A Note on Buddhist Languages
The original language of Buddhist thought is problematic. It was
not Sanskrit (Old Indo-Aryan) but a closely related Middle
Indo-Aryan dialect similar to Pali, the canonical language of the
Buddhism of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. As Buddhism
developed in ancient India it tended increasingly to speak the
universal language of ancient Indian culture, Sanskrit. Sub-
sequently Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese _and
Tibetan which became major Buddhist languages in their own
right.
The general principle I have adopted is to quote universal
Buddhist terms in both Sanskrit and (when there is a difference)
Pali, placed in parentheses after the English translation so:
'aggregates' (skandha/khandha). If the term is used again in the
body of the text I have generally preferred the Sanskrit form,
unless the context is exclusively that of Theravada Buddhism.
Terms that are specific or characteristic of a particular Buddhist
tradition are quoted in the appropriate language(s), either Pali
or Sanskrit with, where appropriate, their Chinese or Tibetan,
or occasionally their Japanese or Korean translation.
The transliteration of Indian languages follows the standard
transliteration scheme (see A. L. Basham, The Wonder that Was
India, so6~8); Chinese is quoted according to the Wade~Giles
system, rather than Pin-Yin, Tibetan according to the Wylie
system. Words that have become part of the English language
(i.e. would be found in an English dictionary) are left unitalicized
but the appropriate diacritical marks have been added, hence
'nirval)a'.