The Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University and the project of Empowering Network for International Thai Studies (ENITS) would like to express a deep appreciation to the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) and Chulalongkorn University for the generous financial support that makes this conference possible.

The Conference is co-hosted by the Institute of Asian Studies, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, the Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University, and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO). All these academic networks enhance the ideal success of this auspicious conference.

The Chula Global Network  kindly bestows support for the exhibition of recent research works on Buddhist narrative by Thai scholars.

We would like also to thank all the distinguished speakers who contribute to the conference. Nagoya University, Japan and Dongguk University, Korea have been most helpful in securing wonderful speakers for the conference.

The Kasikorn Bank and the Government Saving Bank Foundation have been most generous in supporting us for the future publication of the book ‘Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond’ after the completion of the conference.

In the spirit of Buddhist tradition, may the merits of the collective endeavour in exploring Buddhist narrative on this auspicious occasion of the 55th birth anniversary of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn be a foundation stone for the path of enlightenment for all sentient beings.

Suchitra Chongstitvatana

Director, Institute of Thai Studies,

Chulalongkorn University

07:30-09:00

Registration

OPENING CEREMONY
     Room: Queen’s Park 1

09:00-09:30    

A Briefing to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
     President, Chulalongkorn University

Opening Address
     HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

PLENARY SESSION 1
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Peter Skilling

09:30-10:00    

Narrative of the Seven in the Buddha’s Biography
     Prapod Assavavirulhakarn
     – Chulalongkorn University

10:00-10:45

Break

PLENARY SESSION 2
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Hwang Soonil 

10:45-11:45    

Buddhist and Jain Narratives of Early Times: How do They Relate?
     Nalini Balbir
     – University of Paris-3

Buddhist Mythology and Japanese Medieval Mythology: Some Theoretical Issues
     Nobumi Iyanaga
     – Tokyo Centre of the École française d'Extrême Orient

11:45-13:30

Lunch

NARRATIVES & IDEOLOGY
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Justin McDaniel

13:30-14:45

Narratives of Travel and Ship-wreck
     Himanshu Prabha Ray
     – Jawaharlal Nehru University

Buddhist Influence in Mongolian Epic Tradition Geser
     Chao Gejin
     – Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Continuity or Chaos?: Karma and Rebirth in early Buddhist and Jain Narrative
     Naomi Appleton
     – Cardiff University

14:45-15:15

Break

NARRATIVES OF GIVING & SACRIFICE
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Toshiya Unebe

15:15-16:30

Dāna of one’s own body and the dāna perfection (pāramitā)
     Hwang Soonil
     – Dongguk University

Narrative and Gift-Giving in Thai Ānisaṃsa Texts
     Arthid Sheravanichkul
     – Chulalongkorn University

The Evolution of the Story of Sadāprarudita in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra
     Bhikṣu Chang Tzu 
     – University of Sydney
 

NARRATIVE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (1)
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Sunait Chutintaranond

09:00-10:15

The ‘Journeys to Jetavana’: Poetic and Idéologic Elaborations of the Remembrance of Jetavana in Southeast Asia, and Namely in Cambodia
     Olivier de Bernon
     – EFEO

Narratives as Ritual Histories: The Case of the Northern-Thai Buddhist Chronicles
     François Lagirarde
     – EFEO

Life and Biography of King Alaungmintaya of Burma (1752-60): Religious Dimensions of a Political Metamorphosis
     Jacques Leider
     – EFEO

10:15-10:35

Break

NARRATIVE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (2)
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Himanshu Prabha Ray

10:35-12:15

Tamnan Phrachao Liap Loke (The Legend of the Lord Buddha's Travelling around the World): Lan Na Monastic Wisdom
     Prakong Nimmannahaeminda
     – The Royal Institute, Thailand

Buddhist Narrative in Vietnamese History and Literature
     Most Ven. Le Manh That
     – Vietnam Buddhist University

Some notes on Thai exegesis of Vessantarajātaka
     Claudio Cicuzza
     – Mahidol University

A Forest of Images, a Forest of Stories: Overlapping Narratives and Intertwined Ideologies at one Monastery in Bangkok
     Justin McDaniel
     – University of Pennsylvania

12:15-13:15

Lunch

NARRATIVE & REPRESENTATION (1)
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Prakong Nimmannahaeminda

13:15-15:00

Two Popular Buddhist Images in Thailand
     Toshiya Unebe
     – Nagoya University

Iconographic Development of the Miracle of Śrāvastī at the Ajaṇṭā Caves
     Yasuko Fukuyama
     – Chubu University

In Search of Maitreya: Early Images of Dvaravati Buddha at Si Thep
     M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravati
     – California State University

Pala Prajnaparamita Palm-leaf Manuscript Painting: Defining the Narrative
     John Guy 
     – Metropolitan Museum of Art

15:00-15:20

Break

NARRATIVE & REPRESENTATION (2)
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Suppakorn Disatapundhu

15:20-17:00

Representation of Buddha’s Parinirvāņa at Kizil Caves, Kucha
     Chongfeng Li
     – Peking University

Formation of Andhran Buddhist Narrative: A Preliminary Survey
     Akira Shimada
     – State University of New York at New Paltz

