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If I am reading a Chinese text to a Japanese audience, how can I know which reading to use for each character? Of the 音読み, there can be 呉音, 漢音, and 唐音 to choose from.

Also for pronunciation, would rhythm be modified to stress individual characters in deference to their monosyllabic origin in Chinese speech?

(I am a beginner and have no background on this topic.)

For example if I was trying to impress a Japanese Buddhist scholar by reciting the ｢般若心経」, a classical Buddhist text written in Chinese, how would I pick the readings for the first sentence: 「観自在菩薩行深般若波羅蜜多時、照見五蘊皆空、度一切苦厄。」 As far as I know there is no Japanese translation with words rearranged and inserted. This is probably not a useful skill since I doubt I will ever find another person interested in hearing me recite classical Chinese literature in Japanese. In fact, I could probably just pick readings as I choose for mnemonic purposes only, but I was curious if there is a set of 'correct' readings.

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By 漢文, are you referring to 漢文訓読? For example, given the Chinese 人不学不知道, this could be rendered into Japanese as 人学ばざれば道を知らず. As a form of written translation, pronunciation and rhythm are typically not taken into much consideration. Also, the generated Japanese is semi-classical so does not make for good spoken reading for a general audience. Rather, you'd likely then need to translate this to modern Japanese. I suggest updating your question with more details with a few pertinent sentences. – Dono Mar 10 at 3:30
Thank you for the detail. Not 漢文（訓読） as I was expecting. 般若心経 is a very popular Buddhist text in Japan. Many, many people spend years memorizing the text. The start is so famous that even non-religious people are likely to know this. It is 観自在菩薩行深般若波羅蜜多時（かんじざいぼさつぎょうじんはんにゃはらみったじ）照見五蘊皆空（しょうけんごうんかいくう） 度一切苦厄（どいっさいくやく）. Though I would consider these to be the normal readings for these characters. – Dono Mar 10 at 4:34
Sorry, I didn't know what 漢文訓読　was until now. Do typical Japanese people (the general public included) study only 漢文訓読 texts or do they venture into the original as well? – 無色受想行識 Mar 10 at 4:38
Thank you! But for example, 若 is read ニャ instead of ジャク which seems to be a little more common or　ニャク which is more rare. Is it possible to infer which reading is used without needing to look it up? – 無色受想行識 Mar 10 at 4:44
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漢文訓読 (more commonly just called 漢文) is a subject taught in middle or high school. The text is classical Chinese and we learn how to read it into semi-classical Japanese. It is an old practice going back over a 1000+ years ago. It is a systematic form of automatic translation. Normally, texts are not read in full with the Japanese approximation of Chinese readings. But for religious purposes, some may do this to remain true to the original. – Dono Mar 10 at 4:49
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