Dear members
My post to the group entitled, " A Pali question & answer" has prompted some responses and I think I should make some explanations.
1. Thank you, Everett, for your comment but I think you have misunderstood me. When I mentioned
" the atmosphere of traditional Pali learning of Myanmar (Burma)", I was not referring to classical grammars such as Kaccaaya.na or Saddaniiti. Those works do form an important part of the traditional Pali learning in Myanmar but they are only, so to speak, " the tip of the whole iceberg".
Myanmar (Burma) has been a comparatively isolated country throughout the history and monastic education is in its very nature " an ivory tower". Consequently, Pali learning in Myanmar has evolved along a unique path through hundreds of years. But its fruits have been denied to the rest of the world by two barriers, namely, the language - the learning materials are mostly in archaic Myanmarese (Burmese) language that even an ordinary native could hardly understand - and the mode of presentation -with extreme care for minute details and pedantic materials. It was very recently that attempts came to be made to make Pali learning down to earth and the recently founded International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU) is supposed to introduce these materials to the international community.
Therefore, I hope I am not claiming too much if I say that I could not be surprised by Warder, or for that matter, any modern scholar.
2. Thank you, Jim, for your interest in traditional Pali grammars and I, for one, would subscribe to your mailing list. But I hope you would not mind if I say that such an approach is suitable only for advanced students, for grammatical systems of Pali are based on their Sanskrit counterparts and very difficult to master. I am saying this from my experience; I have taught the Moggallana grammar to some foreign students in Myanmar and, at present, I am teaching Kaccaayana to three Taiwanese students. At both times, I decided to introduce the classical grammars to my students only when they could read, and make literal translations of, ordinary Pali prose on their own without the teacher's help. Even then, they found it quite difficult to learn and also rather boring. Anyhow, I do appreciate your interest in classics that people little care for nowadays.
3. Thank you, Nina, for your appreciation. I would try my best to make more contributions.
Yours in Dhamma
Ven. Pandita

> Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 16:27:50 +0100
> From: Everett Thiele <rett@...>
>Subject: Re: A Pali question & answer
>Thank you, Bhante, for your helpful article. I just wanted to mention
>that you might be pleasantly surprised by Warder's approach. His book
>is based on the Saddaniiti, and tends to follow the traditional
>schemes for deriving forms, (though he explains everything in English
>of course).
>best regards,
>/ET
> Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 12:33:14 -0500
> From: "Jim Anderson" <jimanderson_on@...>
> Subject: Re: A Pali question & answer
>Dear members,
>Just to let you know. For some of you who are or may be interested in
>approaching Pali through the traditional grammars such as the
>Saddaniiti, you might consider subscribing to my small Palistudy
>mailing list which is dedicated primarily to the study of the old
>treatises on the Pali language & written in Pali. Hardly any of these
>texts or parts thereof are available in English so this means that we
>have to study the source texts in Pali. We're just getting started on
>the Kaccaayanavyaakara.na and in fact I'm busy preparing to post the
>second rule (Kc 2) on the letters (akkharaa). If you would like to
>join us, please contact me at: palistudy@...
>Best wishes,
>Jim
> Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:21:44 +0100
> From: nina van gorkom <nilo@...>
> Subject: Re: A Pali question & answer
>Venerable Bhante Pandita,
> I really appreciate the exposition you gave. I think in Myanmar style, very
> thorough and that is what I like. We can learn from even a small sentence. I
> am looking forward to more of this,
> With gratefulness and respect,
> Nina.
> op 13-01-2004 09:15 schreef bhikkhu pandita op bhikkhu_pandita@...:

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