE-RMUR © Te letters turn up in shortened versions which we'll“ ayseamaereesrnig 2 Chai ates H) discuss next time, and that’s when we begin to Pane StEE Co eae ee read The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sot in Mi * RUNES > Rei e GHEE the Sanskrit! Until then see if you can figure out HEL TAR + these words: FATIH FUER =) Tar January 1008 Vajra Bodhi Soa 37A a - 38 SPURT Bodhi Field Sanskrit it Lesson HA bby Bhishumi Heng Helen LEERY Chinese wanslation by Bhikshuini Teng Sukhavativyaha Layout of the Land of Happiness Sukhavativyaha is the short title for The Budalha Speaks of Amitabha Sttra' There are two Satras by this title, one Jong and one short, Weill read the shorter one, of a length convenient to memorize and chant The Siitra describes the Western Paradise of Amitabha Buddha, which is called in Sanskrit Farad sukhaves, the land possessing happiness’, or ‘the land of ultimate bliss). °§8 Vyahe means 'a setting forth’, ‘a disposition’, or 'g layout’, In other words, the Sitra tells how the Land of Ultimate Bliss, Sud/ndvaii is laid out and arranged. If one recites this Buddha's name, saying con- stantly Namo'mitabhabuddhaya, Homage to the Buddha Amitabha, he can be rebom in the Pure Land Sukhavaii, and witness for himself the splen- did adornments described in this Sutra. The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Stitra was spo- ken by the Buddha without anyone's request. But, you say, we always heer: Dharma does not arise of itself; The Way is not practiced in vain. In general, because the Buddhadharma is spoken to meet the needs of living beings, someone must ask to hear a given Siitra before it is explained, The Buddha spoke the Amitabha Sutra although no one had acked for it because no one knew anything about the principle of its teaching, so no one could request it. Previous lessons have described the sounds and vniting system for Sanskrit, Now we will lock at these sounds in more detail. The unit of discrimination in Sanskrit is the syl- lable, or aksara, ‘imperishable’ which we've been learning to write. The title Sukhavativyaha di- Sukhavativyaha "BRL Sukhavativyatha F2 (HR PLGRE) ( —) ZARA « LA RRA» — B-e: RERAMeSE AS RAKIM « CE—) JACM SBE BES AR + AE HEX. LB s BEBE + PEER ASEESI & RAT CHALE» ICES BEL UALS LAMBA EA Bho CUBERIFTSRBEAR) > OAS + {EL SRY DUNE RR RMI Rae RENE Sh BERBER LUA EAM HAE aksora eli eavides into six aksaras represented by six letter-units: & su; GW kha; F va; a In Sanskriteach vowel counts for one syllable, and the surrounding consonants ‘adorn’ that vowel. The let ter sis given as the syllable @ sa. Tf you want to write just s alone, you must add another mark: 4. . The after any consonant tells you not to say the a vowel you would normally pronounce. To write sa or ka or any consonant plus a, you just write the letter and don't need to write in the vowel a, because the vowel ais « natural past of the pronounciation of each consonant. But if the vowel is other than a you add a small sign which represents that vowel. In the alphabet, the fourteen Sanskrit vowels are written as full letters. Those large forms are only used when you write the letters by themselves, or when you write a word which begins with a vowel. Other wise, after any consonant, you use the shortened forms shown below: mye ta fi yi vu oa Sy eT al a] Here is how you write the letter ® ka with these various signs Ska ka ke fF Ki Cop #lko Fu F ka Be ke ke 3 Ml The same signs are acded to any Sanskrit consonant, Consequently in the sutra title 4 sais the letter of the alphabet, and adding uwe have @ su. @ kha hasan additional |, 4, to become @ kha. 4 vaand B ha have no extra signs, for a is understood. tt # hasthe sign T swhich makes 4 tainto 4 $id Rk Febniery 1993 Vaira Bodhi Sea & kai al kau HRT © ARIA Suthavaavyahe SHR S + ui; CAvyt; & ha. SL: RSet RoE Tee TAOS BRINSIFH s+ Rea e—(e Bhi FT sa MRNARRES s > EBSA Fiala Ao AF ERS PER RL RAPRM LES os WS co KR ka (EF SHES o>) RS bP IER IT NP EM Lit a AG af2elT Fame Anes BS > LIRA 2 > RUBE DT EB Ee RTE ie! PRX ERE) BES EARH