Dear Ven. Nyanatusita
You wrote:
> If it is a fact that no new Pali compositions were written during the
> last fifty years, then this indicates that Pali is now a real dead
> language.
>
If we adopt that logic, I can say that Pali is not yet dead in Burma.
About 3 or 4 years ago, a Pali translation of "Vipassanaa.Shu.Ney.Kyan"
(meaning "How to Practise Vipassanaa", the masterpiece in Burmese of Mahasi
Sayadaw) has been published. (I am sorry I cannot give the Pali title; it
was published when I was already abroad) The translator is Ven.
Kumaaraabhiva.msa, the former Dean of Pariyatti Faculty at the International
Therevada Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU), Rangoon. The original
Burmese work is, understandably, not much known outside Burma. But I think
it is the most important work of Mahasi Sayadaw since it is in this work
that he offers the whole doctrinal basis of Mahasi meditation method, in an
attempt to show that that method is in accord with the Buddha's teaching.
The same translator also wrote and published another Pali work entitled
"Therii-Apaadaana-Diipanii", which is in fact a commentary on Therii
Apaadaana. I cannot give the accurate date of its publication, but I am
certain it was published after 1988, the time of the military takeover in
Burma.
And Ven. Nandamaalaabhiva.msa, the present Rector of ITBMU, is writing a new
commentary on Dhammapada verses (without stories). But I don't know whether
he has finished it or not.
And a word for Eisel:
You wrote:
<As I mentioned years ago (to this list): my criterion for a living language
is that husbands and wives still <use it as a medium for disputes and
arguments. Thus, Hebrew is a living language while Pali
<is not; Aramaic is a living language, but Latin is not (though they now
have a Latin radio news-service, a <Wikipedia, etc.).
According to your logic, Pali was already dead when Venerable Mahinda
brought it to Ceylon. Buddhaghosa and all subsequent Pali authors have been
writing in a dead language.
Actually, I don't want to argue against your definition of "a living
language". I only wish to point out that being dead or alive is not
significant in the case of Pali. The real significance of Pali lies in the
fact that it is the lingua franca of Theravada Buddhism. That status will
not change with time. International languages may come and go but Pali will
not go away as long as Theravada Buddhism exists.
with metta
Ven. Pandita
>
> __,_.
>
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