タイの絵付き折本紙写本に引用される読誦経典の意味

抄録

This article shows the essential role of early folded paper manuscripts which contain illustrations for chanting in order to eventually understand Contemporary Thai Buddhist funeral culture in which some of the texts in those manuscripts are utilized. Buddhist manuscripts kept in Thai temples include not only those made of palm-leaf, but also those made of folded paper (Samut Khoi). Among the latter, the large illustrated ones are especially eye-catching. They were chiefly made between the 18th to the early 20th century to be used in ritual chanting at funeral-related ceremonies, as the illustrations show. Due to their visual appeal, those illustrated manuscripts have been mainly researched in the field of Art History. Subsequent research as to the location of the manuscripts has identified which texts were inscribed in each of the manuscripts. The research has revealed the fact that the texts are basically compiled from part of the Pāli Tipiṭaka and from part of the extra-canonical texts used for chanting, e.g., the Pārājika chapter of the Vinaya, Brahmajālasutta, the texts on Mātikā and Sahassaneyya from the Abhidhamma and Mahābuddhaguṇa which is classed as an extra-canonical text. However, the exact function of each of the texts in a manuscript and the reason that they are arranged in a particular order has been yet to be examined. To better understand this phenomenon, my research focuses on one of the folded paper manuscripts which we identified it as produced in 1743. The conclusion which can be drawn from this analysis is that the chanting texts were mainly compiled in order to encourage the laity to perform wholesome deeds thereby producing positive karmic results as the Buddha emphasizes the idea of non-self (anatta).