Report from Yunnan, misc. comments on Kacc 10, digital textbooks, recent articles, etc.

The availability of these books in digital format is certainly
something "new" --I remember searching for such things back when I
began this project on Kaccayana (now years ago ... and in distant
Hong-Kong).

As I mentioned in the introduction to my "edition" of Duroiselle's
grammar, I found a Rhys-Davids' own copy of D'Alwis in Sri Lanka --but
have not seen it since.

I wrote a pair of long footnotes on the verses in question, and I am
satisfied with Ole's explanation of the matter (viz., that it is
orthographic in principle).  This does not mean that I would entirely
disregard other explanations, some of which are at least amusing
enough to merit mention in these footnotes.

I've mentioned before that Mason has an interesting but incorrect
explanation of the same issue, drawing from Burmese oral tradition.

While here in Yunnan, I had time to create my "final" revision of (1)
Narada's grammar, (2) Duroiselle's grammar, and (3) for the first time
to create a revised PDF of Dr Lily DeSilva's textbook.

After updating Narada and Duroiselle's texts roughly once a year for
several years, I do not plan to make further revisions beyond these
"2008 editions".  Many errors have been corrected (and new glossaries
concoted for #1 & #3), but, of course, nothing can be claimed to be
perfect.

As always, the most important functional change is always the creation
of new tables --a time-consuming process-- but at long last (e.g.)
Narada's tables of personal pronouns (a complete mess even when they
were in print in the original, paper edition) are truly legible and
useful.

If anyone wants these new digital editions immediately, I will e-mail
them off-list (along with the new versions of the glossaries; for De
Silva, too, I created one with two asian scripts alongisde the
romanization).

My own website is now extremely unlikely to be updated ... for reasons
including the fact that the guy who operates the server is now
considering/planning to run away to Sri Lanka and ordain as a monk.
Of course, I wished him luck, and provided him with a map of the key
monasteries he will need to know, based on Nyanatusita's writing in
this genre --but it is slightly inconvenient for myself.

Regarding Pali here "on the mainland": it was reported to me from
India that "three Chinese girls and a guy" (apparently from a
university of some kind, perhaps in Beijing?) materialized in Pune,
Maharastra, and reported that they want to learn Pali.  This may or
may not represent the sum total of Pali studies in a nation of over
one billion persons; but in either case it is encouraging.  These
students were described to me as "childish and deferential" --but,
perhaps, this reflects the inter-cultural friction of mainland Chinese
in India (the latter would be an extremely intimidating environment
for most, but especially for the children of the elite who generally
dominate PhD programmes here).

I will investigate the (perhaps chimerical) Pali-and-Tibetan studies
centre in Kunming, but I am awaiting the arrivial of one of two
colleagues who are fluent in Chinese before asking questions in this
vein.

Kunming academia seems to include several persons of interest (viz.,
Western researchers living here) who are also interested in my
studies, from other disciplines such as anthropology.  If anyone on
the list has further suggestions of specialists whom I should "look
up", please do let me know.

While in Yunnan, I had time to prepare a short article on the modern
history of Cambodia, and I mention this now (briefly) for several
reasons.  As I have read more and more about the issue, I have
realized that there is practically no English source in print that
states the correct answer to the question, "precisely when and why did
the Americans begin supporting the Khmer Rouge ("Pol Pot", etc.)?"
--on the contrary, there are several authoritative sources that give
no answer, or vaguely state incorrect answers (perhaps only "vaguely"
because of the authors' uncertainty on the matter).  This issue was
mentioned and briefly discussed on this list, now over one year ago.
It seems that the journal I had in mind to publish this has ceased to
exist --and the editors' e-mail-boxes have certainly disappeared.  The
only forum I can think of for such a thing would be the IIAS
"newsletter", or possibly the JCAS ("Journal of Critical Asian
Studies") --but I would strongly prefer something published in Asia,
and actually read by Asians.  If anyone can suggest a publication, or
send me a salient editor's e-mail, I would be grateful.

Even less related to Pali studies, and so mentioned even more briefly,
my article on deforestation in Laos was translated into Thai, and now
is available on the web in both languages, I'm glad to say (as most
educated Laotians can also read Thai).

Yunnan has been extremely welcoming to me.

Many voices are suggesting that I simply, "stay forever" --and this is
perhaps the first place in Asia that I have been tempted to do so.

This is quite unexpected, as I only thought of this part of China as a
very temporary "shelter" while setting my affairs in order.

Obversely, relocating to Cambodia has become a moot issue, as I
clarified (in e-mail discussions with her) that Mme Filliozat will not
be relocating to Phnom Penh as I had thought, but plan to spend next
winter there, and perhaps many winters more in the future.  I have
seriously suggested to her that she could have some kind of informal
programme to pass on her experience and knowledge of Pali manuscripts
to the next generation (e.g., me!) while she is in Cambodia;
currently, she has a few japanese "students" (or "followers"), but
they are professional librarians, not Palicists.

It is quite possible that I will still end up in a Burmese border
refugee camp, or in a Thai university town, but both are bleak
contrasts to life here in "Xipxongpanna" (viz., the still slightly
Theravada area of China).

In terms of manuscripts, etc., this area of China is potentially
important.  In brief: the old Shan tradition (viz., "Yuan" Buddhism,
before it was reformed/destroyed by the central Burmese church in the
19th century) existed here intact until the cultural revolution (of
the late 20th century); and, on the other hand, traditional Dai Lue
Buddhism (viz., "northern Lao") existed here without the destruction
wrought by the American bombers.  However, local enthusiasm for Maoism
may have been just as thorough in destroying the books.

(I still have not been able to arrange a meeting with the UNESCO
manuscript researcher stationed here.)

Now, while destruction of another kind is ongoing in Burma, one may be
sure that manuscripts are crossing the border, along with the jade and
other commodities, both legal and illegal, that flow into this part of
China.

One intelligent fellow who is not at all Buddhist (rather, one might
say, his religion is beer) reported to me that what is now happening
here under the patronage of tourism and officialdom is, "the death of
Dai Buddhism".  He was lamenting this in insightful terms after
visiting the grand opening of a "theme-park" sized monastic complex
that the government just opened outside of Jinghong.  Of course, there
is really nothing monastic about it, and there are turnstiles at
various points to exact money from visitors, etc., and a mix of crude
Mahayana idols among the (concrete) attempts to replicate Dai buddhism
from Thai models, etc.

E.M.