[Buddha-l] liturgical languages (was: Will new the pope verify Buddhist doctrine?)

[F.K. Lehman (F.K.L. Chit Hlaing)]

Two things,if I may. (1) Let us not forget that Buddhism is from 
India, and the Indic tradition, back to Vedic times apparently, 
includes the idea that there is a sort of cosmic (magical?) power or, 
if you want, ritual effectiveness to the very syllables of a Skt/Pali 
chan, and to their correct pronunciation. This certainly is essential 
background to the stuff being argued about here. (2) In Southeast 
Asian Theravada, at least in Burma and Thailand, we do chant verses 
in Pali, especially the Precepts (panatipata vermani...), BUT there 
are endless sermons in which Monks expounbd at great and repetitive 
length upon the detailed meaning of the words, phrases and 
utterances. And there is a long and good tradition of nissaya texts 
involving such chants and prayers; interlinear translation texts that 
are widely used. I sometimes get p.o'd reading, as in this thread, 
about 'Asian Buddhists', which turn out all to be exclusively 
Mahayanists in China, Japan and, maybe marginally, Korea.
-- 
F. K. Lehman (F. K. L. Chit Hlaing)
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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