Dear Dhammanando Bhikkhu,

Thank you for taking the time to explain all that!

Yes, I think the Mahamakuta Bookstore is what I was looking for, and I
might visit the other places you mentioned too, thank you.

June

P.S. Derek - Thank you for the link. Everyone here is always so helpful!

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Dhammanando Bhikkhu
<dhammanando@...> wrote:

> Hi June,
>
> > Is there anyone here familiar with the Thai characters for
> > writing Pali? I started my Pali studies with roman
> > characters, so I was wondering if we can just convert
> > character for character (roman for thai character)?
>
> I have never done it that way, but I have converted files from Thai
> Pali to romanized Pali. I'm afraid it's not as simple as a character
> for character replacement. It would be best to make a search-&-

replace

> macro using Nisus Writer or MS Word if you plan to convert a lot of
> files.
>
> Here are a few hints based on my experience of Thai to roman
> conversion:
>
> 1) Format all the romanized Pali text in the same font and then set
> your wordprocessor's search-&-replace tool to search only for
> characters in that font and then replace them with a character in
> some Thai font.
>
> 2) The most important thing is to do the character-replacement in the
> right order, thus:
>
> a. Aspirated consonants (kh, gh, ch etc) followed by a, aa, i, ii, u,
> and uu. (Remember that a is not actually written in Thai Pali, but is
> just assumed to be present whenever there are two adjacent

consonants,

> where the first consonant is not followed by any other vowel and not
> accompanied by a silencing mark).
>
> b. Non-aspirates (k, g, c etc.) and h followed by a, aa, i,
> ii, u, and uu.
>
> c. niggahiitas
>
> 3) So far it's been plain-sailing. Now matters get tricky. The
> characters that remain to be replaced are e and o and their preceding
> consonant(s), along with various consonant clusters.
>
> a. In Thai the vowels e and o are written before the consonant that
> they are pronounced after. Theno, for example, is written 'ethon'. You
> will need to convert the e's and o's preceded by consonant clusters
> before you do those preceded by a single consonant. E.g. first kkhyo,
> gghyo ... etc., then khyo, ghyo ... etc., and finally yo. To avoid
> error you will first need to draw up a list of all possible consonant
> clusters and place them in groups according to their length.
>
> b. The final step is to convert all the remaining consonants, not
> forgetting to put a silencing dot under each of them to indicate the
> absence of sara a.
>
> > A little off topic from this group, sorry, but does anyone
> > know any bookstores in Thailand, in the Bangkok area that
> > mainly sells Buddhist books? I found a nice website once a
> > long time ago, a Buddhist bookstore selling both English and
> > Thai books, supported by the royal family, but I lost it.
>
> There is the Mahamakut Bookshop on Phra Sumen Rd. in Banglampoo

(just

> opposite Wat Bowornivet); and the Mahachulalongkorn Bookshop at

the

> side of Wat Mahadhatu, near Tha Phra Chan. The Bhumibalo Bhikkhu
> Foundation at Wat Saket publishes high quality editions of Pali texts
> (and a few Thai translations), mainly grammar and Abhidhamma

texts.

> Also there is White Lotus Press, I'm not sure where it is located but
> you should be able to find its online catalogue with Google. Finally
> there are the bookshops on Khaosan Road, if you can bear to go near
> the place.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Dhammanando
>
> __________________________
> Dhammanando Bhikkhu
> Ho 2, Wat Benchamabophitr
> Rama V Road
> Bangkok 10300