taigu "Jason Cox"

taigu "Jason Cox" 
Lip-bun hiann,

You are obviously right about one thing-- the Taigu reading of the heart sutra is not colloquial speech, is not Taigu grammer, Taigu syntax, even normal Taigu vocabulary.

But basically, some of this early Buddhist literature is semi-classical (wen-yan-wen) and doesn't belong to one dialect in particular. Naturally, like many religions appealing to the common masses, the Buddhist translators also threw in some region's colloquial vocabulary.

And when the sutra is chanted at a temple, especially a temple in Taiwan, an untranslated version is frequently read outloud in Taiwanese (or so I have been told). This may not be the most effective way of reading it, this may not be the best-sounding way, but it is convention.

--Jason
  


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