An Edition and Study of the Buddhānussati in the Pāli Caturārakkhā-aṭṭhakathā

Abstract

Buddhānussati (a recollection of the Buddha) is a meditation object which the Buddha appraised as superior to other such objects. Because of its importance, it was placed first in the four meditation objects (catukammaṭṭhāna) that were extensively used by novices, monks and lay people in South and Southeast Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. This paper examines the Buddhānussati in a non Pāli canonical  text entitled “Caturārakkhā-aṭṭhakathā” (commentary on the four protective meditations). Although a great many palm leaf manuscripts of this text are preserved in the National Library and monasteries in Thailand, no printed edition is available for readers. Accordingly, before details of the text could be studied, it was necessary to produce an edition of the Buddhānussati. The edition was based on five Khom palm leaf manuscripts preserved in the Thai National Library. The text was then analysed in relation to the characteristics of the Caturārakkhā-aṭṭhakathā palm leaf manuscripts, author and date of composition, place of composition and transmission, and content. The analysis showed that the author of the Caturārakkhā-aṭṭhakathā was very knowledgeable about the Dhamma contained in the Tipiṭaka and Pāli Aṭṭhakathā. He clearly explained that the Buddhānussati is a recollection of the qualities of two bodies of the Buddha: Rūpakāya and Dhammakāya, which are supernormal and beyond reflection. In particular, the qualities of his Dhammakāya are immeasurable and endless. Those qualities are literal, as is commonly found in the Pāli Aṭṭhakathā that were composed in the 4^th-5^th centuries A.D.