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Genres and Jurisdictions: Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma

Lammerts, D. Christian https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/discovery/delivery/01RUT_INST:ResearchRepository/12643453730004646?l#13643493720004646

Lammerts, D. C. (2014). Genres and Jurisdictions: Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma. https://doi.org/10.7282/T35H7HWB

This work is protected by copyright. You are free to use this resource, with proper attribution, for research and educational purposes. Other uses, such as reproduction or publication, may require the permission of the copyright holder. Downloaded On 2021/09/25 09:49:28 -0400 AND LAW An Introduction

EDITED BY REBECCA REDWOOD FRENCH

MARK A. NATHAN

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www.cambridge.org Information on this tide: www.cambridge.org/9780521734196 © Cambridge University Press 2014 To Frank E. Reynolds This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutoty exception and to the provisions of relevant collecrive licensing agreements, for his lifelong work in the field no reproduction of any parr may take place without the written and his steadfast commitment to establishing permission of Cambridge University Press. Buddhism and Law as an accepted academic pursuit First published 2014 Printed in the United States ofAmerica A caralog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data Buddhism and law : an introduction I Rebecca Redwood French, State University of New York Buffalo Law School; Mark A. Nathan, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. pages em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-521-5I579-5 (hardback) -ISBN 978-0-521-73419-6 (paperback) r. Buddhists- Legal status, laws, etc. -Asia. 2. Buddhism and law- Asia. I. French, Rebecca Redwood, editor of compilation. II. Nathan, Mark A., 1969- editor of compilation. KNC615.B83 2014 342.508'52943-dc23 2013040362

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Maps and Illustrations page xi Contributors Xi.ii Preface XVll Abbreviations XX1

Introducing Buddhism and Law I Rebecca Redwood French and Mark A. Nathan

PART I THE ROOTS OF BUDDHISM AND LAW IN INDIA

I. Society at the Time of the Buddha 31 KumkumRoy

2. What the Can Tell Us about Law 46 Petra Kieffer-Pulz 3· Keeping the Buddha's Rules: The View from the Sii.tra Pitaka 63 Rupert Gethin 4· Proper Possessions: Buddhist Attitudes toward Material Property .. 78 jacob N Kinnard 5· On the Legal and Economic Activities o£Buddhist Nuns: Two Examples from Early India 91 Gregory Schopen

PART II BUDDHISM AND LAW IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

6. Buddhism and Law in Sri Lanka II7 Sunil Goonasekera

vii viii Contents Contents ix

7· Flanked by Images of Our Buddha: Community, Law, and I9. Karma, Monastic Law, and Gender Justice 334 Religion in a Premodern Buddhist Context 135 Karma Lekshe Tsomo jonathan S. Walters 20. Buddhism and Constitutions in Bhutan 350 8. The Legal Regulation of Buddhism in Contemporary Richard W. Whitecross Sri Lanka 150 Benjamin Schonthal A Selection ofReadings Index 9· Buddhist Law in Southeast Asia 167 Andrew Huxley

IO. Genres and Jurisdictions: Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in Seventeenth-Century Burma 183 Christian Lammerts

PART III BUDDHISM AND LAW IN EAST ASIA

II. Buddhism and Law in : The Emergence of Distinctive Patterns in Chinese History 201 T.H Barrett

12. The Ownership and Theft of Monastic Land in Ming China 217 Timothy Brook

13. Buddhism and Law in China: Qing Dynasty to the Present 234 Anthony Dicks 14. Buddhism and Law in Korean History: From Parallel Transmission to Institutional Divergence 255 Mark A. Nathan

15. Buddhism and Law in Japan 273 Brian Ruppert r6. Relic Theft in Medieval Japan 288 Bernard Faure

PART IV BUDDHISM AND LAW IN NORTH ASIA AND THE HIMALAYAN REGION q. Buddhism and Law in Tibet Rebecca Redwood French

