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1. PROGRAM> Elementary Pali to be offered at Harvard Divinity School June 11 – August 2, 2018
2. LECTURE> Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism Special Lecture

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PROGRAM> Elementary Pali to be offered at Harvard Divinity School June 11 – August 2, 2018

by Charles Hallisey

COURSE: Elementary Pali to be offered at Harvard Divinity School June 11 – August 2, 2018

Harvard Divinity School will offer Elementary Pali as one of its offerings in its Summer Language Program again this summer.

The course covers a full academic year’s worth of instruction in eight weeks and enables a student to enter intermediate level Pali in the fall.

The course fosters a collegial and supportive atmosphere, making learning the language an enjoyable process. It also offers field trips to see Harvard’s collection of Pali manuscripts and its South and Southeast Asian art collections, as well as to local Theravada communities, if desired.

At the end of eight weeks, the student will be able to read canonical and non-canonical texts in a wide range of genres.

More information on the Summer Language Program, including admission information and tuition fees, can be found at this website:

http://hds.harvard.edu/academics/nondegree-programs/summer-language-program

A description of the Elementary Pali course follows:

Elementary Pali

Instructor: Beatrice Chrystall
Schedule: Monday 4–7 pm | Tuesday 4–7 pm | Thursday 4–7 pm
Room Assignment: Rockefeller 116
Teaching Fellow: Alexis Bader

Pali is the language of the Buddhist canon of the Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka, India and Southeast Asia. It also has been one of the main languages used for literature and religious scholarship in the Theravāda Buddhist world. The Pali canon is one of the most important canons in the Buddhist world and its study has had a central place in modern Buddhist Studies. In addition, it has recently garnered attention from psychologists and others interested in mindfulness meditation.

This intensive 8-week course in Pali is the equivalent of a full course of language classes taught over one academic year. It is designed to prepare students to be able to read basic materials from the Pali canon independently. It is also designed to enable students to continue their studies of Pali, including by enrolling in a second-year university course in Pali such as is offered at Harvard Divinity School. The Summer course will take the student through all the grammar and many of the language patterns found in Pali canonical prose and verse and will give a student a solid footing for reading Pali independently.

The course is geared toward getting the student to read Pali texts as quickly as possible, using materials chosen from key canonical texts. The student is thus engaging with key canonical materials from the first class.

No prior knowledge of any language other than English is required.

Required books

Gair, James W. and W. S. Karunatillake. A New Course in Reading Pali: Entering the Word of the Buddha. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2013.
ISBN-10:812081441X ISBN-13: 978-8120814417

Collins, Steven. A Pali Grammar for Students. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2006. ISBN-10: 9749511131 ISBN-13: 978-9749511138

Recommended dictionary:
Rhys Davids, T.W. and William Stede. Pāli-English Dictionary. Oxford: The Pali Text Society Ltd., 1921–25, reprinted 1992,1995, repr. with corrections 2015.
ISBN:0-86013-2–503-9

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LECTURE> Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism Special Lecture

by A. Charles Muller

Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism Special Lecture

Dr. Janet Gyatso, an awardee of the 2016 “Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism,” will give a lecture on her award-winning book Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet (Columbia University Press, 2015)  at Musashino University.

[Japanese Language Poster and Photo]

Date: Friday June 11, 2018, 5-7 pm

Place: Main Conference Room, 5^th floor, 7^th Building,

Musashino Campus, Musashino University

      1-1-20 Shin-machi, Nishitokyo-shi, Tokyo

Presenter: Dr. Janet Gyatso

(Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, Harvard Divinity School)

Theme 1:

“Categories, Mentalities, Individuals: Historiography in a Buddhological Vein”

Theme 2:

“Buddhist Ministry Initiative”

•Free of charge. Reservation is needed. Please contact: ogi@bdk.or.jp

• The lecture will be held in English. But, there will be a printed Japanese translation.

Sponsors: Institute of Buddhist Culture, Musashino University

　　　　Graduate School of Buddhist Studies, Musashino University

Supporter: Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism)

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