Thank's again, Bhante, for this description of the Burmese
grammatical tradition. I believe it is most welcome if multiple
approaches are used here. I've heard of at least a few western
scholars having found they need to learn Burmese to work with the
Saddaniiti, though I am not sure if Helmer Smith, who edited the text
in roman characters, did so. If you or anyone knows the answer to
this question I'd appreciate hearing so. Thanks also for the
reference to the ITBMU which looks interesting.

best regards,

/Rett

>
> " 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.