Dear Ong Yong

My understanding was all Chinese Buddhist books were Mahayana. Are
there Chinese Theravada canon available? If so it was translated
from a Pali version of Sri Lanka or a version from India. If the
Chinese Theravada version was a translation from an earlier Indian
version, has someone done any research to compare the Sri Lankan
version and that one?

Regards

Ruwan

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Ong Yong Peng" <pali.smith@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Nina and Gabriel,
>
> allow me to add my points after some thoughts.
>
> Very commonly, dhamma refers the Buddha's teachings, as in "Buddha,
> Dhamma, Sangha", 'dhamma-vinaya'.
>
> However, as one starts reading the Tipitaka in Pali, one would
realise
> that dhamma is a word with multiple meanings. If we read the
Tipitaka
> in English, the word dhamma would hardly exist, as it would have
been
> translated into one English equivalent or another. The same is not
> true for Chinese translations. Chinese translators are more loyal to
> the original texts by retaining very much more of the Indian
> vocabulary in their translations. This resulted in the blossoming of
> Chinese commentaries and subcommentaries in all shapes and sizes, it
> also makes the Chinese translations a highly reliable source for
> understanding the original texts, many of which no longer exist,
today.
>
> In a passage like "Tasmi.m khopana samaye dhammaa honti, khandhaa
> hontii"ti, the dhamma(s) refer to the khandha(s).
>
> In Buddhism, an individual is made up of rupa and arupa khandhas.
The
> rupa khandhas can be further divided as elements of earth, water,
fire
> and wind. The arupa khandhas are those of feeling, cognition, mental
> formation and consciousness, each of which can also be further
divided
> into various elements. These khandhas have the common
characteristics:
> nissattanijjiivata (two adjectives). So, in places where the texts
use
> dhamma to refer to khandha, dhamma has the characteristics of
> nissattanijjiivata.
>
> By saying dhamma is synonymous with nissattanijjiivata, as we see in
> Saddaniti, etc., is merely a bold step of the ancient Pali scholars
to
> solidify the Buddhist concept of anatta in living vocabulary.
>
> metta,
> Yong Peng.
>
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Lotsawanet wrote:
>
> 1. There are some references on dhamma implying absence of an entity
> or living soul, without a soul. Soul here is the translation of
which
> pali term?
>
> > http://www.tipitaka.net/pali/scope/dhamma
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/message/11507
>