Unimplemented idea for chanting
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:38 pm
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.
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.