Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
What is a language one might learn if they are a Buddhist?
DaftChris
Spiritually conflicted. Not of this world. Veteran
If you're Jewish, you might learn Hebrew.
If you're Christian, you might learn Greek
If you're Hindu, you might learn any number of Indian languages.
What are some languages you might learn if you are a Buddhist? If it helps, I'm deeply interested in the Vajrayana school.
If you're Christian, you might learn Greek
If you're Hindu, you might learn any number of Indian languages.
What are some languages you might learn if you are a Buddhist? If it helps, I'm deeply interested in the Vajrayana school.
0
Comments
Simply because a religion springs from a specific location, there's nothing to say that the language of origin is either a must or a given... As I heard one gentleman (seriously, recorded, on film!) say "If English is good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!"
Language is immaterial. Practice is vital.
Japanese, Sanskrit, Tibetan... I think people tend to look at "how many years will this take" and then make a decision of whether or not they want to attempt it -- but why? Why do things that way? If you really want to see the view from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro one is not going to sit at the foot of the mountain and cry about it being a long hike -- where's the sense in that? Rather, if you're interested in learning a language, just get right down to it. Look for cheap classes in your area and take some -- languages are literally alternate modes of thinking/viewing/conceiving of the world and its contents, so to wonder whether it's worth it or not is like wondering whether or not it'd be useful to invent an airplane or rocket ship before knowing what it's capable of
Languages are fun! And awesome! And I would encourage everyone to try and wrap their head around at least one language that isn't their mother tongue, because if you practice for a few days you yourself will notice changes, a few weeks and it'll go up, it'll go down, and in a few months you won't have noticed any changes, because they are so ever subtle, but you will be able to hear and recognize new sounds, and structure your thoughts in new ways, and perhaps eventually come infinitely close to the notion that thoughts and thinking, that contemplation itself happens at a deeper level, beyond the structure of language.
Not to mention that the best techniques for language retention and learning new words/vocab are something one has to explore on their own. There are many "I guarantee you can learn a language this way supa dupa fast!" products that might work, might not -- and real techniques, like the genuine ones that do work, are usually stated in such a straight-forward and simple manner that we are likely to doubt their efficacy until we try them ourselves and see the results. This is just like reading about Buddhist practice, it's essentially a new language of the heart and mind like @how said. Most people don't view it that way, and never get very far in their practice, and even people that view it that way get obsessed that they are the only ones that can view it that way, and subsequently actually go backwards in their practice...
Language learning takes discipline, motivation, and a general curiosity and willingness to discover unknown bounties in a language (and therefore an entire Culture!) different from the one in which we are already snug and cozy.
It can always sound like a big commitment, what if I told you you gotta wait 7 years to be a grown-up from when you're 12 years old? SEVEN YEARS? BUT THAT'LL TAKE FOREVER UGHH oh wait it just happened. The time is an illusion at best, it's really just about setting your heart straight and knowing that the reward will outweigh the investment by a factor of [inconceivable]. The parallels to spiritual practice are numerous and it is all about self-betterment, accustomization, training, reflection, meditation to some degree... Honestly, confront it with an eager attitude. It's like thinking about going to a new planet where there is sentient life and whole new ways of communicating -- the earth can seem pretty "small" and connected if our windows into it all look the same (television and media, despite the wealth of information available, tend to narrow to our cultural values over and over)
Anyway, that's just my thoughts on it. If anyone reading is curious to learn a new language, even something like the Buddhadharma, mastery does not come from picking up a few translated materials and identifying typos -- it comes from an initial yearning to live it and breathe it, to open your eyes to a whole new world that, although "already there" was invisible, imperceptible.
Dogen says Zen practice is like walking through fog. You put in enough diligent practice with the motivation to improve and understand (and most importantly in Buddhadharma a will-to-the-truth and an altruistic attitude to help others) -- perhaps you won't notice getting wet but walk through the fog long enough and you will get soaked [in its dharmic goodness]. Language learning is kinda like that.
That's all I gots ta say. Now go out there and become citizens of the world already!
