Importance of Pāḷi


Somewhere, I saw a promotion for a Pāḷi course. There was once when I wonder why people learn Pāḷi. I remember telling a colleague that a friend took a master course in the ancient language and the latter was flabbergasted; wondering why he picked a non-commercial subject. Pāli  is suspected to be the language spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, near modern Bihār in India and probably, a language used by the Buddha too; but like other ancient languages; Latin and Sanskrit included; it has ceased to be a literary language. Pāli  however is also the language of the Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka which is the standard collection of scriptures in Theravada Buddhism. In other words; besides being presently used in chanting; the language enables direct access to ancient Buddhist scriptures. Some people like the idea of getting first hand knowledge of Buddhism by direct access to the old scriptures, citing a fear of loss through translation.

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