| ¡ü Concerning MODERN SIDDHAM-"BONJI" is a holy and magical
Sanskrit character, which came about in ancient India, but somehow survived
only in Japanese Buddhism and combined religion. Another name for it is,
"SIDDHAM" is a transliteration of, "SIDDHAMATRKA".
It is said that it was brought to China together with Buddhist sutras,
and calligraphically beautified.¡¡Although it is a word of foreign origin,
the possible reason why this unfamiliar character fitted in JAPANESE BUDDHIST
ARTS is perhaps because of the unique "beauty" of the Bonji.
It made a conspicuous figure last year, and was not been used only in
Buddhism, but also in the fields of design, and fashion. It seems like
it is a fact of matter that people from various countries have not been
able to ignore this character as it holds so important status in the tattoo
culture of Japan.¡¡The general recognition of the Bonji however, has not
been separated from the factors of Buddhism, and it is interpreted as
a "mere phonogram" exclusive to Buddhism... Isn't it pity that
it only stays in the Sanskrit expression, just as the Seed-word of the
Buddha? Well, that is what I feel. But I have found a way out of this
dilemma by using "foreign phonetic notation". I would like to
say here that it is this notation system-the "MODERN SIDDHAM"
that has revived Bonji up to the present. |
| ¡ü How the words are sorted in order-Although the notation order of Bonji
is in distinguished arrangements, it is quite an alien system to us. In
this book, we have allocated the consonants in alphabetical order so that
they could be easily understood by anybody, whereas, the order of the
vowels has been reset in the order of the Japanese (a-i-u-e-o) syllable,
because Sanskrit-Hindi vowels are very similar to Japanese. |
| ¡ü About the potential use of the vowel (a)-In my opinion, the most difficult
point about using the foreign-sound notation system is whether the vowel
(a)-the use of which is perhaps the greatest difference between Sanskrit
and Hindi-should be pronounced or not. Both Sanskrit and Hindi letters
in which no symbol is being used can potentially include this vowel. For
Sanskrit, it can be read as it is written, but this is not the case in
Hindi, where there are times when the potential vowels can be used to
complete the necessary numbers of syllables (For more details, please
check this CD).¡¡Therefore, we discriminate in this book, between the Sanskrit
recitation and Hindi recitation. Hindi of course, the Japanese denizen
and English will also be vocalized in Hindi. |
| ¡ü Concerning the nasal sounds-In Hindi, loanwords with nasal sounds
are usually notated as such with the consonant "n". But in this
book we use as much as possible the "Anusvara"-a nasalizing-sign
for loanwords. This is because the Sanskrit-ness is simply characterized
by "N" and "M" letters when written. However, in our
pronunciation, we actually choose the right sound automatically knowing
the letters that follow it. that is to say, it could possibly become n'/n~/n,/n
and m sounds in Sanskrit and Hindi characters, and it does not always
vary from the principle of nasalizing-sign.¡¡Also, primarily, it has been
said that the nasalizing-sign dose not get pronounced at in the end of
words, but since there has been much usage of it in Sanskrit, all "n"
sounds are expressed with the nasalizing-sign in this CD. |
¡ü Concerning the new vowel sound notation-Some new trends have appeared
in the notation of modern Hindi linguistics. An English word ending with
"er"[ ] is changed into "h,",
and much "Nasal vowel symbol" are used in order to express various
kinds of vowel sounds. If there trends come into general use in the future,
the MODERN SIDDHAM may also evolve to match them. |
¡ü About the new consonants notation-Since the consonant sounds also
express loanword sounds, the "Bindu" is being added on the sound
of the letters that have existed primarily. For an example, the letters
such as -"k,a[ ]/kh,a[ ]/g,a[ ]/j,a[ ]/ph,a[ ]-
are used in modern Hindi dictionaries, but in this book, the identical
letters in India -"v" and "w"- are written as "wa"[ ].
Ordinarily, "the"[ ] is substituted
as "da", and "tha"[ ] as
"tha", but in this book, the expression with the help of Bindu
-"d'a"[] and "th'a"[]-
are newly organized. Some people may consider using the traditional notation
system instead of using the new consonants, but indeed Hindi loanword
notation system and this book booth carry the same concept. |
| ¡ü Notation for English name of countries and people-The traditional
system that is being used in the Hindi dictionaries has been applied for
notation of the names of countries and places.¡¡When it comes to the names
of people, if there is any difference between the spelling and the pronunciation
for notating the names, there are 2~3 alternative notations with the same
spelling but a different pronunciation-It is up to you to pick the one
you like the most. In addition, the pronunciation symbols used in English
dictionaries has been used.¡¡Regarding the notation of "T" and
"D"-In Hindi, tongue sound of "t," and "d,"
is put as the "T" and "D" of English, the actual pronunciation
is similar as well. But in this document, details sound of "t"
and "d" are used, because of the Sanskrit-ness of the letter
shape, high frequency of use during the Sanskrit age, and to adjust to
the Japanese sound. But of course, there is no problem replacing them
with the tongue sound of "t," or "d,". |
| ¡ü Regarding the Seed-word-A "Seed-word" is mainly a "Bonji"
of all Buddhas in Buddhism that is written in a single letter of an ideogram.
|