Māndhātar, the Universal Monarch, and the Meaning of the Cakravartin Topos in Early Buddhism
     Monika Zin
     – der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet

NARRATIVE & TEXTUAL STUDY
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: Naomi Appleton

09:00-09:50

A Study on the Narrative of the Buddha's Eating of Horse Fodder Barley in the Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya
     Ven. Chongdok Park
     – Joong-ang Sangha University

Once upon in Ratnaśikhin Buddha’s Lifetime: The Legends of Ratnaśikhin Buddha in India and Beyond
     Chanwit Tudkeao
     – University of Munich

09:50-10:10

Break

NARRATIVE & IMAGINATION
     Room: Queen’s Park 1
     Chair: M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravati

10:10-11:00

Jataka Narratives in Preaching, Popular Imagination and Buddhist Practice in Modern Sri Lanka
     Ven. Mahinda Deegalle
     – Bath Spa University

The Māndhātṛ Story in the Test Tube: Another Attempt at Scientific Analysis
     Achim Bayer
     – Dongguk University

11:00-12:30

Lunch

Prapod Assavavirulhakarn

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

This study will explore the significance of number seven in the biography of the Buddha. The focus will be on the period of seven weeks after his Enlightenment as discussed in texts of different schools of Buddhism.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Nalini Balbir

University of Paris-3, Sorbonne-Nouvelle and l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris

Jainism, a trend of thought born in Magadha and evidenced from at least the 5th cent. BCE, shares a lot of common features with early Buddhism. Among them is the use of narratives as a vehicle for teaching in all types of circumstances and contexts which is a full fledged identified component in the discourse of their teachers Buddha and Mahāvīra.

The Jain story tellers, whose works are available in written form from the 5th cent. CE onwards, in commentaries on the scriptures, as independent narratives or as narratives embedded in larger epics or novels, draw upon a large variety of sources. Thus, very often, the contents of the stories have nothing “Jain” in themselves and also appear in “Buddhist” or “Hindu” environments. We therefore feel authorized to comparative studies where both the common motives and the elements of contextualisation and performance can be investigated.

The present paper will try to survey the genres of Buddhist and Jain narratives as evidenced in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Pāli sources, and to investigate the questions raised by their comparison with the help of as many examples as possible. In particular, we will focus on parables and exempla, on animal fables. We will also examine Jain attitudes toward the epic material (Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and Purāṇas) which was part of their cultural environment but which was not readily accepted by them as an unquestionable package. It led some of their leading teachers both to satirical compositions and conscious retellings. Their main motivation was to desecrate legends which appeared to them to be fanciful and irrational and to make their audience think in other ways. 

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Nobumi Iyanaga

Tokyo Centre of the École française d’Extrême Orient, Tokyo, Japan

The latter half of the last century saw important progress in mythological studies thanks to the works of such scholars as Lévi-Strauss and Georges Dumézil. In the field of Buddhism, however, the conscious study of mythology was rare, although the late Prof. R. A. Stein, the great historian of religion in Tibet and in China, wrote some very illuminating articles on the subject. I tried to follow his methodology, in applying it to the narratives of certain prominent Buddhist deities, such as Avalokiteśvara and Mahākāla. In the process, I encountered some theoretical problems, that I would like to present in this paper. On the other hand, a cycle of traditions that circulated in medieval Japan is now commonly called “Japanese medieval mythology.” It was created in active interaction between Buddhist ideas and indigenous traditions. I will try to explain how this mythology could be created with some examples of its narratives.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Himanshu Prabha Ray

Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

This paper is based on sculptural representations of sailing and ship-wreck found at early Buddhist sites in South and Southeast Asia. It contextualises these depictions within the framework of the monument on the one hand, and the location and audience of religious architecture, on the other. Thus it attempts to locate the visual imagery within the larger domain of seafaring and maritime contacts in the Indian Ocean.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Chao Gejin

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China

This paper gives a general background of Buddhism among Mongolian people and the Mongolian epic tradition. Via the following facets we could see how Buddhism influenced over Mongolian epic narrative: first, notion of world view (story structure, time and space, view point of the epic world), second, epic images connected with Buddhism (in both narration and painting), and third, epic functions (disseminate the power of Buddha, etc.).

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Naomi Appleton

Centre for the History of Religion in Asia, Cardiff University, Wales, UK

Buddhism and Jainism share the concepts of karma, rebirth, and the possibility (and desirability) of escape from rebirth, though each has a different interpretation of these. Within the literature of both traditions we find many stories about remembered past births and predicted future births, which have much to reveal about Buddhist and Jain attitudes towards the mechanisms of rebirth and the pursuit of long-term (multi-life) religious goals.

In this paper I will explore the representations of karma and rebirth in early Buddhist and Jain stories, focusing in particular upon the notion of change between births. Firstly I will look at what the two traditions say about the likelihood of a change in species between births, and what the karmic causes for such a change might be. Secondly I will examine the motif of gender change in Buddhist and Jain narratives of rebirth, and what this contributes to wider ideas about the spiritual capabilities of women. Thirdly I will ask what the narratives say about the possibility of progress towards the ultimate goals (buddhahood and jinahood).

