Pali Text Society 2009 Volume Xxx – O. Von Hinuber (eng)

Pali Text Society 2009

Volume XXX

Edited by O. Von Hinuber

Primoz Pecenko 1947–2007

Dr Primoz Pecenko died suddenly following a heart attack on the evening of the 1 August 2007 while out walking with his family and dog. This was a few days short of his 60th birthday. Primoz was Senior Lecturer in Eastern Religions and Co-Director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Queensland; he was also an Executive committee member of the Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies (AABS), a friend to many of us, and an important contributor to that organization. Primoz, who completed a Masters degree at Pune in India and a PhD at the Australian National University, was a major figure in Buddhist studies in Australia and his passing represents a great loss to our discipline. He and his wife, Dr Tamara Ditrich, with whom he shared the positions at the University of Queensland, have worked tirelessly to maintain Buddhist Studies at the University of Queensland and to promote Buddhist Studies in Australia. Primoz’s specialization was in P!li commentarial literature, particularly the sub-commentaries (†¥kås), a field that has been little researched. One of his major contributions to this field is his edition of the sub-commentary on the A!guttara-nikåya (A!guttara-nikåya-†¥kå, three volumes to date (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1996, 1997, 1999)). A fourth volume was in progress. This represents only the second critical edition of a Påli sub-commentary. Primoz also contributed to our understanding of this class of Påli literature through several important articles, including “Såriputta and His Works” (Journal of the Pali Text Society, Vol. XXIII (1997), pp. 159–79) and “L¥natthapakåsin¥ and Såratthamañjuså : The Puråˆa†¥kås and the †¥kås on the Four Nikåyas” (Journal of the Pali Text Society, Vol. XXVII, (2002) pp. 61–113).

Primoz presented a stimulating paper in the AABS seminar series on Påli commentarial literature, entitled “Pali Texts and Their Manuscripts: A Case of ‘Lost’ Manuscripts Mentioned in old Pali Bibliographic Sources,” in April, 2006. Many of Primoz’s publications are in his native tongue, Slovenian. This includes numerous Slovenian translations of P!li texts, such as the Dhammapada (2001) and Milindapañha (1989, 1990), plus translations of individual suttas, such as the Mahåsatipa††håna-sutta (1988). At the time of his death, Primoz was engaged in several important and interesting research projects. One entailed editing a Påli commentarial text that was previously thought to have been lost, but was discovered by him in Burma.2 Apart from making this text available to scholars in the form of a critical edition, this work promised to throw light on the creation of commentaries, the nature of the commentarial project, and other hitherto little understood aspects of this field. Another research project entailed the study of the Kuthodaw Pagoda Inscriptional Complex in Burma, which would have helped to establish the relationship between this “edition” of the Pali canon and other versions current in the Theravada Buddhist world. It further promised to contribute towards our understanding of textual authority in Buddhist communities. Primoz was also working on Buddhist meditation in theory and practice and P!li bibliographic texts. Much of Primoz’s research was funded by grants from such prestigious bodies as the Pali Text Society, the Australian Research Council, and ANU and University of Queensland research fellowships. At the University of Queensland Primoz taught Pali, Sanskrit, and courses on Buddhism, Hinduism, and World Religion, and supervised numerous postgraduate students including many international students. He was well-respected and liked by his students and will be greatly missed.

Primoz’s premature death robs us of a wonderful colleague, an admired teacher, and a great Påli scholar, who undoubtedly would have gone on to improve our understanding of P!li texts, specifically Pali commentarial literature.

Dr Mark Allon
Department of Indian Sub-continental Studies
University of Sydney

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