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Unimplemented idea for chanting

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:38 pm
by janMato
Been reading about chanting recently-- it's a sort of noisy meditation. In Nichiren Buddhism, they chant 2 chapters of the Lotus Sutra, specifically the Kumarajiva translation (middle Chinese, IIRC) transliterated (not translated!) into Japanese phonology. Then in the US, we chant the Japanese like it was English.

There is considerable controversy over if you get merit from chanting without understanding what you are saying. But lets assume that chanting, particularly for cultivating skills of concentration, doesn't require understanding and what makes for a good chant is that it is long & easy to pronounce. In fact, if this is the goal, then we'd want the chant to mean *nothing* and meaningful words to be removed. I get a mental speed bump every time I read hoben or nyorai because those are some of the only words I can recognize in the traditional chant.

Then toki pona to the rescue!

I haven't written the code for it, but I can image writing a toki pona chant generator that would create a long string of toki pona syllables, all toki pona words removed, have stress placed so you get a dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee- rhythm and would take 20, 40 or 60 minutes to chant.

Re: Unimplemented idea for chanting

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:08 pm
by janKipo
'on' and 'un' are immediate volunteers, especially in the nasalized-ending version. Practically the original chants, renewed. It would be interesting to see what chanting actual tp would be like.

Re: Unimplemented idea for chanting

Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 2:34 pm
by janMato
Round one of machine generating a long chant. Uniform distributions for picking consonants and vowels, 10% final n, phonetically invalid syllables removed-- all basic words that mean something removed. I didn't try to remove common proper modifiers. I didn't try to favor syllables that are easier to "drone", like "un" => "unnnnnn"

Observations:
It doesn't sound like a language because nothing repeats.
By experiment, I can say about 15 syllables on one breath, so line breaks every time I go over 15 syllables.
Has sandhi problems, i.e. words that end in n and next word starts with n or m. But regular toki pona has this problem too.

Say this Dhirani for long life or to solve problems with your dishwashing machine.
tome lilaka sumu lota ka pelu talen nuju
tasapi leme mupu tunko kapu tume tumina
sinkon nata nuso menu kumo poluko mewi pajalunla
mili sopo pukamila tepa me lijo jotu mumu
nile leka tolo lona lu nekusa pepo jumu
mowa ka masun jepi jasi weso siji kiso nosena
jilukon pujowame sowi sowa ke mope towi
joju kumenajen lo tumapa tuwi lusin pukin
kimi liki katosesa nensusuji nepontokuntu
jusukeluni niwe tepeje jinpale tume joso
namo wele muli juko solaji nesi take tala
tomu pensi jeki kuwi pane lipen tenkun nolamesima
neju maju sinwile welote sine kalokani
mumonjeme mala leni mapi kipe suko jona
jona kusepise pito munpa nimemutunki jiniju
lola lejo pimu kunu sosutoleke jila lipi
kone liweki sipi lolu tuje weku keku kulemuwinju
pilu winaso pewelukeme sime pasa posa
puwa kenu nonpo make tuwena miko jomu nepa
supo sose tasa soso wito majujilile loki
lonjo najosenen lulanija pela pelu jensa
situ nelu nuke juli lanose loju lale nankonpi
jonka lesu jesa nutawewe likun nene mome
lalesu peke jole ki lene sokutusu winte
jinlon limu numo maneji winpo noni ton jomeko
mata momo tolun lutosiliki maton muwi wese
lajesi lisenankemi lenkuju ponle lajaji
lena lese kajoseni simon nije jesen kiwa
niju mupe tuto wapi wije jusi puwe pipa
te senji ki lin kotunwisuma teme towe kowe
nota panli nale lanli minli tulu mete kano
natu siponteki mujen nise lukanu menilun