Pali Literature and Language c5.36

c5.36

X. If Pāli is the form of the Māgadhī used by Buddha, then the Pāli canon would have to be regarded as the most authentic form of the Buddhavacanam, even though the teachings of the master might have been preached and learnt from the very beginning in the various provinces of India in the respective local dialects. This conclusion has been drawn—wrongly, in my opinion—from Cullavagga V. 33.¹ = Vin. II.139. Here it is related, how two Bhikkhus complained to the master that the members of the order were of various origins, and that they distorted the words of Buddha by their own dialect (sakāya niruttiyā). They therefore proposed that the words of Buddha should be translated into Sanskrit verses (chandaso). Buddha however refused to grant the request and added: anujānāmi *bhikkhave sakāya niruttiyā buddhavacanaṃ pariyāpuṇituṃ*. Rhys Davids and Oldenberg ¹ translate this passage by "I allow you,² oh brethren, to learn the words of the Buddhas each in his own dialect." This interpretation however is not in harmony with that of Buddhaghosa, according to whom it has to be translated by "I ordain the words of Buddha to be learnt in his own language (i.e., in Māgadhī, the language used by Buddha himself)."³ After repeated examinations of this passage I have come to the conclusion that we have to stick to the explanation given by Buddhaghosa. Neither the two monks nor Buddha himself could have thought of preaching in different dialects in different cases. Here the question is merely whether the words of Buddha might be translated into Sanskrit or not. This is however clearly forbidden by the Master, at first negatively and then positively by the injunction beginning with *anujānāmi*. The real meaning of this injunction is, as is also best in consonance with Indian spirit, that there can be no other form of the words of Buddha than in which the Master himself had preached. Thus even in the life-time of Buddha people were concerned about the way in which his teaching might be handed down as accurately as possible, both in form and in content. How much more must have been the anxiety of the disciples after his death! The external form was however Māgadhī, though according to tradition it is Pāli.⁴