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The general belief is that ancient India had 340 different languages. Among them were '''four great canonical languages'''  (Tib. <big>སྐད་རིགས་ཆེན་པོ་མི་འདྲ་བ་བཞི།</big>) in the sense that sutras and shastras were composed in them: Sanskrit , Prākrit , Apabhraṃśa and Piśāci. Sūtras and [[shastra|treatise]]s were written in all of these languages. Sanskrit is considered the most important among them and is known as the divine language (Tib. <big>ལྷའི་སྐད།</big>), the language that all buddhas of the three times spoke in the past, are speaking in the present and will speak in the future. The Tibetan translators have translated the term Sanskrit with ‘well composed’ (Tib. <big>ལེགས་སྦྱར།</big>).<ref>Khenpo Chöga’s oral explanation, Andreas Kretschmar, Drops of Nectar, Ch.1 p.392.</ref>
The general belief is that ancient India had 340 different languages. Among them were '''four great canonical languages'''  (Tib. <big>སྐད་རིགས་ཆེན་པོ་མི་འདྲ་བ་བཞི།</big>) in the sense that [[sutra]]s and [[shastra]]s were composed in them: Sanskrit, Prākrit, Apabhraṃśa and Piśāci. Sutras and treatises were written in all of these languages. Sanskrit is considered the most important among them and is known as the divine language (Tib. <big>ལྷའི་སྐད།</big>), the language that all [[buddha]]s of the three times spoke in the past, are speaking in the present and will speak in the future. The Tibetan translators have translated the term Sanskrit with ‘well composed’ (Tib. <big>ལེགས་སྦྱར།</big>).<ref>Khenpo Chöga’s oral explanation, Andreas Kretschmar, Drops of Nectar, Ch.1 p.392.</ref>


==References==
==References==
<small><references/></small>
<small><references/></small>


==Further reading==
==Further Reading==
*[[Khenpo Kunzang Palden|Khenpo Kunpal]],[[Drops of Nectar |The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech]], a Detailed Commentary on [[Shantideva]]’s [[Bodhicharyavatara|Way of the Bodhisattva]], p.29 and Note 42, p.446, Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Shambhala, ISBN 978-1-59030-439-6.
*[[Khenpo Kunzang Palden|Khenpo Kunpal]], ''[[Drops of Nectar|The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech]], a Detailed Commentary on [[Shantideva]]’s [[Bodhicharyavatara|Way of the Bodhisattva]]'', p.29 and Note 42, p.446, Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Shambhala, ISBN 978-1-59030-439-6.
*Khenpo Kunpal’s Commentary – [[Drops of Nectar]] - on [[Shantideva]]’s [[Bodhicharyavatara|Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas]], Volume One, p.209. Translated by Andreas Kretschmar. See link below.
*Khenpo Kunpal’s Commentary – [[Drops of Nectar]] - on [[Shantideva]]’s [[Bodhicharyavatara|Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas]], Volume One, p.209. Translated by Andreas Kretschmar. See link below.


==Internal Link==
==Internal Links==
* [[Teachings on 'Nectar of Manjushri's Speech' (MP3), an Overview]]
*[[Teachings on 'Nectar of Manjushri's Speech' (MP3), an Overview]]


==External Links==
==External Links==
*[http://www.kunpal.com/ You can download the first five chapters of Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara, Drops of Nectar, offered freely as a gift of dharma.]
*[http://www.kunpal.com/ You can download the first five chapters of Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on the Bodhicharyavatara, Drops of Nectar, offered freely as a gift of dharma.]
*[http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/sakya-masters/khenpo-shenga/notes-from-miscellaneous-writings Notes from the Miscellaneous Writings of Khenpo Shenga]
*[http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/sakya-masters/khenpo-shenga/notes-from-miscellaneous-writings Notes from the Miscellaneous Writings of Khenpo Shenga]


[[Category: Language]]
[[Category: Sanskrit]]
[[Category: Enumerations]]
[[Category: Enumerations]]
[[Category: 04-Four]]
[[Category: 04-Four]]

Revision as of 11:12, 23 April 2012

The general belief is that ancient India had 340 different languages. Among them were four great canonical languages (Tib. སྐད་རིགས་ཆེན་པོ་མི་འདྲ་བ་བཞི།) in the sense that sutras and shastras were composed in them: Sanskrit, Prākrit, Apabhraṃśa and Piśāci. Sutras and treatises were written in all of these languages. Sanskrit is considered the most important among them and is known as the divine language (Tib. ལྷའི་སྐད།), the language that all buddhas of the three times spoke in the past, are speaking in the present and will speak in the future. The Tibetan translators have translated the term Sanskrit with ‘well composed’ (Tib. ལེགས་སྦྱར།).[1]

References

  1. Khenpo Chöga’s oral explanation, Andreas Kretschmar, Drops of Nectar, Ch.1 p.392.

Further Reading

Internal Links

External Links