February 25, 2009
Six Beat "Namu" Daimoku
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo with 6 beats, 南無 (Namu) gets one beat. Namu is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit Namah written with kanji, pronounced using the 音 (On) reading. This starts out very slow. then speeds up a bit. It is a pace of about one Daimoku = 8 seconds.
Namu : Faith and Wisdom
Myo : Concentration; Meditation
Ho : Effort; Vigor; Energy; Enthusiasm
Ren: Patience; Tolerance, Forbearance
Ge : Ethics; Morality
Kyo: Generosity; Sharing
The Six Paramitas
Here is another one, with a faster pace, one daimoku = 4 seconds:
Posted by rbeck at 12:00 AM
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February 24, 2009
The Shorter Shikan Meditation Manual
The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation
This is a translation of the 修�'止観坐禅法要 {Shuju shikan zazen hoyo}or {xiu-xi zhi-guan zo-chan fa-yao}. Literally: Discipline Learning Calming Insight Sitting Absorption Dharma Key. It is also translated as The Dharma Essentials for Cultivating Stopping and Contemplation. It is also known as 童��止観 {Domo Shikan} or Beginner's Shikan and 小止観 {Sho Shikan} Cula Samatha-vipassana or the Little Shikan. Chih-I composed four main Shikan manuals; this one is for novices.
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February 09, 2009
Does a Dog Go Moo?
We had a discussion about a the meaning of 南無 {namu} at SGU. Kanji script are pictographs. Since Chinese is picto-graphic, it is was hard to translate from Sanskrit; which is a phonetic language, the meaning is in the sound. Chinese is also a difficult language to express abstract concepts. So concepts are expressed metaphorically. In order to render Sanskrit concepts into Chinese, translators would often just trans-liter-ate. So such words are Sanskrit loanwords or borrowed words; they are not Chinese. Fifth & Sixth Century translators used some random kanji, then pronounced nan and mu; nan 南 & mu 無 to trans-literate the word Namah. In modern Japan, these would be read 南 {nan or minami} literally means south; 無 {mu} means not, no, un, in, etcetera; it is a negation. Read literaly, 南無 is south not; which is meaningless.
In other words, the 'mu' sound in Namu means the 'mah' part of namah, nothing more. It does not mean not when used there. The translators could also have used 牟 {mu}; which can mean moo {a cow utterance} or the pupil of the eye. These make hilarious puns for koans. "Does the dog have a Buddha Nature? 無 {mu} [no]!" 牟 {moo!}? For the meaning of Namu, please look up नम {Namah}, नमो {Namo}, नमस् {Namas}, and नमस्ते (Namaste). For literal transliterations into kanji, please look up 歸命 {kimyo}, 敬首 {keishu}, 敬礼 {keirei}, and 合掌 {gassho}. m(_)m.
Some do try to read meanings into the kanji used to write Sanskrit loanwords. This was once common in some Kokugaku influenced Shinto-Buddhist fusion circles of Japan. It often involved homophones or puns, plays on meanings, contrasts between kun and on readings, and so on. For example, iirc, Mahalala was identified with Okuninushi because the kun reading of his transliterated name sounded similar. Part of the kokugaku motive behind that was to remove foreign Vedic & Chinese elements from Japanese Buddhism; to turn it into Shinto. They were seeking Shinto names and concepts to predate and preempt the foreign influence. To me, it generally has about as much merit as reading the English word "car" in to karma. My karma ran over your dogma. It is humorous; but there is no linguistic value. Kumarajiva was a serious scholar. I doubt he was playing pun games with transliterations. To do what some claim, he would have had to know changes in readings and meanings that post date him.
Transliterations were also used for proper names. 
Kumarajiva used 4 kanji 釋迦牟尼, pronounced -- Sha Ka Mu Ni -- to trans-literate the Sanskrit Shakyamuni. Literally, that means "explain ka pupil {of the eye} nun." or else, "explain ka moo nun." The kun reading is something like "tokuka moo-ama." 迦 {ka} is likely an onomatopoeia for the sound jha, jia, ga, caw, or ka -- an utterance. 牟 {mu} can be the pupil of an eye, or an onomatopoeia for the cow sound "moo." So, we could say it means "Explain [why the crow] caws [and the cow] moos [when they see a] nun."Another translator used 釋迦文尼 Sha Ka Mon Ni. That literally means "explain ka sentence nun." 文 {mon} means sentence, in the literaryn sense. It is also a term for art, literature, and literary style. "When the nun's literature was explained, she said 'jia!'" <_,<).
Kumarajiva used 4 kanji 釋迦牟尼, pronounced -- Sha Ka Mu Ni -- to trans-literate the Sanskrit Shakyamuni. Literally, that means "explain ka pupil {of the eye} nun." or else, "explain ka moo nun." The kun reading is something like "tokuka moo-ama." 迦 {ka} is likely an onomatopoeia for the sound jha, jia, ga, caw, or ka -- an utterance. 牟 {mu} can be the pupil of an eye, or an onomatopoeia for the cow sound "moo." So, we could say it means "Explain [why the crow] caws [and the cow] moos [when they see a] nun."Another translator used 釋迦文尼 Sha Ka Mon Ni. That literally means "explain ka sentence nun." 文 {mon} means sentence, in the literaryn sense. It is also a term for art, literature, and literary style. "When the nun's literature was explained, she said 'jia!'" <_,<).
At any rate, a serious Hokke Shinto scholar person; one who I generally respect, tried to tell me that the kun reading and literal meanings of 釋迦牟尼 mean something. That conversation went south real fast. My brain turned into mush. While some of his work is good, that part seemed contrived at best. (;_;) He also proposed that "south not" ~~ rather than Namah ~~ was the correct meaning of 南無 {namu}. iirc, he explained that 南 {nan} or south means Jambudvipa, which is Japan =:0, and 無 {mu} or not means emptiness? So Japan is the empty space from whence the BoE emerge? Something like that. (ò.ô) He also defended the Nichiren as True Buddha Doctrine; by saying that 天照大神 {Amaterasu Omikami / Tensho Daijin} was the original identity of Nichiren and Shakyamuni. That evidently is because the Vedic meaning of Vairochana is "the radiant one" and 天照 {Amaterasu} also means "the radiant one." The radiant one or heavenly light is the sun, and Nichiren means Sun Lotus. That proves it! :-/.
Posted by rbeck at 01:39 PM
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