Thread by @edwardW2

An interesting example of how Sanskrit mantras are chanted in China,
Although the mantras are transcribed with Chinese characters, they are pronounced very differently from ordinary Chinese

I suspect that the person who is reciting this may have some knowledge of Sanskrit phonology.

In any case, despite the very prominent role Sanskrit plays in Chinese buddhist ritual, at no point in history was knowledge of Sanskrit common in China.

<In any case if you are interested, what is being recited is a liturgy for transferring food to ghosts>

I have just encountered another video on the same subject where the monk explicitly states that the pronunciation of mandarin of the chinese version of the mantra distorts the mantra, leading to suboptimal performance...

His suggested corrections are found here
It would be interesting if anyone literate on Sanskrit can tell us if the pronunciation is any more accurate.

For reference here is the original:

https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1302263182229082114

That monk also notes that the *romaised* form of the mantra is what he uses, as it is closer to the sanskrit than usual Chinese version. Rather pleasingly, this "restored" pronunciation is in turn re-transcribed into Chinese characters that approximate its sound...

The monk notes that the sound written as "Ri" (but pronounced something like the english "Kit") in the sanskrit is absent in the Chinese language; hence the subtitles resort to writing it in Roman letters:

<it should be noted that the monk is lecturing on the very same scripture that Orzech translated above, the 佛說救拔焰口餓鬼陀羅尼經 Dhāraṇī Sutra for Saving the Burning-Mouth Hungry Ghosts.

https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1302263182229082114

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