This would be really cool

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The translations are great, but I run into the same problem I experienced while reading Journey to the West. Name pronunciations are difficult and can take away from a readers experience. Is there a way at least in the sutra’s labeled for beginners that when a name appears one could click on the name and it would play an audio of the pronunciation? Ideally without opening another window. Maybe if you hover over a name show the way to properly pronounce it in English. Not only names, but any word that does not translate to English. Mostly names though I think and key Dharma terminology.

Perhaps this would be very beneficial as far as helping beginners get a grasp of basic pronunciation skills. Utilizing this available technology would only boost a beginners courage in exploring the Dharma.

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What about just try for yourself, and then you let the words resonate in your heart, and then develop your own heart or “citta”, which is an important personal asset to lean on when you walk this path?

I’ve learned by listening and trying many times on my own and have great fun listening to myself, and now I have my own style, and the feedback is very positive because it doesn’t sound like copycatting …

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I appreciate your approach and the success it has brought you. This obstacle did not deter you and your rewards were found.

My suggestion isn’t for those who continue on the path in it’s current difficulties, but to clear and widen it for those who haven’t.

Making these texts accessible goes beyond just their translation. Bringing a change like this would make the text much more approachable.

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The first advice I took to my mind and heart was: You got to find your own trust in this! And it is important to realise just how difficult this is! Ajhan Chah have a saying: 70% of practices is not getting it! and “good is good and bad is good”

I’m very happy for that advice, because by finding trust the rest is just a matter of time and repetitions and struggling and so on, hard work on your own, but that is the way it is.

I feel a bit sad for all of my brothers and sisters in aging, sickness and death, who seams to be totally dependent on somebody else to feel fine in this practice. Don’t be fooled by forms, there are actually nobody walking the path …

You are totally on your own, so if you trust in yourself, you will love ypurself, and then you keep on reading, listening, seeking solitude for as long as it must be, and then the taste of the smallest sucsess becomes your path shining like a silver lake up in the sky

Alone but not lonely! :slight_smile:

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In our practice we are successful through what we do with what we have. To say what is available is enough is true. Many people will approach what is available and successfully find their footing. I am not saying that pronunciation is going to stop everybody, but what I am saying is that it is a hindrance to a larger flame. To add this feature would add another valuable tool. The student would find more certainty in their reading. Building this confidence in a student is an asset to the Sangha.

The point of these text isn’t to learn Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, etc… It is to learn the Dharma. I am not saying that learning these other languages is not beneficial, but we’re not trying to make polyglots. We’re trying to spread the Buddha’s teachings. Naturally overtime with exposure to the text, students will pick up on the oddities in language, but removing as much of that barrier as possible is the point of a translation.

With the advancements in technology, this suggestion would strengthen the purpose of a translation. Another thorn removed from an already difficult path.

In addition I would like to suggest that definitions be accessible by hover over certain important key words and terminology as well. This would be pretty sweet.

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I was curious to see if anyone had started developing Pāḷī Text-to-Speech (TTS) and did a quick google search.

It appears Bhante Yutadhammo’s organisation (Sirimangalo) has made an android app. I don’t know what it’s like as I’ve only got iPhone but I would be interested in people’s thoughts. I wonder if this could be integrated with SC somehow.

If you have an android device maybe you could use this Daguerreo

This article might be of interest if anyone is looking to dev their own Pāḷī TTS

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There are no short cuts!

How long does it take to see everything in something?

The longer you look the more it reveals itself, is my experience, and that’s why I find myself going back time and time again, and finding a new aspect or a pointer to something else.

It is not a revolution, it is evolution! …

But karma might be what is shorter to get to

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this seam to be what is right , right now here I am, so I continue to share because it came out of emptiness and not me mine or myself … :slight_smile:

It gives me such a goood feeling now, and therefore “instant” metta meditations now and continuing for how long as it may …

And then this one came by itself in the programs own will and just in the right time here, because my wife for 34 years has just awoke; my darling “anicca, dhukka, anatta” leaves for the bathroom and in 25 minutes I will be her servant and bring her safely to her workplace, just love to be here with you sharing these moments with all of my kalyana mittas :yellow_heart::green_heart::blue_heart:

This is Dhamma to me, how bout you!? :anjal:

Btw: Please try reading the lyrics when listening, maybe it gives you something too … and it is nearly 0600 in the morning here, looks like the sun is gonna break through

Edit: Driving safely and having a soft conversation, and a nice and kind monk as invisible passenger in the backseat (on the car audio system), we had a little nice discussion on the way

A talk that easily could go wrong, but it didn’t because everything was provided for dhamma to arise and teach us both something without breaking the underlying “noble silence” between the words that was exchanged.

So driving alone back to base, I turned up the stereo, and voila!

And that landed my mind very nicely, so now I’m outa here, and going to listen to some “sound of silence” (maybe combined with walking mindfully back and forth) and prepare to meet an old friend for lunch - a friend I haven’t seen for a few years. She is not a “Buddhist”, but have a big piece of the universal mother heart in her, and now it has been hurt one more time, and when is she going to learn to take care so this dhukka don’t get to her so “easy” … I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to a good listening, maybe some nice crying and for sure; a lot of silly laughs in between

This has been a sharing to possibly explain how I walk the path, and if I have trespassed someone or something, I unconditionally apologize to you all!

:anjal::yellow_heart::green_heart::blue_heart:

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Thanks for the idea, I’ve just added this as a desideratum for future development:

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