Abstract
This winter I purchased a Burmese palm-leaf manuscript copied in 1843. Manuscripts dating back to before the Fifth Burmese Council (1871) may have some philological significance, which is why I report on my holding. Key points are as follows:
The title in the margins is “Viny: Mahāvā. pāḷito”. The title in faint pencil on the first leaf is “Vinaya. Mahāvā. pāḷito” Size: 53.3×6.5cm. Gilded edges with a middle band of vermillion; 10 lines; small Burmese script. Two red lacquered flat wooden covers. There are 216 leaves: fols. ka-v, 1b－dha-r, 217a without ñō, 118ab. Beginning text: ‘namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa // tena samayena buddho bhagavā uruvelāyaṃ viharati nijjā Nerañjarāya tire bodhirukkhamūle pathamābhisambuddho //’. This is the opening of the Mahāvagga chapter of the Vinaya. Fol. ño-v, 117b10 ends ‘// khayā dosassa vitadosattā taṇha-kkhyayādhimutto hoti //’ and fol. ñaṃ-r, 119a1 starts ‘yo dhārenti // mahānāmarattavaddhikā upāhanāyo dhārenti // manussā…’. Therefore the manuscript is missing the text equivalent to the PTS’s Vinaya I: 184,16－186,3.
I have recently acquired several other manuscripts that may be of interest in the history of modern Japanese Buddhism － manuscripts owned by KOJIMA Kaihō. A brief report of the collection is attached below.