By investigating these three themes in early Buddhist and Jain narratives, I will highlight the broad differences between the ways in which rebirth stories are used in each tradition. It will become clear that whereas Buddhist narratives tend to promote the ideas of karmic stability and steady progress, Jain rebirth stories emphasise the inevitability of karmic chaos that makes complete inaction the only possible escape.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Hwang Soonil

Department of Indian Philosophy, Dongguk University, Korea

In the Vessantara Jātaka, the main motive for Vessantara’s act of giving (dāna) even his children and wife is described as his deep consideration that he would like to give things internal to him (ajjhattikadāna), such as his heart and eye. When he was ready to give away his own life, giving things external to him (bāhiradāna), such as property, could not be a serious matter. Although it could evoke a serious ethical problem of whether children and wife can be regarded as one’s own property, it seems to be how the Pali version of the Vessantara Jātaka justifies his extreme act of giving.

Within the Chinese version of the same story, the Prince Sudāna sūtra, the aspiration of his generosity is expressed as practicing the perfection of giving (dāna pāramitā, 檀波羅蜜), the first of the six perfections (pāramitā) on the way to achieve bodhisattva-hood within the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition. According to the theory of six perfections, the perfection of giving (dāna pāramitā) consists of three acts: giving material goods (āmiṣa), such as food and shelter, giving right teaching (dharma), such as the words of the Buddha, and giving fearlessness (abhaya), that is to say, protecting other living beings from fear or danger.

It is clear that this shift of motive in the Chinese version occurs due to the influence of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. However, the perfection of giving could not possibly be enough to justify the extreme act of giving one’s own children and wife. This paper will look at various versions of the Vessantara Jātaka and try to show how the motive of his generosity shifted and in what way his extreme act of giving could be defended. 

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Arthid Sheravanichkul

Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Ānisaṃsa or Anisong is a huge corpus of texts asserting the benefit of meritorious acts widespread in the northern, northeastern, and central parts of Thailand. The majority of these Ānisaṃsa is about the benefit of gift-giving (dāna), which apparently reflects the importance of gift-giving in Thai culture and Thai traditions. In the Ānisaṃsa texts, telling narratives is a significant technique used to illustrate the benefits of gifts. This paper aims to explore the sources and the plotlines of these narratives; how they function in the Ānisaṃsa texts; and how they relate to jātakas in the Paññāsa Jātaka and convey the teachings of dāna in both worldly and otherworldly levels.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Bhikṣu Chang Tzu 

Doctoral Candidate, Department of Indian Sub-Continental Studies, University of Sydney

In the prajñāpāramitā sūtras of 8,000, 18,000, 25,000 and 100,000 lines, and their respective translations in Chinese and Tibetan, there is one particular story about Sadāprarudita's search for prajñāpāramitā (perfection of wisdom). This story teaches bodhisattvas to learn from his diligent spirit. In this story the doctrine of prajñāpāramitā, which is said to be vast and deep, is taught through many interesting and impressive episodes. There are two main different versions of the story in those sūtras. I will refer to these as version I and version II in this paper. Version I is found only in two Chinese translations of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā sūtra (Aṣṭa), while version II is found in the Sanskrit Aṣṭa and its Chinese translations except the previous two. Version II is also found in the Chinese translations of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā sūtra and the Śatasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā sūtra. In addition to these two versions, the story of Sadāprarudita also exists in a jātaka version recorded in the Liùdùjíjīng 六度集經 (Sūtra on the Collection of Six Pāramitās). There is evidence to indicate that the Sadāprarudita jātaka has a close relationship with version I of the story. The focus of this paper is on the relationship of the three versions, in particular, the evolution of the story of Sadāprarudita.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Olivier de Bernon

EFEO, Paris, France

Jetavana monastery is presented, in the Commentaries, as having been Lord Buddhas’abode during nineteen rainy seasons. Situated near the city of Sâvatthi, this place was offered to the Master by one of his wealthy disciples, Anâthapindika, after this one had paid this piece of land with covering its whole surface with gold coins. One knows that if Jetavana monastery did remain active up to the XIIth century, its previous splendor, probably largly allegorical, had faded away even since the VIIth century, at the time of the cinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsiang visit.

All traces of the Jetavana arama had diapeard for centuries before it was located again thanks to General Alexander Cunnigham excavations in 1863, and before the archeological excavation conducted by the Duch Jean Philippe Vogel could reveal its previous extension and organisation.

Even so, during the many centuries which had followed the decline and the diapearance of the refuge of the Buddha, when it had vanished from all local memories, its souvenir remaind vivid in all Southeast Asia. On the one hand, the name Jetavana has been given to many large religious institutions, either in Ceylon, in Siam or in Cambodia, in such a way that the confusion occurred when a traveller, the japanese pilgrim Shimano Kenryõ, thought that he was actually at Buddha’s Jetuvana, when he visited Angkor Vat in Cambodia, during the XVIIth century. One the other hand, Jetavana became a technical term to designate some items in buddhist architecture.

Moreover, the theme of the « Journey to Jetuvana » inspired some litterary works, during the XVIIIth and the XIXth centuries, in Siam and in Cambodia, without making always possible to separate what amounted to the poetic or symbolic dimension of these works, and what amounted to the self dellusion of their author who thought they had reach the actual Jetuvana.

