Expert: Alex Wilding - 3/4/2008

Question
hi alex. i'm engaged in what's proving to be a difficult
challenge. i'm trying to find various pali scripts (or
single characters if they exist) for buddha,
dharma/dhamma and sangha as they're expressed in
the "three jewels." can you help me out or
maybe point me in the right direction. i'd like to see
variants, but am very interested in finding them as
they appeared in their oldest known form. thanks tons!
scott in san francisco

ps. also wondering about the word "tao." was is expressed in pali? what is it's earliest known form in script?


Answer
Dear Scott,
I'm sorry, Pali is not my field. Perhaps you could try searching for someone, but include "Theravada" in your search - it's Theravada Buddhism that keeps its scriptures in Pali.

I would be very surprised if "Tao" had ever been put into Pali. Tao is a Chinese word, so many some Chinese Buddhists would be familiar with it. On the other hand, it is not a piece of Buddhist terminology, so I don't know that it would ever have been translated into any of the other Buddhist languages - the flow of ideas, historically, was *from* India *to* China, with translation having been done from Sanskrit and similar sources *into* Chinese. Undoubtedly the earliest written use of the word "tao" would be a Chinese ideogram.

Hope this helps a bit!
All the best
Alex Wilding