Maṇḍala of 'a'

Page Update.

I updated the Acala Vidyārāja - Fudō Myōō (不動明王) with improved calligraphy and an additional decorative hāṃ seed syllable (left)

Page Updates

First page updates for a long while. I've added some better calligraphy of the basic alphabet and to the combining vowels.

I have to add some more pics of conjuncts.

Siddhaṃ and Maṅgala = Success and Luck.

As we know, after a certain period Buddhist manuscripts begin with the word siddhaṃ. It is this practice which lead to the script that developed after the Gupta Empire to be called Siddhaṃ or Siddhamātra. In Patañjali's Vyākaraṇamahābhāṣya (Great Commentary on Grammar) composed about 150 BCE, he says explains why this word was emphasised:

maṅgalārtham . māṅgalikaḥ ācāryaḥ mahataḥ śāstraughasya maṅgalārtham siddhaśabdam āditaḥ prayuṅkte . maṅgalādīni hi śāstrāṇi prathante vīrapuruṣakāṇi ca bhavanti āyuṣmatpuruṣakāṇi ca . adhyetāraḥ ca siddhārthāḥ yathā syuḥ iti . (I.6.26 - 7.2)

For the sake of good luck (maṅgala). A superstitious (māṅgalika) teacher begins his great, extensive treatise with the word "siddhaṁ" to bring good luck. For treatises with a lucky beginnings spread (far and wide) and produce men who are heroic (vīra) and long lived (āyusmat). And those who study [that treatise] will accordingly achieve their goals (siddhārtha). 

In a Buddhist context the Buddha is said to have been critical of those who were māṅgalika, but was not beyond making accommodations with the customs of superstitious lay people. See my essay Gesundheit! Making Accommodations with Custom.

Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā 1.1

na svato nāpi parato na 

dvābhyāṃ nāpy ahetutaḥ |

utpannā jātu vidyante 

bhāvāḥ kva cana ke cana ||

Not from self, nor from other, nor from both, or for no reason;

Are any beings found to arise anywhere.

~ 

Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā 1.1

śūnyatā

sunyata, a photo by jayarava on Flickr.

Got my calligraphy pens out for the first time in ages to do some words for a new internet project.

Dhāraṇī vs Pidgin

"Words from early-stage pidgins consist largely of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, with few or no articles, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, or pronouns. As for grammar, early-stage pidgin discourse typically consist of short strings of words with little phrase construction, no regularity in word order, no subordinate clauses, and no inflectional endings on words." Jared Diamond. The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanazee p.142. 

 Cf this dhāraṇi from the Saddharmapuṇḍarikā Sūtra:

Anye manye mane mamane citte carite same samita viśānte muke muktame same avishame samasame jaye kṣāye akṣāye akṣaīne śānte samite dhāraṇī ālokabhāshe pratyavekṣāṇi nidhiru abhyan taranivishṇe abhyantarapāriśuddhi utkule mutkule araṭe paraṭe sukāṅkṣaī asamasame buddhavilokite dharmaparīkṣaite saṃghanirghoshaṇi nirghoshanī bhayā-bhayaviśodhani mantre mantrākṣāyate rule rutakauśalye akṣāye akṣāyavanatāye vakkule valoda amanyanatāye svāhā.

Diamond's description of early-stage pidgins is a pretty good description of the strings of words found in dhāraṇīs. Make of that what you will.

Yet Another Heart Sutra Ms.

Click to Embiggen

This is the Heart Sutra manuscript I'm currently working on: Cambridge Ms. No ADD 1680 - part of a large bundle of leaves. It's probably from the 13th century which makes it one of the oldest Heart Sutra ms. still extant. It's written in black ink which is faded in places, on a talipot palm leaf. The writing is one the Nepalese 'hooked' scripts (probably Bhujimol I think).

Unfortunately the first page is missing, but it is still an interesting specimen. It's been very difficult to decipher at times - one has to look for familiar landmarks like 'evaṃ' or 'prajñāpāramitā' and then deduce from there, though in the end I wasn't guessing most of the syllables.

This is not one of the basic mss. that Conze used in his 1948 Critical edition, but he does cite it in the 1967 versions - albeit somewhat speculatively at times. He refers to it as Nk.

Another Heart Sutra

Another Heart Sutra - 20th century, Newāri script. Black in on paper, with red ink decorations. The image in the centre is a four-armed Prajñāpāramitā.

I'll be leading a day of study on the Heart Sutra on 30 Dec at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. 10-4. All welcome.

Heart Sutra.

ADD 1485 open. Heart Sutra., a photo by jayarava on Flickr.

I spent the day transcribing the Heart Sutra found in this manuscript. There really are more than one Heart Sutra - and more than the long and short text as well. This is a variant on the long text.

Ca. 1677 CE. Gold ink on black. Ranjana script. Approx 24 x 7.6 cm. No title. Contains the Heart Sutra along with other dhāraṇī texts (which is where we mostly find the HS in these ms.s). This ms is unusual in that it expands the contractions we normally associate with the HS.