It’s the New Year in Southeast Asia coming up! Here are various celebrations at Theravada Buddhist temples around town. If you’re new, the largest ones to check out would be April 10 at Wat Buddha Bucha – Thai temple in Decatur, or April 16 & 17 at the Cambodian temples Wat Khmer in Lithonia and Wat Trairatanaram in College Park. In the morning, monks will be chanting inside in Pali, an ancient Indian language, while vendors will be outside. Cultural performances will be mostly after lunch. Not much is in English usually. Please bring cash to support the family-run food and gift vendors, consider making a donation to the temple, and please do not bring alcohol or drugs or smoke.
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From Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi, a class on Pali online via Zoom from Chuang Yen Monastery in New York, 8:15pm Eastern Time on Mondays and Wednesday! ** New dates have been added: August 17, 19, 24, 26 and 31, September 2, 9 , 14, and 16, (September 7 NO Class due to Abhidhamma retreat) ** The most important languages for studying Buddhism are of course the ones you know and can use... but for those wanting to go as close as possible to the original teachings, the most important languages for studying Buddhism are Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. The teachings of the Buddha were not written down for a few hundred years, but once they were, they were recorded in either Pali or Sanskrit, two ancient languages of the Indian subcontinent. The Pali cannon survives today in the Theravada teachings, widespread in the "Southern" regions such as Thailand and Sri Lanka. The Sanskrit cannon became the foundation of Mahayana teachings of the "Northern" regions such as China. A robust liturgy in Chinese was developed over centuries of monastics cultivating, and this Chinese-based cannon was then translated into most of the schools found in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. A separate lineage in Tibetan focused on Vajrayana and tantric teachings also arose, which spread from Tibet to central Asia, and what are now areas like Bhutan and Mongolia. Thus, to study the root teachings, we now use translations in English. But translations may reflect a translator's understanding and lack cultural nuances or deeper meanings. So, for those really trying to see the meanings of Buddha's original sutras and stories, the closest we can get is through readings in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, or Tibetan. If you have ever wanted to study Pali, the language of the Pali Canon (the most complete ancient collection of the Buddha's teachings), here is your chance. My long-time Pali student Stephen Sas will be teaching a Summer Intensive Pali Course over July and early August. The course is free, but will cover a lot of ground. See below for the details. Once you learn Pali, you are no longer at the mercy of translators, but can read the texts on your own in the language in which they have been preserved from ancient times. http://www.BAUS.org for details (Buddhist Association of the United States) Course handouts and reading material at https://www.baus.org/en/baus-groups/cym/an-introduction-to-pali-a-summer-intensive-course/ Missed a class? Watch LIVE or archives on Chuang Yen Monastery's YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/user/bauscym  |
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