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Pali
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Contents of this page
01. Origin and development
02. Lexicon
03. Emic views of Pali
04. Phonology
05. Morphology
06. Example of Pāli with English translation
07. Pali and Sanskrit
07.01. Vowels and Diphthongs
07.02. Consonants
07.02.01. Sound changes
07.02.02. Assimilation
07.02.02.01. General rules
07.02.02.02. Total assimilation
07.02.02.03. Partial and mutual assimilations
07.02.03. Epenthesis
07.02.04. Other changes
07.03. Exceptions
08. Pāli writing
08.01. Pāli alphabet with diacritics
08.02. Pāli transliteration on computers
08.03. Pāli text in ASCII
09. References
10. Further reading
11. See also
12. External links
UKT Notes
• 
{Da-ra.Ni}
• emic and etic
Contents of this page
Pali (IAST: Pāḷi) is a Middle Indo-Aryan language or prakrit
{pra-ka.reik} of India. It is best known as the language of the earliest
extant Buddhist canon, the Pāi Canon (Pāḷi: Tipitaka
{ti.pi.Ti.ka.}),
and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. Pāli
has since been written in a variety of scripts, from the Brahmic family scripts
through to a romanised form devised with the research and contributions
of Robert Caesar Childers and T. W. Rhys Davids, both of the Pali Text Society.
Contents of this page
The word Pāli itself signifies "line" or "(canonical) text",
and this name for the language seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions,
wherein the Pāli (in the sense of the line of original text quoted)
was distinguished from the commentary or the vernacular following after it
on the manuscript page. As such, the name of the language has caused
some debate among scholars of all ages; the spelling of the name also varies,
being found with both long "ā"[ɑː] and
short "a" [a], and also with either a retroflex [ ɭ ] or non-retroflex
[ l ] "l" sound. To this day, there is no single, standard spelling
of the term; all four spellings can be found in textbooks.
UKT: The phrase <"ā"[ɑː]
and short "a" [a]> means the vowels are {au:} and {a}.
Next, the phrase <retroflex [ ɭ ] or non-retroflex
[ l ]> means the consonants are {La.} or {la.}.
Therefore the spellings can be {pau:li.} to {paLi.}. In Pali-Myanmar it is
{pa-Li.}.
Pāli is a literary language of the Prakrit language family;
it is not now (and never was) an informal, spoken language, in the sense
of a mother tongue. Despite excellent scholarship on this problem,
there is persistent confusion as to the inter-relation of
Pāḷi to the vernacular spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha
{ma-ga.Da.} (now modern-day Bihār).
Pāli as a Middle Indo-Aryan language is different from Sanskrit
{thak~ka.ta.}
not so much with regard to the time of its origin than as to its dialectal base,
since a number of its morphological and lexical features betray the fact that it
is not a direct continuation of Ṛgvedic
Vedic Sanskrit; rather it descends from a dialect (or a number of dialects)
which was (/were), despite many similarities, different from Ṛgvedic.
(pali-wiki-ref01)
Pāli was considered by early Buddhists to be linguistically
similar to Old Magadhi
{ma-ga.Di}
or even a direct continuation of that language. Many Theravada sources
refer to the Pāli language as “Magadhan” or the “language of Magadha”.
However, the later form of Magadhi of Asoka's inscriptions (3rd century BC)
is an Eastern Indian language whereas Pāli most closely resembles
Western Indian inscriptions. There are many remarkable analogies between Pali and
Ardhamagadhi
(Half Magadhi), an old form of Magadhi preserved in ancient
Jain texts.
Ardhamagadhi differs from Magadhi proper on similar points as Pali.
For example, Ardhamagadhi too does not change r into l,
and in the noun inflexion it shows the ending -o instead of Magadhic -e
at least in many metrical places. This similarity is not accidental, since
Mahavira, the 24th
Tirthankara of
Jainism
preached in the same area (Magadha) as Buddha Gotama.
T.W. Rhys Davids in his book Buddhist India, and
Wilhelm Geiger in his book Pali Literature and Language suggested
that Pāli may have originated as a form of lingua franca
or common language of cultured laity, used at the time of the Buddha.
However, most modern scholars consider that Pali evolved over a
period of centuries, becoming fairly fixed when the Pāli Canon
was written down in Sri Lanka. It continued to be preserved entirely
in Pāli, while the commentarial tradition that accompanied it
(according to the information provided by
Buddhaghosa)
{boad~Da.Gau:tha.} was translated into Sinhalese and preserved in local languages
for several generations.
However it was ultimately supplanted in India by Sanskrit
as a literary and religious language following the formulation
of Classical Sanskrit by the scholar
Panini 
{pa-Ni.ni.}. In Sri Lanka, Pāli is thought to have entered into a period of
decline ending around the 4th or 5th Century (as Sanskrit rose in prominence),
but ultimately survived. The work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its
reemergence as an important scholarly language in Buddhist thought. The
Visuddhimagga and the other commentaries that Buddhaghosa compiled
codified and condensed the Sinhalese commentarial tradition that
had been preserved and expanded in Sri Lanka since the 3rd Century BCE.
Today Pāli is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures,
and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. The secular literature
of Pāli historical chronicles, medical texts, and inscriptions,
is also of great historical importance. The great centers of Pāli
learning remain in the Theravada nations of South-East Asia:
Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Since the 19th century, various societies for the revival of Pāli
studies in India have promoted awareness of the language
and its literature, perhaps most notably the
Maha Bodhi Society
founded by Anagarika Dhammapala.
In Europe, the Pali Text Society has been a major force
in promoting the study of Pāli by Western scholars since
its founding in 1881. Based in the United Kingdom, the society publishes
romanized Pāli editions, along with many English translations
of these sources. In 1869, the first Pali Dictionary was published
using the research of Robert Caesar Childers, one of the founding members
of the Pali Text Society. It was the first Pali translated text in English
and was published in 1872. Childers's Dictionary later received
the Volney Prize in 1876.
The Pali Text Society was in part founded to compensate for
the very low level of funds allocated to Indology in late 19th century
England; incongruously, the English were not nearly so robust in Sanskrit
and Prakrit language studies as Germany, Russia and even Denmark — a
situation that many would say continues to this day. Without the inspiration of
colonial holdings such as the former British occupation of Sri Lanka and
Burma, institutions such as the Danish Royal Library have built up major collections
of Pāli manuscripts, and major traditions of Pāli studies.
