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Some more thoughts on Buddhist Japano-Chinese recitation

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Thinking some more on the recitation, I realize that while in modern Japanese lengthening the CV syllables to CV̄ causes massive mergers of C(y)o with Cō syllables, C(y)u with C(y)ū syllable and Ce with Cē syllable, if we go back to early middle Japanese, those issues are not there at all.

Modern day Japanese /ō/ derives from a shocking number of different sequences: au, apu, aũ, waũ, ou, opu, oũ, eu (> yō), epu (>yō). None of them, however, would have been homophonous with a short /o/ that was lengthened to [ō].

The same is true for /ē/ which either comes from ei or .

ū likewise can come from ipu, iũ and .

As /ī/ and /ā/ don't really occur in Chinese nor Japanese vocabulary, lengthening these would not lead to big disagreements either. I thought it'd be fun to reconstruct the Heart Sutra in early middle Japano-Chinese pronunciation, with the short syllable lengthened to be metrically equivalent to Middle Chinese CvC syllables. So here it is:

仏説摩訶般若波羅蜜多心経
bussetsu(busset?) mākā  pannyāpārāmītā sinkyaũ

観自在菩薩
kwanzizai bōsat

行深般若波羅蜜多時
gyaũ zin pannyāpārāmītā zī

照見五蘊皆空
seu ken gōun kai kuũ

度一切苦厄
dō issai kūyaku

舎利子
syārī sī

色不異空    空不異色
siki pū ī kuũ        kuũ pū ī siki

色即是空    空即是色
siki soku zē kuũ kuũ soku zē siki

受想行識           亦復如是
zyū sau gyaũ siki yaku bū nyō zē

舎利子
syārī sī

是諸法空相
zē syō popu kuũ saũ

不生不滅 不垢不浄
pū syaũ pū metsu (met?) pū kū pū zyaũ

不増不減
pū zoũ pū gen

是故空中無色
zē kō kuũ tyuũ mū siki

無受想行識
mū zyū sau gyaũ siki

無眼耳鼻舌身意
mū gen nī bī zessin-ī

無色声香味触法
mū siki syaũ kaũ mi soku popu

無眼界 乃至無意識界
mū gen kai          nai sī mū ī siki kai

無無明 亦無無明尽
mū mū  myaũ     yaku mū mū myaũ zin

乃至無老死   亦無老死尽
nai sī mū rau sī yaku mū rau sī zin

無苦集滅道
mū kū zipu metsu(met?) dau

無智  亦無得
mū tī      yaku mū toku

以無所得故
ī mū syō tokkō

菩提薩埵
bōdaisattā (bōdisattā?)

依般若波羅蜜多故
ē pannyāpārāmītā kō

心無罣礙    無罣礙故
sin mū kē gē       mū kē gē kō

無有恐怖
mū ū kū pū

遠離一切顛倒夢想
on rī issai tentau mūsaũ

究竟涅槃
kuũ kyãu nē pan

三世諸仏
sansē syō butsu (but?)

依般若波羅蜜多故
ē pannyāpārāmītā kō

得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提
toku ānokutārāsanmyakusanbōdai

故知般若波羅蜜多
kō tī pannyāpārāmītā

是大神呪    是大明呪
zē dai sin syū      zē dai myaũ syū

是無上呪
zē mū zyaũ syū
是無等等呪
zē mū toũ toũ syū

能除一切苦   真実不虚
noũ dio issai kū sinzitu pū kō

故説般若波羅蜜多呪
kōsetsu pannyāpārāmītā syū

即説呪曰
soku setsu syū watsu

羯諦羯諦波羅羯諦
gyātei gyātei pārāgyātei

波羅僧羯諦菩提薩婆訶
pārāsoũgyātei bōdī sowakā

般若心経
pannyā sinkyaũ


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