Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka Buddhavasse 2500 - Reviewed by Jana Igunma, The British Library, London

Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka Buddhavasse 2500. Bangkok:
The World Tipiṭaka Foundation, 2019
(40 volumes revised edition)

Reviewed by Jana Igunma, The British Library, London

the latest issue of the SEALG Newsletter has now been published online at http://www.sealg.org/pdf/newsletter2021.pdf , on pages 104-7.
 

Normally, only very recent and completed publications are considered for a book review. Not in this case: the foundations for this remarkable publication were laid about 130 years ago, when King Chulalongkorn Chulachomklao (Rama V) commissioned the world's first printed set of the Pāḷi Buddhist canon, Tipiṭaka. It is regarded as the authoritative corpus of Buddhist scriptures closest to the original words of the Buddha, consisting of three “baskets” (Pāḷi: piṭaka) of teachings: the Suttapiṭaka (Dhamma discourses of the Buddha), the Vinayapiṭaka (monastic discipline) and the Abhidhammapiṭaka (supramandane teachings). The first printed publication appeared in 1893 as the 39-volume Chulachomklao of Syām1 Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Edition after six years of transcribing the texts from old Khmer-script manuscripts into Syām-script orthographic writing, arranging them in a particular verse order and editing them under the leadership of the Thai Buddhist monk and scholar Prince Vajirañāna Varorasa. King Chulalongkorn Chulachomklao of Syām presented 1000 sets of this historic edition, done in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his reign, to Buddhist monasteries across Thailand, and an additional 260 sets as royal gifts to leading libraries and institutions all over the world.
 

Traditionally, Pāḷi texts were transmitted orally and Buddhist education in Southeast Asia did not follow an organised, systematic and grammatical curriculum. The training of monks focused on the ability to recite/chant, memorise, comprehend, explain and, at a higher level, read and copy Pāḷi texts from manuscripts, in addition to meditation and acquiring certain practical skills. First attempts to improve Pāḷi studies were made under King Narai (r.1656-1688), but it took until the 19th century for Pāḷi scholarship to take off when a system of written examinations was introduced and systematic Dhamma studies were added to the monastic curriculum. Although over time Pāḷi Buddhist scriptures had been transcribed into Sinhalese, Burmese, Khmer, Thai, Lao and other scripts of Southeast Asia, there was no agreed set of scriptures constituting a complete corpus of the Tipiṭaka. A set of Pāḷi scriptures found in a monastery library in central Thailand could differ significantly from a set found in Laos or Burma, and sometimes these included extra-canonical texts, like Paññāsa Jātaka for example. A Burmese version of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka was chiselled onto 729 large marble slabs at Kuthodaw Pagoda in Mandalay, completed in 1869, which may have inspired King Chulalongkorn Chulachomklao to find an option that allowed to disseminate the Pāḷi canon as widely as possible – and the printed format was ideal for this ambition. 

In 1956 – the 2500th year of the Buddhist Era – an international Buddhist Council held in Burma (present-day Myanmar) brought 2500 international erudite monks of the Theravada tradition together for the first time and resulted in the publication of the Chaṭṭhasaṅgīti Council Edition of Pāḷi Tipiṭaka in Burmese script which from that time on had been regarded as the most authoritative edition of the Pāḷi canon. Based on this edition, a new Roman-Script transliteration was created and edited on the initiative of the Supreme Patriarch of the Ecclesiastical Council of Thailand, The Most Venerable Vajirañānasaṁvara (In 2017 was graciously conferred upon by King Rama X as His Holiness the Late Prince Supreme Patriarch, Kromaluang Vajirañanasaṁvara), who himself had attended the International Tipiṭaka Council in Burma. He nominated more than 500 patron, advisor and steering committee members to proof-read, edit and Roman-script Transliteration of the Chaṭṭhasaṅgīti Council Pāḷi Tipiṭaka 1957 Edition. The work was finally published in 2002 by the    M. L. Manīratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund in Thailand, now The World Tipiṭaka Foundation, comprising of forty volumes with the title Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka Buddhavasse 2500 (The Great International Tipiṭaka Council Buddhist Era 2500). 

Subsequent improved editions appeared in 2005, 2009/10 and 2019 (in addition to several reprints), following a meticulous proof-reading process that focused on the verification of Pāḷi sounds and corrections of printing errors of the Chaṭṭhasaṅgīti in Burmese-script edition and its subsequent Roman-script edition online before 2000. The experts of the World Tipiṭaka Project recited the entire text four times to verify every Pāḷi sound. The proof-reading totalled to 2,708,706 words in Pāḷi or 20,606,104 letters in Roman script. Quality control was also achieved through a multi-disciplinary approach by specialists, including Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as lay scholars in various academic and professional areas from universities and institutions worldwide. An additional outcome of this process was an electronic database created by volunteers from Chulalongkorn University and members of the Dhamma Society who developed and completed the first Tipiṭaka eXtensible Markup Language or “Tipiṭaka XML”, an important contribution to the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Database and the Tipiṭaka Studies Reference Big Data. 