Contents of this page
Virtually every word in Pāḷi has cognates in the other Prakritic
"Middle Indo-Aryan languages", e.g., the
Jain
Prakrits. The relationship to earlier Sanskrit (e.g.,
Vedic language) is less direct and more complicated. Historically, influence
between Pāli and Sanskrit has been felt in both directions. The Pāli language's
resemblance to Sanskrit is often exaggerated by comparing it to later Sanskrit
compositions -- which were written centuries after Sanskrit ceased to be a
living language, and are influenced by developments in Middle Indic, including
the direct borrowing of a portion of the Middle Indic lexicon; whereas, a good
deal of later Pāli technical terminology has been borrowed from the vocabulary
of equivalent disciplines in Sanskrit, either directly or with certain
phonological adaptations.
Post-canonical Pāli also possesses a few loan-words from local languages
where Pāli was used (e.g. Sri Lankans adding Sinhalese words to Pāli).
These usages differentiate the Pāli found in the Suttapiṭaka
{thoat~ta.
pi.Ta.ka.} from later compositions such as the Pāli commentaries on
the canon and folklore (e.g., the stories of the
Jātaka commentaries), and comparative study (and dating) of texts on the
basis of such loan-words is now a specialized field unto itself.
Pāli was not exclusively used to convey the teachings of the Buddha, as can
be deduced from the existence of a number of secular texts, such as books of
medical science/instruction, in Pāli. However, scholarly interest in the
language has been focused upon religious and philosophical literature, because
of the unique window it opens on one phase in the development of Buddhism.
Contents of this page
See • emic in my notes
Although Sanskrit was said, in brahmanical tradition, to be the unchanging language
spoken by the gods [UKT: "god" here refers to deva
{dé-wa.}
which in Burmese-Myanmar tradition is
{nat}.
From the word deva is derived the name of the script: Devanagari.],
in which each word had an inherent significance, this view of language
was not shared in the early Buddhist tradition, in which words were
only conventional and mutable signs. Neither the Buddha nor his
early followers shared the brahmans' reverence for the Vedic language or its
sacred texts.
This view of language naturally extended to Pāli, and may have
contributed to its usage (as an approximation or standardization of local Middle
Indic dialects) in place of Sanskrit. However, by the time of the compilation of
the Pali commentaries (4th or 5th century), Pali was regarded as the natural
language, the root language of all beings.
(pali-wiki-ref02).
UKT: That the Buddha and his early followers did not share the brahmans' reverence for Sanskrit
can be seen in a research article in which the Buddha's words were given as:
"Bhikkhus, you are not allowed to express the Buddha's words in
Sanskrit. Those who act contrarily will be considered as having committed
the offence of Dukkata
{doak~ka.Ta.}." ...
anujānāmi bhikkhave sakāya niruttiyā
buddhavacanam pariyāpunitum
-- The Vinaya Pitakam, ed. by Hermann Olderberg,
Vol. II, The Cullavagga, London, 1880, p. 139. cited by by Chi Hisen-lin,
Journal of the Burma Research Society, XLIII, i, June 1960.
See ban_sanskrit.htm .
Comparable to Ancient Egyptian, Latin or Hebrew in the mystic traditions
of the West, Pāli recitations were often thought to have
a supernatural power (which could be attributed to their meaning,
the character of the reciter, or the qualities of the language itself),
and in the early strata of Buddhist literature we can already see Pāli
dhāraṇīs [see
{Da-ra.Ni} in my notes]
used as charms, e.g. against the bite of snakes. Many people in Theravada cultures
still believe that taking a vow in Pāli has a special significance,
and, as one example of the supernatural power assigned to
chanting in the language, the recitation of the vows of
Aṅgulimāla
are believed to alleviate the pain of childbirth in Sri Lanka.
In Thailand, the chanting of a portion of the
Abhidhammapiṭaka is believed to be beneficial
to the recently departed, and this ceremony routinely occupies
as much as seven working days. Interestingly, there is nothing
in the latter text that relates to this subject,
and the origins of the custom are unclear.
Contents of this page
UKT: The phonology presented in the present Wikipedia article is that of Sri Lanka.
It is somewhat different from that of Burmese-Myanmar. I firmly believe that
since northern Myanmar and north-eastern India shares a common border
with many overland passes, the Pali phonology that is now current in Myanmar
is closer to that of Buddha. In fact the "Pali" current in Myanmar
is a different dialect and should be referred to as Māgadhi.
UKT:
It is important to remember that the most important thing in a language is the human
voice which is produced not by a dedicated organ, but is produced as a byproduct
of the breathing apparatus. Vowels are produced in the voice box (the larynx)
and are modified in the mouth mainly by the tongue and to some extent by the
lips and the jaw. Therefore, only a very limited number of articulations can
occur depending on the human anatomy, which of course depends on the person's
ethnicity (race) and which can differ from person to person. The number of
vowels that can be humanly produced and which can be easily differentiated from
each other is just over 10 and the number of consonants is just more than 30. In
Burmese-Myanmar, the number of vowels is 13 and the number of consonants is 33.
Long
and short vowels are only contrastive in open syllables; in closed syllables,
all vowels are always short. Short and long e and o are in
complementary distribution: the short variants occur only in closed syllables,
the long variants occur only in open syllables. Short and long e and o
are therefore not distinct phonemes.
A sound called anusvāra (Skt.; Pali: nigghahita)
[Pali-Myan: 
{naig~ga.hi.ta.};
Bur-Myan: 
{naig~ga.hait}),
represented by the symbol ṃ in romanization,
and by a raised dot in most traditional alphabets
[
{thé:thé:ting}], originally marked the fact that the preceding vowel was nasalized.
That is, aṃ, iṃ and uṃ represented
[ ã ], [ ĩ ] and [ ũ ]. In many traditional pronunciations, however,
the anusvāra is pronounced more strongly, like the velar nasal [ ŋ ]
[
{nga.}], so that these sounds are pronounced instead [ ãŋ ],
[ ĩŋ ] and [ ũŋ ]. However pronounced,
ṃ never follows a long vowel; ā, ī and ū
[
{a},
{i} and
{u}]
are converted to the corresponding short vowels when ṃ is added
to a stem ending in a long vowel, e.g. kathā + ṃ becomes
kathaṃ, not *kathāṃ, devī + ṃ
becomes deviṃ, not *devīṃ.
