Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand

Note on Manuscripts, Archives, Monastic Libraries, and Catalogs

Note on Manuscripts, Archives, Monastic Libraries, and Catalogs Many manuscripts I consulted for this book were read in situ at various monastic libraries in Laos and Thailand. I visited individual manuscript libraries in Nan, Phrae, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Phayao, Uttaradit, Ubon, Mukdahan , Savannakhet, Champasak, Attapeu, Luang Phrabang, Vientiane, and other places. I also researched at archives in Chiang Mai, Vientiane, Ubon Ratchathani, Bangkok, Luang Phrabang, London, Paris, and Washington, D.C., and at the National University of Singapore, the University of Michigan , Cornell University, and the University of California, Berkeley. No comprehensive catalog for these manuscripts has been done. The National Library of Laos is attempting to combine catalogs of Lao manuscripts from throughout the world in order to make a master list, a project that is in its nascent stages. Excluding the catalogs of inscriptions and reference works that are useful for studying local manuscripts, a partial list of catalogs of the major manuscripts in Laos and Thailand includes Louis Finot, “Recherches sur la littèrature laotienne,” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 17, no. 5 (1917); George Coedès, “Documents sur l’histoire politique et religieuse du Laos occidental,” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 25, nos. 1–2 (1925); and Inventaire des manuscripts Bibliothèque royal de Copenhagen: Catalogue des manuscripts en pali, laotien et siamois provenant de la Thailande (manuscripts collected between 1911 and 1935 by the Royal Library of Copenhagen in 1966 and part of the Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Xylographs, and so forth in the Danish Collections [vol. 2, pt. 2]). Together with Henri Parmentier, Coedès also compiled several “Listes générales des inscriptions et des monuments,” which make reference to loose connections 313 between inscriptions and manuscripts. See also Pierre-Bernard Lafont, “Inventaire des manuscrits des pagodes du Laos,” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 52, no. 2 (1965): 429–546; Raicheunangseu boran Lan Na ekasan maikrofilm khong Sathapan Wichai Mahawithyalai Chiang Mai 2521–2533 [1978–90] (Chiang Mai, Thailand: Social Research Institute, 1990); Banchi maikrofilm khwang Luang Phrabang lae ho phaphitaphan khwang Luang Phrabang lae Hongsamut haeng xat Lao (printed at the National Library of Laos in 1999 and updated periodically [the German Foreign Office, Chiang Mai University, and Chulalongkorn University also have copies of this catalog]). Catalogs for the Center for the Promotion of Art and Culture are produced and updated periodically for each of the seven Northern Thai provinces. They are available at the center and have not been published or distributed. For a relatively complete list of catalogs (in the “abbreviations and references” section) in which Central and Northern Thai manuscripts appear, see the first two volumes of the Materials for the Study of the Tripi•aka (vol. 1, P1li Literature Transmitted in Central Siam [Bangkok: Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation , 2002]; and vol. 2, P1li and Vernacular Literature Transmitted in Central and Northern Siam [Bangkok: Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation, 2004]), compiled, translated, and edited by Peter Skilling and Santi Pakdeekham. Skilling and Santi reproduce, with commentary and an introduction, a list of Pali texts that Prince Damrong believed were composed in Thailand. This list was included in the introduction to Prince Damrong’s edition of the SaãgEtyavaÅsa phongsawadan ruang sanggayana Phra Dhammawinai Somdet Phra Wanaratana Wat Phra Chetuphon nai Ratchakan thi 1 thang phasa Magadha (Bangkok: Hang hun suan camkatsivaphon, 2421 [1923]). I have found Antoine Cabaton’s Catalogue sommaire des manuscrits sanscrits et p1lis, 2e fascicule-manuscrits p1lis (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1908) particularly useful, especially for nissaya manuscripts. He produced several other smaller catalogs, including Catalogue sommaire des manuscrits indiends, indo-chinois et malayo-poly-nesians (Paris: E. Leroux, 1912); “Fonds indochinois de la Biblioth èque nationale,” in Un supplement manuscrit donne les notices des manuscrits Indochinois (Paris: E. Leroux, 1912); “Manuscrits laotiens,” in Un supplement manuscrit donne les notices des manuscrits Indochinois (Paris: E. Leroux, 1912); and “Manuscrits siamois,” in Un supplement manuscrit donne les notices des manuscrits Indochinois (Paris: E. Leroux, 1912). In January 2003, Monique 314 note on manuscripts Cohen at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (Division orientale) was working to update this catalog and was extremely helpful to me in my research in Paris. Klaus Wenk’s Laotische Handschriften (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1975) lists some interesting manuscripts held in Berlin. Other useful catalogs include Au Chieng, Catalogue du fonds khmer...