The Vocabulary of Thathāgatha – the Thathāgathavachana made by Thathāgatha’s by using sound of nature (Suddha Māghadhi Sabdha Sanna) has now hidden from the world. We are in the process of regaining it now.
All the Thathāgathas use a special vocabulary to explain the true nature of this world that is necessary for one to realize the Nibbāna and that is called Thathāgathavachana. It is a professional vocabulary similar to how medical professionals have their special terms in their professional field, and how engineers also use a technical vocabulary specific to their professional areas. Only those professionals in each specific field could understand those professional vocabulary words. Likewise, the Thathāgathas have introduced their own technical/professional vocabulary to describe the path to Nibbāna, that is not understandable by normal linguists unless they specialize in the Nibbanâ path. In this case, to be specialized in this field one must attain Nibbāna first. But what has happened today, is that normal linguists have interpreted the Nibbāna Dhamma without themselves achieving in Nibbāna (without being specialized in the field). This means that they are not a professional in the field of Nibbāna and that is how that their interpretation became wrong or got misinterpreted. That is why the “Gothama Samana the Buddha” has taught his disciples to not teach anyone Nibbāna at least until they become Sothapanna (first stage of Nibbāna). Therefore, it is very important that the Nibbāna dhamma teachers or interpreters at least become Sothapanna before they interpret Nibbāna to anyone else. But it is not easy for one to teach Nibbāna to others until at least he/she become Anagami (third step). But what has happened is Western writers, especially like Rhys Davids and his students, have written many English books by interpreting the Nibbāna path according to their own understanding. We could see that they have tried to understand the Nibbāna from a Western perspective. This has led them to publish a lot of wrong books. They have brought dhamma manuscripts from Asia to the United Kingdom and kept them in their possession. It has resulted that Nibbāna has become lost from the world, instead a new mundane religion has been originated from a Western perspective, which is what is called Buddhism today. This new version is based on prayers, worships, beliefs, and rituals similar to the concepts of other religions that believe in a creator god. This new Buddhism is far from the original.
Gothama Samana the Buddha or none of the other Thathāgathas never spoke Sanskrit or Pāli. The Pāli was found 8-9 centuries after the Gothama Samana the Buddha’s Parinbbāna, or even maybe some thousands of years later, because the true chronology of existence of the Gothama Samana is uncertain yet. The present world is officially using a date which is been assumed by early European writers, which is most likely wrong. Even though the Sanskrit was widely used at that time, the Gothama Samana the Buddha warned his disciples not to translate his Dhamma to Sanskrit since those type of man-made languages could not able to convey the correct meaning of his teachings. At the Buddha’s time, the word call “Pāli” was used to designate a line or lines of Dhamma texts (pela or peli). Until the 4th Century CE, this word Pali was not used to designate a language. Neither there was such a language call Pāli as today at Gothama Samana Buddha’s time. Even Thitahakaras never spoke Pāli, they also have used Ardha Māghadhi to describe their doctrine.
This professional vocabulary identical to the Nibbāna path was made by using by Suddha-Māghadhi Sabdha Sagnna. “Suddha” means “the pure”, and the “Māghadhi (Maga + Adhi)” means the “Path to go beyond the existence”, Sabdha Sanna mean Sound Signs. This is a phonetic communication interface which contains the sound of the nature. This is also call as Language of Nature. Dhamma means the law of Nature and only this special vocabulary could describe the “Law of Nature” or the true nature of the world (Dhamma). This communication interface is not a normal mundane language which has letters or scripts. When pronouncing the sound correctly, the meaning goes to the listeners mind from its pronunciation. The meaning is embedded in the sound, therefore it is very important to pronounce these sounds correctly. This sound’s basic interface is also understood by the other beings in higher realms than the Human. The first human settlement came to this planet earth from Apassara Brahma realms were using this same sound-based interface to communicate. Each sound of this language has been made up by combining few words of the languages that we used today. Therefore, it is impossible to translate the meaning of this Suddha-Māghadhi sounds on a word-by-word basis to any other manmade languages that we use today. It is necessary to use a few words, or few sentences, to describe a definition of a single sound. The closest language for this is “Elu Prakirt”, and the Elu Prakirt is the language that been used at the time of Gothama Samana the Buddha in his Birth land and he has used this Elu Prakirt widely in his Dhamma delivering to the people of his land. However, the “Elu Prakirt” also does not exist today. The present Sinhala is a language been evolved from Elu Prakirt but the present days Sinhala has widely mixed with Sanskrit and Pāli words.
So, we have identified that the main reason for Nibbāna to hide from the world is that modern scholars using Pāli and Sanskrit to find the definition for Thathāgathavachana. Two British writers named Robert Caesar Childers and Rhys Davids published a Pāli English dictionary and thereafter all the Western writers used that dictionary to interpret Buddha Dhamma. And that has given a total misinterpretation to the world since the said Buddha has not used that so call Pāli.
There are special abilities one gains to understand this Thathāgathavachana as a result of wisdom that gains at purifying mind, but that happens after archiving Magga Pala. This ability is call as “Artha Dhamma Nirukthi Patibāna Ñāna”.
After understanding the necessity, we have taken steps to regain and develop a “Thathāgatha Vocabulary” (Nibbāna Vachana) and also Hela Prakirt language. We have set up a group of scholars and academics to undertake this great task, and we hope to publish a lexicon/professional manual to provide correct definition for Thathāgathavachana soon.