The sounds listed above, except for ṅ, ḷ
and ḷh are distinct phonemes in Pāli. ṅ
only occurs before velar stops. ḷ and ḷh
are allophones of ḍ and ḍh when
they occur singly between vowels.
Contents of this page
Pāli is a highly inflected language, in which almost every word contains,
besides the root conveying the basic meaning, one or more affixes (usually
suffixes) which modify the meaning in some way. Nouns are inflected for gender,
number, and case; verbal inflections convey information about person,
number, tense and mood.
Nominal inflection
Pāli nouns inflect for three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)
and two numbers (singular, and plural). The nouns also, in principle, display eight
cases: 1. nominative or paccatta case, 2. vocative, 3. accusative or upayoga case,
4. instrumental or karaṇa case, 5. dative or sampadāna case,
6. ablative, 7. genitive or sāmin case, and 8. locative or bhumma case;
however, in many instances, two or more of these cases are identical in form;
this is especially true of the genitive and dative cases.
a-stems :
a-stems, whose uninflected stem ends in short a
(/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and neuter forms
differ only in the nominative, vocative, and accusative cases.
ā-stems :
Nouns ending in ā (/aː/) are almost always feminine.
i-stems and u-stems
i-stems and u-stems are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and
neuter forms differ only in the nominative and accusative cases.
The vocative has the same form as the nominative.
Contents of this page
Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā, manoseṭṭhā manomayā;
Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā,
Tato nam dukkhaṃ anveti, cakkaṃ'va vahato padaṃ.
Element for element gloss
Mano-pubbaṅ-gam=ā dhamm=ā,
mano-seṭṭh=ā mano-may=ā;
Mind-before-going=m.pl.nom.
dharma=m.pl.nom., mind-foremost=m.nom.pl. mind-made=m.nom.pl.
Manas=ā ce paduṭṭh=ena, bhāsa=ti vā karo=ti vā,
Mind=n.sg.inst. if corrupted=n.sg.inst. speak=3.sg.pr.
either act=3.sg.pr. or,
Ta=to naṃ dukkhaṃ anv-e=ti,
cakkaṃ 'va vahat=o pad=aṃ.
That=from him suffering after-go=3.sg.pr.,
wheel as carrying(beast)=m.sg.gen. foot=n.sg.acc.
The three compounds in the first line literally mean:
manopubbaṅgama "whose precursor is mind",
"having mind as a fore-goer or leader"
manoseṭṭha "whose foremost member is mind",
"having mind as chief"
manomaya "consisting of mind" or "made by mind"
The literal meaning is therefore: "The
dharmas have mind as their leader, mind as their chief, are made of/by mind.
If [someone] either speaks or acts with a corrupted mind, from that [cause]
suffering goes after him, as the wheel [of a cart follows]
the foot of a draught animal."
A slightly freer translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita
Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.
If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him
like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.
Contents of this page
Although Pāli cannot be considered a direct descendant of either
Classical Sanskrit or of the older
Vedic dialect, the languages are obviously very closely related and
the common characteristics of Pāli and Sanskrit
were always easily recognized by those in India who were familiar with both.
Indeed, a very large proportion of Pāli and Sanskrit word-stems
are identical in form, differing only in details of inflection.
The connections were sufficiently well-known that technical terms from
Sanskrit were easily converted into Pāli by a set of conventional phonological
transformations. These transformations mimicked a subset of the phonological
developments that had occurred in Proto-Pāli. Because of the prevalence
of these transformations, it is not always possible to tell
whether a given Pāli word is a part of the old
Prakrit lexicon, or a transformed borrowing from Sanskrit.
The existence of a Sanskrit word regularly corresponding to
a Pāli word is not always secure evidence of the Pāli etymology,
since, in some cases, artificial Sanskrit words were created
by back-formation from Prakrit words.
The following phonological processes are not intended as an exhaustive
description of the historical changes which produced Pāli from its Old Indic
ancestor, but rather are a summary of the most common phonological equations
between Sanskrit and Pāli, with no claim to completeness.
Contents of this page
• Sanskrit ai and au always monophthongize to Pāli
e and o, respectively :
e.g.: maitrī → mettā, auṣadha
→ osadha
• Sanskrit aya and ava likewise often reduce to Pāli
e and o
e.g.: dhārayati → dhāreti, avatāra →
otāra, bhavati → hoti
• Sanskrit avi becomes Pāli e (i.e. avi →
ai → e)
e.g.: sthavira → thera
• Sanskrit ṛ appears in Pāli as a, i
or u, often agreeing with the vowel in the following syllable. ṛ
also sometimes becomes u after labial consonants.
e.g.: kṛta → kata, tṛṣṇa
→ taṇha, smṛti → sati,
ṛṣi → isi, dṛṣṭi
→ diṭṭhi, ṛddhi →
iddhi,
ṛju → uju, spṛṣṭa
→ phuṭṭha, vṛddha → vuddha
• Sanskrit long vowels are shortened before a sequence of two following consonants.
e.g.: kṣānti → khanti,
rājya → rajja, īśvara →
issara, tīrṇa → tiṇṇa,
pūrva → pubba
Contents of this page
CONSONANTS
• The Sanskrit sibilants ś, ṣ, and
s merge together as Pāli s
e.g.: śaraṇa → saraṇa,
doṣa → dosa
• The Sanskrit stops ḍ and ḍh become ḷ
and ḷh between vowels (as in Vedic)
e.g.: cakravāḍa → cakkavāḷa,
virūḍha → virūḷha
Contents of this page
UKT: Transliteration of most of the Pali-Latin words into Pali-Myanmar were done
by U Tun Tint of MLC in Aug. 2008 in Yangon. I did the conversion of
Pali-Myanmar to Romabama.
• Many assimilations of one consonant to a neighboring consonant occurred
in the development of Pāli, producing a large number of geminate
(double) consonants. Since aspiration of a geminate consonant is
only phonetically detectable on the last consonant of a cluster,
geminate kh, gh, ch, jh, ṭh, ḍh, th, dh, ph
and bh appear as kkh, ggh, cch, jjh, ṭṭh, ḍḍh,
tth, ddh, pph and bbh, not as khkh, ghgh etc.