The presentation and the traduction of a rare khmer manuscript, ‘The history of Jetuvana’ (r‚ön brah jettabun) will illustrate these questions.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

François Lagirarde

EFEO, Bangkok, Thailand

Even if the corpus of Northern Thai “chronicles” or tamnan has not yet been fully documented or catalogued, it is safe to state that most tamnan tell and retell, reformulate, reframe and recycle, Buddhist narratives with different degrees of fact and fiction. Traditional chronicles, as a relatively “free” or open genre, have actively exploited ancient formulas, templates and recipes from mainstream and regional Buddhist literature together with Thai/Tai folklore to bring new and multiple meanings into evolving historical situations. This is especially true for what are called the tham tamnan and puttha tamnan, but it also holds, at least in some aspects, to the phuen or tamnan mueang. The first type was especially constructed in the form of (not so) simple stories for a Northern-Thai speaking lay audience; because the tamnan were also delivered and transmitted orally, they were more subject to evolution and transformation. The tamnan, when presenting series of plots or mythos designed in a narrative structure, usually seek to convey a clear moral teaching. 

This paper will firstly provide examples of different ways of using narrative structures, or themes, from a vast selection of tamnan (most of them recently digitalized by the EFEO-Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre project in various monasteries of the Northern provinces and still unpublished).

In the second part of the paper we will discuss the actual function of the tamnan. Should tamnan be seen as an effective way of constructing history and cultural references at specific times and places? Did tamnan also function as models or guidelines for individual and community practise, adapting and localizing Buddhist principles at the temple and village level, but at the same time regionally and even trans-regionally? Could tamnan fulfill its role as a ritual act in itself – writing, reading, and listening – sustaining a continual Buddhist education of the society? If these functions eventually became obsolete, along with the tamnan as a living genre, is it possible to determine when and why this happened?

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Jacques P. Leider

EFEO, Chiang Mai, Thailand

In 1752, a Burmese headman revolted against Mon rulership in Central Burma. Bearing the title Alaungmintaya (“future dhammaraja”), he became the lord of a reunified Burmese kingdom only five years later. Undoubtedly a great king, Alaungmintaya took very soon his place among the heroic figures of the country as the founder of the last Burmese dynasty. While the representation of Alaungmintaya’s life by the chroniclers prominently displays his tremendous political and military career, the narrative is inseparable from a framework of concepts and beliefs that give substance and meaning to the Burmese understanding of Buddhist kingship. Considering both the life of the king and its narrativization, the paper will identify a religious subnarrative of actions and images that informed, supported, legitimized and localized the king’s political metamorphosis from an ordinary human condition to a cosmologically significant status.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Prakong Nimmannahaeminda

The Royal Institute, Thailand

Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke is a folk Buddhist literature written in Lan Na, telling the legends of some pagodas, foot prints, place names and the end of Buddhism’s within 5,000 years. It was written as records of Buddha’s travels among Buddhist societies in mainland Southeast Asia: Lan Na, Ayudhya, Lop Buri, Shan State in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and some part of Yunnan Province in the People’s Republic of China. The Buddha had given some of his hair and left impressions of his footprints in some places, which had became sacred places to set up pagodas and footprints after he had reached Nirvana. The author of Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke adapted some parts of the stories of the Buddha’s life to suit the existing local tales and legends.  He also interspersed the geographical description of the localities and the lively depiction of the lifestyles of Tais and people of other ethnic groups in various localities, making this literary work a unique travel record that entertains the readers as well as impressing them with the Buddha’s compassion. Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke has played an important role in making the sites of Buddhist places of worship sacred and encouraging local people to be good, help foster Buddhism and maintain Buddhist places of worship and the environment in good conditions. Moreover, it has helped to strengthen the relationship among people of different ethnic groups who adhere to Buddhism, both in the same and different localities.    Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke is very popular in Lan Na and the northeast of Thailand, as well as  in Shan State, the Union of Myanmar; Sip Song Pan Na Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China; and the Lao People Democratic Republic. Though the idea about the Buddha’s travelling to these parts of the world originates from Sri Lankan literature, Tamnan Phra Chao Liap Loke reflects the wisdom of Lan Na monks who have changed the settings and added details concerning the people who live in various localities in this area, making the legend a local Buddhist literature and a common treasure of Buddhists in this region. 

