Why do we chant in Pali and not English?
According to Theravadan tradition, the Pali language was used by the Buddha to teach the Dhamma during his forty-five year teaching career. After the Buddha’s parinibbana, the Tipitaka, or collection of all the Buddha’s teaching, was set and codified by the 500 arhants who participated in the First Council. Since that time the teachings have been passed down through the generations in the original Pali language version. The Pali language has thus served to maintain the purity of the teachings by minimizing the amount of interpretation inherent in any translation effort. In the Theravadan school, the Pali language is also used as a ritual language, since it is in that language that the suttas themselves are written. The use of the Pali language maintains a direct connection to the Buddha and his original disciples transcending the passage of time and the various cultures through which the Dhamma has passed in order to arrive to our time and place today. Were it not for this method of pr
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