UKT:
The term "geminate (double) consonant" is a very misleading term. It is not a
double consonant. It appears at the boundary between two syllables. The first
member of the so-called double consonant is the equivalent to the "killed"
akshara which has lost its inherent vowel and has become the coda of the first
syllable. The second member is the onset of the next syllable. The two
graphemes appear as a vertical conjunct and is not pronounceable, e.g. kkh
is 
{k~hka.}.
{thak~hka.ra} -- spelling from UHS-Pali-Dict0939; meaning "gravel;
(granulated) sugar" from PTS-Dict661. I would suggest that the English words
<saccharine> and <sugar> probably have their origins in Pali
{thak~hka.ra}. Similarly the Burmese-Myanmar
{tha.kra:}
has Pali as its source.
UKT: In Burmese the number of easily definable consonants known as {wag}-aksharas is 25
tabulated in five rows. They can be classified as voiceless (vl), voiced (vd)
and nasal, and are tabulated in five columns. There are the so-called
"aspirates" in each row, but they appear to me to be not just aspiration of a
preceding consonant but are separate consonants. The "aspirates" in the above list
can be identified by the presence of grapheme "h", the "sound" of which is
controversial because [h] appears to have no fixed place of articulation. To me
the above "geminates" or "conjoined" consonants
(kh, gh; ch, jh; ṭh, ḍh; th, dh; ph and bh)
are individual consonants in their own rights and should not be written as
digraphs but as single graphemes as is done in the original akshara tables of
Bangla-Bengali, Burmese-Myanmar (Romabama), and Hindi-Devanagari:
খ 
{hka.} ख,
ঘ 
{Ga.} घ ,
ছ 
{hsa.} छ,
ঝ 
{Za.} झ,
ঠ 
{Hta.} ठ,
ঢ 
{Ða.} ढ,
থ 
{hta.} थ,
ধ 
{Da.} ध,
ফ 
{hpa.} फ,
ভ 
{Ba.} भ
UKT: In spite of what Brahmanical Indians would claim, the number of
conjoined consonants is limited by the human anatomy which to some extent is
determined by the ethnicity (race) of the speaker. Apart from [h], only four
consonants known as the approximants can combine with the {wag}-consonants and
also among themselves. They are: IPA [j], [ɹ], [l] and [w] represented by
য 
{ya.} य,
র 
{ra.} र,
ল 
{la.} ल
and - {wa.} व respectively. Again, they are equivalent to
English-Latin <y>, <r>, <l> and <w>.
These four with the fricative {tha.} [θ] (modern-English <th>,
or Old-English <þ>) are known as {a.wag}-aksharas
because of their "indefinable" nature. When [j], [ɹ], [l],
[w], or [h] became conjoined the sound produced is known as a medial, and so
these consonants (remember they are approximants) are described as medial
formers. Thus I would say there are 5 medial formers in Burmese-Myanmar, and
they appear in Romabama as the second letter, e.g. {ma.} and {ya.}
combined to form {mya.}.
UKT: Since, Pali is spoken by ethnic Burmese in the country of Myanmar,
the sounds of Pali-Myanmar would be slightly different from that of Pali-Lanka
or Pali-Latin. The question which pronunciation is closer to that of
the Buddha should be answered on the basis of the ethnicity of the Buddha himself
and not by the ethnicity of the present-day speaker. Since Buddha was born
in the area bordering modern India and Nepal, and since he belonged to the ruling class,
most probably he was a Tibeto-Burmese speaker. And so, I would claim that the
Pali-Myanmar pronunciation is that of the Buddha himself or quite close. That he
was quite disgusted with the Brahmanical Indians with their "precise"
pronunciation of short and long vowels was clear on the basis of an episode
explicitly recorded in the Buddhist literature. See accompanying file:
ban_sanskrit.htm
• When assimilation would produce a geminate consonant (or a sequence of
unaspirated stop+aspirated stop) at the beginning of a word, the initial
geminate is simplified to a single consonant.
Examples:
prāṇa → pāṇa (not ppāṇa), {pa-Na.}
sthavira → thera (not tthera), {hté-ra.}
dhyāna →
jhāna (not jjhāna), {Za-na.}
jñāti →
ñāti (not ññāti), {ña-ti.}
• When assimilation would produce a sequence of three consonants
in the middle of a word, geminates are simplified until there are
only two consonants in sequence.
Examples:
uttrāsa → uttāsa
(not utttāsa),
{OAt~ta-tha.}
mantra →
manta (not mantta), {man~ta.}
indra → inda
(not indda),
{AIn~da.}
UHS-Pali-Dict0194
vandhya → vañjha
(not vañjjha)
UKT:
into
{AIn~da.}
is based on conversion of vowel-letter {I.} to vowel {i.} and then into
{ain~da.}.
• The sequence vv resulting from assimilation changes to bb . Example:
Contents of this page
Total assimilation, where one sound becomes identical to a neighboring sound,
is of two types: progressive, where the assimilated sound becomes identical
to the following sound; and regressive, where it becomes identical
to the preceding sound.
