Buddhist sermons in Penang Hokkien

[SimL]

Transcription

ha-ku u ci le pO-lO-mng lai mui hut. i kong: "wa-lang pO-lO-mng - chin-ciaN si khi kue-au - wa-lang cu CI-le sam-phue ... liau wa-lang kong-iong hO wa-lang e chin-ciaN - si khi liau e". i-lang e hong-sioh tam-poh bo-siang ka tng-lang; toh-si kong i-lang kong-iong e tiam-siaN, i-lang khi sio - sio i khi la. "sio i khi liau", i mui hut kong, "lang2-e chin-ciaN u than, bo than la?"

Translation

Formerly, there was a Brahmin who came to ask the Buddha (something). He said: "We Brahmins - after our relatives die - we cook these dishes ... and then we sacrifice / make offerings of (them = the dishes/food) for/to our relatives - the ones who have died." Their customs are a bit different from Chinese (ones); that is to say, when they sacrifice / make offerings of, they burn - burn off the dishes (i.e. the food). "After burning them", he asked the Buddha, "do our relatives get (these offerings) or not?"

I checked in Soothill, and found 供養, which (apparently, in Mandarin) means "make offerings to, offer sacrifices to, enshrine and worship, consecrate". Furthermore, the Chinese Etymology page gives the following pronunciations: 供 "keng1 kiong3", 養 "iang2 iang7 io2 iong2 iuN1 iuN2", so almost everything fits. The meaning fits exactly. As for the tone, if one takes a mix of "keng1" and "kiong3" (the tone of the first variant pronunciation, and the sound of the second), this produces "kiong1", and if one drops the "-i-", this producing "kong1". Then "kong1-iong2" is exactly what the speaker says in the lectures, i.e. with sandhi-tone: "kong7-iong2". This is so convincing to me that I'm adopting this interpretation.

This matches the earlier sentence where I originally found the term:

lang e tng-lang e am: tua-jit-ci e si, i-lang toh thai iauN, thai ke, lai kong-iong

"(in) our Chinese temples: during feast days, they'll slaughter goats, slaughter chickens, to sacrifice / make (as) offerings"

[SimL]

Also, is tiaN-tiaN the same as PgHk tiam7-tiam7, as in regularly, constantly?

Wow! I'd forgotten this word! I think it's very typically PgHk.

I would add that "tiam-tiam" is "regularly, constantly", but only when it has a negative connotation. "i tiam-tiam mE wa" (= "s/he keeps scolding me"), "i tiam-tiam hiam i e kiaN gong" (= "s/he keeps complaining that his/her children are stupid"), "i tiam-tiam lai cioh lui" (= "s/he keeps coming to borrow money").

Interesting; tiam7-tiam7 (恬恬) in Taiwan means "quiet; quietly; to be quiet (i.e. shut up)"

Ah, thank you everyone for clearing that up. I've heard tiam7tiam7 on the podcast but I had though it was the Taiwanese meaning.

This link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orKLluFFyZQ has the singer using "tiam-tiam" in the sense of "constantly", similar to Penang usage but (perhaps) without any negative connotation. He sings it at around 0:52-0:53. The subtitles use "惦" for it, but this is probably just a sound borrowing.

The singer is apparently a blind musician by the name of 蕭煌奇 (http://www.jc-news.net/news.php?id=222). I haven't investigated it, but it would appear that he's Taiwanese.

I stumbled across the clip during one of my regular searches on youtube for Hokkien material, heard the "tiam-tiam", and remembered our discussion on this.

[Ah-bin]

There are some new sermons at the site "Early Buddhism in India" recorded just this month.

http://www.vbgnet.org/resource-audio.asp

Bhante Dhammavuddho uses Penang style Hokkien to express some very complex thoughts and concepts. I have learnt a lot about Hokkien from listening to him...not to mention about Buddhism!

[SimL]

Hi Ah-bin,

Thanks for posting this.

I can't help seeing a parallel to our old friends Medhurst, Douglas and Barclay, etc. People who hope to communicate the ideas of their religion to others will only use methods which they think will work. By which I mean: it is so important for them not to spend their time on fruitless activity, that they will not waste any effort in learning and using a language which nobody or few people understand or use. I.e., despite the "cultural prestige" of Mandarin / guanhua (even then already, in the 19th century), the missionaries were very practical: no point learning and using a language to promote Christianity in coastal Fujian, if hardly anybody there actually speaks or uses it. So, they did it in Hokkien.

The parallel I wish to draw is that Bhante Dhammavuddho would hardly bother to give (and continue giving, right into the year 2010) sermons in Hokkien, if only a handful of people above 50 could understand him.

I see this as a very encouraging sign for the future of Hokkien in Malaysia.

And - given that his temple is not even in Penang (indeed, not even very close, if I remember correctly) - it's also an encouraging sign for the vitality of Penang Hokkien.

[Ah-bin]

Just a bit of news, the latest three sermons (uploaded Feb 14th 2011) by Bhante Dhammavudho Thero are in Penang Hokkien with direct translation of each sentence into Mandarin.

A great resource for those who can express themselves in Mandarin well, but have a bit of trouble to say thing in Hokkien...or for those who are going the other way!

http://www.vbgnet.org/resource-audio.as ... nSubmit=Go

[Yeleixingfeng]

Thanks! On it!
By the way, I just remembered. Can't you zip the Douglas Dictionary? (Sorry, obviously I am still not giving up... Hehe..) Because I downloaded the Buddhist sermon in zip - reminded me.
I use Hamster, by the way, just if you are thinking how to zip it.

[Ah-bin]

I don't understand how to do that, sorry. Maybe someone who knows computers better could do this. The file is 1.51 GB, and won't send through any e-mail system I know of.

[SimL]

I'll look into it this weekend, if I have some time. Very busy at work...

[Ah-bin]

Here is another huge selection of dharma talks in Penang Hokkien, this time by the late Bhante Suvanno.

http://myhappymall.com/5th_Floor/Shop_5 ... _5-001.htm

The recordings are not quite as clear as those of Bhante Dhammavudho Thero, but my first impression is that Bhante Suvanno speaks in more complete sentences and doesn't um and ah as much. It is truly a treasure chest of the Hokkien of the older generation.

[niuc]

Indeed a vast treasure chest of Penang Hokkien! I wonder whether there are younger bhikkhus (or teachers of other religions) in Penang preaching in Hokkien.

It's also interesting to learn that the teacher (the late Bhante Suvanno) was a Theravadin. From what I know, most Chinese Buddhists are followers of Mahayana instead of Theravada.