Final Report Summary - MGD ("The Commentary on Auspicious things". A Pali text from Northern Thailand) The aim of this project was to study a major work of the Buddhist literature of Southeast Asia, the Mangalatthadipani (Mg-d) of Sirimangala. Composed in Chiang Mai – in present-day northern Thailand – at the beginning of sixteenth century, the Mg-d takes the form of a commentary (vannana) on the Mangalasutta (Suttanipata, II, 4), a short canonical text which contains the response of the Buddha to a question posed by a certain god about what constitutes the “auspicious” (mangala). In answer the Buddha lists thirty-eight ways in which a person may be blessed with the “auspicious". This short sutta, well-known in Southeast Asia since the sixth century and part of every monk’s chanting repertoire even today, was taken by Sirimangala as the basis for telling illustrative stories and explaining points of Buddhist doctrine, drawing on canonical and post-canonical Buddhist works. Sirimangala’s exposition is a substantial work of about 30 folios in manuscript form and 1000 pages in modern printed Thai editions. The whole is divided into ten books and thirty-eight chapters, each explaining a single “auspicious thing”, such as “generosity towards monks”, “people to venerate”, “children’s duty”, etc. In short, it is a guide to being a “good” Buddhist, as relevant in a Buddhist society today as it was when it was first composed.Written in Pali (the canonical language of Theravada Buddhism) during the golden age of Buddhism in the region, Mg-d has been almost completely neglected by scholars, and yet it constitutes one of the most influential works among the Buddhists of present-day Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It is not only a key to understanding the religious system of this part of Southeast Asia, but also constitutes a tool for understanding the secular schemes of the present-day population in matters of ethics, psychology and social patterns. It also offers insight into the way Indian Buddhist values were adapted by the populations of Southeast Asia used to a very different social organization. The aim of this project was to make known this fundamental source through an interdisciplinary approach embracing philology, history and anthropology: 1. Through several fieldwork trips throughout Southeast Asia, together with research undertaken in European libraries and digital databases, the fellow was able to establish a the extent of the geographical spread of the Mg-d as a manuscript in mainland Southeast Asia (and to a lesser extent in Sri Lanka) since its composition in northern Thailand in 1524. The nature of this spread (language, script, variations, etc.) was also taken into consideration. A number of manuscripts (some accessible in a digitized form) from Thailand, Laos, Burma and Cambodia have been selected for a future critical edition. The fellow was able to locate and examine copies dating from the seventeenth to mid-twentieth centuries, both in Pali and with vernacular glosses, allowing consideration of the manner in which the text was transmitted throughout mainland Southeast Asia.2. A “working edition” of Mg-d has been produced in the form of a transliteration into roman script of the printed Thai script edition (1900). This working edition (about 400 pages) conforms to established scholarly standards for the romanization of Pali-Sanskrit. Actually in digital form (and so fully searchable), it stands as a baseline for any future properly critical edition which will require the systematic comparison of manuscripts and other editions (Khmer and Burmese); so far, selective use of the Khmer and Burmese printed editions and of some manuscripts have confirmed the overall structure of the text.3. The canonical and post-canonical references contained in the text, which are of a considerable number (every paragraph includes at least one quotation or reference to classical Pali literature), have been identified and indicated in footnotes. This was made possible by comparing passages from the working edition (see above) with existing digital editions of the Pali Canon (European and Burmese). From this it possible to know the state of knowledge of canonical Theravada Buddhism in sixteenth century northern Thailand. 4. Beside the philological aspect, research has been conducted towards an historical and anthropological perspective with the aim of understanding the religious and social context in which Sirimangala composed this monumental text. To do this a solid bibliography has been established, particularly of Thai language works, about Lanna (its history and religion) during the relevant period. Above all, vernacular sources (several manuscript colophons and modern biographies and studies written in Thai) have been collected which concern specifically Sirimangala, the author of the Mg-d. This kind of information is exceptional for Buddhist texts composed in Southeast Asia: in the main we know little or nothing about their authors; in this respect Sirimangala is a significant exception.The study of Mg-d and the establishment of a “working edition” have brought different kind of results. First, we know more about a text which was for centuries considered by monks from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos to contain the crucial and essential points for their knowledge of the Pali tradition. Besides, we may see which texts were available to Sirimangala in Chiang Mai in the sixteenth century and what Buddhists at that time saw as the most important aspects of Buddhist teaching, which points of doctrine they considered relevant and how they understood these. Furthermore, the study also embraces an anthropological dimension as Sirimangala’s text reveals many aspects of social organization, including kinship, royalty, ethics, gender, legislation, etc. Finally, the research showed that the text was even more widespread than expected at the time of the application. The Mg-d is not only well known in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, but was (and still is) a very famous text in Burma, where the Pali tradition is supposed to be much stronger than in other parts of the peninsula. Last but not least, the Mg-d has even reached the island of Ceylon (eighteenth century), the place were the Pali canonical corpus was established and written down about two thousands years ago.