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Most Ven. Le Manh That

Vietnam Buddhist University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Buddhism was introduced into Vietnam quite early in the history, at least if we base our research on materials of Vietnamese side. It is during the last Dynasty of the independent King Hùng period that Vietnamese embraced Buddhism and in our studies, we show that a number of Buddhist texts belong to the Jataka collection of the Buddhist Canon have been translated into Vietnamese and modified in accordance with Vietnamese cultural tradition. Here, we wish to refer to the Story of Hundred Eggs of the Sutra of the Collection of Six Paramita. In the Sanskrit version and Chinese and Tibetan translations, we all have one hundred flesh pieces (or meat ball), but in Vietnamese, we have one hundred eggs. This is an indication of some modification of the original text to the Vietnamese taste because the Vietnamese consider their people were born from a hundred eggs. Through this kind of modification, Buddhism was absorbed and become the main stream of Vietnamese culture. Buddhist narrative has better opportunities to penetrate into Vietnamese literature. Now in Vietnam, the first literary work still extend in Vietnamese language is a Buddhist long-poem i.e. Cư trần lạc đạo phú (Living in the world but loving the way) by Emperor, at the same time Zen Master Trần Nhân Tông (1258-1308). And the first translated work in Vietnamese language is also a Buddhist sutra on filial feity, whose first wood-blocked printing is about the year 1442. in 17th century, Zen Master Chan Nguyen (1646-1726) put the Prince Sudana story into verses. So Buddhist narrative has a very strong influence on Vietnamese culture and literature.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Claudio Cicuzza

International Ph.D. Program in Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

The literary genre of the Jātaka is based on the faith in the perennial cycle of existence (saṃsara) and in the inescapable consequences of actions (karman). In India, such faith imbues life itself and provides a ground for the philosophical and religious ideas of most of the Hindū, Jaina and Buddhist schools. All voluntary good actions or evil deeds entail compensation or retribution respectively. The effects of actions do not need to have their fruition in the present life but also may cause and influence subsequent existences of those who made them.

The worldly existence of the Buddha was regarded as the last of an endless series of more and more advanced births that lead him to the realization of the universal laws governing the existence of living beings, and to his complete extinction of transmigration. After the disappearance of the historical Buddha, the literary genre of the Jātakas (stories of [former] births) was invented. The Jātakas, which actually derive from the ancient Indian lore of fables and tales, describe the moral virtues of the Bodhisatta, the future Buddha, in his many former lives and point, thus, to the ideal spiritual path to awakening.

The Pāli redaction of the Jātakas in verse and prose called Jātakaṭṭhavaṇṇanā represents the current canonical texts of the Jātakas, contained in the “Group of small texts” (Khuddhakanikāya).

The Vessantarajātaka – the story of the birth [of the Bodhisatta] as Prince Vessantara, the perfect model of generosity who is traditionally considered as the last worldly appearance of the Bodhisatta before his final birth as the Buddha – closes the collection. It is for this reason, too, that the Vessantarajātaka has been considered one of the most important jātaka of the whole collection. The translations of the Vessantarajātaka in the literary languages of Asia often display a lofty style and a good balance between verse and prose.

In my paper I will offer some notes about the Thai commentarial tradition on Vessantarajātaka. Besides the Vessantarajātakaṭīkā and the Vessantaradīpanī, a special emphasis will be given to Vessantaravivaraṇā, an anonymous Pāli commentary that was composed in North of the present-day Thailand around the 16th century. It is preserved in a single manuscript and is still unpublished.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Justin McDaniel

Department of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA

At a single monastery it is possible to hear multiple stories. The stories you hear often depend on which image you find yourself near. In Wat Mahabut in Bangkok there are hundreds of images of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, ghosts, spirits, monks, and even babies. Almost every image has its own story and these stories are presented and represented on a daily basis by those you honor the images. Historians can trace some stories, but others are connected to individual visitors and can only be heard in fleeting encounters. This paper seeks to tell some of these stories and offer some new ways of thinking about the relationship between Buddhist images and the narratives that are associated with them in Thailand.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Toshiya Unebe

Department of Indian Studies, Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University, Japan

Narratives and their visual representations are most basic tools for spreading Buddhist teaching. In this paper, two images well-known in Thai Buddhist context are examined: Sakka playing three string lute to Boddhisatta and Sinners climbing Sword-leaves tree in Hell. In spite of their broad popularity in Thailand, the direct source for them does not seem to be found in Pali Tipitaka literature. 

The former is a scene from the life of the Buddha and it is usually included in temple murals. Sakka demonstrates the middle way with the three string lute for reclining Boddhisatta exhausted with his austerities. The scene is not known to Japanese Buddhists since the episode has not been found in any Buddhist scriptures in Northern recension. Although simile of lute for teaching middle way is well-known in different context, the episode of Sakka is not known to Japanese. It is based on the Pathamasambodhi, a biography of the Buddha known only in Southeast Asia.

The latter is usually depicted in Samut Khoi manuscript of the Phra Malai, a popular telling of a monk who can traverse heaven and hell. It is told in many versions and many languages including Pali and Thai. The Pali version refers to hell very briefly and it seems that no Pali description of Sword-leaves tree Hell directly corresponds to the image. However, almost the same scene has been depicted in Japanese Buddhist paintings of Hell since about 11th century and for this image we can find the exact source in the Chinese Agama.

Although we cannot tell exact relation between Thai and Japanese representations, through the examination we see how freely narratives and imaginations spread over Asia.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Yasuko Fukuyama

Inter-departmental section, Chubu University, Aichi, Japan

This paper discusses the subject of the Miracle of Śrāvastī as depicted at the Ajaṇṭā caves in Western India. There are a number of clear iconographic developments in the paintings and the reliefs of Ajaṇṭā, which can provide evidence for the works involved.

