To give another example. The concept of the pratyeka-buddha; is well known as the middle element in the triad: buddhas, pratyeka-buddhas; and śrāvakas, and the usual translation “a buddha (awakened) for himself” satisfies most people. This usage of the word pratyeka; (pacceka; in its Pāli form) is, however, unusual, and it is not at all clear how it could have the meaning given to it. When
หน้า 14
consideration is given to the fact that the concept of a similar type of Buddha is also
found in Jainism, but there, in Jain Prakrit, the name is patteya-buddha, then it becomes possible for the philologist to suggest an etymology for the word which can explain both the form in Prakrit and the form in Pāli—explaining the form in Sanskrit presents no difficulty since it is merely a Sanskritisation of the Pāli form or something similar to it—and on the basis of that explanation to provide a more satisfactory translation.24 The basic work of philology is, of course, going on all the time when we consider
Buddhist texts. We have to ask ourselves “do we know what each word is” before we can ask “what does each word mean”, and start to think about translating the words or interpreting them. In many cases we can see that the understanding of the structure of a articular word had already been lost before the commentaries were written, because it is clear that the commentators do not understand its structure. In this connection, the discovery of Sanskrit and Prakrit Buddhist texts in Chinese Turkestan, Afghanistan and India in the course of the last hundred years has provided an invaluable tool for the philologist. Quite often these new discoveries date back to a time before the confusion or corruption or whatever it was came into being; sometimes they present a corruption of a different nature which enables us to suggest a solution to the problem. A close comparative study of (say) the Pāli Dhammapada, the Gāndhārī Dharmapada, the so called Patna Dharmapada and the Sanskrit Udānavarga is very rewarding, since it enables us to use each and every version as a control upon the others, and we can quite often identify the corruption—even when, in the absence of parallel passages, no corruption was hitherto suspected—and, more important, suggest how it came into being
To give another example. The concept of the pratyeka-buddha; is well known as the middle element in the triad: buddhas, pratyeka-buddhas; and śrāvakas, and the usual translation “a buddha (awakened) for himself” satisfies most people. This usage of the word pratyeka; (pacceka; in its Pāli form) is, however, unusual, and it is not at all clear how it could have the meaning given to it. When
หน้า 14
consideration is given to the fact that the concept of a similar type of Buddha is also
found in Jainism, but there, in Jain Prakrit, the name is patteya-buddha, then it becomes possible for the philologist to suggest an etymology for the word which can explain both the form in Prakrit and the form in Pāli—explaining the form in Sanskrit presents no difficulty since it is merely a Sanskritisation of the Pāli form or something similar to it—and on the basis of that explanation to provide a more satisfactory translation.24 The basic work of philology is, of course, going on all the time when we consider
Buddhist texts. We have to ask ourselves “do we know what each word is” before we can ask “what does each word mean”, and start to think about translating the words or interpreting them. In many cases we can see that the understanding of the structure of a articular word had already been lost before the commentaries were written, because it is clear that the commentators do not understand its structure. In this connection, the discovery of Sanskrit and Prakrit Buddhist texts in Chinese Turkestan, Afghanistan and India in the course of the last hundred years has provided an invaluable tool for the philologist. Quite often these new discoveries date back to a time before the confusion or corruption or whatever it was came into being; sometimes they present a corruption of a different nature which enables us to suggest a solution to the problem. A close comparative study of (say) the Pāli Dhammapada, the Gāndhārī Dharmapada, the so called Patna Dharmapada and the Sanskrit Udānavarga is very rewarding, since it enables us to use each and every version as a control upon the others, and we can quite often identify the corruption—even when, in the absence of parallel passages, no corruption was hitherto suspected—and, more important, suggest how it came into being
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