La scrittura perfezionata : A manual of Siddhaṃ

3 volumes with over 1300 pages.

il Siddhaṃ is the beautiful writing that is still used today in the esoteric Buddhist schools. Its characters are called, in Japanese, Bonji, the characters of Brahmā, a name used, however, for both Siddhaṃ and Sanskrit, an authoritative language whose name cames from saṃskṛta, meaning perfect, a language quite distinct from prākṛta, the popular languages. Legend tells that Brahmā engraved the sacred scriptures of the Aryans, the Vedas, in the gold leaf and that various graphemes were born from these characters, including Siddhaṃ, coming from northern India. In the next years, it first became synonymous of a syllabary for students, then the word Siddhaṃ was used to indicate Indian writing. Siddhaṃ means perfected and, over time, Buddhists considered it the perfect script for the Sanskrit language. Siddhaṃ left the borders of India thanks to the missionaries, arriving first in China, where it was disappearing forever, following the fall of the Tang dynasty but in Japan experienced a new rebirth, thanks to the esoteric schools, where an enormous importance is given. In this text, its characteristics, both historical and technical, will be presented, but inserted in a broad historical and cultural context, which includes not only the history of this language but also of that kind of Buddhism that embraced these beautiful signs.missionaries, arriving first in China, where it was disappearing forever, following the fall of the Tang dynasty but in Japan experienced a new rebirth, thanks to the esoteric schools, where an enormous importance is given. In this text, its characteristics, both historical and technical, will be presented, but inserted in a broad historical and cultural context, which includes not only the history of this language but also of that kind of Buddhism that embraced these beautiful signs.