U Thaw Zin - Stories of the Dharma

Stories of the dead

1. The Dharmavilasa Cut-off Pattern

The person who wrote the Dhammavilasa Dhammasata was the Dala monk Sariputta. King Narapati Sithu of Bagan, who ascended the throne in 536, presented him with a small piece of the Dhammavilasa seal. The name of the seal is taken from the name of the seal, and King Zeyathu, the ruler of Mongkai, states in his third book of the Pitaka. A summary of the content of the Atkapatti of the monk is known from the Sasana Linkara written by the minister Mahadhammasa during the reign of the fourth king of Ratanapura.

At that time, a great ascetic named Sariputta, the son of Padippajeya (Patipteya), a resident of Dala, went to Bagan and received the fifth ordination from the Venerable Ananda and studied the scriptures. He was renowned for his great insight, his skill, and his ability. When King Narapatisithu heard about this, he was examined by him, but he was told that his legs were broken, and that he was not fit for teaching. After making offerings, he gave him the name of Dhammavilasa and said that he should make the Dhamma shine in the Ramana region, and he was sent to the Ramana region. The Venerable Dhammavilasa also went to the Ramana region and taught the Dhamma and Vinaya scriptures to many monks in Dala. The Mons call the Sangha, which included the Venerable Dhammavilasa, the Sangha of the Ceylonese community.

The Buddha Sariputta, who received the Dhammavilasa, was a disciple of the Ceylonese monk Ananda. Therefore, the members of his sect are called the Ceylonese Sangha. This is a commentary. King Kinwan, the compiler of the Dhammasat, said that the Dhammavilasa was compiled in Bagan during the reign of King Alaungsithu in 455 CE, and is the oldest of the Burmese Buddhist texts. This is what the modern scholar U Pe Maung Tin has commented on.

Some scholars believe that the Dhammavilasa Thera wrote the Dhammasata in Pali and that the Dhammasata now printed was written in Burmese. Considering that Dhammavilasa was a Mon monk and that there is a Dhammavilasa Dhammasata in Mon, this belief is reasonable. Furthermore, considering the shift in vocabulary and terminology, there is reason to believe that the Burmese Dhammavilasa Dhammasata was written not before the Pagan period, but slightly later.

King Kinwan heard this. “The Dhammavilasa Dhammasata is the oldest scripture among the Burmese scriptures.”

Master U Pe Maung Tin thinks so. “The Dhammavilasa Dhammachat was written before the Pagan period, a little later.”

The words used in the Dhammavilasa Dhammasat are not at all the same as the words of the Pagan period. They have been slightly changed, which is why U Pe Maung Tin speculates that the book was written somewhat later than the Pagan period.

U Pe Maung Tin's guess contains a lot of information to continue guessing. It is not possible to judge the era by the use of words alone. For example , the words and expressions carved on the Independence Monument today are not only modern words. They contain words that are not used today. If we look at some of the words and decide that this monument is a monument close to the Bagan era, we will be far from it. In addition, some of the words used today are not ancient words. They are not modern words, but are inventions for the future, so it is not enough to judge the era by the use of words alone.

Therefore, I do not want to unilaterally affirm the decision that King Kinwan's Dhammavilasa is the oldest among the Burmese prose texts and to reject the words of Master U Pe Maung Tin. I am just continuing to consider what is possible. In any case, this prose text is quite old and should be considered as an example of prose. It also reflects the traditional Burmese Dhamma text, so if you can read and study it, you will see that it has a lot of advantages for Myanmar.

Here are some examples from the Dhammavilasa Dhammasata. The examples illustrate the vocabulary, usage, sentence structure, cultural customs, Dhamma, Dhamma, and social history of the Pagan period. Social history should be studied in conjunction with the arts of rhetoric and craftsmanship. When studying the past, the appearance of people at that time can be guessed through the arts of painting and sculpture. The surviving paintings and sculptures can be used to guess the appearance of people at that time. The literary heritage of rhetoric can be used to guess the attitude of people at that time. It would be more natural to consider their activities through the words used at that time.

When depicting historical events, film and theater directors pay special attention to the costumes and speech patterns of the ancient period. Some of them even depict the eras of Bagan, Sri Kshetra, Sagaing, Pinya, Inwa, Konbaung, etc. in detail. The examples presented here are original and not even contrived. They can be seen as they are. How much do they tell about the social history of the Bagan era, such as customs, culture, etc.? Take a red or blue pencil and study it.

The venerable Sariputta, who was presented with the seal of the Dhammavilasa, based on the Manu Dhammasata and established the Dhammavilasa Dhammasata. (In other words, the Dhammavilasa Dhammasata is the opening of the Manu Dhammasata. The Manu Dhammasata is opened by the name of the Dhammavilasa Dhammasata. Here are some examples from this opening.

The garden is a gift to the husband and wife.

Once upon a time, seven brahmins came to another place to beg for alms and stayed in the gardener's house of the king of Varanasi. They begged for alms and received six hundred rupees. Since each of them did not have one hundred rupees, the gardener said to him, "Give me six hundred rupees. Give me the property that belongs to the seven of us. We seven