Bhikkhu Bodhi: Reading the Buddha's Discourses in Pali: A Practical Guide to the Language of the Ancient Buddhist Canon

Explore the ancient language of the Tipitaka and Theravāda commentaries
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robertk
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Bhikkhu Bodhi: Reading the Buddha's Discourses in Pali: A Practical Guide to the Language of the Ancient Buddhist Canon

Post by robertk »

I recently bought this on kindle.
This is the first Pali book that I actually enjoy working through.
The layout - with short extracts of suttas interspersed with direct corresponding word translations, and followed up with the way Bodhi translates the same passage - is exactly what the grammatically challenged like me most need.
The next section of each sutta has his explanation of words and grammar- which do lead to a touch of eye glazing but are still extremely educational.
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Sam Vara
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Re: Bhikkhu Bodhi: Reading the Buddha's Discourses in Pali: A Practical Guide to the Language of the Ancient Buddhist Ca

Post by Sam Vara »

robertk wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:58 pm I recently bought this on kindle.
This is the first Pali book that I actually enjoy working through.
The layout - with short extracts of suttas interspersed with direct corresponding word translations, and followed up with the way Bodhi translates the same passage is exactly what the grammatically challenged like me most need.
The next section of each sutta has his explanation of words and grammar- which do lead to a touch of eye glazing but are still extremely educational.

F756FE59-B19C-4E50-9A56-6B1C7CE34813.png
Yes, I've got the hard copy version, and quite like it. Like you, I'm grammatically challenged, and would have found the first section - the "Very Brief Introduction to Pali Grammar" very off-putting had I not already done some work with the dreaded Warder. But the little excerpts are nice because they are chosen for intelligibility, and because they get to the bits everyone familiar with the suttas already knows in translation.
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