The 2019 edition is regarded as the most accurate version of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka in Roman-script edition, constituting a valuable authoritative page references of 12 major Pāḷi Tipiṭaka editions published before 1999 and work for the fields of Pāḷi and Buddhist studies as well as interdisciplinary research. Printed in high quality with sturdy hardcover bindings this set of 40 volumes was made to last for a long time under modern library storage conditions. Colour-coded spines allow the quick and easy retrieval of volumes from the three parts, or “baskets” (piṭaka): 5 volumes (vol. 1-5) containing the Vinayapiṭaka, 23 (vol. 6-27) volumes covering the Suttapiṭaka, and 12 volumes (vol. 28-40) for the Abhidhammapiṭaka. 

Most importantly, from a librarian’s point of view, is that the Pāḷi transliteration of the World Tipiṭaka follows strictly the Library of Congress Romanization standard which enables transliteration back into Southeast Asian vernacular scripts. It is also approved by the American Library Association and it is used in most anglophone academic libraries across the world. Consistency in the use of the Pāḷi transliteration standard is crucial not only for the retrieval of existing transliterations in many different scripts, but also for comparative and analytical research. Indeed, the standardised Romanisation following the Library of Congress system made it possible to publish further Pāḷi Tipiṭaka editions in the Tai-script orthography of the world, such as, Tai-Syām (present-day Thailand), Tai-Yuan (Northern Lanna  Thailand), Tai-Lōng (Shan State, Mynmar; Northern Thailand), Tai-Lanxang (Laos and Northeastern Thailand), Tai-Khün (Kentung, Shan State, Mynmar and Northern Thailand), Tai-Lü, (Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China; Thailand Laos, and Vietnam), Tai-Khamti, Tai-Āhom and Tai-Phake scripts (the last three in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Northeastern India). Additional benefits of the Roman-Transcription edition are that the Pāḷi texts are very well indexed and cross-referenced, so that text passages can easily be compared with older editions and other editions in Southeast Asian vernacular scripts. 

Following the publication of the revised Roman-script Tipiṭaka edition, the World Tipiṭaka Foundation continued to work on the Pāḷi transcription Project two further 40-volume sets of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka specifically with the aim to support the correct pronunciation and recitation of the Pāḷi texts. The importance of recitation – the original method of preserving the Pāḷi canon for hundreds of years – was highlighted in the process of proof-reading for the most recent revised and improved editions. The King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Sajjhāya Pāḷi Phonetic and the Queen Sirikit’s Sajjhāya Pāḷi Notation editions, both published in 2016 alongside the digital recitation audio, are the culmination of half a century of international efforts to preserve the original Pāḷi canon. The Pāḷi phonetic edition was compiled on the foundation of the Chulachomklao of Siam (presently transcribed as Syām) Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Edition from 1893, and it is particularly useful for readers of Thai who are not familiar with the Library of Congress Romanisation system. Rules of the Kaccāyana Pāḷi Grammar were referenced to each of the over nine million syllables of the entire Pāḷi Phonetic Tipiṭaka. Utilising the 1893 edition in Thai characters, the project has developed innovative methods to preserve the Pāḷi sound as it is believed to have been originally recited. In the Pāḷi notation edition, the use of international musical symbols was employed in order to assist with correct Pāḷi pronunciation rules, articulation such as aspirated and unaspirated sound as well as rhythmic emphasis, especially to clarify the duration of Lahu (quick syllable) and Garu (prolonged syllable). 

The use of innovative AI and sound technology made it possible to record the recitation of the Pāḷi texts in 40 volumes, amounting to 3,052 hours altogether. A special feature of the digital recitation is the sound technology reference, which electronically refers to any one of over nine million Pāḷi syllables in the Tipiṭaka to the Kaccāyana Pāḷi grammar, the oldest grammar and the most important linguistic reference used in ancient Pāḷi literature. For this purpose, a patented program (no. 46390) was created in 2016 to automatically compile the digital sound recording of specially trained recitators, based on the new Pāḷi notation using AI technology. This digital Pāḷi recitation has been named Sajjhāya Recitation and it will be available on a mobile device application so that it can easily be accessed for reference, research, learning and use in Buddhist ceremonies. Digital recitation samples are available online and regular updates regarding the dedicated ongoing work of the World Tipiṭaka Foundation can be found on the worldtipitaka channel.

https://www.scribd.com/document/569678258/Newsletter2021-BookReview-Only

Newsletter2021 BookReview Only by Dhamma Society

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