Dravidian poem translated into Pali? Apadana-atthakatha/Visuddhajanavilasini |(534 13-537 28, vv 12–48)

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan G. Levman
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
The Buddha

This article examines a poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana which expands on the poem attributed to Kaludayitthera in the Theragatha; the poem in the Kaludayittherapadanavannana did not make it into the final canon. The hypothesis of this paper is that the poem may be a popular Dravidian song adapted to Buddhist use and translated into Pali, and this is the primary reason it was excluded from the canon. This conclusion is based on several factors. 1) The author of the Pali poem was not well versed in the Pali language and made constant mistakes in translation. 2) Gratuitous repetition; the poem itself is not very good poetry, containing the kind of needless repetition one associates with a popular song. 3) 13.4% of the words in the poem are direct lifts from Dravidian words; this compares to only 3.9% of the words in the Theragatha poem itself, of which this poem is an extension. While this does not prove that the source was a Dravidian poem, it raises the probability quite significantly. In addition, this kind of literature—making lists of biota in the natural world for comparison, personification and poetic effect— is common in Dravidian Sangam literature. 4) The poem contains wrong or awkward phrases in Pali which can be better understood as Dravidian imports, and 5) an extensive and growing body of linguistic evidence shows that the adoption of Dravidian terminology into Buddhist thought and practice was not an uncommon occurrence. It has long been assumed that the Buddha spoke more than just Indic languages, and that his oral teachings in Dravidian or Munda languages were lost. Although this poem is probably not in itself a teaching of the Buddha, but a popular Dravidian song adapted for Buddhist purposes, its analysis is the first attempt to show that some Pali transmissions may be adaptations or translations of indigenous languages; the ramifications and conclusions of such a hypothesis, if proven, open up a whole new area of Buddhist studies, i.e., the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings through indigenous, non Indo-Aryan (non-IA) languages.

3. Animals and the environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
Damien Keown
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Meat Eating ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
The World ◽  
The Buddha

Is Buddhism truly an ‘eco-friendly’ religion? ‘Animals and the environment’ examines the implications of Buddhist teachings such as that human beings can be reborn as animals and vice versa. While the Buddhist ‘sublime attitudes’ such as kindness and compassion seem at first to favour animals to a greater degree than we find in Christianity, human life still takes precedence in the hierarchy of living beings. Rules about plant life are unclear, with Buddhist writers acknowledging the beauty of both the wilderness and civilization. Vegetarianism is largely seen as a morally superior diet, but meat-eating was common at the time of the Buddha and is widely practised by monks today. Buddhist attitudes toward the natural world are complex and are to some extent overshadowed by the belief that the world as we know it is fundamentally flawed.

scholarly journals Political attitudes vary with detection of androstenone

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Amanda Friesen ◽  
Mike Gruszczynski ◽  
Kevin B. Smith ◽  
John R. Alford
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Odor Detection ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
And Behaviors

AbstractBuilding on a growing body of research suggesting that political attitudes are part of broader individual and biological orientations, we test whether the detection of the hormone androstenone is predictive of political attitudes. The particular social chemical analyzed in this study is androstenone, a nonandrogenic steroid found in the sweat and saliva of many mammals, including humans. A primary reason for scholarly interest in odor detection is that it varies so dramatically from person to person. Using participants’ self-reported perceptions of androstenone intensity, together with a battery of survey items testing social and political preferences and orientations, this research supports the idea that perceptions of androstenone intensity relate to political orientations—most notably, preferences for social order—lending further support to theories positing the influence of underlying biological traits on sociopolitical attitudes and behaviors.

scholarly journals Fostering Well-Being in Education Through Yoga and Mindfulness in the Snow (Snowga)

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-172
Author(s):  
Leanne Glasser
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Growing Body

Through a program called Snowga (yoga in the snow), students learned about mindfulness and living in the present moment through yoga postures and meditations. Positive changes included growth in wellbeing as the children explored self, community, and the natural world through yoga, mindfulness, personal reflective journals, and artwork. The purpose: to engender awareness of the efficacy of mindfulness and yoga practices in nature and contribute to the growing body of knowledge around wellbeing in education.

scholarly journals The authority of the Buddha: The limits of knowledge in medieval Indian Buddhist epistemology

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Richard Payne
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Valid Knowledge ◽  
Limits Of Knowledge ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
The Human Condition

Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Graduate Theological UnionThe Indian religious traditions, including Buddhism, are generally characterised by an understanding of the problematic character of the human condition as ignorance (avidya) instead of sin, as in Christianity.1 The centrality of ignorance in defining the problematic character of the human condition creates a dramatically different religious dynamic—a religious dynamic that is fundamentally concerned with epistemological issues rather than with moral ones. In Indian discussions of the limits of religious knowledge, the shared intellectual framework was the idea of means of valid knowledge (pramāṇa). While other religio-philosophic traditions in India accepted testimony (śabda) as an autonomous (i.e., irreducible) means of valid knowledge, Buddhist epistemologists rejected it. Having rejected the idea that testimony is an autonomous means of valid knowledge (śabdapramāṇa), an alternative explanation for the authority of the Buddha had to be created. Against this background of epistemological discussion, particular attention is given here to Dharmakīrti’s views on the authority of the Buddha as a means of valid knowledge regarding the ground of human existence, the path of religious practice, and the goal of awakening.

scholarly journals On ‘lost’ indigenous etymological origins with the specific case of the name Ameiva

ZooKeys ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 748 ◽  
pp. 151-159
Author(s):  
Nicole Frances Angeli
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Local People ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Language Origin ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Dutch Brazil

