by Jacqueline Filliozat
This summary catalogue presents an assessment of the Burmese manuscript collection of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies.[*] During our stay we examined a total of 245 palm-leaf manuscripts and identified 446 texts (a few others, 12 texts, resisted identification). Among these, it is the Vinaya that is most strongly represented with 127 titles. Text related to Suttantapiṭaka are represented by 66 titles, while 67 texts belong to the Abhidhamma. Texts include the Sīhalavatthu(ppakaraṇa)(a collection of narratives), the devotional poetry of the Jinālavkāra and the compendium Sāratthasavgaha. There is a nearly complete set of the Srilankan chronicles including the rare Nalātadhātuvaṃsa (Chronicle of the frontal bone relic of the Buddha) never critically edited.[1] Finally there are 49 grammars or lexical works including Abhidhānappadīpikā, Kaccāyanapakaraṇa, Kaccāyanavutti and Saddanīti. There are many Pāli-Burmese nissaya, most of them unknown to other catalogues.
Why are there so many grammars and lexicons? Our hypothesis is that the study of grammar was emphasized out of the desire to insure the preservation of the teaching of the Buddha, in line with the words of the Blessed One himself recorded in the Adhikaraṇavagga[2] of the Aṇguttaranikāya:
Monks, these two things conduce to the confusion
and the disappearance of true Dhamma. What two?
The wrong expression of the letter (of the text)[3] and wrong interpretation of the meaning of it. For if the letter be wrongly expressed, the interpretation of the meaning is also wrong......
Monks, these two things conduce to the establishment, the non-confusion, to the non-disappearance of true Dhamma. What two? The right expression of the letter and right interpretation of the meaning. For if the letter be rightly expressed, the interpretation of the meaning is also right. These two things conduce to the establishment......of true Dhamma.
It could also simply be that the Chung-Hwa Institute collection comes from the former library of a learned grammarian, or the library of a monastery where grammar was specially taught to students, as we recognise many copies of the same texts. However, most collections of manuscripts from Burma contain a large number of grammatical texts, and we may conclude that grammar was indeed studied assiduously in the monasteries.
When we assess the dates of the manuscripts, we can establish that they range from the early years of the 18th up to the beginning of the 20th centuries. The oldest one is dated 1724,[4] the youngest one is dated 1930.[5] Thus the collection spans two hundred years of traditional writing during the dynasty of Toṇ ṇu,[6] under the reigns of Siripavaramahādhammarājādhipati[7] and Mahādhammarājādhipati[8] ,then during the dynasty of ‘Aloṇ: bhura: under the reigns of ‘Aloṇ: bhura:,[9] Chaṇ prū rhaṇ,[10] Cañ kū:,[11] Bhui:-tō bhurā,[12] Bha krī:-tō,[13] Sārāvatī,[14] Pugaj,[15] Maṇ:tun:[16] Sīpo,[17] and finally from 1888, during the British rule. Fifty nine texts were copied during the 18th century; 127 during the 19th and 51 in the early 20th century.
A good part of the collection, (more than one hundred texts) was copied before the Man:tale Fifth Buddhist Council convened in 1871 by King Man:tun:. Twenty-two manuscripts were copied during or just after the Council (1871~1873). It would be interesting to collate them, to compare them with the “Council epigraphical edition” recorded on the marble stelae,[18] and to eventually note the variant readings in order to check whether or not these manuscripts were affected by the Council.
A few manuscripts are “deposit manuscripts”: they were never opened, and were not even inked after being engraved and lacquered on their edges. We can identify them because the palm-leaves are still stuck together like a solid block. The manuscripts are in excellent condition despite their age, except a few, less than ten, that came into the Institute already badly damaged by mould and rodents. Unfortunately the edges of some manuscripts were shaved by unscrupulous persons in order to remove the thin layer of gilding.
We sincerely hope that this survey of a typical traditional Burmese monastic library will foster a deepening interest in Theravāda Buddhism and will be of great value to research scholars. The Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies manuscript collection is very valuable: it represents one of the last important repositories of the ancient Indian heritage abroad as recorded during the Councils and transmitted through Burmese script. Recitations, inscriptions and manuscripts are the only source material recording the Buddhavacana which forms the core of the Pāli literature, an invaluable legacy of Indian wisdom and culture.
[*] The collection Sacra Birmanica became part of the Dharma Drum Buddhist College Library in 2007. [M.B.]
[1] A critical edition is being prepared by J. Filliozat, and the transcripts of the eight manuscripts collated is already available on EFEO DATA. Consultation on request at École française d'Extrême-Orient Library, 22 avenue du Président-Wilson 75116 Paris, France.
[2] Aṇguttara-Nikāya ii, 2, § 10 translated by F.L.Woodward, The Book of Gradual Sayings vol. I, London, The Pali Text Society, 1932: 53.
[3] Aṇguttara-Nikāya .ii, 147 (where four reasons are stated); Nettipakaraṇa 21.
[4] A Pāli-Burmese grammar about nāma CHIBS 167.
[5] Sut Pātheyya (Pātikavagga of the Dīghanikāya) deposit manuscript never opened (CHIBS 229).
[6] Ruled 1597–1752, capital in Ava (1600-1752).
[7] Reigned 1714–1733.
[8] Reigned 1733–1751.
[9] Reigned 1752–1760, capital in Muchui: bhui (now Shwebo).
[10] Reigned 1763–1776, capital in Ava.
[11] Reigned 1776–1782, capital in Ava.
[12] Reigned 1782–1819, capital in Amarapūra.
[13] Reigned 1819–1837, capital in Amarapūra, then in Ava.
[14] Reigned 1837–1846, capital in Amarapūra.
[15] Reigned 1846–1853, capital in Amarapūra.
[16] Reigned 1853–1878, capital in Man:tale.
[17] Reigned 1878–1885, capital in Man:tale.
[18] After the texts had been finally verified by a learned assembly, they were engraved on both faces of 729 marble stelae about the height of a man, and erected within the precincts of the Kusuil-tō pagoda at Man:tale where they remain.