by Peter Skilling
The number of palm-leaf manuscripts preserved in Burma and abroad is stupendous. What is the significance of this, and what sort of literature do the manuscripts contain? Since most collections are inadequately catalogued or have not been catalogued at all, it is impossible to give a precise answer. It is clear that the most important step at this stage is to catalogue──and to preserve and safeguard──these manuscript collections. Only then will we be able to assess their significance fully, although it is safe to say that the manuscripts contain a wealth of information not only about Buddhism and its literature but also about the society, values, history and even economy of pre-modern Burma.
The manuscripts are all in the Burmese script, inscribed on specially prepared palm-leaves. According to Theravādin tradition, the texts of the Pāli Canon were first written down on palm-leaf over two thousand years ago in Sri Lanka. Apart from a few stone inscriptions from Siam and Burma, the Pāli literature that we know today has been retrieved from palm-leaf manuscripts preserved in Sri Lanka, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, and Laos. It is for this reason, as repositories of the Buddha's teaching, that the manuscripts have always been treated with the utmost respect, equal to that accorded to images of the Blessed One.
Indeed, the word of the Buddha was recorded on palm-leaf throughout India and the ancient "Buddhist world". The rich expression of Buddhist thought was written down not only in Pāli but also in Prakrit, Buddhist Sanskrit, and Sanskrit in a variety of scripts. In the early centuries of the Christian Era Buddhism travelled along the overland and maritime "silk routes" to Central and South-East Asia and then to China. Many of the Buddhist texts preserved today in the Chinese Tripitaka first arrived as palm-leaf manuscripts, to be translated into the Han language by skilled teams of translators.
The Burmese manuscripts in the Chung-Hwa collection are inscribed in one script but in two languages: Pāli and Burmese. Some are in Pāli only, and give the texts of the Theravādin Canon along with their commentaries and sub-commentaries as well as independent manuals and compositions. Some texts are in Burmese only, and others are in Pāli and Burmese, in the form of phrase-by-phrase translation and commentary on Pāli texts. The works deal with all aspects of Buddhism──the Vinaya, the Dhamma, and the Abhidhamma──as well as with essential fields like history and grammar.
Although I have remarked above that it is difficult to make an overall assessment of the significance of Burmese manuscript collections, since so many of them are uncatalogued and inaccessible, one thing is clear: the production of manuscripts, whether in Pāli or Burmese and whether on any topic, was immense. It seems to have peaked by the late 19th century when a dramatic transformation of Burmese society took place in the wake of British rule. As court sponsorship of manuscript production declined, the new merchant classes stepped in. But the printing press soon made its influence felt, and the production of manuscripts tapered off in the early decades of twentieth century.
Traditional donors produced manuscripts to gain merits for study and education, with the aim to preserve and perpetuate the teachings of the Buddha and the writings of the great scholars of India, Sri Lanka, and South-East Asia. These are the very same aims of the dedicated cataloguers and the staff of the Chung-Hwa Institute and its library: by producing this catalogue they make the precious collection available for study and research. Like the traditional donors, they all share in the merits of preserving the Dhamma. The Chung-Hwa Institute is to be congratulated for this meritorious project, which promotes the three goals of study (pariyatti), practice (paṭipatti), and realization (pativedha). As traditionally stated at the end of manuscripts,
nibbānapaccayo hotu "May [this meritorious deed] promote [the realization] of Nibbāna!"
Peter Skilling
Nandapurī
Siam