Ningbo, 7/1998
过年时收到的短信，大概是祝『唵嘛呢叭咪吽，看不懂没关系，跟着念就行：All money go my home（所有钱都到我家）』。没想到唵嘛呢叭咪吽再音译一下也是句不错的话嘛～可是，原本的梵文ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ的音，其实更像All money pay my home（所有钱都付我房产）吧……
说到音译，其实中文中音译来的梵文，对我们了解古音是很有帮助的。因为梵文是拼音文字，并且梵文的语音变化，由于宗教的缘故而比较小。同样的例子还有日文的和语部分，比如汉朝时『邪马台』读音应该近于やまと（Ya ma to）。
Here is a short message I received this lunar calendar new year: wish u 唵嘛呢叭咪吽, reads: All money go my home. But 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 is actually a transcription of Sanskrit ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ, which sounds more likely All money pay my home...
To be serious, transcriptions in Chinese is a great help on studying ancient pronunciation. This is because Chinese has a logographic writing system which doesn't keep pronunciation with characters. However, there are many transcriptions from Sanskrit, which is a phonetic writing system and keeps pronunciation seriously for religious reasons. There is also a part of Japanese called wa-go helps, e.g. 邪马台 must be pronounced like やまと/Yamato in Han dynasty, rather than Xiematai/ɕiɛmɑtaɪ now.