The Miracle of Śrāvastī episode is a well-known story that Śākyamuni performed the Great miracles to confound heretics and disbelievers and make them in despair. One of facets of this episode seen at Ajaṇṭā is the Buddha’s multiplication of himself, namely, numerous Buddha figures, brought forth by the Śakyamuni Buddha, in various poses and on lotus pedestals rose up in tiers until they reached the heavens. Examples of the multiplication miracle at Ajaṇṭā are endowed with a large variety of iconographic features as they were executed through the entire term of the later phase; The earliest one as seen in Cave 17 are dated back from 470s which executed at the early stage of the later phase and some are found in the hundreds of the intrusive paintings and sculptures donated by minors, mostly monks and devotees on and in the caves which had already been dedicated by the earlier noble patrons after the decline of the excavation activity at Ajaṇṭā, which were executed in the very last phase. Therefore, given the rich array of examples, developments in the iconography can be effectively charted. Further, among the examples are some closely related to the structural composition of the cave, thus being useful and important in the consideration of the development process of the Ajaṇṭā caves. In addition to the examples that clearly represent the Miracle of Śrāvastī, this paper also considers those examples that have some iconographic elements of the subject. Analysis of these elements shows that they can be categorized into the four (A, B, C and D) lineages.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravati

Asian Studies Program, California State University, Sacramento, USA

From around the seventh century, images of Maitreya Buddha (Pali: Metteyya) became increasingly popular in the Central region of Thailand, especially at Si Thep in Phetchabun province. By the eighth century, two types of Maitreya images, Buddha and bodhisattva, were produced in different scales (e.g., large relief, small images, and votive tablets) and made of various types of materials (e.g., bronze, stone, gold plaque, and terracotta). The first part of this paper investigates the textual sources of the Dvaravati imagery of the seventh to eighth centuries, and the second identifies early representations of Maitreya that have been discovered from Klang Nai and Khao Thamorat at Si Thep. 

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

John Guy

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

A vast body of Indian religious texts was recorded and transmitted though the medium of the palm-leaf manuscript. This humble form of the book, at once both fragile and resilient, has provided the vehicle for Indian religious thought for over two thousand years, and served as a medium for preserving some of the earliest surviving paintings known from India. 
From at least the 10th century these manuscripts were beautifully illuminated with miniature illustrations, typically with images of the deities to whom the text was dedicated and who were evoked through the recitation of sadhanas, invocations and visualizations embodied in the text.

The imagery chosen for these representations emanates at a conceptual level from the texts themselves, especially the teachings of the Prajnaparamita, which has at its core the Buddhist sentiment of compassion, and the role of tantrism, both given expression through the pantheon of Bodhisattvas and Taras, the ultimate goal being enlightenment through  transcendental wisdom. These divine images were evoked through the recitation of magical sound syllables (bija-mantras). In this way the miniature manuscript paintings function in the same manner as larger cloth paintings (pata; Tibetan tangkhas), as meditational aids. 

Narrative themes occur more rarely, and are located either on the interior surface of wooden manuscript covers, or on the first and last folios of the palm-leaf manuscript. They assume explicitly narrative functions only, it would seem, when they are illustrating scenes from the life of the Buddha. In these instances the textual source would appear to be the Astamahapratiharya  (Eight Great Sacred Locations), the historical Buddha Sakyamuni’s life-passage events. Each of the Eight-Great-Sacred Locations mirrors a seminal event in the Buddhas’ life. The Jatakas are but rarely represented, one exception being the superb 10th century cover in the National Museum, New Delhi. 

Early in their history the manuscripts themselves came to acquire a sacred character, becoming objects of veneration in their own right. Judging from narrative scenes in Pala sculpture, the worship of books of wisdom assumed an important part of Buddhist ritual. Of the small corpus of surviving illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts of the 10th to 12th centuries – many bear colophons recording their date and place of production, invariably one of the Pala mahaviharas of Magadha (Bihar) or Bengal – two texts dominate the output:  the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra (‘Perfection of Wisdom’) and the Pancharaksha, an esoteric collection of dharanis evoking the wisdom deities. 

This paper will present illustrated editions of these manuscripts and explore the relationship of text to image and the role of narrative in both its story-telling function, and at a magico-symbolic level in which the placement and sequencing of images serves a different purpose, that of evoking a mandala constellation which empowers and protects these sacred texts and those who recite them.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Chongfeng Li

Department of Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China

Buddha’s parinirvāņa and related events or episodes such as the cremation of his body (jhāpita or dhyāpita) and the distribution of his remains (dhātu-vibhańga) were generally portrayed on the rear chambers of almost all the cental-pillar-caves (chētiyagharas) at Kizil, Kucha. For instance, his entry into nirvāņa was regularly depicted on the rear wall of the rear chamber, the cremation of his body on the opposite wall, and the distribution of his remains on the sidewall with right angle to the cremation tableau. These representations indicate that Buddha’s parinirvāņa and related events were popularized in ancient Kucha.

