Re: suttas 3-6: vowels & consonants

>The time you spent lurking at the back of the class was rather
short-lived! Now
>that you have come out of hiding feel free to sit at the front if you
like.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for the permission, maybe I'll take you up on it, perhaps
the corner by the door so as to get in no one's way and to make a more
graceful exit in case of emergencies!

>I notice your 'PaliStudies' which looks great.

Actually, I'm afraid it was another of my chronic careless mistakes. 
Although the subconscious might be at work here, I had proposed the
name 'DhammaStudies' to the then website committee (long since
dissolved, all present responsibilities are mine) myself but was
outvoted. 

>When I was thinking up of an email name for the group I had thought
of
>'palistudies' but chose 'palistudy' to match dhammastudy. I think
that in the
>settings it is possible to change the email address and I'm open to
name changes
>if anyone can think of a better one. The tag name can be changed too
eg.
>[PaliStudy].  Also any suggestions for improving the description of
the group
>would be welcome.

I think [PaliStudy] looks great myself, come to think of it!

>>>Thank you so much for this great privilege of studying with you.
Your
>>>careful and thorough explanation makes it much less daunting than I
>>>had imagined, as well as amazingly interesting.  This is also a
real
>>>treasure as document, would you consider at least an eventual link
to
>>>DhammaStudy.com, to share it with other Pali students?  Later on
>>>printing it in book form would be infinitely beneficial indeed...

>>And now the reason why you might want to invite me to leave someday;
>>my inquisitive mode is in gear:

>I'm doubtful this will ever become a reason for inviting you to
leave. Your
>inquisitive mind is most welcome here and I look forward to answering
your
>questions wherever possible.

Thank you very much, if you ever change your mind just shout! 
Seriously, I really appreciate the great care you take in teaching,
and especially in answering all the questions with such clarity and
using such extensive research.

>I don't know precisely what 'niiti' means, but I generally think of
it as meaning
>guide or guidance while allowing for the possibility that it may have
a more
>precise meaning that I have yet to come across. Sadda means sound but
I
>suspect that it could mean something more specific in combination
with 'niiti'.

Could you also tell us what the possible meanings of Saddaniiti are?

>Niiti and netti both come from the same verbal root (dhaatu): 'nii'
-to lead, guide,
>conduct. Naya (method) & vinaya also come from the same root. You
will have
>noticed that the English title of the Nettippakara.na is _The Guide_.
I think of the
>Nettippakara.na as a handbook for teachers and commentators. Your
mention of
>'rule' or 'law' is interesting. I noticed in PED the word
'niiticintaka' - lawgiver
>(cintaka means thinker).

It reminds me that the Thai uses 'nitipannati' for the government
legislation department. 

Consequently, it makes me think of Gayan, wouldn't it be great if he
had the time to join our group?  He seems quite knowledgeable in Pali
and once said that Singhalese was derived from the Pali for the most
part.  Our studies would familiarize him with how Pali is written in
romanized alphabets as well as the proper translations.  And he could
certainly help us with his linguistic heritage which is probably the
closest we could get to the original, don't you think?

>I think 'kappa' here might be referring to the prescribed rules for
sandhi.

>The 'kappa' as in 'mahaakappa' (great eon) means something quite
different,
>although both kappas come from the same root 'kapp' which carries 3
basic
>meanings.

May I ask for more details; which three meanings?

I had a look at this one in the Dhaatumaala, the second volume, and
found that 'kappa' is a very complex word with at least 19 different
uses such as in 'sa"nkappa' (thought), and so on.

Looking forward to more of your excellent questions.

Thank you for your kindnesses, anumodana,

Amara