Modern biology builds upon the historic exploration of the natural world. Recognizing the origin of a species’ name is one path to honor the historic exploration and description of the natural world and the indigenous peoples that lived closely with organisms prior to their description. While digitization of historic papers catalogued in databases such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) allows for searching of the first use and origin of names, the rapid pace of taxonomic publishing can occlude a thorough search for etymologies. The etymological origin of the genus name Ameiva is one such case; while unattributed in multiple recent works, it is of Tupí language origin. The first description was in the Historiae Rerum Naturalium Brasiliae by George Marcgrave (1648). Ameiva was the name used by Marcgrave’s Amerindian hosts in 17th century Dutch Brazil, where local people spoke the now extinct language Tupí. The Tupí origin was not lost, however, until as recently as the 2000s. Herein, the pre- and post-Linnaean use of the name Ameiva is traced and when the name is attributed to the Tupí language and to Marcgrave through time it is noted. The opportunity to discover and/or recover etymological origins, especially names from extinct and indigenous languages, provides insight into the early Western sciences. Careful study of etymology by naturalists is consistent with the idea that science is an evolving process with many predecessors to appreciate.

S7ílhen tl’a Swa7ám̓ (Food of the Ancestors)

Public ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (63) ◽  
pp. 92-99
Author(s):  
T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss
Keyword(s):  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Indigenous Plant ◽  
Wetlands Ecosystems

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss has dedicated most of her life to Indigenous plant remediation and restoration projects that support wetlands ecosystems, food forests and the wild inhabitants of these places. This is diligent and time based work. It will take several lifetimes to heal our planet, and everything we plant now will help to ensure that our future ancestors will survive. Through the work of planting and rebuilding these wetlands and food forests we are gifting the future a little of what was greatly taken from the natural world in the past 150 years. Through interdisciplinary documentation of this work, we assure that our future ancestors will continue to be connected to the natural world, by knowing the true names in our Indigenous languages, of these sacred plant relatives. These photos, along with the Sḵwx̱úmesh Snichem text, are part of the knowledge carrying that must be taken to the next generations to stay informed and connected. This is what reciprocity means to us. This is what Indigenous Food Sovereignty looks like.

Embracing risk in the Canadian woodlands: Four children’s risky play and risk-taking experiences in a Canadian Forest Kindergarten

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A Coe
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Canadian Perspective ◽  
Risky Play ◽  
Physical Challenges

Children are born with an intrinsic drive and natural curiosity to explore the world around them. Just as young children are attracted to the natural world, they too are enticed by the physical challenges and risk-taking experiences that such environments provide. Based on research conducted at one of Canada’s first Forest Kindergartens and using Sandseter’s conceptualization of risk, this article aims to explore the safe risk-taking and risky play experiences of four children at a nature-based early years programme in rural Ontario. Not only does this research add to the growing body of empirical evidence surrounding risk and nature-based learning in the early years but also provides a unique Canadian perspective not often discussed in the literature. An incidental outcome of this work is exposing researchers and practitioners to the types of safe risk-taking and risky play experiences that may occur within an early years Canadian context.

scholarly journals On ‘lost’ indigenous etymological origins with the specific case of the name Ameiva

ZooKeys ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 748 ◽  
pp. 151-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Frances Angeli
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Local People ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Language Origin ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Dutch Brazil

Modern biology builds upon the historic exploration of the natural world. Recognizing the origin of a species’ name is one path to honor the historic exploration and description of the natural world and the indigenous peoples that lived closely with organisms prior to their description. While digitization of historic papers catalogued in databases such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) allows for searching of the first use and origin of names, the rapid pace of taxonomic publishing can occlude a thorough search for etymologies. The etymological origin of the genus name Ameiva is one such case; while unattributed in multiple recent works, it is of Tupí language origin. The first description was in the Historiae Rerum Naturalium Brasiliae by George Marcgrave (1648). Ameiva was the name used by Marcgrave’s Amerindian hosts in 17th century Dutch Brazil, where local people spoke the now extinct language Tupí. The Tupí origin was not lost, however, until as recently as the 2000s. Herein, the pre- and post-Linnaean use of the name Ameiva is traced and when the name is attributed to the Tupí language and to Marcgrave through time it is noted. The opportunity to discover and/or recover etymological origins, especially names from extinct and indigenous languages, provides insight into the early Western sciences. Careful study of etymology by naturalists is consistent with the idea that science is an evolving process with many predecessors to appreciate.

Conclusions and Comparisons

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Thomas McDaniel
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Amusement Parks ◽  
Sustained Effort ◽  
Display Performance ◽  
The Buddha

Starting off with the unique story of the Buddha and leisure park designed in rural Louisiana, the conclusion argues that despite many problems with large comparative projects Buddhist Studies, the amusement parks, memorials, museums, and gardens described in the book as a whole share many qualities. They generally lack formal, formidable, ritual, ecclesiastical, or sectarian boundaries. They make little sustained effort to be “authentic.” These sites emphasize display, performance, and juxtaposition and anachronistic mixing (not systematic reconstruction) of various Buddhist cultures, teachings, languages, objects, and symbols. This is important, because it provides us with a completely different image of contemporary Buddhism that emphasizes innovation and ecumenism instead of purity and authenticity. These sites present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise—a gathering not a movement. By eschewing the local and authentic in favor of the timeless, ecumenical, and universal, they become difficult to categorize. They make visual statements for sure, even if they don’t attempt to create single messages or provide coherent teachings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document