The Forty-Second Syllable
The final eight syllables complete the list: Ṭa, Ṇa, Spha, Ska, Jha, Tsa, Ṭha, and Dha — forty-two seed-syllables in all, closing on the treasury from which the wheel of every Dharma arises.
From Ṭa to Dha — Forty-Two Syllables Complete
「……唱吒字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名十方諸佛隨願現前；唱拏字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名不動字輪聚集諸億字；唱娑頗字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名化眾生究竟處；唱娑迦字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名諸地滿足、無著無礙、解脫光明輪遍照；唱闍字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名宣說一切佛法境界；唱多娑字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名一切虛空法雷遍吼；唱侘(恥加反)字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名曉諸迷識無我明燈；唱陀字時，入般若波羅蜜門，名一切法輪出生之藏。」
"… Reciting the letter Ṭa, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named every buddha of the ten directions appearing according to their vow. Reciting the letter Ṇa, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named the unmoving wheel of letters, gathering every koṭi of letters. Reciting the letters Spha, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named the ultimate place of transforming sentient beings. Reciting the letters Ska, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named every ground fulfilled, unattached and unobstructed, the universally illumining wheel of liberation's own light. Reciting the letter Jha, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named proclaiming the domain of every buddha-dharma. Reciting the letters Tsa, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named the Dharma-thunder of all empty space, roaring everywhere. Reciting the letter Ṭha (the source again supplies a fanqie pronunciation gloss here), he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named the bright lamp of non-self, awakening every confused consciousness. Reciting the letter Dha, he enters the prajñā-pāramitā gate named the treasury from which the wheel of every Dharma arises."
The final syllable's own gate — "the treasury from which the wheel of every Dharma arises" — closes the list on origination rather than cessation, an ending that reads less like an alphabet's own last letter than like a return to the list's own beginning: the wheel these forty-two gates have themselves been turning is, in this final gate, revealed as still arising, inexhaustibly, from the very practice just completed.
Part 230 Complete — All Forty-Two Syllables Given
The full arapacana list — forty-two seed-syllables, each its own gate of perfect wisdom — is now complete. Part 231 turns to the boy's own closing statement: how these forty-two gates serve as the head of boundless, uncountable further gates, and his own admission of the limit of his knowledge.
Continue to Part 231 →