--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Fernquest" <bayinnaung@...> wrote:

>
> Whoops. Just noticed that unicode didn't show up,
> so I converted it to Velthius using converter:
>
> http://pali.sirimangalo.org/convertpad.htm
>
> [Isn't there an html tag that can be put around a posting to get

the

> browser to use unicode UTF-8 to display?]
>
> Dave wrote: "I guess I'm wondering how much the Pali language was
> influenced by Prince Siddhartha's caste. What would it have looked
> like if he had been a Brahmin or a Vaishya?"
>
> I don't know about language per se but the advice given sometimes
> seems to be very Kshatriyan. There is the famous passage in the
> Mahaparinibbana sutta when the Buddha lays out how a state can

survive

> in the face of warfare, the Seven Ways to Avoid Decline or

Aparihaniya

> (see below), and then hints how the parricide Ajaatasattu can

defeat

> and put an end to the tribal republic of the Vajjians, and then

goes

> further and applies the same rules of survival to the long term
> survival of the Sangha (Steven Collins, 1998, Nirvana and other
> Buddhist Felicities, "The Vajjis Exemplary Community," pages 437-

448).

> Here is the key passage:

<trimmed>

Thanks Jon. I suppose it is reflected, as you say, more in the
teachings than in the language. In retrospect I may have been
asking about the language because I thought it was more on topic for
this group, though I realize that the Canon is our topic as well.