Congratulatory Letter for Dhammachai International Research Institute : หน้า 10/141

**Congratulatory letter** The 60th Dhammachai Education Foundation of Australia and New Zealand has developed an increasing commitment in recent years to the academic study of the Buddhist tradition, including, in particular, its ancient texts and manuscripts. This commitment has manifested itself through the establishment of the Dhammachai International Research Institute, the fostering of strong relationships with a number of universities internationally, collaborative research projects, the funding of research and teaching, the provision of scholarships for students in Buddhist studies and the encouragement of students from the Foundation to undertake postgraduate study at the University of Otago and elsewhere. The launching of the new Journal of the **Dhammachai International Research Institute** provides further evidence of this commitment to academic study and will provide a valuable vehicle for the dissemination of research in Early Buddhism. The central purpose of the journal will be to promote and publish research on the early texts of the Buddhist tradition. This is a timely development for as the Foundation’s Early Buddhist Manuscript Project pursues its goal of translating and digitizing previously unpublished Buddhist manuscripts, it will progressively make available a wealth of material deserving of careful scholarly consideration and analysis. The study of ancient texts is always a collaborative exercise involving a range of academic disciplines. In the case of the Buddhist manuscripts, the skills of textual and linguistic analysis will be combined with the work of historians, ethnographers, anthropologists and scholars of religion. All of these will have an interest, therefore, in the publication of this new academic journal, both as contributors themselves and as those whose own study of the Buddhist tradition will be enriched by the scholarship made available through this journal.