You know every character of the scripture, so why can’t you chant it?

What a zhuyin book can and can’t help with

Let’s be clear first: a zhuyin book is not useless. It solves the problem of “I don’t know how to pronounce this character”—scriptures are full of rare and difficult characters, and without annotation you really can’t get anywhere.

But it can’t solve another problem: which reading this character should take when chanting. Zhuyin symbols mark Mandarin pronunciation; it is a phonetic system with one symbol per sound, marking how the character is said in Mandarin. If the temple you attend chants in Taiwanese, that zhuyin book won’t match—every character you read is “the right character with the wrong sound.”

This also explains a very common frustration: you practise smoothly with your zhuyin book at home, but in group practice you can’t join in at all, and the harder you try to follow, the more confused you get. Because you are following two different things.

The same character, two sets of Taiwanese readings

In Taiwanese this has a formal name: literary and colloquial readings (文白異讀). It is not anyone’s personal habit but part of the structure of Taiwanese itself, and the Ministry of Education’s official dictionary treats it this way too.

The editorial guidelines of the Ministry of Education’s Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Taigi state it clearly: 「文白異讀」是指一个字佇仝款的反切之下，有「文讀音」佮「白讀音」對立所產生的無仝音讀 (“literary and colloquial readings” means that one character, under the same fanqie spelling, has different readings arising from the contrast between a “literary reading” and a “colloquial reading”). When giving pronunciations, the dictionary adds “[文]” (literary) or “[白]” (colloquial) before the Tâi-lô romanisation to tell them apart.

The same guidelines define the two as follows: the literary reading is 「根據中古音的反切所讀出來的音，定定用佇書面」 (the sound read according to the fanqie spellings of Middle Chinese, often used in writing); the colloquial reading is 「通常用佇一般的口語」 (usually used in ordinary speech). In other words, one is the sound for reading and writing, the other the sound for everyday speech.

The character 大 (big) makes this very clear: in everyday speech, 「大漢」 (grown up, tall) uses the colloquial reading, but in written words it is read tāi. Scriptures are written classical texts, and they use exactly this set.

The table above lists only common example characters given in the Ministry of Education dictionary, to illustrate what literary and colloquial readings are. This page does not provide character-by-character readings of scriptures—actual pronunciation still differs between lineages, and you should follow what your teacher teaches.

Why chanting uses the literary reading

Once you understand literary and colloquial readings, this follows naturally: scriptures are in classical written language, and classical written language is read with the literary reading.

This is also why “reading the scripture book in everyday spoken Taiwanese” feels strange—it applies colloquial sounds to a written text, like reading classical prose aloud in a chatty tone. The words aren’t wrong, but the whole thing is off.

What makes it harder is that the literary reading is not “Mandarin translated directly into Taiwanese.” It has its own complete set of initials, finals and tones, and the literary readings of many characters are hardly ever used in everyday Taiwanese—no matter how fluent your Taiwanese is, that doesn’t mean you can read a scripture book aloud.

Not an exception but a documented tradition

Some people assume that “chanting in Taiwanese” is just a habit of the older generation. In fact, it is a practice documented in academic research.

The master’s thesis A Phonological Study of Taiwanese Chanting of the Universal Gate Chapter Sutra and Mantras at Three Temples in Taiwan, from the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature at National Taiwan Normal University, finds that at the Taiwanese temples it surveyed, the monthly regular Dharma assemblies were “mostly chanted in the Taiwanese literary pronunciation,” sung “according to the Middle Chinese literary pronunciation, with the distinctive initials, finals and tones of Taiwanese.”

The subject of this thesis is precisely the Universal Gate Chapter (普門品)—the first scripture most people encounter.

Add to that the way chanting itself is transmitted: in “The Formation of the Morning and Evening Services in Chinese Buddhism”, Shi Datian notes that the beat markings in the Chan Gate Daily Recitations of recent centuries are very simple; chanting came “relying entirely on practised memory,” and “singing styles differ from place to place.” Pronunciation has systematic differences, and singing styles vary by place—put the two together and you have the full reason why “it’s hard to learn by practising from a book on your own.”

So how should you learn?

First confirm one thing: which kind the temple or chanting group you want to join uses. That determines what you should practise next.

1. First ask which pronunciation is used

   Chanting in Mandarin and chanting in Taiwanese are two different paths. Ask first, then start practising, so you don’t finish learning one only to find you can’t use it.

2. Chanting in Taiwanese: find someone to lead you line by line

   The literary reading can’t be self-taught from a zhuyin book, because the book doesn’t mark that system. In practice, someone reads a line and you repeat it.

3. First be able to say it, then keep up

   Rushing to keep pace before your pronunciation is steady only makes both fall apart. Get the sounds right first; the beat is the next stage.

4. Write down the characters you get stuck on

   It is usually the same few characters that trip you up each time. List them and ask directly—far more effective than practising the whole passage again.

Teacher Zheng Su-Xia chants in the Taiwanese literary reading and uses the Ministry of Education’s Tâi-lô romanisation system. Lessons start from pronunciation and phrasing, practising line by line.

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