Progressive assimilations
• Internal
visarga assimilates to a following voiceless stop or sibilant : e.g.:
duḥkṛta → dukkata,
duḥkha →
dukkha,
duḥprajña → duppañña,
niḥkrodha (=niṣkrodha) →
nikkodha,
niḥpakva (=niṣpakva)
→ nippakka,
niḥśoka → nissoka,
niḥsattva → nissatta
• In a sequence of two dissimilar Sanskrit stops, the first stop
assimilates to the second stop :
e.g.:
vimukti → vimutti,
dugdha →
duddha,
utpāda → uppāda,
pudgala → puggala,
udghoṣa →
ugghosa,
adbhuta → abbhuta,
śabda →
sadda
• In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first nasal assimilates to the second nasal
e.g.: unmatta → ummatta,
pradyumna → pajjunna
• j assimilates to a following ñ (i.e., jñ becomes ññ)
e.g.: prajñā → paññā,
jñāti → ñāti
• The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a following
stop, nasal, sibilant, or v ,
e.g.:
mārga → magga,
karma → kamma,
varṣa → vassa,
kalpa →
kappa,
sarva → savva → sabba
• r assimilates to a following l ,
e.g.:
durlabha → dullabha,
nirlopa → nillopa
• d sometimes assimilates to a following v, producing vv → bb e.g.:
udvigna → uvvigga → ubbigga,
dvādaśa
→ bārasa (beside dvādasa)
• t and d may assimilate to a following s
or y when a morpheme boundary intervenes ,
e.g.:
ut+sava → ussava,
ud+yāna → uyyāna
Regressive assimilations
• Nasals sometimes assimilate to a preceding stop
(in other cases epenthesis occurs; see below) :
e.g.:
agni → aggi,
ātman →
atta,
prāpnoti →
pappoti,
śaknoti → sakkoti
• m assimilates to an initial sibilant :
e.g.:
smarati → sarati,
smṛti
→ sati
• Nasals assimilate to a preceding stop+sibilant cluster,
which then develops in the same way as such clusters without following nasals
(see Partial assimilations below) ,
e.g.:
tīkṣṇa → tikṣa →
tikkha,
lakṣmī → lakṣī
→ lakkhī
• The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate
to a preceding stop, nasal, sibilant, or v ,
e.g.:
prāṇa → pāṇa,
grāma → gāma,
śrāvaka →
sāvaka,
agra → agga,
indra →
inda,
pravrajati → pavvajati →
pabbajati,
aśru →assu
• y assimilates to preceding non-dental/retroflex stops or nasals ,
e.g.:
cyavati → cavati,
jyotiṣ →
joti,
rājya → rajja,
matsya →
macchya → maccha,
lapsyate → lacchyate →
lacchati,
abhyāgata → abbhāgata,
ā
khyāti → akkhāti,
saṃkhyā →
saṅkhā (but also saṅkhyā),
ramya → ramma
• y assimilates to preceding non-initial v,
producing vv → bb ,
e.g.:
divya → divva → dibba, veditavya →
veditavva → veditabba, bhāvya →
bhavva → bhabba
• y and v assimilate to any preceding sibilant, producing ss
,
e.g.:
paśyati → passati,
śyena →
sena,
aśva → assa,
īśvara
→ issara,
kariṣyati →
karissati,
tasya → tassa,
svāmin → sāmī
• v sometimes assimilates to a preceding stop ,
e.g.:
pakva → pakka,
catvāri →
cattāri,
sattva → satta,
dhvaja → dhaja
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• Sanskritsibilants before a stop assimilate to that stop,
and if that stop is not already aspirated, it becomes aspirated;
e.g. śc, st, ṣṭ and sp
become cch, tth, ṭṭh and pph
e.g.: paścāt → pacchā, asti →
atthi, stava → thava, śreṣṭha
→ seṭṭha, aṣṭa
→ aṭṭha, sparśa → phassa
• In sibilant-stop-liquid sequences, the liquid is assimilated
to the preceding consonant, and the cluster behaves like sibilant-stop sequences;
e.g. str and ṣṭr become tth
and ṭṭh
e.g.: śāstra → śasta →
sattha, rāṣṭra
→ raṣṭa → raṭṭha
• t and p become c before s, and the sibilant
assimilates to the preceding sound as an aspirate (i.e.,
the sequences ts and ps become cch)
e.g.: vatsa → vaccha, apsaras →
accharā
• A sibilant assimilates to a preceding k as an aspirate
(i.e., the sequence kṣ becomes kkh)
e.g.: bhikṣu → bhikkhu, kṣānti
→ khanti
• Any dental or retroflex stop or nasal followed by y
converts to the corresponding palatal sound, and the y
assimilates to this new consonant, i.e. ty, thy, dy, dhy, ny
become cc, cch, jj, jjh, ññ; likewise ṇy
becomes ññ. Nasals preceding a stop that becomes palatal
share this change.
e.g.: Examples: tyajati → cyajati →
cajati, satya → sacya →
sacca, mithyā → michyā →
micchā,
vidyā → vijyā →
vijjā, madhya → majhya →
majjha, anya → añya → añña,
puṇya → puñya → puñña,
vandhya → vañjhya → vañjjha → vañjha
• The sequence mr becomes mb, via the epenthesis of a stop
between the nasal and liquid, followed by assimilation of the liquid to the stop
and subsequent simplification of the resulting geminate.
e.g.: āmra → ambra → amba,
tāmra → tamba
Contents of this page
An epenthetic vowel is sometimes inserted between certain consonant-sequences.
As with ṛ, the vowel may be a, i,
or u, depending on the influence of a neighboring consonant or of the
vowel in the following syllable. i is often found near
i, y, or palatal consonants; u is found near
u, v, or labial consonants.
• Sequences of stop + nasal are sometimes separated by
a or u
e.g.: ratna → ratana, padma → paduma
(u influenced by labial m)
• The sequence sn may become sin initially
e.g.: snāna → sināna, sneha → sineha
• i may be inserted between a consonant and l
e.g.: kleśa → kilesa, glāna →
gilāna, mlāyati → milāyati,
ślāghati → silāghati
• An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and r
e.g.: śrī → sirī
• The sequence ry generally becomes riy (i influenced by
following y), but is still treated as a two-consonant sequence
for the purposes of vowel-shortening
e.g.: ārya → arya → ariya,
sūrya → surya → suriya,
vīrya → virya → viriya
• a or i is inserted between r and h
e.g.: arhati → arahati, garhā →
garahā, barhiṣ → barihisa
• There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequences
e.g.: caitya → cetiya (not cecca),
vajra → vajira (not vajja)
Contents of this page
• Any Sanskrit sibilant before a nasal becomes a sequence of nasal
followed by h, i.e. ṣṇ, sn and
sm become ṇh, nh, and mh
e.g.: tṛṣṇa → taṇha,
uṣṇīṣa → uṇhīsa,
asmi → amhi
• The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation
of the n to the preceding palatal sibilant
e.g.: praśna → praśña → pañha
• The sequences hy and hv undergo
metathesis
e.g.: jihvā → jivhā, gṛhya →
gayha, guhya → guyha
• h undergoes metathesis with a following nasal
e.g.: gṛhṇāti → gaṇhāti
• y is geminated between e and a vowel
e.g.: śreyas → seyya, Maitreya → Metteyya
• Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions
become h
e.g.: bhavati → hoti, -ebhiṣ →
-ehi, laghu → lahu
• Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one another
e.g.: jñāna → ñāṇa
(not ñāna), dahati → ḍahati
(beside Pāli dahati) nīḍa → nīla
(not nīḷa),
sthāna → ṭhāna
(not thāna), duḥkṛta
→ dukkaṭa (beside Pāli dukkata)
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There are several notable exceptions to the rules above; many of them
are common Prakrit words rather than borrowings from Sanskrit.
