How do I even wonder these things?
Mar. 5th, 2018 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethToday I got distracted by shaolin monk naming conventions
and I don't even remember how.
All the websites I found use the same squiggles calligraphy image version of the name poem
and give different translations
but it took me ages and lots of counting to figure out which lines are the names and syllables and stuff they were translating
because there's two lines of squiggles above that as dont fit the pattern
and its all squiggles to me.
So then when I'd figured out which bit is 14 lines of 5 name syllables each
I tried google translate
because google translate does not require a reason or consider anything a waste of time
but typing the words into the box didnt get anything like the translation an it still doesnt tell me which squiggles are which
so I got the handwriting box up and tried to draw squiggles
until I found ones with matching transliteration and similar translations
and in theory learned a thing
(what one line of their poem looks like in modern)
but then I closed the window and I'd only copied 如海
... *sigh* ...
None of which tells me if Shi Ru Bi is a reasonable name for a time travelling monk
though it's possible it has a swear in it if you say/write it wrong, which is always fun.
I did learn that it is possible to become a Shaolin monk named Miao right now.
So that's a thing I didn't know this morning.
ooh, I googled the tiny bit I'd copied and found
https://www.facebook.com/shaolinworldga/posts/1696069887080927
Shaolin monks in Atlanta had written it out on their facebook
福(Fu)慧(Hui)智(Zhi)子(Zi)觉(Jue)，
了(Liao)本(Ben)圆(Yuan)可(Ke)悟(Wu)。
周(Zhou)洪(Hong)普(Pu)广(Guang)宗(Zong)，
道(Dao)请(Qing)同(Tong)玄(Xuan)祖(Zu)。
清(Qing)净(Jing)真(Zhen)如(Ru)海(Hai)，
湛(Zhan)寂(Ji)淳(Chun)贞(Zhen)素(Su)。
德(De)行(Xing)永(Yong)延(Yan)衡(Heng)，
妙(Miao)体(Ti)常(Chang)坚(Jian)固(Gu)。
心(Xin)朗(Lang)照(Zhao)幽(You)深(Shen)，
性(Xing)明(Ming)见(Jian)宗(Zong)祚(Zuo)。
衷(Zhong)正(Zheng)善(Shan)喜(Xi)祥(Xiang)，
谨(Jin)悫(Que)原(Yuan)济(Ji)度(Du)。
雪(Xue)庭(Ting)为(Wei)导(Dao)师(Shi)，
引(Yin)汝(Ru)归(Gui)铉(Xuan)路(lu)。
The pages all say something like 'The last part of the Monk's Dharma Name is a name given by the Master of the Disciple according to the Disciples Unique Personal Traits, Skills or Characteristics.'
Which doesnt narrow it down.
But time traveller Monk Like A Swear might be a reasonable name from the past and Monk Thou Swear might be from the future.
... there's a lot of bi that aren't swears, and it would not be ambiguous in actual chinese, just this written down in english letters bit, the same way ru is ru but is two words in proper. So monk trying to be an english pun on Ruby may or may not be a swear. A really rude one, hence me not writing it.
But written out properly in chinese they'd know.
A Bi is a sort of fancy jade disc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_(jade)
璧
so then you'd be two gems at once and have the right connotation in two languages, sort of.
Of course there's more than one transcription system, which makes things complicated and suggests punning between languages maybe dont work.
There are so many bi
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=Bi
one of them means pen or pencil or writing brush. That's a good name.
there's also bei and bai
which might work even better
but not by
and all syllables are a bunch of words, because accents means tones, and I have no idea how that works, and then there's the different squiggles with big differences in meaning.
白 has a big long list of meanings. Like white. And it's a surname.
... too many words, not enough knowledge.
One of the bi words has a death meaning, so it looks like an Immortal monk named Ruby would be punny.
如毙
... if I've worked that out before that explains why it came to mind...
Most name syllables dont lend themselves to English naming like Ru could. There's Ben in there, and Ke just needs a Nny, and De is in use now.
Okay, I am never going to learn how to translate a poem by clicking around, and I logically have no use for monk names, even interesting ones with a dating element built in, so I'll go do something else.
and I don't even remember how.
