Heart Sutra Japanese Pronunciation Guide (a bit irreverent)

[Souchi]

Hah, thank you, Jundo

Because our local sangha is AZI-based, we recite the Heart Sutra in Japanese. In fact, almost everything is recited in Japanese because the AZI seems to try to imitate the Japanese Soto Shu tradition very precisely. But because nobody truly speaks Japanese, it comes out as a mixture of French and German pronunciation

Gassho,
Stefan

SatToday

[Jundo]

Hah, thank you, Jundo

Because our local sangha is AZI-based, we recite the Heart Sutra in Japanese. In fact, almost everything is recited in Japanese because the AZI seems to try to imitate the Japanese Soto Shu tradition very precisely. But because nobody truly speaks Japanese, it comes out as a mixture of French and German pronunciation

Gassho,
Stefan

SatToday

My belief is that, of course, the Heart Sutra is not about language, and is all languages and no words whatsoever. Yet we recite it in our Sangha in the Sino-Japanese once a month or so during our Zazenkai and special days here at Treeleaf to honor Tradition and our roots. It is a lovely practice to learn the meaning, then forget the meaning (except in one's bones) and just throw one's whole self into the sound.

You cannot "mispronounce" the Heart Sutra, which is beyond all noise and sound, even as you mangle it all to heck. In fact, the Japanese (and Korean versions) are both mispronunciations of the Chinese! (The Chinese version is probably the earliest, and even the Sanskrit version is based on that). The Heart Sutra seems to be of Chinese original, although summarizing various bits and sections of some earlier Indian texts. That said, out of respect for Tradition, we do our best not to mispronounce! (Zen has lots of "can't make a mistake, do your best not to make a mistake" Koans like that.)

A "mantra" such as the one at the end, to have effect, is traditionally a kind of Indian incantation which sound based and is supposed to be exactly faithful to the Indian pronunciation, but the Chinese and others let that ship sail long ago, and don't even try. In fact, in my view, the real "mantra" of the Heart Sutra is not those strange " GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA" words at the end (mispronounced by the Japanese as GYA TEI
BO JI SOWA KA and the Koreans as "a-je a-je ba-ra-a-je ba-ra-sung-a-je mo-ji sa-ba-ha", and even modern Chinese is generally different from old pronunciations), but the power of Emptiness in the Perfection of Wisdom itself!

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Heisoku]

Sometimes words make a beautiful picture.

Gassho Heisoku.
Sattoday

[Meitou]

Sometimes words make a beautiful picture.

Gassho Heisoku.
Sattoday

Oh my, how beautiful is this! Thank you so much for sharing Heisoku.
Gassho
Frankie
Satwithyoualltoday /lah

[Heisoku]

Oh my, how beautiful is this! Thank you so much for sharing Heisoku.
Gassho
Frankie
Satwithyoualltoday /lah

Dear Frankie
You can download the pdf and print it. I've got a copy on the wall above where I sit.
Thank you for enjoying it.

Gassho
Heisoku
Sattoday/LAH

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[Troy]

That is cool Heisoku [emoji1374]


Sat2day

[Heisoku]

Gassho.

[Jundo]

By the way, just to show that this is semi-traditional, and the Japanese can be even more irreverent, here are a couple from Japan, old and modern. Many of the older items are head scratchers for modern people, but I see some funny ones. "Chi" is a word for a breast or utter in Japanese, so you will see a picture of two breasts (third column from left).



You might notice a fat belly, which is "Hara" in Japanese (first column on right) ...



And, of course, a scholar's paper on the topic ...

This paper is concerned with introducing iconic pictograph systems that were created by Buddhist
priests more than three hundred years ago to help illiterate people recite important Buddhist sutras.
These iconic pictograph systems did not imitate Chinese characters or their meanings, nor did they
utilize the available kana system of phonographs. Instead, pictographs were created that made use of
Japanese homophones related to everyday objects, such as household utensils, farming tools and body
parts, as well as making use of various metaphors, and even puns, resulting in pictographs that are at
once humorous and effective. The present paper will first discuss the importance of form in Japanese
culture, introduce the Heart Sutra and the notion of mantra, and then illustrate how the pictographs
could induce the desired pronuciation for reciting the Heart Sutra. And finally, there is a brief
discussion of how this pictograph-induced recitation of the sutra could be mantra-like in producing a
calm meditative state.
http://www2.ngu.ac.jp/uri/gengo/pdf/...vol2601_08.pdf

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Byokan]

Neat-o! Interesting. Fun! Cool.

Gassho
Byōkan
sat + lah

[Jundo]

Oh, I just noticed a funny one .... top picture, third column from left, three from botton ... Sa ... the sound of a dog peeing.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Meitou]

These are brilliant! What does that one at the bottom, three in from the right mean-the fat face? Is it toothache?
Thanks Jundo!
Gassho
Frankie
Satwithyoualltoday /lah

[Jundo]

These are brilliant! What does that one at the bottom, three in from the right mean-the fat face? Is it toothache?
Thanks Jundo!
Gassho
Frankie
Satwithyoualltoday /lah

Hou sounds like cheek in Japanese.

Gassho, J

StLah

[Washin]

Interesting stuff. Thank you Jundo!

Gassho
Washin
sat, lah pending

[Troy]

That is really cool! I love historical stuff like this


Sat2day

[Seishin]

Finally had chance to look at the OP and think this is great. Takes me back to learning Japanese terminology for Karate and Kobujutsu. Will have to study this now I've got the English version memorised.

As an aside, and extremely unlikely to happen but if this 60 something ever formed a band, what a great name FuZe would be based on Jundo's phonetic examples. Then sit back while folks try and figure it out.

Sat a while back

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