• ārya → ayya (beside ariya)
• guru → garu (adj.) (beside guru (n.))
• puruṣa → purisa (not purusa)
• vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha
(not vakkha)
Contents of this page
Historically, the first written record of the Pāli canon is believed
to have been composed in Sri Lanka, based on a prior oral tradition.
As per Mahavamsa, great chronicle of Sri Lanka, due to a major famine
in the country Buddhist monks wrote down the Pali canon
during the time of King Vattagamini in 100 BC. The transmission of
written Pāli has retained a universal system of alphabetic values,
but has expressed those values in a stunning variety of actual scripts.
This is confusing to many westerners, who tend to assume that one script
is ineluctably tied to one set of phonemes.
In Sri
Lanka, Pāli texts were recorded in
Sinhala script. Other local scripts, most prominently
Khmer,
Burmese, and in modern times
Thai
(since 1893), Devanāgarī and Mongolian have been used
to record Pāli.
Since the 19th Century, Pāli has also been written in the Roman script.
An alternate scheme devised by Frans Velthuis allows for typing without
diacritics using plain-ASCII methods, but is much less readable
than the standard Rhys Davids system (see below).
The Pāli alphabetical order is as follows:
• a ā i ī u ū e o ṃ k kh g gh ṅ
c ch j jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
t th d dh n p ph b bh m y r l ḷ v s h
ḷh, although a single sound, is written
with ligature of ḷ and h.
Contents of this page
There are several fonts to use for Pāli transliteration. However, older ASCII
fonts such as Leedsbit PaliTranslit, Times_Norman, Times_CSX+, Skt Times, Vri
RomanPali CN/CB etc., are not recommendable since they are not compatible with
one another and technically out of date. On the contrary, fonts based on the Unicode
standard are recommended because Unicode seems to be the future for all fonts
and also because they are easily portable to one another.
However, not all Unicode fonts contain the necessary characters. To properly
display all the diacritic marks used for romanized Pāli (or for that matter,
Sanskrit), a Unicode font must contain the following character ranges:
* Basic Latin: U+0000 – U+007F
* Latin-1 Supplement: U+0080 – U+00FF
* Latin Extended-A: U+0100 – U+017F
* Latin Extended-B: U+0180 – U+024F
* Latin Extended Additional: U+1E00 – U+1EFF
The Pali Text Society recommends VU-Times and
Gandhari Unicode for Windows and Linux Computers. And
The Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library recommends
Times Ext Roman, and provides links to several of other Unicode diacritic
fonts usable for typing Pāli together with ratings and installation
instructions. Moreover, an English Buddhist monk titled Bhikkhu Pesala provides
some Pāli Unicode fonts he has designed himself
here, and some Pali keyboards for Windows XP
here. Further, the font section of Alanwood's Unicode Resources
have links to several general purpose fonts that can be used for
Pāli typing if they cover the character ranges above.
Contents of this page
The Velthuis scheme was originally developed in 1991
by Frans Velthuis for use with his "devnag"
Devanāgarī font, designed for the TeX typesetting
system. This system of representing Pāli diacritical marks
has been used in some websites and discussion lists.
The following table compares various conventional renderings
and shortcut key assignments:
Contents of this page
pali-wiki-ref01. Oberlies, Thomas
Pāli: A Grammar of the Language of the Theravāda Tipiṭaka,
Walter de Gruyter, 2001.
pali-wiki-ref01b
pali-wiki-ref02. Dispeller of Delusion,
Pali Text Society, volume II, pages 127f
pali-wiki-ref02b
• See entries for "Pali" (written by K. R.
Norman of the Pali Text Society) and "India--Buddhism" in
The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion, (Sawyer ed.)
ISBN 0080431674
• Warder, A.K. (1991). Introduction to Pali, third edition,
Pali Text Society. ISBN 0860131971.
• de Silva, Lily (1994). Pali Primer, first edition,
Vipassana Research Institute Publications.
ISBN 817414014X.
• Müller, Edward (1884,1995). Simplified Grammar of the Pali Language.
Asian Educational Services.ISBN 8120611039.
Contents of this page
• Gupta, K. M. (2006). Linguistic approach to meaning in Pali. New
Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan.
ISBN 8175741708
• Müller, E. (2003). The Pali language: a simplified grammar.
Trubner's collection of simplified grammars. London: Trubner.
ISBN 1844530019
• Oberlies, T., & Pischel, R. (2001). Pāli: a grammar of the language of
the Theravāda Tipiṭaka. Indian philology and South Asian studies,
v. 3. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110167638
• Hazra, K. L. (1994). Pāli language and literature: a systematic survey
and historical study. Emerging perceptions in Buddhist studies, no. 4-5.
New Delhi: D.K. Printworld. ISBN 812460004X
• American National Standards Institute. (1979). American National
Standard system for the romanization of Lao, Khmer, and Pali. New York:
The Institute.
• Soothill, W. E., & Hodous, L. (1937). A dictionary of Chinese Buddhist
terms: with Sanskrit and English equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali index.
London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
Contents of this page
• Pali literature
• International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
Contents of this page
12. External links
Pali edition of
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
•
Pāli-English dictionary
•
Buddhist India by T.W. Rhys Davids, chapter IX, Language and Literature
•
Pāli at Ethnologue
• Pali.dk -
A newly started project aimed at creating free online Pāli
dictionaries and educational resources.
•
Pali Text Society
•
[1] Free searchable online database of Pali literature, including the whole Canon
•
http://pali.pratyeka.org/ Eizel Mazard's excellent website on Pali resources, including
¤
Resources for reading & writing Pāli in indigenous scripts:
Burmese, Sri Lankan, & Cambodian
¤
A textbook to teach yourself Pali (by Narada Thera)
¤
A reference work on the grammar of the Pali language (by G Duroiselle)
•
Complete Pāli Canon in romanized Pali and Sinhala, mostly also in English translation
•
Pāli Canon selection
•
A guide to learning the Pāli language
•
"Pali Primer" by Lily De Silva (requires installation of special fonts)
•
"Pali Primer" by Lily De Silva (UTF-8 encoded)
•
Free/Public-Domain Elementary Pāli Course--PDF format
•
Free/Public-Domain Pāli Course--html format
•
Free/Public-Domain Pāli Grammar (in PDF file)
•
Free/Public-Domain Pāli Buddhist Dictionary (in PDF file)
•
Comprehensive list of Pāli texts on Wikisource
•
Buddhist Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names, HTML version of the book
by G.P. Malalasekera, 1937-8
•
Pāli Text Reader (software)
•
Jain Scriptures
•
Pali help at Help.com Wiki
•
"A Course in the Pali Language," audio lectures by
Bhikkhu Bodhi based on Gair & Karunatilleke (1998).
