[Buddha-l] Anomalous doctrines

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

I am particularly happy to see Stephen Hodge put "Forest Dwellers" in 
quotation marks. After all, as any one familiar with Indian languages 
in general knows, words like vana can be used to refer not to 
forests, literally, but to places away from major centres of civil 
power and civilisation. These 'wandering ascetics' need not have 
been, and almost certainly were not literally dwellers in any forest; 
rather, they were to be found in what we used, in Indian-Burmese 
English to call 'jungly' villages, towns etc., e.g., the early stupas 
and reliquaries Hodge mentions at this point in his useful message.
-- 
F. K. L. Chit Hlaing
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign