[Buddha-l] liturgical languages

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

I am saying that (a) in general, in Burma and Thailand MONKS chant 
Sutras and so forth; lay persons and devotees infrequently. They say 
prayers often in Pali or mixed Pali and Burmese/Thai/Shan, and they 
recite precepts and so on (e.g., ritual phrases such as tisarana 
wendami during services, in Pali. But also 9b), yes, Pali is a 
foreign language, but unlike some other, more astern traditions as 
described in these discussions, they are not meaningless to  the 
average participant because sermons by monks, in the local 
vernacular, quite commonly explain, even gloss the Pali for lay 
persons, and here is a large corpus of widely available and widely 
circulated gloss-texts (nissaya interlinear) about all this Pali 
material that is recited. Yes a few sutras are commonly recited (not 
'chanted', mind you), especially the Mangala Sutra - mingala thout in 
Burmese Pali, and these, again, are heavily glossed in material 
laypersons acccess commonly.

This responds too Curt, who wrote:
<Are you saying that Theravadin Buddhists do not chant in a foreign
language (ie, Pali)? This was what I thought I was talking about.
Or are you saying that Pali should not be considered a foreign language
by Theravadins? Now I am confused. As far as I can tell, there is little
difference among the various "Asian Buddhist" schools on this point.
The phenomenon of a "liturgical language" seems, to me (and please
correct me if I am wrong) a general phenomenon among all of the
major Buddhist groups in Asia. And I happen to think that this is a
positive thing, and something that "Western" Buddhist should carefully
consider before tossing the baby out with the bath water. I don't want
to find Western Buddhists singing dreary Buddhist Hyms to the accompaniment
of an organ (this frightening practice has already been adopted by the
Chogye Order in Korea - in a misguided, in my opinion, bid to better
compete with the Christians).
- Curt>

I happen to agree with his concluding lines, by the way.
-- 
F. K. Lehman (F. K. L. Chit Hlaing)
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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