Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.29

v1.c8.29

the Shaman Zhi Guang (vide the entry) acquired understanding and knowledge about 'letter' (zi-mu) while studying the *Tuo-luo-ni Sutra* (Dharani). This was with the help of the South Indian monk Prajnanabodhi, who mentioned the term “letter” (zi-mu) in the *Records of the Siddham* (《Xi Tan ziji》). A significant development in the history of Chinese phonology was noted after this where a Chinese monk named Shou Wen of the 10^th century, for the first time, formulated 30 Chinese alphabets. Around the 11^th century, six more alphabets were added to the earlier 30 alphabets of Shou Wen which thus became the very famous '36 letters'. These 'letters' were used to represent the initials of the Chinese characters and that helped in the simplification and standardisation of the initials of the Chinese syllables (characters). Many other works concerning this, were brought out later which had become very popular in facilitating the study and pronunciation of the Chinese characters with some degree of uniformity. For instance, the alphabets listed in the Yun Lue Yi Tong(韵略易通) and Wu Fang Yuan Yin(五方元音) of the 15^th and 16^th centuries were very similar to the modern Pinyin initials B, P, M, F, D, T, N, L and so on.