The Comparative Study of the Palm-leaf Manuscripts of the Pāli Canon for the Analysis of Variant Readings A Case Study from the Subhasutta of the Dīghanikāya

Abstract

    The present paper is intended to clarify a general background regarding an editorial approach of four editions of the Pāli canon which are deemed authoritative references, namely the Thai Syāmaraṭṭha edition, the Burmese Chaṭṭhasaṅgīti edition, the Sinhalese Buddhajayanti edition, and the European Pali Text Society edition. It is also to show a result of a comparative study of palm-leaf manuscripts of the Pāli canon from five traditions, namely Sinhalese, Burmese, Mon, Khom and Tham script traditions, in order to help to determine problems of variant readings found in the Pāli canon. The Subhasutta of the Dīghanikāya will be raised as a case study of this academic attempt of editing the Pāli canon.

     When comparing text from the aforementioned four printed editions, it will reveal inconsistencies will be revealed among the editions, in other words, an occurrence of variant readings. Thus an inevitable question is to be asked: the text of which edition is more original? The academic means used to pursue this answer is the textual criticism, which is a process involving first collecting the oldest extant manuscripts of all traditions, then collating text of each acquired manuscripts, studying and researching relevant evidence such as commentaries, sub-commentaries etc., and finally determining a proper reading as closest to the original text as possible.

     The study results show the remarkable accuracy of the textual transmission of the Pāli canon. In the Subhasutta, only six percent of the text have variant readings and none of them make significant changes to a meaning of the text. Moreover, those variants also provide interesting reflections on the development of Pāli language, the nature of the Pāli canon’s transmission, and history of Buddhism in Southeast Asia.