STS ° LeVNES PACS MEE FSF o MROLET EZ: Hh (2 We) ALSACE aD Bt ne a ai ye au (e ai, 0, au, are all long sounds.) (@ ai, 0, au, PBR) ~ shows no vowel follows, RNILA ES e CLF RLL ka FERS ARTA (HE) Note that ise but ke 2 isaf but # kat ee Ue ke ee Baie ai 2 FASB CGN) > WUEESAAIA © pF POMEL A so FHORIE MLL uy BEAM BS You > ha ER | LER RI ns +8 va Al © hoy RHR 0 i Tr LUE A oo ates The a7In the syllable = vya however, there is no vowel between the vand y. You might think this should be written v plus Y ya But 4 v by itself can't be pronounced, for no consonant can be said without a vowel (just try). The 4 vactually relies on the G of J ya to be pronounced, leaning heavily on the J just as pictured in the writing: ©] wa. Therefore, ® valoses the support of its vertical line | and at the same time loses its a vowel, and is directly attached to the 4 ya and is written OY This is the principle followed in writing all combinations of Sanskrit con- sonants when no vowel falls in between. We say it's a consonant cluster when two or more consonants clus: ter or group up before a single vowel. The cluster is a single syllable and is written as one unit: 7 vya The Satra’s title then consists of six sounds written, ag six characters or units. It is made up of the two words sukhavati ‘land of bliss’ and vyaha arrangement’. These two words together form one phrase and the phrase as a whole has one meaning ‘layout of the Land of Happiness’. This is one analysis of the title You should now be ready to decipher these words from next issue's lesson: aA: TAS » “is {1 when a consonant follows it with no vewel in between; F stands for jf Answers to last issue's test: Avatamsaka Tathégata Bhagavan Notes: 'Comtesponds to the title of the Chinese translation of this sittra, Sanskrit Buddhabhasita-amitabha-sttta, done by the ‘Venerable Kumarajiva whose biography appears in VBS £23, An English translation of this Sutra from the Chinese by Upésake 1 Kuo Jumg is found in VBS #9. The Sanskrit text will follow the Mulle-Nanjio edition, Aneccota Ox- oniensia, Aryan Series, Vol. I, Fart Ill, Clarendon Press, 1883. “The merit from memorizing and reciting this Sutra is in- conceivable and it may be used to cross over departed friends and relatives to a favorable rebivth 38 PERU wa v Aly ZA S + OLR BGR Le mk A ya AR v ieee 2: RAR + FRAN ( (oT DLE) mv SELEY vo bh a RB SHO ‘emeaeatade Ay P08 + DAORIMPREE IND PZ eyo SALT va RCAC ATASRAERR | > (AE oh abe + EMSS Aya b> eae OL EMT ELE © cB Zit > AA LA ee RB AMBLER T GE EE tert + PILL Pome TY wae AGMA AR + Baie aC AM + ch Fink Sukhavair (ERE ) vyche ( HSE) amare —a aN + oh ARAN © HALAL RERE FWA a: aaa <° g Ur See eROOR TERE SE jfae ERASE Avatamsaka Tathagata Bhagavan OE + (—) CORRPTASEEE) + MBBEREt Atiieh Fe aca ee Ps ABZ AMET SRB CARRE + HRI ° RAMONE SCALE Maller-Nanjio G5NBAS » Anecdota Oxontensia, Aryan Series, —ftH=A6(F Clarendon Press, 1883 ° (=) ALRITE A ORR 1 FEDUBE = ARlaeheiy 1998 4:2 41Sanskrit Lesson #5 SAR by Bhikstuni Heng Hsien He FREI BE $C Chinese vanslation by Bhikshunl Heng Yi FREES He Namah Sarvaifiaya "Namo to the One with All Knowledge" Last issue's Sanskrit lesson introduced the Siltra’s title: FRAASYE Sukhavativyaha, "Layout of the Land of Hoppiness" Now we will read the invocation 7:54 Namah Sarvajfiaya, "Homage to the One Who Knows: ‘All’, Namah, 'homage' or ‘reverence’, literally means ‘bowing’. Itafers to taking zefuge and returning the life in worship. Because 77: _namah, has so many meanings, it generally is not translated at all, and the Senskrit word iiself is used. When you go to 2 Buddhist Temple, what- ever the language of the ceremony, you will hear the word Fl namo used frequently: Namo Buddhas of the ten directions. Namo Dharma of the ten directions. Namo Sangha of the ten directions. This namois the same word es namaf: Looking the word up in the dictionary, you will find it written 7¥€Qnamas. ‘These three ar ell the same word. By now you've probably guessed: the Sanskrit writing system is designed to represent as closely as possible the actual sounds people