Jaeschke's great dictionary is a mine of information on technical and doctrinal definitions. The works of Giorgi, Vasiliev, Schiefner, Foucaux, Rockhill, Eitel, and Pander, have also proved most helpful. The Narrative of Travels in Tibet by Babu Saratcandra Dās, and his translations from the vernacular literature, have afforded some useful details. The Indian Survey reports and Markham's Tibet have been of service; and the systematic treatises of Professors Rhys Davids, Oldenberg and Beal have supplied several useful indications. The vastness of this many-sided subject, far beyond the scope of individual experience, the backward state of our knowledge on many points, the peculiar difficulties that beset the research, and the conditions under which the greater part of the book was written-in the scant leisure of a busy official life-these considerations may, I trust, excuse the frequent crudeness of treatment, as well as any errors which may be present, for I cannot fail to have missed the meaning occasionally, though sparing no pains to ensure accuracy. But, if my book, notwithstanding its shortcomings, proves of real use to those seeking information on the Buddhism of Tibet, as well as on the later Indian developments of Buddhism, and to future workers in these fields, I shall feel amply rewarded for all my labours. London, 31st October, 1894. L. AUSTINE WADDELL. PRONUNCIATION. The general reader should remember as a rough rule that in the oriental names the vowels are pronounced as in German, and the consonants as in English, except c which is pronounced as "ch," n as "ng" and fi as "ny." In particular, words like Buddha are pronounced as if spelt in English "Bŏŏd-dha," Sakya Muni as "Sha-kya Mŏŏ-nee," and Karma as "Kur-ma." 1 The spelling of Tibetan names is peculiarly uncouth and startling to the English reader. Indeed, many of the names as transcribed from the vernacular seem unpronounceable, and the difficulty is not diminished by the spoken form often differing widely from the written, owing chiefly to consonants having changed their sound or dropped out of speech altogether, the so-called "silent consonants." Thus the Tibetan word for the border-country which we, following the Nepalese, call Sikhim is spelt 'bras-ljons, and pronounced "Dén-jong," and bkra-s'is is "Ta-shi.".. When, however, I have found it necessary to give the full form of these names, especially the more important words translated from the Sanskrit, in order to recover their original Indian form and meaning, I have referred them as far as possible to footnotes. The transcription of the Tibetan letters follows the system adopted by Jaeschke in his Dictionary, with the exceptions noted below, and corresponds closely with the analogous system for Sanskritic words given over the page. The Tibetan pronunciation is spelt phonetically in the dialect of Lhasa. 1 Somewhat analogous to the French ils parlent. 2 The exceptions mainly are those requiring very specialized diacritical marks, the letters which are there (JAESCHKE's Dict., p. viii.), pronounced ga as a prefix, cha, nya, the ha in several forms as the basis for vowels; these I have rendered by g, ch', ñ and 'respectively. In several cases I have spelt words according to Csoma's system, by which the silent consonants are italicized. |