End of Wikipedia article.
Contents of this page
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharani 080722
A dhāraṇī
is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra.
The terms dharani and mantra may even be seen as synonyms,
although they normally used in distinct contexts.
The Japanese Buddhist philosopher Kūkai drew a distinction between
dharani (dhāra.nī) and mantra
and used this as the basis of his theory of language. Mantra is restricted to
esoteric Buddhist practice whereas dharani is found in both esoteric and
exoteric ritual. Dharanis for instance are found in the Pali Canon
see below. Kūkai coined the term "shingon"
(lit "true word") as a Japanese translation of mantra.
The word dharani derives from a Sanskrit root dh.r
which means to hold, or maintain. Ryuichi
Abe suggests that it is generally understood as a mnemonic device which
encapsulates the meaning of a section or chapter of a sutra.
Dharanis are also considered to protect the one who chants them
from malign influences and calamities.
The distinction between dharani and mantra is a difficult one to make. We can
say that all mantras are dharanis but that not necessarily all dharanis are
mantras. Mantras are generally shorter. Both tend to contain a number of
unintelligible phonic fragments such as Om, or Hu.m which is perhaps why some
people consider them to be essentially meaningless. Kūkai made mantra a special
class of dharani and argued that every syllable of a dharani was a manifestation
of the true nature of reality — in Buddhist terms that all sound is a
manifestation of shunyata or emptiness of self-nature. Thus rather than being devoid of
meaning, Kūkai suggests that dharanis are in fact saturated with meaning — every
syllable is symbolic on multiple levels.
Go back darani-note-b
Contents of this page
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emic_and_etic 080721
Emic and etic (also known as "nemic" and "netic" when used in
an inter-cultural context) are terms used by some in the social sciences and the
behavioral sciences to refer to two different kinds of data concerning human behavior.
• An "emic" account is a description of behavior or a belief in terms
meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor; that is, an emic
account is culture-specific.
• An "etic" account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer,
in terms that can be applied to other cultures; that is, an etic account is
'"culturally neutral".
Scientists interested in the local construction of meaning, and local rules
for behavior, will rely on emic accounts; scientists interested in facilitating
comparative research and making universal claims will rely on etic accounts.
The terms were first introduced by linguist
Kenneth Pike, who argued that the tools developed for describing linguistic
behaviors could be adapted to the description of any human social behavior. Emic
and etic are derived from the linguistic terms phonemic and phonetic
respectively. The possibility of a true culturally neutral etic perspective is
debated, and was even discounted by Pike himself in his original work.
The terms were also championed by anthropologists Ward Goodenough and
Marvin Harris with slightly different definitions (Goodenough was primarily
interested in understanding the culturally specific meaning of specific beliefs
and practices; Harris was primarily interested in explaining human behavior).
In political theory an act viewed etically has been called an "operation,
" but when viewed emically, it has been called a "practice."
References
• Cresswell, J. W. (1998) Qualitative Enquiry and Research Design:
Choosing among five traditions. London. Sage
• Goodenough, Ward (1970) “Describing a Culture” in
Description and Comparison in Cultural Anthropology
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press pp 104-119. ISBN 978-0-202-30861-6
• Harris, Marvin (1980) “Chapter Two: The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism,”
in Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. New York:
Random House. pp. 29-45 ISBN 978-0-7591-0134-0
• Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music
(Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990).
ISBN 978-0-691-02714-2.
• Pike, Kenneth Lee (1967). Language in relation to a unified theory of
structure of human behavior 2nd ed. The Hague: Mouton
Go back emic-note-b
Contents of this page
The Maha Bodhi Society
is a South Asian Buddhist society founded by the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader
Anagarika Dharmapala. The organization's self-stated initial efforts were
for the purpose of resuscitation Buddhism in India and of restoring
the ancient Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya,
Sarnath and Kushinara.
(mbodhi-ref01)
Origin
In 1891 while on pilgramage to the recently restored Mahabodhi Temple
at Bodh Gaya, the location where Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha
- attained enlightenment, Anagarika Dharmapala had experienced
a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest,
the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred
from worship as a result of which he began an agitation movement.
(mbodhi-ref02)
The Buddhist renaissance inaugurated by Anagarika Dharmapala through his
Mahabodhi Movement has also been described as "conservative"
for it held the Muslim Rule in India responsible for the decay
of Buddhism in India, in the then current mood of Hindu-Buddhist brotherhood.
(mbodhi-ref03).
The Mahabodhi society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but it offices
were soon moved to Calcutta the following year in 1892.
One of its primary aims being the restoration of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya,
the chief of the four ancient Holy sites to Buddhist control. .
To accomplish this Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin
priests who had held control of the site for centuries.
After a protracted struggle this was successful with the partial restoration of
the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949.
(mbodhi-ref04)
(mbodhi-ref05)
The Mahabodhi Temple
After the defeat of the Palas by the Hindu Sena dynasty, Buddhism's
position again began to erode and was soon followed by the conquest of Magadha
by General Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji.
(mbodhi-ref06).
During this period, the Mahabodhi Temple fell into disrepair and was largely
abandoned. During the 16th century, a Hindu monastery was established near Bodh
Gaya. Over the following centuries, the monastery's abbot or
mahant became the area's primary landholder and claimed ownership of the
Mahabodhi Temple grounds.
In the 1880s, the-then British government of India began to restore Mahabodhi
Temple under the direction of Sir Alexander Cunningham. A short time later, in
1891, Anagarika Dharmapala started a campaign to return control of the temple to
Buddhists, over the objections of the mahant. The campaign was partially
successful in 1949, when control passed from the Hindu mahant to the state
government of Bihar, which established a temple management committee. The
committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by
law be Hindus. Mahabodhi's first head monk under the management committee was
Anagarika Munindra, a Bengali man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society.
Sarnath
In 1931 the Mulaghandakuti Vihara was erected at Sarnath.