All the websites I found use the same squiggles calligraphy image version of the name poem
and give different translations
but it took me ages and lots of counting to figure out which lines are the names and syllables and stuff they were translating
because there's two lines of squiggles above that as dont fit the pattern
and its all squiggles to me.
So then when I'd figured out which bit is 14 lines of 5 name syllables each
I tried google translate
because google translate does not require a reason or consider anything a waste of time
but typing the words into the box didnt get anything like the translation an it still doesnt tell me which squiggles are which
so I got the handwriting box up and tried to draw squiggles
until I found ones with matching transliteration and similar translations
and in theory learned a thing
(what one line of their poem looks like in modern)
but then I closed the window and I'd only copied 如海
... *sigh* ...
None of which tells me if Shi Ru Bi is a reasonable name for a time travelling monk
though it's possible it has a swear in it if you say/write it wrong, which is always fun.
I did learn that it is possible to become a Shaolin monk named Miao right now.
So that's a thing I didn't know this morning.
ooh, I googled the tiny bit I'd copied and found
https://www.facebook.com/shaolinworldga/posts/1696069887080927
Shaolin monks in Atlanta had written it out on their facebook
福(Fu)慧(Hui)智(Zhi)子(Zi)觉(Jue)，
了(Liao)本(Ben)圆(Yuan)可(Ke)悟(Wu)。
周(Zhou)洪(Hong)普(Pu)广(Guang)宗(Zong)，
道(Dao)请(Qing)同(Tong)玄(Xuan)祖(Zu)。
清(Qing)净(Jing)真(Zhen)如(Ru)海(Hai)，
湛(Zhan)寂(Ji)淳(Chun)贞(Zhen)素(Su)。
德(De)行(Xing)永(Yong)延(Yan)衡(Heng)，
妙(Miao)体(Ti)常(Chang)坚(Jian)固(Gu)。
心(Xin)朗(Lang)照(Zhao)幽(You)深(Shen)，
性(Xing)明(Ming)见(Jian)宗(Zong)祚(Zuo)。
衷(Zhong)正(Zheng)善(Shan)喜(Xi)祥(Xiang)，
谨(Jin)悫(Que)原(Yuan)济(Ji)度(Du)。
雪(Xue)庭(Ting)为(Wei)导(Dao)师(Shi)，
引(Yin)汝(Ru)归(Gui)铉(Xuan)路(lu)。
The pages all say something like 'The last part of the Monk's Dharma Name is a name given by the Master of the Disciple according to the Disciples Unique Personal Traits, Skills or Characteristics.'
Which doesnt narrow it down.
But time traveller Monk Like A Swear might be a reasonable name from the past and Monk Thou Swear might be from the future.
... there's a lot of bi that aren't swears, and it would not be ambiguous in actual chinese, just this written down in english letters bit, the same way ru is ru but is two words in proper. So monk trying to be an english pun on Ruby may or may not be a swear. A really rude one, hence me not writing it.
But written out properly in chinese they'd know.
A Bi is a sort of fancy jade disc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_(jade)
璧
so then you'd be two gems at once and have the right connotation in two languages, sort of.
Of course there's more than one transcription system, which makes things complicated and suggests punning between languages maybe dont work.
There are so many bi
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=Bi
one of them means pen or pencil or writing brush. That's a good name.
there's also bei and bai
which might work even better
but not by
and all syllables are a bunch of words, because accents means tones, and I have no idea how that works, and then there's the different squiggles with big differences in meaning.
白 has a big long list of meanings. Like white. And it's a surname.
... too many words, not enough knowledge.
One of the bi words has a death meaning, so it looks like an Immortal monk named Ruby would be punny.
如毙
... if I've worked that out before that explains why it came to mind...
Most name syllables dont lend themselves to English naming like Ru could. There's Ben in there, and Ke just needs a Nny, and De is in use now.
Okay, I am never going to learn how to translate a poem by clicking around, and I logically have no use for monk names, even interesting ones with a dating element built in, so I'll go do something else.