Cundi Mantra

[JustARandomPanda]

I am having a lot of trouble finding a Cundi (chinese: Zhunti) mantra on Youtube that is actually INTELLIGIBLE enough that I can understand how to pronounce each sound correctly.

 

I'm told the Cundi mantra is one of those "safe", "all-purpose" mantras - good for all times, all places and all people. Also supposedly it's good for purging bad karma.

 

Can anyone tell me phonetically how to pronounce this mantra?

 

 

Also...how many years approximately does it take to recite it 800,000 times assuming one does 12 repetitions (108x per repetition) per day? I ask cause I totally suck at math. *sigh*

[Mandrake]

I'm moving at the moment, but if you're not too much in a hurry, I can help you out.

 

 

Mandrake

[RyanO]

Here ya go

 

http://www.meditationexpert.com/meditation-techniques/Zhunti.wav

 

From

 

http://www.meditationexpert.com/meditation-techniques/m_buddhist_zhunti_meditation_opens_your_heart_chakra_for_enlightenment.htm

 

This version is in Chinese (Sanskrit is a little different).

[JustARandomPanda]

This version is in Chinese (Sanskrit is a little different).

 

Thanks.

 

I prefer to mantra in Sanskrit.

 

 

According to Wikipedia the original Sanskrit version is this one:

 

namaḥ saptānāṃ samyaksaṃbuddha koṭīnāṃ tadyathāoṃ cale cule cundī svāhā

 

Can someone tell me how to pronounce the above Mantra phonetically correctly?

[C T]

Is this any help?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8a0liBlQ30

[RyanO]

Thanks.

 

I prefer to mantra in Sanskrit.

 

 

According to Wikipedia the original Sanskrit version is this one:

 

 

 

Can someone tell me how to pronounce the above Mantra phonetically correctly?

 

Yeah the Sanskrit is a little different, the Cundi pronunciation (presumably the most important part) is the same though.

 

There is a famous proverb that echoes the sentiment that the exact pronunciation is not as important as the intent behind it.

 

That said, I understand your preference for the Sanskrit, and CT's video is a good rendition of the Sanskrit to music so you can get a feel for the pronunciation.

 

But again, exactness of pronunciation will vary and is not very important IMO.

[mat black]

I agree with Ryan that the intent is the most important thing. That being said, I think sanskrit is soooo beautiful and I personally try to go with it as accurately as I can, though my pronunciation isn't perfect. I try to feel the mantra, refer to sanskrit that I've heard and also get clues from the way that the roman characters are used to write the words (which is sometimes kinda diferent from how we use them in day to day english).

 

I'll have a crack at typing the Dharani in phonetics according to how I think it is pronounced.

 

Where theres a line above a letter its a point of emphasis so I'll write it in capitals, it can be explained as long two beats like 'a' as in 'calm' whereas a without the line above is short one beat like 'a' in 'america'

the 'c' in the name Cundi is used as we would if c and h were together as in the word

'chair'

 

 

namaḥ: na-mah. the constonant 'h' is pronounced with the breath.

 

saptānāṃ: saptA-nAm nam sounds like 'sum'

 

samyak: sum-yuk (yuk as in duck)

 

saṃbuddha: sum-boodd-ha

 

koṭīnāṃ: ko-ti-nAm ko as in 'go' and nam as in 'calm'

 

tadyathā: tad-ya-thA: tad as in 'mud', thA: t and h are pronounced seperately, not together as in 'the', rather, 't' and 'h', then the final a is emphasised a bit as if there were two a's instead of one, kinda like 't-hA'

 

oṃ: I think this can be short ie 'om' as in 'on', or long as ommmm which sort of fades

 

cale: cha-lay, lay as in prey

 

cule: chu-lay, chu 'u' as in book,

 

cundī: chundi, 'u' as in book 'choon-di'

 

svāhā: the 'v' is pronounced as 'w' 'swA-hA'

 

.....so it might sound something like this:

 

na-mah saptA-nAm sum-yuk sum-boodd-ha ko-ti-nAm. tad-ya-thA oṃ. cha-lay chu-lay choon-di swA-hA

 

 

The Mahacundi Dharani is so beautiful, so shining and bright.

This is my best effort at writing it in phonetics according to my limited understand and my inner 'feel'I hope it's OK.

Edited February 15, 2012 by mat black

[JustARandomPanda]

Thank you!

[JustARandomPanda]

Also...how many years approximately does it take to recite it 800,000 times assuming one does 12 repetitions (108x per repetition) per day? I ask cause I totally suck at math. *sigh*

 

 

I received the following reply via PM from Mandrake a few weeks ago to the above question.

 

Thank you!

 

 

Hello Serene,

I saw that somebody already helped you out with the pronounciation.

About how many ýears it would take to complete 800 thousand repetitions, 12 reps of 108 = 1296 per day. 800 thousand / 1296 per day = 617 days, so, roughly one year, eight and a half months.

 

Hope that helps.

Good luck Serene!

[styrofoamdog]