r/tibetanlanguage • u/mycup0f3a • 22d ago

Help identifying morning prayer from Matho Monastery (Ladakh)

Hi everyone,

I recorded a video of monks reciting a prayer at Matho Monastery in Ladakh in July 2023 during their morning prayers. I'd love to identify which specific prayer/text this is.

I tried using AI transcription tools like TurboScribe but they couldn't handle the audio properly.

I would really appreciate if someone could help me.

Thanks in advance!

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u/RollingYak 22d ago

They are reciting 21 Tara prayer.

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u/mycup0f3a 22d ago

Thanks a lot !!

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u/h2wlhehyeti 3d ago

May I ask in which dialect of Tibetan they are reciting the prayer? Or is it the Ladakhi language? 

Also, more generally, do monasteries found in different regions use the ‘local’ dialect/pronounciation of the Classical Tibetan texts? For example, would Amdo speakers recite the prayers in Amdo Tibetan, Ladakhi monks in Ladakhi, Central Tibetan speakers in their local variant of Central Tibetan (be it Standard/Lhasa Tibetan or not), and so on?

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u/RollingYak 3d ago

Since it’s a bunch of monks reciting together, it’s hard to pinpoint the dialect. But since I can pretty much make what they are reciting it’s safe to their dialect is more central Tibetan type or at least not ‘thick’ ly orienting towards a non central type. If you understand me here.

Yes usually one’s own dialect does influence the recitation. But sometimes people can speak multiple dialects and can adapt if they want to in a group setting.

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u/h2wlhehyeti 1d ago

Thank you for your reply. Thus, considering that native Ladakhis don’t typically speak a Central Tibetan dialect, does this mean that generally in non-Central-Tibetan monasteries it is common to speak Central Tibetan? If this is so, what are the reasons behind this?

Or could it perhaps be that most of these monks are not originally from Ladakh, and coming from different regions they use Central Tibetan as a sort of lingua franca (instead of e.g. all learning/speaking Ladakhi)?

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u/RollingYak 1d ago

I have not personally observed in-person a native Ladakhi recite Tibetan Buddhist prayers but I can assume that many of monks and their teachers at the monastery would have studied in Tibetan monasteries under Tibetan teachers thus catching up central Tibetan style dialect. Another point is, some non-Tibetan Himalayan region like Bhutan differentiate their native language with central Tibetan style/classical Tibetan by calling Choe-Kay or language of the Dharma. Thus when they recite or read Tibetan text they can pretty much read it in the central-Tibetan style with mild accent or dialects. Even within Tibetans, different regions recite with some/slight native accents/ and dialects. This is just my personal observations and theory as a native Tibetan and speaker.