A Study of the Manuscripts of Southeast Asian Creative Buddhist Narratives kept in Thailand

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720028
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Indian philosophy/Buddhist studies
• Research Institution: Otani University
• Principal Investigator: SHIMIZU Yohei 大谷大学, 文学部, 非常勤講師 (50387974)
• Research Collaborator: FUNAHASHI Tomoya 大谷大学, 真宗総合研究所, 嘱託研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 貝葉写本 / 上座仏教 / 東南アジア仏教 / タイ写本 / データベース / 積徳行 / アーニサンサ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The present research is an extension of my previous research project entitled “A Study of the manuscripts of Buddhist narratives created in South-east Asia and currently kept in various royal temples in central Thailand”. During the present research period of four years, I prepared an improved version of the catalogue and database made already in my previous research period that contains the titles of the Buddhist texts mainly. The improved version focused mainly on two points, i.e. (1) ascertaining the nature of the manuscript data and (2) comparing the data with other catalogues already published.
This database is very much helpful to study‘anisamsa’literature that deals with the accumulation of merits. This literature is the key to understand the Southeast Asian Buddhist narratives properly. We have already started working on the‘anisamsa’literature and now the gate to the study of‘anisamsa’literature is open to the scholars, which was shrouded in darkness until now.

Free Research Field

人文学