Lampang acquisitions: Kaccaayana

After a journey that spanned from 9:00 AM to 5:30 AM the next day, I arrived
in Lampang,.  My train ticket from Phitsanulok read "Standee, 3rd class",
and I seriously considered bartering to get an upgrade to "Palicist, 4th
class", but lacked the time to dispute my case with the ticketing agent.

Initial confusion about my presence at Wat Ta-Ma-Oh was cleared up by my
presentation of a card on which I had written "Kaccayana" in several
different scripts --I was then ushered into the company of Bhante G.  The
latter presented me with a copy of the Ruupasiddhi, and (after my urging and
some searching) also the 1997 edition of Kacc.; they tried to burden me with
a massive translation of the Ruupasiddhi into modern Thai, but this
generosity I refused (both because it would be of no use to me, and because
it might have broken my back).

I note first of all that the edition of Kacc. is titled (both in Thai &
Roman script) Kaccaayana-Byaakara.na.m.  I notice that they use the "b"
figure in the one Burmese statement of the title as well --thus, it is not
"a pure error".

I have no idea what the reason for "byaa-" being used in place of "vyaa-"
might be; when I drew attention to it, I was briefly ridiculed for my
(supposed) inability to read the Thai.  I was reading the Thai fine, but
wondering why "v" had been replaced with the Thai "b"/"ph" sound.   Is this
a "standard variation"?  It certainly isn't euphonic variation (e.g., the
variable double-"p" in various Pali titles).

Bhante G. affirmed that the edition is simply a Thai transliteration of an
earlier, Burmese one --and, thus, does not represent Thai variations in the
transmission of the text.

Both editions have done a very good (or very bad) job of padding the text. 
My Sinhalese edition of Kacc. looks like a pamphlet next to this massive
tome (of the same limited material).  I don't know if this is an intentional
ploy to magnify the merit produced by the book (more pages = better kamma? 
It certainly raises production costs...) but this is one of the least
space-efficient typesetting jobs I've seen outside of a PhD thesis.  Of
course, the modern Thai orthography doesn't help matters; I pine for the
relative efficiency of Burmese or Sinhalese script (or even Khom) when I
look at (e.g.) the repeated Thai retroflex .n character, with the dot
beneath it.  Ugh.

I am sorry to say that I'm too tired to provide impressions of the city or
the temple (my journey was exhausting).  However, one distinctive feature of
the library at Wat Ta-Ma-Oh is that it is ACTUALLY USED.  Unlike other
monastic or academic collections that I have looked at, nearly every book on
the shelf had a few folded notes inserted into it, a photograph used as a
bookmark, or other signs of being recently (or: repeatedly) read by the
monks.  Their books are a mix of Burmese & Thai-script editions --with more
Devanagari than I expected to find.  Bhante G. himself reads Panini, and
other monks who have studied in Burma have some comparative knowledge of
Sanskrit, so apparently Devanagari editions (of both Sk. & Pali) are of some
use here.

I was advised to study the Ruupasiddhi rather than Kacc.; if one studies R.
twice (I was told) one will know the whole of the Pali language, whereas one
can study K. three times without learning the whole language.  Sage advice,
but I note that the man telling it to me studied K. before the R. --and so
shall I.  Of course R. is more thorough --but, for that very reason, why
would one study it before K.?

I showed the monks some pages from the MS for my book; Bhante G. decided to
show off his prowess by pointing out "an error" he noticed on one of the
pages.  It was not an error, it was an adjective that he had (incorrectly)
supposed to be the object of the sentence (i.e., thus it would/should have
been in the accusative).  I saw the problem instantly, and, although I
considered correcting his correction, I decided to "graciously" note down an
"X" beside the word he had pointed out, and humbly accept his suggestion. 
As I was in the act of accepting his books, I decided not to dispute the
syntax of this random sentence that happened to catch his attention. 
Besides: what do I know?

E.M.

--
A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/
View Streaming Dhamma Video http://dharmavahini.tv/
Though one should live a thousand years, immoral and uncontrolled, yet
better, indeed, is a single day's life of one who is moral and meditative.
Random Dhammapada Verse 110