Dear Gunnar,

Regarding the message about the new Thai Pali Tipitaka project.
In November 2003 the Thai organisers came to Kandy, Sri Lanka, and gave a large and prestigious video presentation about the project (followed by a dinner) in a 5 star hotel which I and many other monks and academics connected to the University of Peradeniya attended. I and other westerm monks came to the same conclusion that you did, ie, that they regard the Tipitaka as a delicate object of worship to be handled carefully with silk gloves and stored in a glass case to be worshipped, rather than used... We all assumed that a set would be given to the University but then it turned out unexpectedly that it recently was given to a big new temple under construction in Colombo, where it will no doubt be stored in a locked up and inaccessible cupboard. It seems to me that this is a mere prestige project in which the organisers use the funds for travelling around the world and staying in 5 star hotels rather than making the Tipitaka accessible to users. The project is also somewhat mysterious. I tried to e-mail the major who organises the project to make some suggestions but got no reply. They have no website which give information about the project. In the video presentation the western forest monks from Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand were shown reading the Tipitaka, etc, but after the video shooting they did not hear anything anymore from the organisers it seems, did not get a set, and feel that they were made use of.
I doubt that much will come out of this project.
Yong Peng, the Tipitaka CD you refer to is the Budsir digital edition of the Royal Thai Tipitaka and commentaries made and sold by Mahidol University, Bankok. It used to be sold for thousands of dollars but is now sold at a ``mere'' US$ 250 to individuals. I recently had the chance to use it. The software it was made in is now somewhat outdated and the search program does not work in roman script. This is another Thai prestige project.

At the presentation the Thai major stated that the sixth council edition that they will publish will be only true and definite Tipitaka edition, but scholarship will no doubt prove that some readings found in manuscripts and editions but not used or rejected in the Sixth Council are superior. I was told that the Burmese sixth council edition as given in VRI CSCD is almost identical with the Fifth Council edition done in the 1850s and engraved in the Mandalay slabs. After the Sixth council was over and president Nu, who had organised the council, was ousted, the `orthodox' and pro-Fifth Council group of Burmese monks participating in the council took over as they has more political power and had their fifth council version of the sixth council edition printed rather than the official version approved in the council...

There is also a Sinhala Sixth Council edition of the Tipitaka called Buddha Jayanthi. This has been digitalised and is available for free on the Metta Lanka and Journal of Buddhist Ethics websites. Some parts have not been proofread though.
If there is anyone out there willing to help proofreading texts given in this edition then it will be much appreciated. If one does not know Sinhalese, then the PTS edition will be good enough for comparing. If possible mistakes or omissions are found a reader who knows Sinhalese script could compare it with the printed editon. I can help organising this for Metta Lanka.

Yours,
Bh. Nyanatusita




I can't avoid the impression that the people behind
the project are regarding the Tipitaka as an object of
worship rather than something to be put to practical
use (which I think is what the monks of the six
councils have always intended it to be).

And it gives me pain that all the valuable work done
by a lot of honest people is, in this manner, actually
put to waste.

Gunnar Gällmo
Pali translator, Stockholm, Sweden


gunnargallmo@...