Exploring Ancient Thai Meditation Manuscripts and Their Influence : หน้า 19/141

of the original content of the palm-leaf manuscript is provided along with a translation into modern Thai and English. It consists of a correlation of body parts with the sublime attributes of the enlightened Buddha, along with a note at the end that it should be recited every day. This suggestion reveals that this class of manuscript was part of the regular Buddhist practices of the era. Urkasame’s research confirms that meditation manuals of the bŏran kammaṭṭhān type existed in Thailand as well as Cambodia and Sri Lanka. This author has previously produced studies into other Thai manuscripts of the bŏran kammaṭṭhān or yogāvacara type. Urkasame’s investigations into the Pavarabandha, Buddhanorkan and Phra Nānakasīna reveal many correspondences between these Lan Na texts and the Khmer texts studied by Bizot and the École Française d’Extrême-Orient. Like the Khmer texts, these old Thai meditation manuals refer to the Nāng Cittakumārī, the subtle body that transmigrates from one lifetime to another. Other commonalities include the mantra samma arahan and the ‘dhamma sphere’ at the centre of the body that ‘makes possible’ the ‘birth’ of the subtle body or bodies. The text presented here shows that the notion of dhammakāya was also emphasized in the esoteric Theravāda practices common in Thailand before the mid-nineteenth century. The last article by Phra Kittipanyo discusses An Shigao who taught meditation in China during the first century CE. It reveals how this influential figure in early Chinese Buddhism employed Daoist concepts to translate Buddhist notions. It demonstrates that ānāpānāsator’ mindfulnessofbreathing’ meditation wasanimportant aspect of An Shigao’s teaching. The technique of concentrating on a central point in the body is also shown to have been part of this meditation style. Phra Kittipanyo then draws comparisons between the essentials of Daoism, the system of An Shigao, and the teachings of Phramongkollthepmuni (Sodh Candasaro). He compares the Daoist practice of concentration on the centre of the body (dantian) with the practices of An Shigao and Phramongkollthepmuni. It is the ‘middle way’ of esoteric Buddhism, the central channel where