Today’s entry is a follow-up to the entry “Does the Language Really Matter?” and the ensuing comments by some readers. I am also responding to a related question about why everyone does not chant “Amitabha” instead of chanting in other languages. Two readers also essentially asked the same question. As one asked, “why the original Sanskrit Name, as given by Sakyamuni Buddha, was changed, given that the Name is said to be so centrally important. The Vietnamese Name doesn't sound much like 'Amitabha' at all. Is it really just as effective?”
My response is that I am not a scholar in ancient languages, but from what I understand we do know not for certain what language the Buddha spoke because his teachings were initially an oral tradition. However, many Buddhist scholars believe that Sakyamuni Buddha spoke various dialects of Prakrit Magadhi as he traveled around India and Nepal.
The specific language or dialect he spoke would have been the local one. So when he spoke in one area, he spoke in one language or dialect and in another area he spoke in another language or dialect. The Buddha himself would have said what came to be pronounced in Sanskrit as “Amitabha” differently to different people.
So we really do not know how he pronounced “Amitabha Buddha” or in how many different ways!
The Chinese sutras were translated, with some words being transliterated, from the Sanskrit versions. So the Chinese deliberately chose to not translate some words, but to try to pronounce them as close to the Sanskrit as they could. But different languages require different sounds.
For example, I was trying to teach another nun how to pronounce stollen with a German pronunciation. She could not say it as a German would because some German language sounds are simply not naturally made by Chinese speakers. So even with the most diligent effort, someone who speaks German will probably pronounce “Amitabha” differently than someone who lives in India. Or in Botswana.
To further complicate things, people who speak the same language have different accents or dialects. Someone who speaks Cantonese will pronounce words differently from someone who speaks Mandarin. Also, there is the time factor in pronunciation. Language pronunciation changes over the centuries and especially over millennium. Try to read a Shakespearean play as William wrote it and you’ll see how much the English language has changed in just four hundred years.
As to the language we chant in, that can depend on where we practice. I chant “Amituofo,” which is Chinese, not because I think Chinese is superior to other languages, but because I live and practice with people who speak and chant in Chinese. When I go to a Vietnamese Buddhist center, I chant “Adida Phat.” When in Japan, I’d chanted “Amida Butsu.”
All things considered—the Buddha himself spoke different languages and dialects, what is easily said in one language will be pronounced with an accent by the speaker of another language, accents and dialects are found even in the same language, and pronunciation changes because of the passage of time—I think it safe to say that no one is saying “Amitabha Buddha” like Sakyamuni did almost 3000 years ago. Or as beings throughout the ten directions have chanted the name since “Amitabha Buddha” fulfilled his vows and became a Buddha many billions of years ago.
So we’re back to sincerity and doing the best we can regardless of our current circumstances. I chant “Amituofo” to form a connection with him by mindfully saying his name. My American accent doesn’t matter. My sincerity does. The name is a tool, a term. And so I’m okay language-wise because Amituofo is looking for sincerity, not perfect pronunciation. And just as a mother recognizes a call for help from her baby who is not calling her by her proper name, Amitabha Buddha, who has been waiting uncountable lifetimes for us, hears our calling him. And he responds.