In a translation facebook group, James wrote: “Can anyone help me with these? Tried various online resources and translators but only having spotty-at-best luck. Thanks in advance.”
And added in a later comment….” this is not in regards to my practice but an academic essay in which I’m tracing a linguistic pattern. Are they nonsense patterns, spell-words, are they not even actual words but just sounds? Is it a syllabary?”
My reply:
It is Tāntric ritual/worship. You will need a translator trained in Tantra, Sanskrit and Tibetan in order to translate that. The font is Tibetan. The language looks like Sanskrit translated into Tibetan (with its linguistics) and then transliterated into the English (that you can read).
The bījā sounds (HUM, HRIH, SHTRIH, JAH, DHIH in the screen shot) cannot be directly translated: they are archetypal frequencies that need to be understood- there are teachings on them, not translations of them.
PHAT is an ending to mantras, HUM PHAT is pretty standard in the form of Tantra developed/used in Tibetan Buddhism. No direct translation. Sometimes I translate it as 'So Be It Now,' other times as 'Clear This Here', other times as 'Disperse,' other times as 'Strike' based on the previous nature of the mantra. None of them are correct- but they point in the direction of the implication of the sound's meaning.
So 'om yamaantaka huM phaat (in itrans coding) could be translated as
om- divine invocation used to start mantras (there is a whole teaching in various traditions why).
yamaantaka- god of death/ god of self-control/ god of dharma (various ways to translate the name of the deity).
huM phaat- here these are keep together as tāḍana- literally meaning 'striking' but has the implication of asking the previous deity for protection- as strike away all that externally blocks me, or strike away all that troubles my mind so it may be silent and I can focus... this is the implication of tāḍana. It is not a directly translatable language- I like to say that it is an implicit communication of meaning that one learns and then can communicate with it to the devata realm- the Buddha spoke of a daivika eye- which is the form of seeing/hearing/understanding that is needed for this language and which it connects you to.
There are specific rules for the ordering, of which one knows the root deity and tradition that a mantra comes from, as well as the intention of the mantra. The OM HRIH SHTRIH before Vikṛta-nana is indicating the tradition of this text. My tradition would use OM hrīṁ strīṁ huṁ in this position, putting the deity name in sampuṭita (surrounded by) the sound huṁ. Here the Om is as above.
HRIH is devi pranava- meaning an invocation of the life force of the goddess (and much more- but that is my easy way to sum it up for the standard communication).
SHTRIH in my tradition is related to a specific form of Tārā- this bija is very complex and I don’t feel comfortable sharing the teachings associated with it. But these bījās allow us to understand the goddess that is mentioned next in the mantra and empower her manifesting power by aligning the mind frequency with Her vibrations.
I think that puts into context your question. "Are they nonsense patterns, spell-words, are they not even actual words but just sounds?" Not nonsense patterns to the trained. not sure what you mean by spell-words. They are sounds, but isn't all language sounds? I like to call it tāntric language. And discussing the bījās, I like to say that they are implicit understandings. Like when you plant an acorn- a tree grows. The whole tree fits inside that acorn. The tāntric understanding, is that these sounds hold the vibratory frequency of a particular archetypal energy- which can manifest as so many different oak trees (all different) from an acorn that holds a genetic material that will never be a pine tree. When we understand the archetypal fields these mantras represent- we can use them in a language that taps into the pre-rational/pre-cognitive implicit realms of consciousness, a daivik realm of archetypal energies/heavenly beings or whatever one wants to call this pre-rational (implicit) consciousness where prajñā exists.
HRIH is devi pranava- meaning an invocation of the life force of the goddess (and much more- but that is my easy way to sum it up for the standard communication).
SHTRIH in my tradition is related to a specific form of Tārā- this bija is very complex and I don’t feel comfortable sharing the teachings associated with it. But these bījās allow us to understand the goddess that is mentioned next in the mantra and empower her manifesting power by aligning the mind frequency with Her vibrations.
I think that puts into context your question. "Are they nonsense patterns, spell-words, are they not even actual words but just sounds?" Not nonsense patterns to the trained. not sure what you mean by spell-words. They are sounds, but isn't all language sounds? I like to call it tāntric language. And discussing the bījās, I like to say that they are implicit understandings. Like when you plant an acorn- a tree grows. The whole tree fits inside that acorn. The tāntric understanding, is that these sounds hold the vibratory frequency of a particular archetypal energy- which can manifest as so many different oak trees (all different) from an acorn that holds a genetic material that will never be a pine tree. When we understand the archetypal fields these mantras represent- we can use them in a language that taps into the pre-rational/pre-cognitive implicit realms of consciousness, a daivik realm of archetypal energies/heavenly beings or whatever one wants to call this pre-rational (implicit) consciousness where prajñā exists.
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