In terms of the final events of Śākyamuni Buddha’s life and what took place after his death, there are numerous records in the Buddhist canon, such as Pāli Mahāparinibhāna suttanta, Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāņa sūtra as well as the Gāndhārī and Chinese versions of the above text. The Sanskrit Mahāparinirvāņa sūtra in the Dīrghāgama edition of the text of the Sarvāstivādins is fundamentally based on numerous fragments found from Xinjiang (Chinese central Asia). A small fragment from Xinjiang of a Gāndhārī Mahāparinirvāņa sūtra has come to light recently from S.F. Oldenburg Collection in the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg, which seems to belong to the Dharmaguptakas. However, the Pāli Mahāparinibhāna suttanta in the Dīgha Nikāya is the original or the oldest version of the text, and the Sūtra of Preaching Travels contained in the Chinese version of the Long Āgama Sūtra (长阿含经，Chang’ahanjing), an exact correspondence to a parallel Gāndhārī version that has been ascribed to the Dharmaguptakas, is relatively complete besides the Pāli original.

On the basis of some new discoveries, a Prakrit version which is closely related to the Chinese Chang’ahanjing could well have been the literary source of the Buddha’s parinirvāņa and related events or episodes portrayed in the Kizil murals.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Akira Shimada

Department of History, State University of New York at New Paltz, USA

Ancient Andhra region located in south-eastern Deccan saw vigorous Buddhist construction and artistic activity after ca. 200 BCE as indicated by numerous remains of stūpa-s along the Godavari and Krishna river valleys. Many of these stūpa-s were embellished by limestone sculpture that often includes narrative reliefs, such as jātaka-s and Buddha’s life events. In fact, along with Gandharan sculpture, Andhran Buddhist sculpture provides the largest set of early Indian Buddhist narratives. Moreover, unlike the Gandharan sculpture, the chronology of Andhran narrative sculpture is reasonably well established by the detailed stylistic and iconographical studies. Andhran sculpture may thus provide us a precious clue to reconstruct the development of Buddhist narrative tradition in eastern Deccan, if examined carefully.

To establish a foundation for a more comprehensive research on Andhran Buddhist narratives, this paper will give an overview on the development of narrative sculptures by focusing on two largest sets of Andhran narratives in the lower Krishna valley, i.e., Amaravati (ca. 150 BCE-250 CE) and Nagarjunakonda (ca. 200-300 CE). The paper would particularly like to address the following three issues: (1) when and how the lower Krishna valley increased different topics of Buddhist legends between Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda; (2) when and how lower Krishna valley developed a variety of narrative cycles, including a complete cycle of Buddha’s life from the birth to nirvāna; (3) how we may relate the narrative tradition of lower Krishna valley with that of other region, such as Gandhara.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Monika Zin

Institut fuer Indologie und Tibetologie, der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Muenchen

Considering the existence of 35 representations from the Amaravati School of sculptures, the narrative of king Māndhātar can safely be declared the most popular jātaka of the region. In addition there are at least half as many representations of an unidentified cakravartin king surrounded by his seven jewels – some of them old reliefs from Jaggayapetta and Kanganhalli – which might also show Māndhātar, and possibly a further dozen depictions of apparently related topics whose textual basis is lost.

With regard to the frequency of occurrences, only the most popular scenes from the life of the Buddha can be compared to the theme of Māndhātar. This gives rise to questions about the meaning of the cakravartin topos and ideology for the region and also for early Buddhism in general.

The paper will examine various representations of cakravartins from the Amaravati region on the basis of literary traditions and through analysis of representations of historical kings on the stupa slabs at Kanganhalli. Particular focus will be laid on the relation of the cakravartins’ representations to the life-story of the Buddha (the story of Māndhātar is depicted next to the representation of the Bodhisatva in the Tuṣita heaven; a cakravartin is shown in the scene of leaving of Kapilavastu), and on their relation to early Buddhist understanding of kingship.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Ven. Chongdok Park

Department of Buddhist Scripture Translation, Joong-ang Sangha University, Korea

The Gupta period (300-500 CE) is the golden age of Sanskrit literature. While most Buddhist schools did not respond effectively to this trend, the Sarvāstivādins translated their version of the Tripiṭaka into Sanskrit, standardizing the language and terminology of their system in the interests of precision in exegesis. The Mūlasarvāstivādins went much further than simple translation with (possibly) a minimum of revision, and produced an elaborate rewriting of their Tripiṭaka, probably with the idea of assimilating it to current trends in literature (without, however, changing the doctrine) and so making it more popular. The Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya is the result of this effort.
In comparison with other Vinayas, Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya shows impressively the upgraded feature in terms of narrative. While the stories of other Vinayas pay attention only at their messages, those of the Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya show the developed narrative with various devices and plots which label the Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya as the elaborate literary work. These devices and plots provide not only literary interest but also various informations on religious environment at that period.

This is the episode about the Buddha’s human shortcomings in a previous life which have produced bad karma. This avadāna is devoted to the story of how as a result of his bad karma the Buddha had to eat horse fodder barley. Among the Buddha’s so-called ten bad karma stories, which are often presented as a set, the Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya provides a separate version of this story in the Bhaiṣajyavastu section. Besides the main theme of the Buddha’s bad karma, I show how this text presents the following topics as its literary devices: the seven treasures of a cakravartin, equal opportunity without sexual discrimination for attaining Buddhahood, offerings (dāna), aspiration (praṇidhāna), prediction (vyākaraṇa) and Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana’s exemption from bad karma.