[5]
Kushinara
The site of the Buddha's parinibbana (physical death) at Kushinagar
has once again become a major attraction for Burmese Buddhists,
as it was for many centuries previously.
Maha Bodhi Society branches have been established in several countries,
most significantly in India and Sri Lanka. A United States branch
was founded by Dr. Paul Carus.
The Maha Bodhi Society has a robust tradition of publications, spanning from
Pali translations into modern Indian vernacular languages (such as Hindi) to
scholarly texts and new editions of Pali works typeset in Devanagari
to appeal to a Hindi-educated Indian audience. They have also published books
and pamphlets in local/regional languages and dialects, sometimes in partnership
with other presses.
As of 2003, the Maha Bodhi Society of India's general secretary is Dombagoda
Rewatha Thero. On September 27, 2004, B. K. Modi was elected president; he was
previously vice-president Modi was, until recently, an office-holder in the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
There is also a Maha Bodhi Society of Bangalore,
founded by Acharya Buddharakkhita in 1956, which is not a part of or tied to the
Maha Bodhi Society of India or Sri Lanka.
Wikipedia references
mbodhi-ref01 Mahabodhi Society
mbodhi-ref01b
mbdohi-ref02 Sean O'Reilly, James O'Reilly,
Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit, Travelers' Tales, 2000, ISBN
1885211562 pg 81-82 mbodhi-ref02b
mbdohi-ref03 A Close View of Encounter between
British Burma and British Bengal mbodhi-ref03b
mbdohi-ref04 Arnold Wright, Twentieth
Century Impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce, industries, and
resources, "Angarika Dharmapala", Asian Educational Services, 1999, ISBN
812061335X pg.119 mbodhi-ref04b
mbdohi-ref05 C. J. Bleeker, G. Widengren,
Historia Religionum, Volume 2 Religions of the Present: Handbook for the History
of Religions, Brill Academic Publishers, 1971, ISBN 9004025987 pg. 453
mbodhi-ref05b
mbdohi-ref06 The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi
Society, Calcutta (page 205). mbodhi-ref06b
Go back
Maha-Bodhi-Soc-note-b
Contents of this page
The Sutta Pitaka (suttapiṭaka; or Suttanta Pitaka; cf Sanskrit
सूत्र पिटक Sutra
Pitaka) is the second of the three divisions of the Tipitaka or Pali Canon,
the great Pali collection of Buddhist writings, the scriptures of Theravada
Buddhism. The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings)
attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.
Origins
The scriptures tell how the
First Council held shortly after the Buddha's death collected
together the discipline (vinaya), and the
dhamma
in five collections. Tradition holds that little was added to
the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees
of scepticism. Dr Richard Gombrich, Academic Director of the Oxford Centre
for Buddhist Studies, former Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University and
former President of the Pali Text Society, thinks most of the first four nikayas
(see below) go back to the Buddha, in content but not in form.
(Sutta-fn01)
The late Professor Hirakawa Akira says
(Sutta-fn02)
that the First Council collected only short prose passages or verses
expressing important doctrines, and that these were expanded into
full length suttas over the next century. L. S. Cousins, former lecturer
in the Department of Comparative Religion at Manchester University and
former President of the Pali Text Society, holds
(Sutta-fn03)
that in early times sutta was a pattern of teaching rather than a body of
literature. Dr Gregory Schopen, Lecturer in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Buddhist
Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, says
(Sutta-fn04)
that it is not until the fifth to sixth centuries C.E. that we can know anything
definite about the contents of the Pali Canon.
CONTENTS
There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:
1.
Digha Nikaya (dīghanikāya), the "long" discourses.
2.
Majjhima Nikaya, the "medium-length" discourses.
3.
Samyutta Nikaya (saṃyutta-), the "clustered" discourses.
4.
Anguttara Nikaya (aṅguttara-), the "gradual collection".
5.
Khuddaka Nikaya, the "minor collection".
Digha Nikaya
This includes The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness,
The Fruits of the Contemplative Life, and The Buddha's Last Days.
There are 34 long suttas in this nikaya.
Majjhima Nikaya
This includes Shorter Exposition of Kamma, Mindfulness of
Breathing, and Mindfulness of the Body. There are 152 medium-length
suttas in this nikaya.
Samyutta Nikaya
There are, according to one reckoning, 2,889 shorter suttas clustered
together by subject.
Anguttara Nikaya
These teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the
commentary's reckoning, 9,557 short suttas grouped by number,
from ones to elevens.
Khuddaka Nikaya
This is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed
to the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between editions.
The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition 1-17 and
the Burmese edition 1-18. (For details of these editions see
Pali Canon.)
01. Khuddakapatha
02. Dhammapada
03. Udana
04. Itivuttaka
05. Suttanipata
06. Vimanavatthu
07. Petavatthu
08. Theragatha
09. Therigatha
10. Jataka
11. Niddesa
12. Patisambhidamagga
13. Apadana
14. Buddhavamsa
15. Cariyapitaka
16. Nettipakarana or Netti
17. Petakopadesa
18. Milindapanha
Translations
The first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated by the
Pali Text Society
[1].
The first three have also been translated in the Teachings of the Buddha series
by Wisdom Publications, with a translation of the fourth in preparation.
Selections (including material from at least two nikayas):
• Buddhist Suttas, ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East,
volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
(& ?Dover, New York)
• The Word of the Buddha, ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935
• Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
• The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society,
Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of the
paritta
• In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
• Early Buddhist Discourses, ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006
Wikipedia notes
Sutta-fn01.
Theravada Buddhism, 2nd edn, Routledge, London, 2006, pages 20f
Sutta-fn01b
Sutta-fn02.
Hirakawa, History of Indian Buddhism, volume 1, 1974, English translation
University of Hawai'i Press, pages 69f
Sutta-fn02b
Sutta-fn03.
"Pali oral literature", in Buddhist Studies, ed Denwood and Piatigorski,
Curzon, London, 1982/3, page 3
Sutta-fn03b
Sutta-fn04.
Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawai'i Press, 1997, page 24
Sutta-fn04b
See also
• Abhidhamma Pitaka
• Vinaya Pitaka
External links
•
[2] Access to Insight translations of Pali Suttas in English
•
Pali Text and English Translations
•
How old is the Sutta Pitaka? - Alexander Wynne, St John's College,
Oxford University, 2003.
•
Search in English translations of the Sutta Pitaka
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