3 - Computing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

pronunciation, intonation, intensity of voice, rhythm and melodic structure of the
utterance, but also breathing and bodily posture of the performer. These rules are much
stricter and more detailed than those of ordinary language. Frits Staal proposes to take
into account “the importance of musical categories for explaining some of the
characteristics that distinguish mantras from language,” since, according to him,
“mantras cannot be understood unless their musical character is taken into account”
(Staal 1989: 65). This is obviously true in the case of Japanese Buddhist music known as
Shømyø. The term shømyø, a translation of the Sanskrit Ωabda-vidyå, “body of knowledge
concerning language,” originally indicated grammar in general, and the rules for the
correct pronunciation of mantras in particular. However, in Japan it developed into a
full-fledged musical genre with its own theory, repertoire, and performance techniques.
(On Shømyø, see Harich-Schneider 1973; Kushida 1964: 409-480). The approach
suggested by Staal is very useful to understand the functioning of shingon in complexs
rituals integrating liturgical, musical, linguistic, and artistic-visual elements. However,
it should be emphasized that music explains only some aspects of mantras.
Syntax
It is not clear whether mantras follow syntactical rules. Also in this regard,
interpretations vary widely. On one side, Frits Staal denies such a possibility, while on
the opposite side Donald Lopez and Stanley Tambiah are ready to admit it. Buddhist
mantras and dhåra√∆ constitute a fixed repertoire of expressions that has not been
changed for centuries. (In the past, new rituals and new formulae kept proliferating: see
Hayami 1975, 1987; many premodern rituals, however, are now obsolete and are
usually not performed.) Linguistic categories such as competence and performance lose,
in this context, their relevance: in the case of mantras competence consists in the
knowledge of the status of mantras and the rules for their correct performance, whereas
performance is in turn simply the capacity to perform already existing formulae
correctly in codified contexts. There is usually no margin for linguistic creativity and
performing originality in mantra rituals (even though, however, the voice of the
performer can be a factor of aesthetic enjoyment). Perhaps a taxonomical, distributive
and componential study of mantric formulas could contribute to determine whether
structural and distributive regularities also correspond to functional and semantic ones.
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