Dear friends,

here we are, the first of three items from my new agenda. The
remaining two pertain to tipitaka.net and will be introduced in the
near future.

Pali Word by Word is a weekly discussion thread that will complement
Pali Day by Day and Sutta Translation. It will take a different
orientation but serve a common purpose: to enhance our Pali
proficiency.

Pali Day by Day tackles on grammar drills by going through Pali
textbooks one by one, and probably revisit them again in the future,
to achieve solid groundings in Pali grammar.

Sutta Translation puts us into the real world of Pali literature by
challenging us with actual passages from the Sutta Pitaka.

Pali Word by Word, I hope, will help us improve our word power in
Pali, by giving us the appropriate exposure to sentences from the
Tipitaka, we will be able to learn how each Pali word is used in
the 'real world' of the Tipitaka.

Standing on the shoulders of giants, Pali Word by Word will operate
in the following manner:

1. Each week, we will focus at only one Pali word. The word will be
taken from a list of 1000 most frequently occuring words in the
Tipitaka. The list is compiled by Mr Andrew Shaw, who have kindly
allowed us to keep a copy in the Files Section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/files/Pali%20Top%201000/

2. I will pick at least five sentences from the Tipitaka that
contains the word we are exploring for translation, as well as
discussion on its usage within the sentence. I will pick, where
possible, only sentences from the Digha Nikaya. This, I follow, the
style set by Dr. A.K. Warder as he explained in the preface to
Introduction to Pali (3E), the language of the Digha Nikaya "appears
to be sufficiently representative of Canonical Pali as a whole to
provide any adequate introduction to any text, except possibly the
very latest additions to the canon".

3. I will set up a space at tipitaka.net to put up each word, the
example sentences, their translation and essential points discussing
their usage. If we worked through all the words on the list, we will
have a repertoire of Pali words large enough for all Pali students to
read Pali almost immediately.

The series will officially start next Sunday. Until then, I hope to
hear valuable feedback from everyone on this new little discussion
thread.

metta,
Yong Peng.