The work of Sanskrit scholars in translating thousands of texts into Chinese over a period of centuries required creation of new words.

According to famed linguist Wang Li, Sanskrit words came to be embedded in Chinese language deeply in many ways that most are unaware.

1)

Scholar Victor Mair estimates that at least 35000 words are from Sanskrit, & many are in common use (e.g., fang-bian [convenient; from Sk., upāya, skill-in-means] and cha-na [instant; from Sk., kṣaṇa (क्षण, instant])

2)

Old Chinese was mainly monosyllabic. di- & polysyllabic word creation influence of Sanskrit

= pú ti xīn mind of enlightenment, gōng dé shuǐ meritorious water, zheng si wei right thought, po luo mi duo, pāramitā is perfection, fēi xiǎng fēi fēi xiǎng not thought nor non-thought

"According to Kuiji (632-682) translators even introduced the Sanskrit way of explanation called “liu li han shi” (sat-samāsāh) =six ways first explaining each word individually followed by explanation when combined. Today these words are used in daily life without origins."

4)

Enormous influence ranges "from vocabulary to phonetics, such as the four tones and Qieyun, and even the use of vernacular. The Sanskrit phonetic studies triggered the Chinese people’s interest in linguistic studies and eventually led Chinese people to invent tonal prosody."

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