The origins of Jim's interest in Pali by Jim himself

Dear friends,

I thought it would be appropriate to share the following message Jim wrote back in 2001 in this group about his interest in Pali and about his medical condition.

With Metta,

Florent

I think I first became interested in the Pali language while attending some
Buddhist meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1973. I can remember listening
to a beautiful recording of a bhikkhu chanting the triple refuge, etc. and
coming across some Pali words in small BPS booklets that were lent to me.
Around this time I bought my first dhamma book, a translation of the
Dhammapada. However, it wasn't until early 1976 while staying in Toronto
that I actually took it upon myself to learn Pali using Warder's
Introduction to Pali. In 1977, I bought my first books printed in Pali, the
three vol. set of the Dighanikaya (PTS) and in 1978 I became a subscriber to
the Pali Text Society, corresponded with Miss I.B. Horner, and was well on
my way in amassing a well-stocked Pali library for my own personal use.

I'm mostly self-taught. However, I did make some effort to study Pali under
the instruction of others such as a Sinhalese bhikkhu at the Toronto
Mahavihara (a lesson or two), Prof. A.K. Warder at the University of Toronto
(1 lesson), a post-graduate student under Prof. Warder by the name of Bandu
Madanayake (a Sinhalese). We covered more that half the lessons from
Warder's book in a couple of months in 1980. Also around this time I
considered entering U of T to study Pali under Prof. Warder but nothing came
of it. In 1982, I met a Burmese bhikkhu from Yangon who was said to have
had almost the entire Tipitaka memorized. I had an opportunity to study with
him around 1988 but I just let it go because the conditions weren't right
for it.

I have had a disease called Usher Syndrome since childhood that
significantly limits my eyesight and hearing to the point that I qualify
for a disability pension so I stopped working altogether from 1979 onwards
which has given me the opportunity of pursuing my interests full-time. Mind
you, I haven't been constantly studying Pali all this time but would often
put it aside for awhile to study other subjects but I would have to say that
the Pali language and its texts has been my main focus of study throughout
and even more so now.

Having plenty of free time to study and good Pali and Sanskrit resource
materials to work with have helped me to acquire the language on my own.
In the last few years through the internet I have been able to come into
contact with others who are also interested in Pali like yourself and Nina.
So instead of just studying Pali mostly on my own as before I can now study
with and learn from others as well. I hope I have adequately answered your
questions. Just ask if you want to know more. I already know something about
your Pali background and interest in linguistics. Feel free to point out
errors in my replies to Nina or help out if you see any of getting stuck in
the translations.