r8. Buddhist Laws in Mongolia 319 Vesna A. Wallace Abbreviations

A Anguttara Nikaya Abhidh-k-bh Abhidharmakofa-bhiifya edited by P. Pradhan (Patna: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, 1967) BL British Library D Digha Nikaya Derge The Sde-dge Mtshal-par Bka'- 'gyur, a facsimilie edition of the 18th-century redaction of the Si-Tu Chos-kyi-'byun-gnas. Dhs Dhammasanga~Ji Divy Divyavadana edited by P.L. Vaidya (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1959) Ja ]ataka; Viggo Fausb0ll (ed.), The ]ataka together with its Commentary, 7 vols. (London: Trlibner, 1877-1897) M Majjhima Nikaya Mhv Mahavar(lsa edited by Wilhelm Geiger (London: Pali Text Society, 1912). Mil Milindapafiha MPS Mahaparinirva~Jsutra edited by E. Waldschmidt (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1951) Mvu Le Mahavastu vol. I, edited by E. Senart (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1882) NL National Library of Palim Vinayasangaha-atphakatha-path (Yangon: Pyi Gyi Mundyne, 1954) Palim-nr Tipirakalankara, Vinayalankara-.tika, 2 vols. (Yangon: Buddhasasanasamiti, 1984) Peking The Tibetan Tripitaka, Peking Edition, Reprinted under the Supervision ofthe Otani University, Kyoto, Vols. 1-169 (Tokyo and Kyoto: 1955-1961) Ps Papaficasudani i' I xxi i i xxii Abbreviations s Sarpyutta Nikaya SBV Sanghabhedavastu edited by R. Gnoli and T. Venkatacharya, 2 vols. (Rome: Istituto italiano per il Media ed Estremo Oriente, 1977-1978) Introducing Buddhism and Law Sp Samantapiisadikii, Takakusu, Junjiro and Makoto Nagai (eds.), Samantapiisadika: 's Commentary on Rebecca Redwood French and Mark A. Nathan the Pifaka, 7 vols. (London: Pali Text Society, 1924-1947) Spk Siiratthappakiisini Sp-r Siiratthadipani, 3 vols. (Yangon: Buddhasasanasamiti, 1960) Some edited volumes are self-explanatory and others need a substantial Sv Sumangalaviliisini introduction to the material; the latter is the case with this volume. While T Taisho shinshu daizokyo (Tokyo: Taisho Issaikyo the title is intriguing, many readers will need a guidebook to explain much Kankokai, 1924-1932) of what they are encountering here. And it is well worth the effort as the Tikap Tikapaffhiina material is some of the most exciting and unorthodox both on legal systems Tog The Tog Palace Manuscript ofthe Tibetan Kanjur, and in . Therefore, the task of this introduction to the Vols. 1-109 (Leh: 1975-1980) volume is to provide readers with a road map to define the object of study, UBhS U Bo Thi Manuscript Library, Thaton and to offer ways to think about the field of Buddhism and Law. UCL Universities Central Library, Yangon This introduction is divided into three main sections: Buddhism, Law, Yin Vinaya. Editions ofPali texts are those of the Pali Text and Buddhism and Law. The first, Buddhism, presents a brief account Society, originally published Oldenberg, H. (ed.), The of the life of the Buddha before turning to an examination of , Vinaya Pifakarrt, 5 vols. (London: Williams and a fundamental term in Buddhism that has long been translated as law. Norgate, 1879-1883) A discussion of and some of the misconceptions Vjb Vajirabuddhi-.tlkii. (Yangon: Buddhasasanasamiti, 1960) that have surrounded the place of the monastic community in society Vmv Vimativinodani-.tlkii, 2 vols. (Yangon: comes next, followed by a consideration of the Vinaya, the canonical Buddhasasanasamiti, 1960) Buddhist law codes that have served to regulate the religious life ofBuddhist monasteries. Buddhist traditions also possess a wealth of other legal texts and materials, most ofwhich reflect attempts to devise supplementary rules and regulations that fit local conditions, and these are introduced last. The second section, Law, is intended to show how Buddhism and Law might fit into the legal scholarly world, perhaps the most difficult con­ nection for legal academics and scholars of Buddhism. This section begins with a definition of law that moves beyond a simple denotation of state regulations and permits a more expansive view of legal practices. In this section, three more ideas will be broached. The first is the concept that Buddhism, when viewed as an otherworldly religion, does not seem to have law. The second is a discussion of a strong, centralized state model of law that European and North American scholars might be working from, and the third is the idea of Legal Orientalism. Following this, four areas oflegal academics are introduced: Religion and Law, Law and Society,

I ANDREW HUXLEY and South Africa. While the legal elites in the capital cities of are busy designing stock markets and joint-venture regimes, CHAPTER IO older patterns of social control may be preserved upcountry. The monks are back in their village monasteries. The rice fields are still being cultivated. Genres and jurisdictions The same old disputes crop up (over inheritance, over agricultural debt, Laws Governing Monastic Inheritance in between husband and wife). These were the topics in which dhammasat and rajasat specialized. Perhaps in the villages upriver, dhammasat and Seventeenth-Century Burma rajasat are still consulted. In the capital cities of Southeast Asia, however, Christian Lammerts Buddhist Law has indeed died. If it survives elsewhere, it is as the humblest of normative systems.

