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A Study of Classical Languages with Special Reference to the Neo-Buddhists Studying Pali

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A Study of Classical Languages with Special Reference to the Neo-Buddhists Studying Pali 169 A STUDY OF CLASSICAL LANGUAGES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEO-BUDDHISTS STUDYING PALI by Mahesh A. Deokar I still remember those days when I was pursuing my masters’ degree in Pali literature in the then Pune University in the years 1994–1996. At that time I was the only Indian student studying Pali, a classical language of Buddhist scriptures of the Theravada school. My own inspiration for studying Pali was more linguistic and philosophical rather than religious. Before getting introduced to Pali during the course of my first masters’ degree in Sanskrit I had studied Sanskrit for about eight years. Owing to the close affinity between Sanskrit and Pali, soon I became familiar with the linguistic peculiarities of the latter, and was deeply touched by the simplicity and powerful philosophical appeal of Pali. Till the turn of the new millennium the situation of the study of this ancient classical language and its literature remained more or less unchanged. Since I started teaching Pali in the Pune University in 1996, barring a few foreign students from the Buddhist countries of East and South East Asia we had only one or two Indian students. They too opted for this subject not because of their genuine interest in the language but merely for seeking a university enrollment for trifle benefits. On the other hand, the courses in other classical languages such as Sanskrit and Ardhamagadhi were attracting a fair number of students. Motivations of such students were primarily cultural or religious. A majority of students studying Sanskrit came from an upper class Hindu background whereas those studying Ardhamagadhi were from the Jain community. In those days I always 170 BUDDHIST ETHICAL EDUCATION wondered that in spite of having a large Ambedkarite Buddhist community in Pune there were hardly any Buddhists who enrolled themselves for the courses in Pali. The only students who were studying Pali as one of their optional papers were the students of Sanskrit, who in spite of doing well in exams had a little emotional bonding with Pali. Thus, Pali remained a neglected subject on the University campus till the end of the last millennium. The new millennium brought with it a ray of hope for the revival of the study of Pali in Pune. In 2002, I got my first Indian students of Pali who were genuinely interested in studying the language and its literature. Interestingly these students were Maharashtrian Ambedkarite Buddhists who by some sheer chance came to know that Pali, the language of their religion, is being taught in the Pune University. The reason for saying ‘by some sheer chance’ is that the name of the University department where Pali was taught was the Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages which left people clueless about the existence of any courses of Pali language in this department. My new batch of a certificate course in Pali consisted of three elderly students, of whom two were in their 40s and one, a retired man above 60. The students were highly motivated but had many responsibilities in their work-places, at homes, and in the community. Their main motivation behind studying Pali was religious. They had strong faith in the Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar. They were studying to know the teachings of the Buddha in what they believed to be the original language in which the Buddha taught more than 2500 years ago. They were not only studying to learn the Buddha’s teachings for themselves but also to spread it among their fellow-men. They were studying Pali not as a pastime, but for a purpose. In the subsequent years, the department witnessed a steady and healthy growth in the number of Indian students. In these initial years of the new millennium I came in contact with some Buddhist meditators who were assistant teachers of Vipassana (‘insight meditation’) in the tradition of a vipassana master S. N. Goenka. This tradition had its roots in the Burmese Theravada tradition. As a part of his efforts to popularize the Vipassana meditation among Indian masses, besides setting up meditation centres Goenka established A STUDY OF CLASSICAL LANGUAGES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEO-BUDDHISTS 171 the Vipassana Research Institute (VRI) in 1985 in Igatpuri, Maharashtra. Under the auspices of VRI, Goenka published the Pali Buddhist Canon along with its commentarial literature in the commonly known Nagari script in 140 volumes. Although Goenka did not give much importance to the academic study of the Pali scriptures he acknowledged the importance of the Pali discourses as a source of inspiration and guidance for the Vipassana meditators. In his meditation retreats, every morning a prerecorded chanting of the verses from the Pali canon is played in Goenka’s voice. This chanting invoked