Lao Patimokkha MS; BPS, etc.

Bhante,

> Even for Sinhalese it can be difficult to distinguish some Sinhalese
> letters as they are so similar, e.g. g, bh, h, this is why there are
> typical mix ups resulting in variant readings like anigata and anibhata
> in Sinhalese Pali manuscripts.

Yes, each script has its own set of ambiguities, as mentioned.  I believe
I've been reading Pali in Sinhalese script almost every day for more than
three years (?) --and I am *more* comfortable with Sinhalese script than
Romanized text as a result.  However, as already confessed, each MS has its
own peculiar style of handwriting, and I mostly read printed (type-set)
Sinhalese text.

> If there is an old Lan Na Patimokkha manuscript around I would learn
> that script. Do you know of any?

I will make it a point to ask at the Lao National Library --in part because
I wonder if anyone in Lao has ever read the Patmokkha.  A few weeks ago I
heard the most peculiar Laotian "explanation" of the rule that monks should
not touch money: "used money is unclean, and monks are not allowed to defile
themselves; therefore monks should only be presented with crisp new bills
from the Bank" --and I am assured that some Laotians make a special trip to
the bank for new bills before visiting a monastery for this purpose.  We
should do as the Burmese did and get it inscribed in stone!  Better still,
we should stop performing the Ramayana, and act out the drama of Yasa & the
second council --it might give people pause to think as to what the
difference is between Theravada and Mahayana in the first place.

> There are many visitors and the monks
> tend to stay aloof from the laity, especially members of the other sex...

I suppose I should mention that I am male --and I believe that there are no
female monks on the premises.  *Ahem*, just to avoid confusion re: my name.

> In the anti scholarly Thai Forest
> Tradition studies are generally discouraged...

Yes, but then they're all ashamed when one of their (very sincere) monks who
has supposedly been mastering the "Tudong" practices reveals that he doesn't
really have the slightest idea of what the "Tudong" practices are.  Although
there is plenty of sincere practice going on, the Pali literacy rate has
dropped below the critical 1% needed to check innuendo against the primary
source, and it is increasingly the case that "the blind are leading the
blind".  Vague rumours circulate as to what the monastic rules really are,
or what the meditation practices really are, and the orthodox monks behave
as if "proper Buddhism" were self-evident --and then demand that the
government suppress and outlaw the "heterodox" movements that rise up out of
the silence of Thai traditional Buddhism.  The real hatred that "the
hierarchy" of Thailand express for "Santi Asoka", etc., is almost without
peer in the Buddhist world (okay: sect rivalry in Korea...) --and is all the
more absurd when we consider that their "enemies" become blessed (one by
one) as authority figures in their own right (Buddhadasa is a prime example
  --Dhammakaya is already headed in the same direction).

Ah well!  Less than 2,500 years to go!

E.M.


--
A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/
View Streaming Dhamma Video http://dharmavahini.tv/
Some are born in a womb; evildoers (are born) in woeful states; the
well-conducted go to blissful states; the Undefiled Ones pass away into
Nibbana.
Random Dhammapada Verse 126