It's nice that you're excited about languages...and I really mean that. But not everyone is. And if you have a heart condition, as I do, you may be left at the foot of Mount Kilamanjaro and cry about it, but there are always others pleasures in the world you can enjoy. Languages are not fun and awesome to all people. I struggled through high school French and hated it. And just because I took French didn't mean I actually learned a thing about French culture. Now, when I started visiting Thailand regularly, and then living there, I had a real desire (and need) to learn some Thai language. That did open new doors for me. But it was the being there that taught me a whole new culture, and picking up some of the language just made it more enjoyable.
I'm not knocking your excitement at all. But I like geology and photography and... In other words to each his own.
In Islam, one must learn Arabic as it is the language of the Qur'an and Jannah (Paradise). It also serves to preserve specific cultural norms that have existed since the time of Muhammad. As Buddhists, we do not have or need a language such as this. Because Buddhism is based more on a philosophy than strict religious tradition, which makes it extremely adaptable, there really was no need to preserve a sacred language (at least for lay people).
One could argue that sanskrit could be considered our sacred language, since we do still use sanskrit terminology. However, in my opinion there is nothing sacred about the language. We merely reference it if there is no equivalent for a term in our own language or because it's easier to use in certain situations (like chanting). Chanting "gate gate paragate parasam gate bodhi svaha" is a little easier than it's English equivalent.
For example, I feel a really strong pull towards Medicine Buddha. Lama Zopa put out a translation of a short Medicine Buddha practice, and I was lucky enough to find the original Tibetan pecha copy in my uni library. There is a lot of repetition in Tibetan texts, so even though the beginning is slow, by the time you see "chag tsal lo" (homage to) for the fourth time, you realize you know it
I consider it a form of meditation...going through the pecha slowly, word by word, already knowing the practice somewhat so therefore I know what I'm reading in general even if I don't know every word yet. And they say that the consciousness understands these blessed words on some level even if the conceptual mind doesn't feel like its processing them yet (that's why you can read the Bardo Thodol instructions for the dead to the person who's passed away, and it doesn't matter what language you read it in or what language they spoke during their last lifetime).
However beautiful a translation from one language to another, something is always altered, and it's very rich to approach the same text or passage from multiple translations and even languages--it can definitely deepen one's understanding of the spirit of the passage, in my experience. You could start small--maybe just a short, treasured saying, for example, and see how it goes. There are so many original texts/translations available online now!
Our human brains are designed to absorb language rules, and generally one learns them most effectively by not separating and analyzing them. That's how many three-year-olds automatically know that since "dogs" and "cats" is pronounced "dogz" and "cats," "frogs and bats" probably follows the same unspoken rule. Some adults do prefer and relish analysis, though, so if that's your thing, go for it!
I would guess in a Buddhist contexts that languages would be Pali, Sanskrit, maybe Japanese.... I think it really boils down to if you're interested in it or not.
Hilariously, the above reads like someone who is learning English
I was particularly interested in languages becoming extinct. And the conversation about whether or not all languages need to be preserved. I was kind of torn between preserving the history aspect of it, but also thought that it's better to have more widespread languages that facilitate more people being able to communicate with each other.
And I can totally agree that it's not very interesting to learn, say, Swahili and just hang out in suburbial Wisconsin... the whole point in learning a new language, at least if you ask me, is to eventually immerse yourself in that culture and learn the heart and mind of a different group of humanity .. We really all are one big family, but the way Aunt Joe and Uncle John, or the way Cousin Tanaka-san might talk about world issues, get ready for class, or pump up for a soccer match will be different ..
Cultural homogenization is good in that everyone gets an up-to-date access pass to all the published and media materials available in (English) .. but what if there is more valuable knowledge than something like physical chemistry, and yet a whole culture that holds this knowledge gets wiped out in the process?
Shrug, I studied Japanese for many years, and it's a beautiful language. I studied Arabic intensely for a little while and I can definitely verify that language learning gets easier as one goes on... Honestly, I think it can open up a lot of untapped human potential by bringing us not only into a different way of organizing thoughts, but also into a deeper ... more visceral sense of what it means to be a human.. a being with unlimited creative potential... The routes we use to talk about stuff can, to a certain extent, shape the flow of our actions and personalities.
