Dharma Realm Thusness

Most Chinese Buddhist Sutras, especially the Mahayana and Vajrayana Sutras, were translated into Chinese during Tang ( 唐 ) and Song ( 宋 ) Dynasty. The Chinese pronunciation in these two dynasties is very different from the modern official Chinese pronunciation ( a.k.a. Mandarin ), but similar to Cantonese pronunciation. For example, Sanskrit ‘Manjusri’ is transliterated to Chinese ‘ 文殊師利 ’, which pronounces ‘Wen-Shoo-Shi-Li’ in Mandarin, and pronounces ‘Man-Siu-See-Ley’ in Cantonese. We can do a syllable-to-syllable comparison here : Sanskrit Chinese Character Cantonese Mandarin Man 文 Man Wen Ju 殊 Siu Shoo S 師 See Shi Ri 利 Ley Li From the above comparison, we can see that the Cantonese pronunciation is closer to the Sanskrit pronunciation than Mandarin. Especially the starting syllable, ‘Man’ in Sanskrit was transliterated to the Chinese character ‘ 文 ’, which pronounces ‘Man’ in Cantonese ( same consonant & vowel as the Sanskrit ), and pronounces ‘Wen’ in Mandarin ( both the conso...

Cantonese and the Japanese Kanji system both preserve ancient Chinese pronunciation, as well as some important ancient Chinese features not inherited by the modern official Chinese, a.k.a. Mandarin. By comparative study of Cantonese and Japanese Kanji pronunciation, we can better understand ancient Chinese, and further more, better understand ancient Chinese literature and culture. For example, a double-character word - ‘ 目的 ’, is pronounced ‘Mok Dek’ in Cantonese, and ‘Moku Deki’ in Japanese. Here is a comparative table : Chinese character Cantonese Japanese 目 Mok Moku 的 Dek Deki The Cantonese pronunciation of ‘ 目 ’ is ‘Mok’, the ending ‘k’ is called a  Checked Tone  or an Entering Tone ( 入聲 ). This is an ancient Chinese feature preserved in Cantonese but lost in Mandarin. The Japanese pronunciation of ‘ 目 ’ is ‘Moku’, the second syllable ‘ku’ represents the Checked Tone ‘k’ in the ancient pronunciation of ‘ 目 ’. Why does the Checked Tone ‘k’ in ancient Chinese become ‘ku’ in...