=]=]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]=he=]y "Jayarava" ..... this is the most uplifting ...motivational .....eventful...blog Ive ever read....(to b honest am not a blog reader.. so its a bit ironic but yet enlightening to the fact that i am here reading and commenting your pg....) WisdoM is a very important key in life....and u my man have just clarified that to me 1 step further with your thoughts..... im an up and coming artist ...with aspirations of gaining respect and wisdom all around the world... b4 all this happens (knock on wood)...lmao....i will like to get in contact with u Jayarava...... my email is .... ZACBXSAYZ@aim.com
hope to c u or here about u soon ....your N.Y.C fan.... Zacarias Steven Berrroa Arias
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Anonymous said...
Jayarava,
Thanks for this post. There is very little on the net about this subject. I find it fascinating. I had known dhi to be Manjushri's seed mantra, but didn't know it was also Prajnaparamita's, and with a tantric meaning to boot. First question is, do you know of any affiliation of dhi to the other important female deity Tara?
Then, do you know if the dhi in bodhi has the same meaning? If so, could it be bo=awakened and dhi=perception such as 'awakened-perception'?
Appreciate your scholarship and will venture to look further into your blog. Best wishes.
I'm glad you found this useful. To answer your questions:
I'm not aware of any connection with Tārā - her bīja is tāṃ. तां
The potential connection with bodhi was imaginative but I'm afraid it doesn't pan out. First it's dhī (long ī) and bodhi (short i). Second the dh in bodh comes from the verbal root √budh 'to understand, to wake up' - bodhi is an action noun (where the root vowel undergoes guṇa to become o - c.f. my post on 'oṃ') meaning 'understanding, awakening'. √dhī is a verbal root meaning 'to think'. As above it can be used as a noun dhīḥ 'thought etc'. A secondary form is √dhyā from which we get the word dhyāna 'to meditate' - especially in the sense of concentration or samādhi (and before you ask the dhi in samādhi is something else again!). The upshot is that the two words have no etymological connection, though of course in order to experience bodhi, one must meditate.
If you can get hold of it, and don't mind reading outside of Buddhism a bit, then W. K. Mahoney's book 'The Artful Universe' has some very illuminating things to say about what dhī meant in Vedic, which must have informed the Buddhist usage. Having read it I think this blog post needs updating in the light of Mahoney's lucid work.
Thank you for your wonderful essays on your website. I have a PhD in Southeast Asian art history and interdisciplinary studies and teach also about Indian art. I find your articles very instructive to send my students to. Thank you.
I have a question about Prajnaparamita's seed syllable, dhih. (And any of the seed syllables, for that matter).
Do you have a link to somewhere one can hear it? Or an audio function where one gets the pronunciation, as they do with some online dictionaries?
I've focussed on the visual aspects of mantra. I'm not sure if there is a place which does pronunciation. It would be a lot of work to create something like that.
BTW thanks for drawing attention to this page, I've made a couple of improvements - added diacritics and images of my current style of Siddham calligraphy.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
[Image]
dhīḥ
Siddham Script
The seed syllable dhīḥ (धीः) shown left in the Siddham script, turns up in a number of mantras such as those of Mañjughoṣa and Prajñāpāramitā. There doesn't seem to be much written about dhīḥ so I thought I'd summarise what I know here. It is frequently said that mantras, especially seed syllables (bīja) are untranslatable, and this is often true. In the case of dhīḥ however we find that it is a regular word. Monier-Williams gives several definitions for dhī:
1. to perceive , think , reflect
2. f. thought , (esp.) religious thought , reflection , meditation , devotion , prayer (pl. Holy Thoughts personified); understanding , intelligence , wisdom (personified as the wife of Rudra-manyu ) , knowledge , science , art; mind , disposition , intention , design; notion , opinion , the taking for (comp.)
Dhīḥ is singular of either the nominative or the vocative form of the noun - ie it is either a name or attribute; or form of address as in Oh (she) who perceives. The word occurs rarely in the Ṛgveda where it's usually translated as intelligence or prayer, though clearly the connotations are much broader. Antonio T. De Nicolas translates it as vision in his essay Religious Experience and Religious Languages. Monier-Williams definition 2. is clearly interesting territory for Buddhists and covers much the same religious territory as the wisdom dieties mentioned below.
So dhīḥ, not surprisingly became the seed syllable - the sonic quintessence - of the goddess of wisdom in Buddhism, Prajñāpāramitā, who names means "perfection of wisdom". It occurs, unusually in the middle of her mantra: oṃ āḥ dhīḥ hūṃ svāhā.
