Meeting with Peter Skilling; Lampang

Just reporting that I met for a few hours with Peter Skilling.  He was kind
enough to give me a free copy of his recent book (Pali & Vernacular sources
from Central Thailand, etc.) and also of a recent survey of Pali manuscripts
in Cambodia under the same imprint (under his editorship, perhaps?).  In
return, I could only offer him a few pages of my "forthcoming" book (we had
a few jokes about the use of the word "forthcoming" in this line of
work...).

Skilling told me that the major concentration of (living) Pali grammaticians
(among Thai monks) was centred around a single Vihara in Lampang (Northern
Thailand, East of Chiang-Mai).  He reported that there was a very learned
Burmese monk there (now in his 80s) who "speaks English well, but with a
very heavy accent" --and he is responsible, Skilling says, for the revival
of interest in Pali grammar in the present generation.  Skilling said he
doubted that there was a single expert in Pali grammar (among monks) in
Thailand who had not been his student, in Lampang, at some point; however,
Skilling stated that he did not know which books or which methods were used
there.

Sounds worth investigating.  If anyone knows more of this, I would be glad
to learn.  I could see Lampang on my way to Nan at the end of this month.

One further note: Skilling recalled to me what he knew about interlinear and
other adaptations of Kaccayana, and stated that there was a locally-adapted
version (of some kind) in Cambodia called "Kaccayana Me-Sutra" (the "Me" is
the same syllable as in "Mekong", i.e., "Mother Sutra") but he was not sure
what the nature of the book was, except that it had become the pre-eminent
hand-book for monks learning Pali in Cambodia for many centuries.  It may be
the same Pali original with a Khmer commentary, or perhaps a revision of the
book entire.  It is listed in the survey of Khmer texts that Skilling
provided me as extant in manuscript form at various libraries.  Again, if
anyone knows ought of this, I would be glad to hear more.

E.M.


--
A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/
Get your Dhamma Books from http://books.metta.lk/
Irrigators lead the water; fletchers fashion the shaft; carpenters carve the
wood; the wise discipline themselves.
Random Dhammapada Verse 80