[Buddha-l] Re: liturgical languages] (Richard P. Hayes)

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Sat, 2005-05-07 at 01:23 +0200, zelders.YH wrote:

> I'm not an expert but I looked hard and I cannot find such a text in either 
> Vinaya Mahaavagga or Cullavagga. Maybe you read it in a sutta or in some 
> classical commentary ?

My problem is I am cursed with both an excellent memory and a very poor
one. I have an excellent memory for what I have read but a very poor one
for recalling where I read it. This is most unfortunate when combined
the the poor habit of reading about twelve books at once (not all in the
same minute, of course, but over the course of a few weeks). I am pretty
sure I read the passage in question in either the Mahaa- or Culla-vagga,
but it may have been in the Qur'an or the diaries of George Fox. Or
maybe in an essay by Walt Whitman.

> By the way, some Thai style Theravada three tone chanting has great 
> pulsating rhythm. There are more musical charms than melody alone.

There is no end to dangers for a sensate person, is there?

> You can hear a good example of that in recordings of the Amaravati
> sangha with Ajahn Sumedho as lead singer.

He's an American, as I recall. He is a wonderfully funny speaker. He
gives some of the most witty and mischievously comical dharma talks I've
ever heard. He's an excellent example of the old Norwegian adage "If you
give the Dharma to an American, he'll make a joke out of it."

I think it was Norwegian. Maybe it was Mongolian. Or Steven Lane.

> I am sure those folks themselves enjoy that groove, even if  their
> rules warn against such a wordly pleasure.

Wordly pleasure has always been my personal weakness. Poetry, novels,
essays, soliloquies, diatribes and reveries always please me, but no
wordly pleasure is as great as curling up by a cozy fire with a good
dictionary. Were it not for my love of words, I might well have been a
monk, were it not for my love of wine and good food and comfortable beds
and fine cowboy hats.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico