[INDOLOGY] Buddhavacanam

Dominik Wujastyk wujastyk at gmail.com
Wed Apr 19 03:43:39 UTC 2017


The Pali doesn't actually say "Buddha's own dialect".  That's the whole
point of the problem and why it has been discussed by many scholars.  It
says "in his own dialect." This is ambiguous: we don't know whether "his
own" (saka) refers to the Buddha or to a person in the audience.   Is the
Buddha saying "teach people in my language" or "teach people in their own
language?"

​
--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
​,​

Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
​,​

Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
​,​
University of Alberta, Canada
​.​

South Asia at the U of A:

​sas.ualberta.ca​
​​


On 18 April 2017 at 00:54, alakendu das via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> <
>
> Dr.Sandahl,
> I had been curiously following the scholastic deliberations on
> Buddhabachanam.
> Since long, I had an inner feeling that there is actually a reference
> where Siddhartha
> Gautama Buddha insisted on using his own language while propagating his
> teachings. Finally
> I stumbled upon a reference from Chullavagga( a constituent part of Vinaya
> Pitaka),in course
> of studying a chapter on Pali in a certain book on the History of Sanskrit
> Literature. I am
> not conversant in Pali, but the qoute in ChullaVagga has Buddha
> instructing- ANUJANAMI
> VIKHABE SAKAYANIRUTIYA BUDDHABACHANAM PARIYAPUNITUM'(Ref-Chullavagga
> 5.33.1) which roughly
> translates as - While teaching the views of Buddha , one should use
> Buddha's own dialect(
> sakaya Nirutya implies own dialect).About Buddha's own dialect, it is well
> known that hailing
> from Magadha ,BUDDHA spoke Magadhi . There is a further reference ( source
> unknown)which says-
> SO CHA BHAGABA MAGADHO, SA CHA MAGADHE BHABATTYE, SA CHA BHASHA MAGADHI.
> Inspite my poor
> knowledge in Pali,I can understand the above qoute as- Buddha was a
> resident of Magadha and
> his own dialect was Magadhi.
>
> ALAKENDU DAS.
>
>
>
>
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