For example, and this will sound unlikely and perhaps impossible to most Western readers, but there is no such thing as Sarcasm in Japan. If you go to Japan and eat something way unhealthy like KFC and say "Oh man this is sooo healthy yum" people will stop, look at you, and be like "um, actually I don't think it's all that healthy..."
There is a word for "sarcasm" -- hiniku - and nobody can explain it, because it doesn't really make any sense in that culture - being non-genuine is such a foreign concept (no pun intended). When I got back from being immersed in that culture for a little over a year I no longer felt like sarcasm was even fun, and I felt rather genuine ! People in the states were usually taken aback, which is another interesting side effect of cultural blending...
as usual this post has no coherent thought in mind, just some words I thought someone somewhere might find interesting ^.^
Let's bear in mind that @DaftChris is interested in learning a Buddhism-related language for reading, not necessarily for speaking. Some people simply do not have an ear for language, and struggle with languages in school. This wouldn't be a factor for D-C, necessarily, since his focus would be language for research/scripture. Even so, Chinese (or Japanese) can be challenging because of the characters. It's not a finite alphabet-type script, the combinations of elements in the characters are endless. People who have a good visual memory, more artistic types, do well with Chinese. On the other hand, even those without such inclinations (yours truly), have managed to make quite good progress with written Chinese, so anyone can do it, as sova said-- one step at a time.
@RebeccaS Russian is actually relevant to Buddhism, because of the Buddhist cultures in Russia. MA programs in Inner Asian Buddhism require Russian, in fact. Much has been written about Buddhism in Russian, and there are old Buddhist texts available in Russian. Knowing Russian, you could someday travel to the Mongol areas of Russia, and experience those cultures. Tuva and the Buryat Republic are pretty cool, and the scenery is breathtaking. The people are wonderful. There's a Tibetan Medicine institute there, and an institute devoted to studying Buddhism, and a Buddhist museum, IIRC, that you could visit, as well as temples and monasteries everywhere. Some people have old Tibetan texts in hidden closets at home, left over from when an uncle or grandfather-monk was taken away to the gulag. These are fascinating regions.
I thought this map http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/#/3/-20.418/12.420/0/100000/0/low/mid/high/unknown was interesting.
And there's also a concern where language actually results in prejudice against certain groups. For example, it's not uncommon for a central Thai person to meet a Thai person who speaks the Thai-Lao dialect, and later say, "Those people are so nice. The most friendly people in Thailand. And so dumb!"
But as I said earlier, I'm torn between wanting to preserve history and culture, but also wanting people to be able to communicate fluently.
It's sort of like my view of the preservation of historic buildings. Being old doesn't make a building historic and worth preserving, in my view. But if it is a building that is truly historical, then we should do everything we an to preserve it. I think some of these languages are similar in that regard.
For a taste of exotic culture, with a little Buddhism thrown in, and an opp'ty to practice your Russian, see the film "Genghis Blues", about a blind jazz musician from San Francisco who teaches himself Tuvan, and travels to Tuva. Fabulous film, very heart-centered. Available from Amazon.
Modern Cantonese, Taiwanese and other more conservative dialects do preserve a lot of these Sanskrit sounds, on the other hand.
For example:
Sanskrit: Namo ākāśagarbhāya oṃ ārya kamari mauli svāhā.
Taiwanese:
Early Chinese: nom
Mandarin: Nán-móu ā-jiā-shě-jiē-pó-yé, ǎn, ā lì, jiā me lì, mù lì, shā hē
南牟%
I'd found a better, simpler example which was:
Sanskrit: Buddha
Taiwanese: Bud
Mandarin: Fu
But Tibetan is not very easy to learn, and there are not many who teach it.
There are some teachers (mostly Westerners trained by Tibetans, and now qualified to teach) who stick to English.
Not my karma to have one of them, apparently. But despite the difficulties, my teacher is an excellent example of how a Buddhist reacts to life around them, and an example is worth ... a lot, just from observing him. I appreciate the rare opportunity and good fortune to have a qualified teacher.
Even if one doesn't get to the point of reading fluency, it doesn't take too long to be able to at least transcribe the Tibetan into Wylie, for example, making it easier then for a deep translator to do his/her work. One can be part of the process that way, serve a great purpose, and still have some of the thrill of discovery