[Image]
And with the connection between her and Mañjuśrī which becomes apparent in tantric literature it should be no surprise that it is also his seed syllable. In the case of his mantra is it tacked onto the end of the Alphabet of Wisdom, om arapacana dhīḥ
[Image]
Geshe Rabten describes the formal debating procedure of Tibetan monks at the beginning of which they yell dhīḥ - invoking Mañjuśrī. They pose some problem for an opponent, and yell dhīḥ as they clap their hands together leaving the opponent to answer as best they can. He says:
[Image]
dhīḥ
Tibetan Uchen Script
"Then you draw the right hand back, and at the same time put the left hand forward. This motion of the left hand symbolizes closing the doors of the three lower states of rebirth; drawing back the right hand symbolizes one’s wish to bring all sentient beings to liberation. But to fulfil this wish is not easy. You must have great knowledge and wisdom; and for this you recite ‘dhīḥ’, asking Mañjuśrī to pour down a torrent of wisdom upon you."
But the word also has an effect on Mañjuśrī he "blesses us with wisdom and understanding". These two aspects of the use of mantra go back to Vedic times when the sacrifice provided 'food' for the gods, who responded with 'food' for the worshippers - the food in both cases being metaphorical rather than literal.
Edie Farwell and Anne Hubbell Maiden, in The Wisdom Of Tibetan Childbirth tell us that Tibetans paint dhīḥ on the tongue of newborns using saffron so that they will be articulate and wise.
So dhīḥ is the syllabic, even sonic, representation of perfect wisdom - the wisdom that sees everything just as it is, without adding or subtracting anything, and is applied in ways which both evoke and invoke the qualities of perfect wisdom as embodied by Mañjuśrī and Prajñāpāramitā.
~~oOo~~
6 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formLucid explication of a complex subject; thanks much!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
=]=]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]=he=]y "Jayarava" .....
this is the most uplifting ...motivational .....eventful...blog Ive ever read....(to b honest am not a blog reader.. so its a bit ironic but yet enlightening to the fact that i am here reading and commenting your pg....)
WisdoM is a very important key in life....and u my man have just clarified that to me 1 step further with your thoughts.....
im an up and coming artist ...with aspirations of gaining respect and wisdom all around the world...
b4 all this happens (knock on wood)...lmao....i will like to get in contact with u Jayarava......
my email is ....
ZACBXSAYZ@aim.com
hope to c u or here about u soon ....your N.Y.C fan....
Zacarias Steven Berrroa Arias
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Jayarava,
Thanks for this post. There is very little on the net about this subject. I find it fascinating. I had known dhi to be Manjushri's seed mantra, but didn't know it was also Prajnaparamita's, and with a tantric meaning to boot. First question is, do you know of any affiliation of dhi to the other important female deity Tara?
Then, do you know if the dhi in bodhi has the same meaning? If so, could it be bo=awakened and dhi=perception such as 'awakened-perception'?
Appreciate your scholarship and will venture to look further into your blog. Best wishes.
PJ
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Hi PJ
I'm glad you found this useful. To answer your questions:
I'm not aware of any connection with Tārā - her bīja is tāṃ. तां
The potential connection with bodhi was imaginative but I'm afraid it doesn't pan out. First it's dhī (long ī) and bodhi (short i). Second the dh in bodh comes from the verbal root √budh 'to understand, to wake up' - bodhi is an action noun (where the root vowel undergoes guṇa to become o - c.f. my post on 'oṃ') meaning 'understanding, awakening'. √dhī is a verbal root meaning 'to think'. As above it can be used as a noun dhīḥ 'thought etc'. A secondary form is √dhyā from which we get the word dhyāna 'to meditate' - especially in the sense of concentration or samādhi (and before you ask the dhi in samādhi is something else again!). The upshot is that the two words have no etymological connection, though of course in order to experience bodhi, one must meditate.
If you can get hold of it, and don't mind reading outside of Buddhism a bit, then W. K. Mahoney's book 'The Artful Universe' has some very illuminating things to say about what dhī meant in Vedic, which must have informed the Buddhist usage. Having read it I think this blog post needs updating in the light of Mahoney's lucid work.
Best Wishes
Jayarava
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Thank you for your wonderful essays on your website.
I have a PhD in Southeast Asian art history and interdisciplinary studies and teach also about Indian art. I find your articles very instructive to send my students to. Thank you.
I have a question about Prajnaparamita's seed syllable, dhih. (And any of the seed syllables, for that matter).
Do you have a link to somewhere one can hear it? Or an audio function where one gets the pronunciation, as they do with some online dictionaries?
Thank you,
Astri Wright
Friday, October 16, 2015
I've focussed on the visual aspects of mantra. I'm not sure if there is a place which does pronunciation. It would be a lot of work to create something like that.
BTW thanks for drawing attention to this page, I've made a couple of improvements - added diacritics and images of my current style of Siddham calligraphy.
Saturday, October 17, 2015