Buddhist Manuscripts: Translations from Ancient Pali in the Digital Era

October 21st, 2014

A rare antique kammavaca (Buddhist Pali manuscript) currently offered in our gallery was recently featured in the fall edition of the well known Canadian based quarterly magazine, Buddhadharma. The article titled, Milestones – Exploring Buddhist Translation Today, discusses the historical and ongoing work of translating the Pali canon, as well as the many subsequent Buddhist texts from the Mahayana Buddhist tradition so that they are preserved and made available for study today and for future generations of seekers.

Buddhadharma Quarterly Magazine

In the countries where Buddhism first spread, namely, Sri Lanka, China, and Tibet, the translator’s role was extremely important and highly honored.  An error in translation could lead to a missed clue of vital importance about the nature of consciousness. To do justice to the work was to perform an act of great merit, for if it facilitated the awakening of even one being, the existence of the text was priceless. “The Tibetan word for translator is lotsawa, meaning cosmic-eye.”

The article notes that, “Forty years ago, Buddhist books in English were hard to find, and today there are probably more translations than most of us can read in one lifetime.” Fellow of the Tsadra Foundation, Sarah Harding makes the comment, “Until about 2000, many translation efforts were random, and often began when a lama asked for a text in his lineage to be translated or when academics would find good PhD projects to undertake. Now a number of organizations are working in a more cohesive fashion. Because of the massive volume of some anthologies, a number of translations today are only published digitally.  Technology has changed translation tremendously, just in terms of time and the ability to look something up quickly (on the internet) without flipping through giant pages of text.”

Griffith Foulk, co-editor-in-chief of the Soto Zen Text Project expresses concern that, “we’re building digital canons; they’re so easy to access that they’ve become almost the only thing people look at. There is a danger that what isn’t input digitally will fall by the wayside and be ignored. Then, when everything exists on the cloud, civilization will pull the plug on the whole thing and it will go poof!”

Also calling into question the wisdom of relying too much on the fickle longevity of digitally preserved documents is Bhikkhu Bodhi, “There are older Pali texts preserved in the form of palm-leaf manuscripts…..across Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand. In these tropical countries, the manuscripts tend to decay…Now that they’re no longer being copied, what’s coming to pass is that the electronic edition  becomes the single authoritative version of the text; variant readings preserved in these palm-leaf manuscripts will likely be lost.”

Kammavaca from our gallery featured in Buddhadharma Magazine

Below is a collection of rare antique Buddhist manuscripts and manuscript pages offered in our gallery – click on the image for more information. Please contact us at info@sabaidesignsgallery.com to inquire about any of these artifacts.

Framed Buddhist Pali Leaf Manuscript Pages
Pages of Antique Kammavaca
Pages of Antique Kammavaca
Antique Pali Manuscript Pages
Antique Pali Manuscript Pages
Antique Buddhist Manuscript Box with Pali Manuscript
Complete Antique Buddhist Pali Manuscript
Complete Antique Buddhist Pali Manuscript
Antique Burmese Kammavaca available at sabai designs gallery
Antique Burmese Kammavaca available at sabai designs gallery

Asian Antiques from Burma and Thailand

February 23rd, 2011

It’s no secret that authentic Asian antiques are becoming increasingly difficult to locate. Older antique dealers in Thailand often reminisce about times long gone by when you could buy Burmese opium weights in kilo bags for a song and old Burmese lacquerware was stacked up to the ceiling in their shops. The popularity of Asian antiques in America and Europe over the past few decades has led to a steady decline in supply in the region. Rare styles of opium weights, antique bronze bells, larger antique bronze sculptures and artefacts in general are all requiring a little more time and effort to track down. That being said, we recently returned from a trip during which we acquired several impressive new items from Burma and Thailand that we would like to feature.

Antique Burmese Lacquerware
Antique Burmese Lacquerware

Featured here are two large Burmese lacquerware vessels known as pyi-daung that were once used to carry offerings of rice to Buddhist temples and in the middle, a rare antique gold gilded Buddhist manuscript known as kammavaca that was presented to the Buddhist temple when a young monk ordained. View our Lacquerware Collection

Burmese Opium Weights
Burmese Opium Weights

Here are three rare forms of Burmese ‘opium weights’ dating back to the 1600s. These bronze zoomorphic figurines were used to weigh a variety of materials including precious metals, spices and medicines. They have become popular collectibles and represent a bygone era in Burmese history with production ceasing during the 1800s while under British rule. View our Opium Weight Collection

Antique Bronze Bells
Antique Bronze Bells

Three antique bells from the 19th century- the spherical bell is an elephant bell while the other two are pastoral bells, once used to help locate grazing livestock. Like virtually all Burmese utilitarian objects, they were created with mindfulness towards aesthetics. View our Bronze Bell Collection

Antique Bronze Buddha Statues

The three Buddha statues seen here are from Thailand and all are seated in the ‘earth witnessing posture’ representing the moment of the Buddha’s enlightenment when he touched the ground to bear witness to his awakening to Absolute Reality. The first two statues are in the Chiang Saen style of northern Siam while the third is in the Sukhothai style, characterized by the flame-like halo. View our Buddhist Art Collection

Antique Thai Ceramics
Antique Thai Ceramics

The antique ceramic pieces here are from Thailand – the blue glaze pieces are in La Na style (former northern kingdom) while the celadon plate is from 16th century Sukhothai, which was a major hub of ceramic production at the time.

Antique Buddhist Manuscript Box
Antique Buddhist Manuscript Box
Antique Elephant Bell, Burmese Kinnara, Monk Wood Carving
Antique Elephant Bell, Burmese Kinnara, Monk Wood Carving
Antique Buddhist Gilded Wood Carving
Antique Buddhist Gilded Wood Carving

Please click on the photos to be redirected to the listing with further details. The items featured in this blog represent just a few of the antiques from Burma and Thailand listed in our gallery so   browse our collections and if there is anything of particular interest to you please email us at info@sabaidesignsgallery.com