From: gdbedell
Message: 12013
Date: 2008-01-25
--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
>
> Shall I call you DB or Bedell?
>
> Thanks for the interesting feedback, and I would like to know more. Any
> citations?
>
> I can see phantom question marks over some of my more intelligent pupils
> looking
> at me with suspicion if I said that a certain gdbedell on Pali Yahoo said
> such and
> such. Not that I don't value what you have said; indeed, for the very
> contrary.
>
> Citations please.
>
> Agape,
>
> Piya
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2008 10:26 PM, gdbedell <gdbedell@...> wrote:
>
> > With all due respect to Piya Tan and others of like mind, a 'dead'
> > language is usually
> > defined as one with no native speakers. These are people who learn it as
> > their first
> > language and for whom it remains the primary mode of communication. By
> > this definition,
> > Pali is a dead language in spite of the many Buddhists who read and chant
> > it regularly, and
> > situations like that described by Piya for the Thai abbot in Sri Lanka.
> > Being dead does not
> > prevent it from preserving the Buddha's teachings.
> >
> >
> > --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com>, "Piya Tan"
> > <dharmafarer@> wrote:
> > >
> > > When I was a monk in Thailand some 40 years back, I remember my abbot
> > (the
> > > current Somdet Phutthacharn of Wat Srakes) saying when he went to Sri
> > Lanka,
> > > he knew no Sinhala, and the Sinhalese knew no Thai. So they communicated
> > in
> > > Pali.
> > >
> > > Furthermore, Pali is not a "dead" language (like hieroglyphics, which
> > nobody
> > > uses).
> > > Pali is commonly use by living cultures. Sometimes it is called a
> > > Kunstsprache,
> > > which I think literally translates as "speech for art" a sort of
> > artificial
> > > language
> > > specially devised to preserve the Buddha's Teachings.
> > >
> > > Metta,
> > >
> > > Piya
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jan 25, 2008 2:59 PM, Jon Fernquest <bayinnaung@> wrote:
> > >
> > > > In a previous thread (History of the word "Aryan") Piya Tan suggests:
> > > >
> > > > "I think we should stop speaking English here, and start using Pali.
> > After
> > > >
> > > > all this is a Pali website."
> > > >
> > > > I would like to do this, but has a spoken Pali primer ever been
> > written?
> > > >
> > > > I once asked a former monk friend of mine how to say some simple
> > > > phrases and even though he can read Pali very well, he wasn't able to
> > > > produce spoken Pali. Does anyone speak Pali anymore? When did they in
> > > > the past?
> > > >
> > > > This reminds me of a **Pali phrase book** used to help beginners
> > > > communicate in Pali, that I found at a bookseller in Yangon, Burma
> > > > several years ago, that was published in Sri Lanka.
> > > >
> > > > Has anyone ever seen such a thing or know where it can be obtained?
> > > >
> > > > Sincerely,
> > > > Jon
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > The Minding Centre
> > > Blk 644 Bukit Batok Central #01-68 (2nd flr)
> > > Singapore 650644
> > > Website: dharmafarer.googlepages.com
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> The Minding Centre
> Blk 644 Bukit Batok Central #01-68 (2nd flr)
> Singapore 650644
> Website: dharmafarer.googlepages.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>