Throughout history Buddhists have held vastly different views about the language in which the Buddha taught. For some he possessed a supernatural ability to speak in any language he wished.1 Others claimed by contrast that the Buddha never taught anything at all.2 Theravada Buddhist scholar-monks, however, believe that the Buddha taught in only one language, Pali, or ‘the language of Magadha’ (magadhabhāsā), as it is known by the tradition, and that he produced a body of teachings, the Tipiṭaka (‘three baskets’), so large that, after his death, it took his disciples seven months to recite and compile it.3 When we speak of ‘Pali literature’ it is perhaps understandable that many people will think of the Tipiṭaka or ‘Pali canon’, as it is often referred to in Western academic writings. And yet for almost 2,000 years the monastic com-munity, the Saṅgha, has continued to use Pali as a privileged language for commenting on and elaborating upon the Buddha’s doctrine, the Dhamma.