Languages in Buddhism edit
Rupert Gethin states:
- The original language of Buddhist thought is problematic. It was not Sanskrit (Old Indo-Aryan) but a closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialect similar to Pali, the canonical language of the Buddhism of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. As Buddhism developed in ancient India it tended increasingly to speak the universal language of ancient Indian culture, Sanskrit. Subsequently Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese and Tibetan which became major Buddhist languages in their own right. --- Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism . Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition. Kindle Locations 138-141
Thich Nhat Hanh states:
- For four hundred years during and after the Buddha's lifetime, his teaching were transmitted only orally. After that the monks of the Tamrashatiya School ("those who wear copper-colored robes") in Sri Lanka, a derivative of the Vibhajyavada School, began to think about writing the Buddha's discourses on palm leaves, and it took another hundred years to begin. (p. 13) [...]
- By the time the Buddha's discourses were written down in Pali in Sri Lanka, there were eighteen or twenty schools, and each had its own recension of the Buddha's teachings. These schools did not tear the teachings of the Buddha apart but were threads of a single garment. Two of these recensions exist today: the Tamrashatiya and Sarvastivada canons. Recorded at about the same time, the former were written down in Pali and the latter in Sanskrit and Prakrit. The sutras that were written down in Pali in Sri Lanka are known as the Southern transmission, or "Teachings of the Elders" (Theravada). The Sarvastivada texts, known as the Northern transmission, exist only in fragmented form. Fortunately, they were translated into Chinese and Tibetan, and many of these translations are still available. We have to remember that the Buddha did not speak Pali, Sanskrit, or Prakrit. He spoke a local dialect called Magadhi or Ardhamagadhi, and there is no record of the Buddha's words in his own language. (pp. 15-16) --- Thich Nhat Hanh (1998)
Donald S. Lopez states:
- When we try to measure the movement of the Buddha's words from his time to ours, we are immediately confronted with problems. We do not know with certainty what language he spoke. We know that he left no writings, that what he taught was preserved in the memories of generations of his followers, not to be written down until some four centuries after his death. Thus, it is impossible to know precisely what Buddha taught. Yet the authority of this man who authored no book was so great that works attributed to him have been composed in many languages and in many lands over many centuries...
- The languages in which the teachings were written included not only the classical Buddhist languages of Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, but also forgotten languages such as Khotanese, Sogdian, Tangut, and Tocharian B. --- Story of Buddhism, 2001, page 7.
Peter Harvey states:
- Our knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha is based on several canons of scriptures, which derive from the early Sangha's oral transmission of bodies of teachings agreed on at several councils. The Theravadin 'Pali Canon' is preserved in the Pali language, which is based upon a dialect close to that spoken by the Buddha, Old Magadhi. It is the most complete extant early canon, and contains some of the earliest material. Most of its teachings are in fact the common property of all Buddhist schools, being simple the teachings which the Theravadins preserved from the common early stock. --- page3
Karen Armstrong states:
- It is generally agreed that the most useful texts [for historical analysis] are those written in Pali, a north Indian dialect of uncertain provenance, which seems to have been close to Magadhan, the language that Gotama himself may have spoken. These scriptures were preserved by Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand who belonged to the Theravada school. But writing was not common in India until the time of Ashoka, and the Pali canon was orally preserved and probably not written down until the first century B.C.E. --- Karen Armstrong, Buddha, p. xiii