say when they speak. Whether you speak Sarskeit, English, or Cantonese, the end of the word, 1s especially likely to be influenced: by the sound with which the next word begins. The two Sounds may even merge to form one sound. Sanskrit writing always indi- cates this change in pronounciation. And so, depending on what sound follows, we write 77) nano, 77 namab, or FAA namas. In most cases, however, the sound changes to the form 7A} namo, which is not the ‘original’, or dictionary form, but just the form into which the word most frequently changes. This change occurs not only March 1988 Vajra Bodhi Sea Namah Sarvajitaya te — 8 LACT aerate RAL HL, CRIN ATER, ok tg, TEAST WRIK-WSS > namah BBS) eR FL EV StEUE HEFF, thabeie aaa) > KT: ARGEL: BA LRTMR AME - AD PRs TSE TH etn » A STEA! Al 2 RISER IEE» EP = namo} namah 2A) 1 $8 LFS RL SAA namas © 38 = (FRE > SLE aT S| LUAE > RNS RAR) RE TREE ANUS VASE SE + FC BS» FOI ES RT REE MT TR MATRA HS ERM SSE HR EDS UGY - LLM T ES A namo, TA! namah, 3 TATE namas» RTT ABBY WRT TA namo (me) MERE REA FRE LOE (LCM LARA MED > Be names FSGS BSR > WAH IATR «EMME AEN « BRPHE ramas (HAF MMIOS + TRE MEGHILE (BERR namo TE names, MFASIRVE » LIER ewe ea AAS « LLasyS FA namo RR ERTT FOS + TK ees SiR o PURRRE hs SOKA CIR RIMEEaNy 35‘with namas but happens often with other words as well, and can be said tobe regular feature of Sanskrit When borrowing mamas into another language, you might expect the dictionary form to be used. But because namoand not nauzias is the form most often heard, that form of the word most naturally becomes an English or Chinese word. Then instead of changing the pronounciation of the borrowed word, namo, according to the sound which follows it, as in Sanskait, the one form 7Al namois used in every case, thereby conforming to the grammatical rules and inflectional endings of English and Chinese. But in Sanskrit itself, before a word beginning with @ it is pronounced namah\. This accounts for the form in Namah Sarvajftaya. GARIT Sarvajtaya means 'to the All-knower', to the Omniscient’. The All-Knowing One is the Buddha. Before beginning the Satra we worship and take refuge with the Buddha: What you don't know he knows: ‘What you've not figured out he has; What you don't see he sees Sarvajfia-is the''stem’ or dictionacy form of the word. Is the ending dya then 2 sound change as we had in nama ebove? No, this ending show's how the word is used in its phrase, and is a mack of its function. In English we say ‘to’ the All- Knowing One; aya represents the English ‘to. Homage, namah is ‘to! the Buddha, we bow ‘to’ the Buddha. In reciting the Buddha'sname, the phraseis Tl S FRIPRIGH amo mite bhacbucidhaya. This is made up of the words THE, namas, SAPAM Amitabha, and FG Buddha, The final -as of namas and the intial 2 of Amuiabha combine to make one sound 9, but the words are still two separate words Between ‘Amitébha and Buddha there is no sound combination even though the two words are joined to make one word, You cart tell this has happened because the function marker aya is placed only after Buddha instead of after both Amittbha and Buddha as would be the case were they separate words. So the translation of Namoimitabhabudihaya is “Homage ¢o the Buddha Amitabha.” If you can recite this with one mind in porfect sincerity, the YS of FATA unfolds before you, and yousce the Buddha Sa. Noes Practicing, you will hear how the + of ranias ean’ be fully heard shen pro- neurced before another word sshichbaginewith s bat ends up akkind of pu fir ‘which written 9g thelotier A Ix English we cheat and say ake of zbeorean § bein heanzcoande- 2 the Venerable Mastee Hevan Hans loco on Natinal Master Cling Liang’ commentary tothe Avatarscals Str, June 35h, 1972 This ithe dative, zu objet, case 36 FRA (RERRT-OP FH s CRB namah’ (EEBE@S Namah Sarvajfaya > WS Sorvajfaya SOB DERM LOVE + CERUIZ BNE » FRAME EIC Ba fe AoitL th PH 790 SEAR Uh HH BAR eae (AR) MRE (ARR) 0" Sarvajha- ZFV BES (AR) ees LAI BD PERSE aya BAW namah 4$RE BRR SKIN? 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