{"id":598,"date":"2025-01-20T10:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T01:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/?p=598"},"modified":"2025-01-20T10:55:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T01:55:57","slug":"id598","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/read\/id598\/","title":{"rendered":"BuddhismQ&A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is it \u201cNam\u201d or \u201cNamu\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people outside Japan have been introduced to chanting of the Odaimoku in the form \u201cNam Myoho Renge Kyo.\u201d Subsequently, I am constantly being asked whether to chant \u201cNam\u201d or \u201cNamu.\u201d So let\u2019s look at what the word \u201cNamu\u201d is and how it should be written and pronounced.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

 The entry on \u201cNamu Myohorengekyo\u201d in the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism states: \u201cThe first syllable of the phrase, \u201cnamu,\u201d is a transcription of the Sanskrit term \u201cnamas,\u201d meaning \u201chomage\u2026\u201d Nichiren said in the Jiri Kuyo Gosho: \u201cWhen we worship gods or buddhas, we begin with the phrase of \u2018Namu.\u2019 Namu is an Indian word that has come to mean \u2018offering of life to buddhas and gods\u2019 in China and Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Namu is the Japanese way of pronouncing the two Chinese characters \u5357\u7121 used to transliterate namas. \u5357 by itself can be pronounced as \u201cnan\u201d or (as in the case of the Odaimoku) \u201cna.\u201d \u7121 by itself is pronounced \u201cmu.\u201d Together, the proper pronunciation of these two characters is \u201cNamu\u201d (the corresponding hiragana are \u306a\u3080). From the two Chinese characters and the hiragana phonetic characters, it is clear that the only proper transliteration into English is \u201cNamu.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Shutei Nichiren Shu Hoyo Shiki, Nichiren Shu\u2019s authorized liturgical manual, warns, \u201cNamu and Ge must be pronounced as spelled. The pronunciations \u201cNanmyo\u201d and \u201cGei\u201d are unacceptable.\u201d When people chant the Odaimoku at a fast tempo, the \u201cu\u201d sound sometimes seems to disappear. In Japanese, the \u201cu\u201d sound in a word many times becomes practically voiceless, but it is still there and should be written as such. Otherwise, you are leaving out the \u201cmu\u201d \u7121. Nichiren Shonin taught us that every character in the Lotus Sutra is like a golden buddha (in Soya Nyudo-dono Gohenji from the third month of 1275), so the \u201cmu\u201d part of \u201cNamu\u201d should never be neglected and always written out fully. Let us be sure to express our respect and mindfulness when writing and chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We welcome readers\u2019 questions about Buddhism and Nichiren Shonin. Please send us your questions by e-mail to editor-nichirenshunews@nichiren.or.jp or contact us through your local temple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it \u201cNam\u201d or \u201cNamu\u201d? Many people outside Japan have been introduced to chanting of the Odaimoku in the form \u201cNam Myoho Renge Kyo.\u201d Subsequently, I am constantly being asked whether to chant \u201cNam\u201d or \u201cNamu.\u201d So let\u2019s look at what the word \u201cNamu\u201d is and how it should be written and pronounced.  The entry on \u201cNamu Myohorengekyo\u201d in the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism states: \u201cThe first syllable of the phrase, \u201cnamu,\u201d is a transcription of the Sanskrit term \u201cnamas,\u201d meaning \u201chomage\u2026\u201d Nichiren said in the Jiri Kuyo Gosho: \u201cWhen we worship gods or buddhas, we begin with the phrase of \u2018Namu.\u2019 Namu is an Indian word that has come to mean \u2018offering of life to buddhas and gods\u2019 in China and Japan.\u201d  Namu is the Japanese way of pronouncing the two Chinese characters \u5357\u7121 used to transliterate namas. \u5357 by itself can be pronounced as \u201cnan\u201d or (as in the case of the Odaimoku) \u201cna.\u201d \u7121 by itself is pronounced \u201cmu.\u201d Together, the proper pronunciation of these two characters is \u201cNamu\u201d (the corresponding hiragana are \u306a\u3080). From the two Chinese characters and the hiragana phonetic characters, it is clear that the only proper transliteration into English is \u201cNamu.\u201d  The Shutei Nichiren Shu Hoyo Shiki, Nichiren Shu\u2019s authorized liturgical manual, warns, \u201cNamu and Ge must be pronounced as spelled. The pronunciations \u201cNanmyo\u201d and \u201cGei\u201d are unacceptable.\u201d When people chant the Odaimoku at a fast tempo, the \u201cu\u201d sound sometimes seems to disappear. In Japanese, the \u201cu\u201d sound in a word many times becomes practically voiceless, but it is still there and should be written as such. Otherwise, you are leaving out the \u201cmu\u201d \u7121. Nichiren Shonin taught us that every character in the Lotus Sutra is like a golden buddha (in Soya Nyudo-dono Gohenji from the third month of 1275), so the \u201cmu\u201d part of \u201cNamu\u201d should never be neglected and always written out fully. Let us be sure to express our respect and mindfulness when writing and chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.  We welcome readers\u2019 questions about Buddhism and Nichiren Shonin. Please send us your questions by e-mail to editor-nichirenshunews@nichiren.or.jp or contact us through your local temple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}