The Imminent Extinction of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts in Sipsong Panna : หน้า 96/141
DIRI Journal : หน้า 96/141 Exploring the decline of palm-leaf manuscripts in Sipsong Panna and its cultural implications.
2 ครั้ง
สรุปเนื้อหา
This text discusses the worrying decline of palm-leaf manuscripts in Sipsong Panna, where Buddhist manuscript culture is rich but facing imminent extinction. Key reasons include the autonomous nature of Dai Buddhism, lack of centralized archives, and geographic challenges in sourcing materials. Interviews reveal the absence of cataloging systems, leading to scattered manuscripts in various temples. Furthermore, geographic restrictions hinder the growth of palm-leaf trees, which are essential for creating the manuscripts. The case of Jingzhen Temple illustrates this decline, with an alarming drop in available scriptures over the years. The future of these manuscripts is threatened unless management practices and resource availability improve. For more information, visit dmc.tv.
หัวข้อประเด็น
-Palm-leaf manuscripts
-Dai Buddhism
-Cultural heritage
-Archival challenges
-Geographic influences
-Manuscript preservation
ข้อความต้นฉบับในหน้า
III The Problem of the Imminent Extinction of Palm-Leaf Manuscripts in Sipsong Panna
Buddhism in Sipsong Panna is characterised by its manuscript culture. However, today the number of the palm-leaf manuscripts being produced in the region is in decline. If this decline continues, palm-leaf manuscripts are in danger of imminent extinction. The major reasons for this extinction lie in the autonomous character of Dai Buddhism, the geography of the region, and the management of the production of palm-leaf manuscripts.
There is no central authority in Dai Theravāda Buddhism, and individual temples are largely autonomous. As a result, there is no one central location where archives and records are kept. Palm-leaf manuscripts are scattered around the different temples in the area and there are no statistics or catalogues on manuscript collections. When the Author interviewed Venerable Meng (勐长老) the abbot of Kublang Monastery in Menghai, she discovered that most local Buddhist temples have libraries or Scripture Halls where they keep palm-leaf scriptures. However there is no systematic effort to catalogue these manuscripts.
Geographical factors also affect the future of palm-leaf manuscripts in Sipsong Panna. Palm-leaf trees do not grow in many areas in the region, so it is often difficult to obtain the materials to make manuscripts. Gradually, the art of producing finished palm-leaves ready for inscription and binding is dying out. For example, when the Author surveyed the Jingzhen Temple, the biggest Buddhist temple in Menghai, in April of 2010, a retired monk who managed the temple in the past remembered seeing more than one hundred Palm-Leaf scriptures at the temple. However by 2010, there were only ten scriptures in the Scripture Cabinet behind the Buddha’s Statue in the Main Hall and the other manuscripts had been lost. According to the abbot, Menghai has an altitude of over 1,400 metres above sea level and a rather cool climate, and is unsuitable for the growth of palm-leaf trees, and palm leaves cannot be obtained locally. The need to import raw materials from outside of China makes it more expensive and difficult for local people to
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