Looking for Thai resources

A forum for Dhamma resources in languages other than English
Post Reply
User avatar
salayatananirodha
Posts: 1479
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:34 am
Contact:

Looking for Thai resources

Post by salayatananirodha »

For dhammaduta. Perhaps some dhammapadas or other good, simple content. If you could provide your input about your suggestion if you know thai, whether it's a suitable translation. Some of the English translations of dhamma can be very bad.

If you find anything on amazon especially, that will be great. I've thought of learning thai in order to communicate with lay followers at a nearby temple, but I may want to learn pāli first
I host a sutta discussion via Zoom Sundays at 11AM Chicago time — message me if you are interested
User avatar
mikenz66
Posts: 19941
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:37 am
Location: Aotearoa, New Zealand

Re: Looking for Thai resources

Post by mikenz66 »

salayatananirodha wrote: Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:52 pm For dhammaduta. Perhaps some dhammapadas or other good, simple content. If you could provide your input about your suggestion if you know thai, whether it's a suitable translation. Some of the English translations of dhamma can be very bad.

If you find anything on amazon especially, that will be great. I've thought of learning thai in order to communicate with lay followers at a nearby temple, but I may want to learn pāli first
Have you discussed with the monastics and lay people there what resources they have? Clearly there is a huge amount of Dhamma material in Thai. Our local Wat has a large library.

If you don't know any/much Thai, then something like this would be useful:
http://www.dhammathai.org/dhammapada/dhammapada.php

It has the Pali text in Thai Characters, with Thai and English translation, if you have a rudimentary grasp of the Thai alphabet, the Pali isn't so hard, with the following starting with manopubbaṅgamā
1. มโนปุพฺพงฺคมา ธมฺมา มโนเสฎฺฐา มโนมยา มนสา เจ ปทุฎฺฌฐน ภาสติ วา กโรติ วา ตโต นํ ทุกฺขมเนฺวติ จกฺกํว วหโต ปทํ ฯ1ฯ

ใจเป็นผู้นำสรรพสิ่ง ใจเป็นใหญ่(กว่าสรรพสิ่ง) สรรพสิ่งสำเร็จได้ด้วยใจ ถ้าพูดหรือทำสิ่งใดด้วยใจชั่ว ความทุกข์ย่อมติดตามตัวเขา เหมือนล้อหมุนเต้าตามเท้าโค

Mind foreruns all mental conditions, Mind is chief, mind-made are they; If one speak or acts with a wicked mind, Then suffering follows him Even as the wheel the hoof of the ox.
[I have a chanting book with Pali with Thai Characters and Thai translation on one page and Pali in Roman + English on the other, which is similarly helpful. Unfortunately, I don't have an electronic version.]

One of the challenges I've come across is that the Thai translations of Pali terms can sound garbled when translated to English. I've been in groups where a well-educated Thai person was translating, and it's sometimes a real challenge to follow, and I have to query what the Pali term is to make sense of it. This is a typical problem of a translation of a translation...

Also, Google translate, etc generally makes a hash of Thai, so checking translations electronically is difficult... The above comes out as:
The mind is the leader. It is a big thing (with all things). To say or do something with an evil mind. Suffering will follow him. Like a wheel spin on the foot.
:rofl:

:heart:
Mike
User avatar
salayatananirodha
Posts: 1479
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:34 am
Contact:

Re: Looking for Thai resources

Post by salayatananirodha »

I haven't discussed with them hardly. I've been visiting this temple for more than a year but in between awkward smiling and bowing I don't get into conversations because of the language barrier
But after today's visit out there I'd really like to change that. I left my offering today and didn't say bye to anybody and one lady was trying to talk to me but I didn't quite realize she was. It's a temple made out of a regular house so the gathering can be fairly intimate, so sitting there with a bowl full of other peoples offerings after we dāna to the monks by myself eating just makes me uncomfortable
And it's merit for me and my mom especially since I recall the buddha's varied teachings on generosity and altruistic joy
Anyway, I've talked about learning thai but never did but I reckon if I could speak even a small amount of thai it could drastically change my experiences -- I just love to talk about dhamma and when I visit the westerners at the meditation center they dont always appreciate it as much as I wish they did
I dont have much interest in thai outside of it as a vehicle to connect with my local sangha
For all I know there are really good thai lay buddhists or maybe the monks know more than I figured they did
When I learned spanish back in high school I mostly taught it to myself using about.com :heart: :hug: :rolleye:
I host a sutta discussion via Zoom Sundays at 11AM Chicago time — message me if you are interested
Post Reply