Pronunciation of Zen terms

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  • Jishin
    Member
    • Oct 2012
    • 4821

    #31
    G-string



    Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

    Comment

    • Washin
      Senior Priest-in-Training
      • Dec 2014
      • 3827

      #32
      What an interesting thread.. Here in the Ukraine (and Russia too) folks pronounce
      the Zen terms kinda Eastern way, like.. "Ga-syo", "Dzen-do", "Dza-dzen", "Dzyu-Kai"

      Gasyo,
      Sergey
      sat-today
      Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
      Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
      ----
      I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
      and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

      Comment

      • Jundo
        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
        • Apr 2006
        • 40979

        #33
        Originally posted by Sergey Tsarenko
        What an interesting thread.. Here in the Ukraine (and Russia too) folks pronounce
        the Zen terms kinda Eastern way, like.. "Ga-syo", "Dzen-do", "Dza-dzen", "Dzyu-Kai"

        Gasyo,
        Sergey
        sat-today
        Well. Sergey, most of these "Japanese" words are actually modern Japanese pronunciations which are often quite different from how they were pronounced by 13th Century Japanese, who were mispronouncing Chinese words, many of which they learned from people speaking a local Chinese dialect, which words themselves were sometimes rough translations or phonetic attempts from Sanskrit or the like ...

        ... all now taught to you by an American guy with a slight New York accent ...

        ... in this "way beyond words and letters."

        Gasyo, Jundo

        Sat Dzadzen Today
        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

        Comment

        • Washin
          Senior Priest-in-Training
          • Dec 2014
          • 3827

          #34
          Originally posted by Jundo
          Well. Sergey, most of these "Japanese" words are actually modern Japanese pronunciations which are often quite different from how they were pronounced by 13th Century Japanese, who were mispronouncing Chinese words, many of which they learned from people speaking a local Chinese dialect, which words themselves were sometimes rough translations or phonetic attempts from Sanskrit or the like ...

          ... all now taught to you by an American guy with a slight New York accent ...

          ... in this "way beyond words and letters."

          Gasyo, Jundo

          Sat Dzadzen Today
          This is all interesting indeed.
          Thank you Jundo for clarifying this.

          Gassho
          Sergey
          ST
          Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
          Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
          ----
          I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
          and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

          Comment

          • Jundo
            Treeleaf Founder and Priest
            • Apr 2006
            • 40979

            #35
            Funny thing about the word "Zen" itself ...

            Back centuries ago both Japanese and Chinese were pronounced quite differently from today, plus there were all kinds of local dialects. The great translator "Red Pine" (Bill Porter) says that the Japanese word "Zen" is closer to how the Chinese used to pronounce the Kanji which the Chinese now read "Ch'an", especially in the dialect in which there was the most interchange between Japan and China back then (read page 3 here) ...



            So, we are actually closer to old Chinese in our saying "Zen" than most of the modern Chinese!

            And where does this "Zen" come from? zen (ch'an) is the abbreviation of zenna (ch'an-na) from Sanskrit dhyana, which simply means "meditation."

            "Za" means "seated", so Zazen is "seated Zen".

            Notice that Red Pine says "dzian" ... which looks a bit like Ukranian!

            Gassho, J

            SatToday
            Last edited by Jundo; 12-09-2015, 03:41 PM.
            ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

            Comment

            • Washin
              Senior Priest-in-Training
              • Dec 2014
              • 3827

              #36
              Notice that Red Pine says "dzian" ... which looks a bit like Ukranian!
              Yes, lovely.. I have also learned lately that Sanskrit and Russian have a lot of root words in common
              which is pretty interesting fact as well.

              Thank you for the link to the good book. "A Pilgrimage To China" is now included in the list for 2016.

              Gassho
              Sergey
              sat-today
              Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
              Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
              ----
              I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
              and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

              Comment

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