In a recent class, we were learning the Vajrasattva mantra. During the break, somebody asked how the Sanskrit word vajra becomes benza in Tibetan pronunciation. I typed these notes on the screen. Notes about Vajra > Benza Vajra in Tibetan script, i.e., Badzra. Va jra – V is not really V. It’s usually a W or a B. Nepalese and Tibetan people understand it to be a B in this context. Ba jra – J is not really J. In the Tibetan alphabet there is a Ch row and a Ts row of consonants. This Sanskrit J is spelled with the Tibetan letter that we write (in Roman letters) as DZ (which is in the TS row – TS TSH DZ NY). Ba dzra – so, badzra is a completely legitimate spelling
My friends who are trying to decide how to spell mantras that are coming to us from Sanskrit through Tibetan script are frustrated about when to use the letters B, V, and W. Here are the troublesome letters: Chart by Drimay. Part of the issue is Tibetan and Indian pronunciation , but another related issue is the evolution of our alphabets .
I'm reading a book about a time traveler. It makes me wonder abou t this question I had on the table: " How to decide what to practice ." Don't our doubts about Dharma practice stem from not knowing whether it's going to give any results? Not knowing how it's going to turn out? We are told by our lamas that the process of transforming from an ordinary being into an enlightened being takes many lifetimes . His Holiness the Dalai Lama wants us to be willing and prepared to practice for eons, and not to ask how long it will take, like a child on a car trip, "Are we almost there yet?" So what am I expecting? To be able to jump into the future to check whether it's working? How am I supposed to know whether something that takes more than this lifetime is working or not? I am imagining myself jumping ahead 10 or 20 years , or maybe 2 or 3 lifetimes, and looking back to the causes that I am creating now. What will I deduce? And yet, here I am "jum...
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