Stress on syllables

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Jainarayan
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Stress on syllables

Post by Jainarayan »

Where is the stress on 'sugata'? Is it an even stress with all short vowels , or is it sugāta with a long a like tathāgata, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna? And how about the syllable stress on 'Chenrezig'? Unless a vowel is marked as long, I tend to have trouble putting the stress on the right syllable.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
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chokyi lodro
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Re: Stress on syllables

Post by chokyi lodro »

I was waiting to see if someone else would answer this one, but no-one has.... :tantrum:

Regarding Sugata, I have heard it both ways, but more often with the stress on the su and the ga, but not on the ta. (if that makes sense) Just remember, though, in Sanskrit that a in the middle is a short a – सुगत not सुगात – so it's more like the u in butter, and less like the a in father.

My Tibetan is mediocre, but Chenrezig I have heard with virtually equally vowel stress, although the rig seemed to have slightly less stress, similar to Sugata.

(Tangentially, I'd love to read more about how the now redundant consonants modify vowels in Tibetan; it reminds me of Gaelig here in Scotland; e.g. Chenrezig is སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ – spyan ras gzigs.)
~ Chökyi Lodrö
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Jainarayan
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Re: Stress on syllables

Post by Jainarayan »

OK, thanks. Yes, it does make sense. It might be suh-guh-tuh. It could also be suh-guh-tuh, if that's what you meant about hearing it both ways. Suh-guh-tuh seems to have a better ring. It's so much easier when one can read devanagari. :reading:
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
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vinodh
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Re: Stress on syllables

Post by vinodh »

Its सु-गात (Su-Gata): Good-Gone.

So I would assume the stress must be on the Upasarga - /su/

In any case, I don't think Stress is that much an important thing in Sanskrit. Any stress that might occur naturally in a word is fine.

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yo dharmaṁ paśyati, sa buddhaṁ paśyati

One who sees the Dharma, sees the Buddha
śālistamba sūtra

na pudgalo na ca skandhā buddho jñānamanāsravam
sadāśāntiṁ vibhāvitvā gacchāmi śaraṇaṁ hyaham

Neither a person nor the aggregates, the Buddha, is knowledge free from [evil] outflows
Clearly perceiving [him] to be eternally serene, I go for refuge [in him]
saddharma-laṅkāvatāra-sūtra
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