Phonosemantics

I've added an essay which introduces the subject of phonosemantics - the study of the way vocal sounds are meaningful. To my mind this is a very exciting area of linguistics which may provide insights into how and why mantras affect us. I serendipitously found Margo Magnus's Magical Letter website many years ago and almost instantly became fascinated with her research and it's conclusions.

There are a small number of linguists prepared to take the subject seriously and they are making slow progress in describing the phenomenon - an essential first step in understanding it! It is a minority interest, and progress is slow, because the major paradigm in operation in linguistics denies the possibility that individual syllables can bear meaning. Because it is held to be impossible, very few people are prepared to even examine and comment on the data. Such is the way of scientific revolutions!

Onmyoji - manga translation

I've been working with Patrick Honnore on transliterating some Siddhaṃ mantras in a manga comic called Onmyoji. It is well known in Japan and has even featured in two feature films, but this will be the first translation into a European language (French). It's work in progress and quite fascinating as the mantras appear to be genuine mantras. However in some cases I've not been able to identify the mantra. I'll post them here and would like to hear from anyone who can identify them.

• oṃ pa dmo dbha vā ya svā hā
• oṃ śu ri ma ri ma ma ri ma ri śu śu ri svā hā
• oṃ a mṛ to dbha va hūṃ pha ṭ svā hā (I think this is a Hayagrīva mantra)

Ring any bells?

Reading

The new page of readings on mantra begins to fill the gap on the theory of mantra. I present material from the scholarly literature on mantra, making the abstruse more accessible (I hope). There are now two essays on the reading page:

• What is mantra? - an overview of Buddhist mantra which looks at mantra use in different contexts: Tantric ritual, Mahāyāna ritual, and informal.
• On the etymology of the word 'mantra' - this essay presents both historical and traditional etymologies of the word mantra, and incidentally adds to the definition of what mantras are.

Some additions are already planned. In particular I want to re-present my original Wikipedia article on Phonosemantics - the study of how sounds affect meaning - which fell foul of academic orthodoxy some time ago. This is an exciting area for anyone interested in understanding how and why mantras 'work'.

Facebook

If you are into Facebook then I've started a Visible Mantra page there. Don't know what use it is except to help promote the website. It does have a discussion board where we might exchange views. I meet precious few other calligraphers so I'm hoping that others will de-lurk and make contact.

Mañjuśrī and Arapacana

I've rejigged the info relating to Mañjuśrī and Arapacana. I wanted to add some Mañjuśrī mantras and this would have made his page a bit unwieldy. So I have split off the material that relates only to the Arapacana alphabet onto a new page. I've added the Vagiśvara mantra, and one that I discovered recently on Glenn Wallis's website which is also related to Mañjuśrī's role as Lord of Speech. So now there are three pages to consult:

• Mañjuśrī and Mañjughoṣa - material relating to the mantra of the Bodhisattva
• The Arapacana Alphabet and it's history
• Meditating on the Wisdom Alphabet with reference to the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra