The Advantage in a Dustheap-rag (Paṁsukūlānisaṁsa)
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study begins by providing a brief overview of the Thai Buddhist tradition of bangsukun, in which discarded rag robes (paṁsukūla) are offered to monks as symbols of life’s impermanence (anicca) and to share merit (puñña). We then present a fresh new edition and English translation of the Paṁsukūlānisaṁsa, a rare Pali text composed in Thailand that details the spiritual benefits of offering dustheap-rag robes to buddhas and monks. Rooted in early Buddhist ascetic practices, the text adapts canonical themes to local contexts, highlighting the transformative power of simple offerings and underscoring the central role of merit-making in Buddhist society.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Pali Sources
• Filliozat, Jacquelline & Masefield, Peter. 2008. Two Indo-Chinese Pali Versions of the Petavatthu. Mahachulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 1: 11–18.
• Martini, Ginette. 1969. Pañcabuddhabyākarana. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 55: 125–144. https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo.1969.4858.
―――. 1973. Brapaṁsukūlānisaṁsaṁ. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 60: 55–78. https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo. 1973.5140.
• Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu, trans. 1991. The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga by Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.
• Schnake, Javier. 2024. The Great Disciple Mahākassapa and His Parinibbāna. Journal of the Siam Society 112(1): 131–162. https://doi.org/10.69486/112.1.2024.7a.
Secondary Sources
• Anusaranasasanakiarti, Phra Khru & Keyes, Charles F. 1980. Funerary Rites and the Buddhist Meaning of Death: An Interpretative Text from Northern Thailand. Journal of the Siam Society 68(1): 1–28.
• Bernon, Olivier de. 2013. La littérature des « avantages » (ānisans) dans les bibliothèques monastiques du Cambodge. Aséanie 32: 77–96. https://doi.org/10.3406/asean.2013.2293.
• Bizot, François. 1981. Le don de soi-même. Recherches sur le bouddhisme khmer III. Paris: EFEO.
• Cunningham, Clark. 2017. Three Funerals in Rural Central Thailand. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Blog article: https://www.spurlock.illinois.edu/blog/p/three-funerals-in/117.
• Halliday, Robert. 1917. The Talaings. Rangoon: Superintendent, Government Printing.
• Hardy, Robert Spence. 1853. Manual of Buddhism, in Its Modern Development. London: Partridge and Oakey.
• Kourilsky, Gregory. 2015. La place des ascendants familiaux dans le bouddhisme des Lao. PhD Dissertation. Paris: EPHE.
• Langer, Rita. 2014. From Riches to Rags: How New Clothes for the Dead Become Old Robes for Monks. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 24(1): 125–144. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186313000345.
• Pattaratorn Chirapravati, ML. 2012. Corpses and Cloth: Illustrations of the Paṁsukūla Ceremony in Thai Manuscripts. In Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia and China, ed. by Paul Williams & Patrice Ladwig, 79–98. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Skilling, Peter. 2017. Ānisaṁsa: Merit, Motivation and Material Culture. Journal of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Sri Lanka 14: 1–56.
• Sundberg, Jeffrey. 2014. The Abhayagirivihāra’s Pāṁśukūlika Monks in Second Lambakaṇṇa Śrī Laṅkā and Śailendra: The Flowering and Fall of a Cardinal Influence in Early Esoteric Buddhism. PACIFIC WORLD: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 16 (Third Series): 49–185.
• Wijayaratne, Mohan. 1994. Les rites funéraires des bouddhistes singhalais. In Bouddhisme et cultures locales, ed. by F. Fumimasa & Gérard Fussman, 70–84. Paris: EFEO.
• Witkowski, Nicholas. 2017. Pāṁśukūlika as a Standard Practice in the Vinaya. In Rules of Engagement: Medieval Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Regulation, ed. by Susan Andrews, Jinhua Chen & Cuilan Liu, 269–315. Freiburg: Projekt Verlag.