great curiosity and a sense of reverence about Pali among the Vipassana practitioners. It inspired a number of them to take up a serious study of Pali as an aid to their spiritual journey. Such aspiring students of Pali included among them a small but notable number of Ambedkarite Buddhists who had strong faith in S. N. Goenka as a teacher and his Vipassana meditation as a true and pure form of Buddhist practice. Such students turned to the department for learning Pali with utmost sincerity. Among my first foreign students there was a British student who was a member of Urgyen Sangharakshita’s Western Buddhist Order. He introduced me for the first time to the Buddhist meditation practice, life and teaching of Urgyen Sangharakshita, and the work and members of the Trailokya Buddhist Community which Sangharakshita established in 1979 to organize Indian Buddhists. Following this British student other members of the Trailokya Buddhist Community joined the department to study Pali. Sanskrit is generally perceived and portrayed as a language akin to Brahmanism. As a reaction to its so-called Brahmanic affiliation, the Ambedkarite Buddhists have some reluctance to study Sanskrit Buddhist texts in both its classical and the mixed form. Moreover, they have a general impression that the Buddhist scriptures in Pali are original and hence authentic as compared to Sanskrit texts, which represent a corrupt or a Brahmanicised form of Buddhism. Owing to Sangharakshita’s open approach towards the Theravada and the Mahayana schools of Buddhism members of this order slowly became open to the study of Sanskrit Buddhist texts besides Pali. They became one of our first students of Sanskrit Buddhist literature. As the years passed by, the Ambedkarite Buddhist students started becoming aware of the importance of studying 172 BUDDHIST ETHICAL EDUCATION Sanskrit Buddhist texts and their Tibetan translations from the historical and the philosophical point of view. In 2006 the study of Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist literature received a big boost when the then Vice-chancellor of the Pune University, who himself was a Buddhist and a Vipassana practitioner, decided to establish an independent department of Pali. I was appointed as the first head of this new department. Together with my colleagues and students we started organizing regular awareness campaigns for sensitizing common people about Pali language and the rich literary heritage of Buddhism. Through these campaigns and positive mouth publicity many Ambedkarite Buddhists joined the department in the following years. These students usually come to the department with some preconceived notions about Buddhism. Some sincerely believe in rebirth and existence of other world, others do not. Some are strong adherents of the practice of meditation, and consider it to be the core of Buddhism, whereas others are staunch opponents of meditation and ritualism. For them, the social message of the Buddha is the heart of Buddha’s teachings. In spite of these differences in ideology, all of them have unshaken faith in the teachings of Dr. Ambedkar and his presentation of Buddha’s teachings. Dr. Ambedkar’s own journey from being a leader of so-called Dalits (the oppressed classes) to the giver of a new path of Buddhism is exemplary for his followers. As is well-known Dr. Ambedkar came into contact with Buddhism in early years of his life when his teacher Krishnaji Arjun Keluskar presented him Buddha’s biography which he himself had written. (Zelliot, 1979, p. 391) After his announcement of leaving the Hindu religion in 1935 at Yeole he started exploring and examining various options to convert to. It is clear that around this time he was impressed by two great religious personalities: Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism and the Buddha, the father of Buddhism. (Ambedkar, 1945, p. 60) It has been recorded that soon after Dr. Ambedkar’s announcement of leaving the Hindu- fold a Buddhist monk named Lokanatha met him at his residence in Mumbai on 10th June 1936, and invited him along with his followers to join Buddhism. Later in an interview he reported that Dr. Ambedkar was impressed with Buddhism, and expressed his A STUDY OF CLASSICAL LANGUAGES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEO-BUDDHISTS 173 ambition to convert all Dalits to Buddhism. (Ambedkar, 2016, p. 8) In 1937, Lokanatha published a pamphlet entitled Buddhism Will Make You Free encouraging the oppressed classes of India to convert to Buddhism. At the end of his famous speech What way liberty delivered in Mumbai in the year 1936 Dr. Ambedkar quoted a passage from the Mahaparinibbanasutta in which the Buddha advised his chief disciple Ananda to be his own refuge. Addressing the audience, Dr. Ambedkar said that “if you keep in mind this message of Lord Buddha at this juncture I am sure your decision will not be wrong.” (Ambedkar, 2016, p. 5) This appears to be a clear indication of his inclination towards Buddhism as a strong candidate for conversion.
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