[Buddha-l] Pali for Teacher

[Simon Wiles]

On 10/19/05, Chris Ward <c.ward at btinternet.com> wrote:
> Acariya is mentioned in some forest sangha sources as pali for  'teacher'
> and seems to be linked with 'achan' and 'ajahn', honorifics for longer term
> monastics. However, acariya is not in the pali- English dictionary (Rhys
> Davids and Stede). If acariya does not mean teacher, what pali word does?
>
> Chris Ward


Hi Chris,

Acariya is found in the PED (p.97 in my edition), with a long 'A' at
the beginning: <unicode)>Ācariya</unicode>, or
<velthius>AAcariya</velthius>, where it is described as being almost
synonymous with <unicode>upajjhāya</unicode>, a 'spiritual teacher' or
'preceptor'.  It would seem extremely likely that achan/ajahn are
derived from this.

Pali has lots of words for 'teacher'.  Perhaps the most common is Satthar.

Simon