蜜多 is the second part (the third and fourth characters) of 波羅蜜多, which is the Chinese transliteration of पारमिता/pāramitā. 蜜 (pinyin: mì) is the Chinese word for “honey”. It can also be used to refer to the color of honey, or to anything that is sweet. It is made up of three characters stacked one […]
Category: chanting
波羅蜜多, Part One (how to write पारमिता/pāramitā in Chinese characters)
So far I’ve done the first four characters in the first line (the title) of the Heart Sutra in Chinese. The next four characters comprise the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit पारमिता (pāramitā), which is 波羅蜜多. Just to make sure we are all on the same page, here is the first line of the Heart […]
般若: How to write प्रज्ञा (prajñā) in Chinese characters
The first two characters in the Heart Sutra are 摩訶, which is the Chinese transliteration of महा (mahā́), which in English means “great”. The third and fourth characters are 般若, which is the Chinese transliteration of प्रज्ञा (prajñā), which in English means, more or less, “wisdom”. But actually it’s best not to assume that prajñā […]
寫經 (Sutra Copying)
寫經 (pinyin: xiě-jīng) literally means “copy sutra”. Koreans pronounce it as sagyeong (사경). In Japanese Buddhism it is pronounced shakyo. And to keep us on our toes, the Japanese use two different Chinese characters: 写経 (don’t ask me why – but the first character, 写, is the cursive form of 寫, and the second character, […]
南無阿彌陀佛 (Homage to Amita Buddha in Chinese Characters)
Transliterating Sanskrit with Chinese characters is pretty interesting. Here I’ll look at one significant example: how to write “Homage to Amita Buddha” in Traditional Chinese characters. First up is “homage”, which can also be translated as “bow to” or “take refuge in”. The Sanskrit for this is नमः (namaḥ) or नमो (namo). This is transliterated […]