This paper aims to show the literary development and competitiveness of the narratives of the Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya through the study of this episode. 

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Chanwit Tudkeao

Doktor Designatus, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

Ratnaśikhin Buddha is one of the relatively well-known Buddhas of the past, his name and biography are mentioned in several texts of the early Buddhist schools. His own biography, however, does not give us as many details about his life and teachings as those of some other Buddhas, for example of Śākyamuni Buddha, or Vipaśyin Buddha even though he was the one who gave prophecies to three of the most well-known Buddhas –who during his time, were still Bodhisatvas–, i.e. Dīpaṃkara Buddha, Śākyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha. His stories preserved in various Buddhist texts were handed down to us in different versions and in various languages. They were transmitted from an early date from one Buddhist community to another in India and beyond, across much of Asia. One of these legends was widespread even in North and Central Thailand, where his name –Ratnaśikhin– is completely unknown. In this article, the various legends of Ratnaśikhin Buddha are compared in order to study “the mutual relationships of these four Buddhas and their epochal career” and “the relationship of these texts based on their literary genre and school affiliation”.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Ven. Mahinda Deegalle

School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University, UK

This paper will focus on the role and significance of Jataka narratives both in Pali and Sinhala languages with emphasis on the latter in shaping the life, views, values, norms, ethics and communal and popular practices of Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka. With a focus on how Sri Lankan Buddhists today learn about Jataka stories in public schools, in Sunday dhamma schools, in the depictions of temple paintings, in Buddhist sermons, in vernacular Sinhala literature such as cartoons and picture books and in popular mass media such as TV and postal stamps, the use of Jataka narratives in Buddhist contexts in modern Sri Lanka will be examined having specific geographical, social, historical and political contexts in the background. In the secular state where Buddhism is given the foremost place, the way that recent Sri Lankan governments have supported the worldview expressed by Jatakas by issuing postal stamps to commemorate various Buddhist festivals such as Vesak will be considered. The paper will concentrate on how and why the ancient Jataka narratives still appeal and form the bedrock in the formation of values and norms of Sinhala Buddhist culture by evoking popular as well as pious sentiments of religious nature in the lives and imagination of modern Sri Lankans. Today both Sinhala and Pali versions of the Jatakas are used in various settings and forms and their message is paid more attention rather than the language from which they come from. Regular visits to Buddhist temples, their shrine paintings and pilgrimages to Buddhist sites throughout the country readily communicate salient values of Buddhism through Jataka narratives and they form a visual canon for cultural communication of norms and values held dear and precious in this South Asian Theravada Buddhist culture.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

Achim Bayer

Faculty of Buddhist Studies, Dongguk University, Korea

The core work of a philologist often resembles that of a natural scientist: clearly identifiable facts are isolated, listed, compared, and only then is an inductive conclusion presented. When constructing a stemmatic table, comparing different translations, or spotting the first occurrence of a doctrine, it is often possible to reach a level of certainty equalling that of simple experiments in the natural sciences. Furthermore, when dealing with various genres, it is especially the śāstra genre that tends to assist the researcher in providing lists of doctrinal elements, classifications of doctrines and sometimes even reflections on the history of thought. Narrative literature, in contrast, starts from a less proto-scientific approach and is normally less concerned with classification, coherence or rational comprehensability. Accordingly, academic writing about narrative literature often follows a rather essayistic style. Even though such a method can yield excellent results, attempts have also been made at identifying the smallest units in a narration, similar to the elements that have been defined in natural sciences. Those are for example standard characters, topoi or plot elements, which are identified for the sake of comparablity, therefore ideally fulfilling one of the basic requirements of empirical science: another researcher applying the same method should eventually come to the same conclusions. 

In this paper I would like to analyze a Tibetan version of the Māndhātṛ story, which depicts the interaction between the Buddhist order and the worldly ruler as one of its underlying themes, and apply two analytical methods to it: the abstraction of central narrative elements and a classification of semantic contents.

(Presented in the International Conference – Buddhist Narrative in Asia and Beyond, 9-11 August 2010, Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University with support from The Thailand Research Fund (TRF), in co-operation with Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Asian Studies, The Confucius Institute, Chulalongkorn University and l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO))

ADVISORS

Prof. Dr. Kua Wongboonsin
     Vice President, Chulalongkorn University

Prof. Dr. Pranee Kullavanich
     Director, Sirindhorn Thai Center

CHAIR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suchitra Chongstitvatana
     Director, Institute of Thai Studies
     Chulalongkorn University

DEPUTY CHAIR

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suppakorn Disatapundhu
     Dean, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts 
     Chulalongkorn University

COMMITTEE

Asst. Prof. Dr. Prapod Assavavirulhakarn
     Dean, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
     Director, The Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University (Thai Side)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sunait Chutintaranond
     Director, Institute of Asian Studies
     Chulalongkorn University

Prof. Fu Zengyou
     Director, The Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University (China Side)

Dr. Peter Skilling
     Representative of EFEO

Asst. Prof. Dr. Arthit Thongtak
     Deputy Director of Administrative Affairs
     Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Asst. Prof. Ritirong Jiwakanon
     Deputy Director of International Affairs
     Institute of Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University