Dear Venerable Pandita,
Thanks for the information. It would be good if you would be able to
find out the Pali name of Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw's work so that I can add
it to the List of Pali literature I am working on. (See
http://www.bps.lk/other_library/reference_table_of_pali_literature.pdf).
Doesn't Kyan mean Diipanii? Could it perhaps be
Vipassanaa-bhaavanaa-diipanii?
Kind regards,
Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Soe Naung wrote:
>
> 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
>
> >
> > __,_.
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>