THE THERAVADA TRADITION
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Burmese "Kammavaca" (Confession
for Buddhist Monks). At every new and full moon, Buddhist
monks confess their sins to each other. In Burma, it is
a work of piety and "merit making" for the laity to commission
and present to the Sangha (monastic order) manuscripts
of the texts for this ritual. For greater merit, these
manuscripts are often in rich materials with beautiful
calligraphy and elaborate ornamentation. This example has
wooden covers; is lacquered, gilded, and embossed; and
is studded with cut glass to imitate rubies, emeralds,
and diamonds. The text is on thin sheets of ivory and is
lacquered with the text in the ornamental "tamarind seed" script
and with figures of deities in red lacquer. The long, narrow
form of the book is a carryover from palm leaves, the usual
material for books. (Burmese Pali Manuscript Collection,
Asian Division)
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Although Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia are each unique
states with their own histories, they share important classical
traditions. Their writing systems use alphabets derived from
the early Indian script known as Brahmi, and their predominant
religion has been Theravada Buddhism since the gradual decline
of other Indian-derived religions by the thirteenth century.
Theravada Buddhism's basic text is called the Tipitaka (Three
Baskets), which is composed of discourses ("Sutta"), rules for
monastic life ("Vinaya"), and elaborations on the Buddha's teachings
("Abhidhamma"). This canon was carried orally until written down
in the Pali language in Ceylon in the first century ad and is
considered by its followers to be the most authentic record and
teaching of the Buddha. (Theravada means "the way of the elders.")
The Asian Division's collection contains many palm leaf manuscript
texts of the Tipitaka and of the extensive commentaries
written about it. In 1905, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), the well-known
Thai reformer, presented the Library with the first printed Thai
version of the Tipitaka. A Burmese Tipitaka,
written in Pali using Burmese script, was presented to the Library
in 1949 as part of a large Burmese donation. The Library holds
an especially fine collection of Burmese Theravada palm leaf
manuscripts in Pali.
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Thailand's King Chulalongkorn (Rama
V) 1868-1910. Instituting major reforms in Thailand's government
and society during his long reign, King Chulalongkorn brought
his nation into the twentieth century while preserving
Thai independence in the face of Western colonial pressure.
Chulalongkorn's interest in modernization did not, however,
prevent him from playing the traditional role of Thai monarchs
as "protector of the Buddhist faith." In 1905, he presented
the Library of Congress with a handsome set of the Buddhist
Theravada canon, the Tipitika, in modern Thai
script. This photo of Chulalongkorn is found at the beginning
of each volume. (Southest Asian Collection, Asian Division)
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Theravada Buddhism shaped the early historiography of Burma,
Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. The earlier Thai historical tradition
that began well before the fifteenth century is called "tamnan" history
and places Thai history in the broader context of the history
of Buddhism. Scholars are still debating the value of tamnan
writings as historical sources, but a good selection of tamnan
texts can be found on microfiche in the Asian Division's holdings.
Historical writings in the Chinese style of dynastic histories
are a later development in Thailand, dating from the seventeenth
century. This chronicle tradition, or "phongsawadan" history,
is also represented in the Asian Division's collection in the
form of modern microfiche copies of the original documents in
Thailand. An important Burmese history, the Hmannan" maha'
ya'zawin taw kyi" (The Glass Palace Chronicle), written
by a group of scholars appointed by King Bagyidaw in 1829, was
part of a 1949 Burmese donation that included a number of other
important works of Burmese language and literature.
The Library holds some unique American material that provides
a glimpse of nineteenth-century Thailand. The first treaty between
the United States and an Asian state was negotiated by Edmund
Roberts with the Thai government in 1833. Roberts's journal and
personal papers are in the Manuscript Division, as are the papers,
dating from 1894 to 1898, of U.S. Minister to Thailand John Barrett.
Barrett's large collection of photos of Thailand from the 1890s
is held separately in the Prints and Photographs Division. The
Library's holdings of the English language newspaper Bangkok
Recorder, started by the American Dan Beach ("Mo") Bradley
in 1865, are of special interest to historians of nineteenth-century
Thailand. The Asian Division holds a small but rare collection
of early Southeast Asian works printed by American missionaries
in Thailand. The Library also has a major Buddhist periodical, Thammaçhaksu (The
Eye of the Law), on film from 1898 onward and in print from 1935
to 1965.
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"Nong Rak Chaophi 'Oei." This
manuscript from Thailand, probably ineteenth century, consists
of one long strip of thick paper folded accordion style.
It contains mantras (spells) in Pali, the sacred language
of the Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia, and in Khmer
script from Cambodia, as well as instructions in Thai on
how to use them. The illustrations are yantras, magical
diagrams. They include ultrastylized sitting Buddhas, magic
squares (numerical diagrams with a constant sum in every
direction), mystic syllables, and a mythological bird.
This sort of thing is very popular in Thailand today, and
the Library has a number of contemporary books on the subject. (Southeast
Asian Collection, Asian Division)
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European relations with Thailand, of course, predate American
contacts, and the Library holds several rare European accounts.
Among the earliest is the French diplomat Marquis Alexandré de
Chaumont's account of his 1685 mission to Ayutthaya, then the
capital of Thailand. Accompanied by a large delegation of Jesuits,
Chaumont aimed to convert King Narai to Christianity, a mission
doomed to failure. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division
has a copy of Chaumont's book, Relation de l'ambassade de
Mr le chevalier de Chaumont à la Cour du Roy de Siam,
published in Paris in 1686. It also has several editions of Guy
Tachard's book, Voyage de Siam, des pères jésuites,
envoyés par le roy aux Indes & à la Chine,
also first published in 1686. Father Tachard, one of the Jesuits
in Chaumont's mission, later returned to continue French intrigues
at the court of Ayutthaya.
Thailand has maintained a vibrant classical music tradition,
actively supported by the current monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej
(Rama IX). The Music Division holds a beautiful collection of
Thai court musical instruments that were presented to the Library
in 1960 by King Bhumibol.
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Three Karen Christian Tracts. The Karen
are a minority people in the hilly parts of southeast Burma.
They were largely converted to Christianity by American
Baptist missionaries in the last century. The Baptists
were very influential in many parts of Burma, and their
American mission presses were important in the development
of typography in the local languages. Unlike some of the
minority peoples, the Karen had no writing system before
their evangelization, and the missionaries devised a system
that was based on Burmese and is still in use. The Karen
took to publishing with zeal, starting a newspaper as early
as 1841. The Library's large collection of Karen materials
from the nineteenth century up to the present was acquired
at various times and through various routes. These three
pamphlets illustrate typical themes: the development of
indigenous church institutions, struggles with the earlier
religion, and issues of social reform. (Southeast Asian
Collection, Asian Division)
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