Pali
The language spoken in the north of India from and before the 7th century BC to about the 5th century AD. It is still the literary sacred language of Burma, Thailand, and Ceylon. There were two factors which made Pali one of the most important literary languages of the world: first, with the rise of the Kosalas into a kingdom, the language of its capital (Savatthi, in Nepal) become the form of speech almost universally adopted. Secondly, Gautama Buddha, being of Kosalan by birth, probably used the Pali language in giving forth his teachings, and therefore the subsequent philosophical writings of his disciples were similarly couched in this language.
Pali was one of several other languages of culture in ancient India, all which were of so-called Prakrit character, although very little is known about these other literary languages. Pali has survived to the present time because . . . it became the linguistic vehicle in which were enshrined the teachings of The Awakened One.
Pali is not a true child of Sanskrit, but is and was the literary form of one of the ancient languages of India popularly spoken over an apparently wide stretch of the Indian Peninsula, . . .” (SOPh 694-5).
In the 3rd century BC the language used throughout Northern India was practically one, and it was derived directly from the speech of the Vedic Aryans, retaining many Vedic forms lost in the later classical Sanskrit. The basis of the language used in the Buddhist canon was that used in Ujjayini, the capital of the Avanti district. The chief doctrines of Buddhism are recorded in the works known as the Suttas — there being four Nikayas consisting of 16 volumes; the fifth Nikaya being the Jatakas (birth stories).
Craving
The Awakened One enumerates the many kinds of tangled thoughts experienced by a mind not yet free of craving. Sound familiar?
“True Followers of the Path shown by The Awakened One, I will teach you craving: the ensnarer that has flowed along, spread out, and caught hold, with which this world is smothered & enveloped like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes and reeds, and does not go beyond transmigration, beyond the planes of deprivation, woe, & bad destinations. Listen well, and I will speak.”
“Yes, lord,” the monks responded.
The Blessed One said: “And which craving is the ensnarer that has flowed along, spread out, and caught hold, with which this world is smothered & enveloped like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes and reeds, and does not go beyond transmigration, beyond the planes of deprivation, woe, & bad destinations? These 18 craving-verbalizations1 dependent on what is internal and 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is external.
“And which are the 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is internal? There being ‘I am,’ there comes to be ‘I am here,’ there comes to be ‘I am like this’ … ‘I am otherwise’ … ‘I am bad’ … ‘I am good’ … ‘I might be’ … ‘I might be here’ … ‘I might be like this’ … ‘I might be otherwise’ … ‘May I be’ … ‘May I be here’ … ‘May I be like this’ … ‘May I be otherwise’ … ‘I will be’ … ‘I will be here’ … ‘I will be like this’ … ‘I will be otherwise.’ These are the 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is internal.
“And which are the 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is external? There being ‘I am because of this (or: by means of this),’ there comes to be ‘I am here because of this,’ there comes to be ‘I am like this because of this’ … ‘I am otherwise because of this’ … ‘I am bad because of this’ … ‘I am good because of this’ … ‘I might be because of this’ … ‘I might be here because of this’ … ‘I might be like this because of this’ … ‘I might be otherwise because of this’ … ‘May I be because of this’ … ‘May I be here because of this’ … ‘May I be like this because of this’ … ‘May I be otherwise because of this’ … ‘I will be because of this’ … ‘I will be here because of this’ … ‘I will be like this because of this’ … ‘I will be otherwise because of this.’ These are the 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is external.
“Thus there are 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is internal and 18 craving-verbalizations dependent on what is external. These are called the 36 craving-verbalizations. Thus, with 36 craving-verbalizations of this sort in the past, 36 in the future, and 36 in the present, there are 108 craving-verbalizations.
“This, monks is craving the ensnarer that has flowed along, spread out, and caught hold, with which this world is smothered & enveloped like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes and reeds, and does not go beyond transmigration, beyond the planes of deprivation, woe, & bad destinations.”
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Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One Day
This festival is also known as Fourfold Assembly or Magha Puja Day.
Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One Day is the second most important festival. It is a celebration in honour of the Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One. For some Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One refers only to The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One . It is a chance for people to reaffirm their commitment to Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One practices and traditions. Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One Day commemorates the spontaneous gathering of 1,250 awakened True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One (arahants), to hear the Awakened One preach at Veluvana Vihara.
Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One
Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One:
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On the conventional (sammati) level, this term denotes the communities of Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One; on the ideal (ariya) level, it denotes those followers of the Awakened One, lay or ordained, who have attained at least stream-entry (see sotapanna), the first of the transcendent paths (see magga) culminating in nibbana. Recently, particularly in the West, the term “” Community of The True Followers of The Path shown by The Awakened One has been popularly adapted to mean the wider sense of “community of followers on the path,” although this usage finds no basis in the Pali Canon. The term “parisa” may be more appropriate for this much broader meaning. |