The interrelationships between Buddhism and law in Southeast Asian history are dynamic and untidy: different legal and scrip):Ural genres bor­ row from and blend into others; authority is invoked from multiple (and at times seemingly contradictory) sources; jurisdictions of monastic and lay law overlap or conflict. Multiple ideologies of law, their normative expression in texts, or their implementation in practice, are not in any straightforward sense "Buddhist," much less "Theravadan." These latter terms are meant to signify some sort of allegiance to the Pali Vinaya and its Mahaviharin commentaries. Although these literatures were deeply influ­ ential, Southeast Asian historical discourses of Buddhism and Law, and indeed even "Buddhist law" in its strongest definition as Vinaya, must be approached as works-in-progress, as contingent convergences, effects of an ongoing dialogue between legists and changing textual, intellectual, and religio-political horizons. This article examines laws governing the inheritance of monastic prop­ etty and discourse about such law, expressed in the two principle vernac­ ular and Pali genres of written law in circulation in seventeenth-century Burma: Vinaya and dhammasattha. 1 Calling into question any strict divide between lay and monastic legal spheres, it shows that monastic inheritance did not fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of Vinaya, and also that Vinaya laws regulating monastic partition were appropriated by dhammasattha for application to the lay community. The former point underscores the need to historicize Vinaya practice and theory as part of broader legal-textual cultures. The latter point addresses the. degree to which Vinaya might serve as a source of non-monastic law in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, this article examines the eventual recognition of jurisdictional separation and

1 This term used in Southeast Asia for treatises on the law has several variations: dhammasat, dham­ masattha, dhammathat, and thammasat. CHRISTIAN LAMMERT$ Genres and jurisdictions

legal conflict between these two genres. In some quarters, dhammasattha approximately halfof the cases in the text concern disputes over the parti­ laws governing monastic inheritance came to be regarded as contradicting tion and succession of monastic property following the death of a monk. Vinaya norms and in need of ''purification." The prescriptions of the Pali Vinaya concerning monastic inheritance have been discussed by Robert Lingat in comparison with Brahmar_llcal Vinaya Variations in Recorded Decisions on Monastic Inheritance dharmafiistra and what Lingat calls Southeast Asian "droit la1que."I2 The rules derive ultimately from the brief Discourse on the Property ofthe Dead The Vinaya Decisions of Sirisanghapiila (Decisions) is a compilation of (Matasantakakathii) of the canonical Vinaya-mahiivagga, and are explained more than 210 synoptic records of Buddhist monastic legal disputes that and elaborated in most major Vinaya commentaries and sub-commentaries were tried by a Vinaya jurist (vinayadhara) around upper Burma between of the Mahaviharin tradition.I3 The author of Decisions is clearly aware of Wednesday, October 6, 1602 and Tuesday, November 2, 1613. The Vinaya some of these commentarial works, such as the Vinayasangaha, as he explic­ jurist heard the majority of the cases in populous towns of considerable itly refers to them in other contexts, although his treatment of the law of importance to the regional economy with close links to the capital at Ava. monastic inheritance echoes only the root text of the Vinaya itself, and The name of the adjudicating vinayadhara is not stated in all instances, invokes the Mahiivagga by name. although when it is, he is usually referred to as Sirisanghapala ("lord of the' His discussion is organized around three Pali statements, each of which "). This monk was an immediate client of the throne; other sources he elaborates in a vernacular gloss: tell us that he was responsible for authoring a Vinaya decision (vinicchaya) on monastic cloth at the request of King Nyaungyan (r. 1597-1605).2 . [I.] Decisions is prefaced by an introduction that sets forth a number ofbasic Monks, the sangha is the owner and lord of the bowl and robes of the Vinaya principles, 3 often through a presentation of brief Pali citations or monk who has died, but yet those who have given support to the sick pseudo-citations from the Tipitaka, which are then glossed with a Burmese monk (giliinupatthiika) have performed a virtuous service. I allow the translation in the form of an interlineated Pali-Burmese text (nissaya). sangha to give them the three robes and bowl. These include the Buddha's rules for the monastic community concerning [II.] the forbidden ordination of slaves4 and thieves,5 the three categories of monastery and their mode of donation, 6 the solicitation of a preceptor At that time a certain monk with much property and many requisites (upajjhiiya) ,7 ordination by five monks in the border regions, 8 the difference died. Whatever light goods (lahubhartfla) or light requisites (lahu­ between individual and collective monastic lands and property, 9 and dietary parikkhara) there are in his residence among his requisites, [I allow] restrictions. Io The introduction ends with a brief citation from the Vinaya­ the members of the sangha who are present (sammukhibhiita-sangha) piicittiya, perhaps as a warning to anyone who would challenge the authority to distribute them. of the rules or the judgments that follow: "[S]hould any monk knowingly [III.] agitate for the reopening of a legal case that has been settled in accordance Whatever there is among [a dead monk's] requisites in the way of with the law (dhamma), it is an offence requiring expiation."rr heavy goods (garubhart(la) or heavy requisites (garuparikkhiira), [I Among the various rules that are discussed in the introduction to prescribe that] these belong to all past and fUture monks of the entire Decisions, monastic inheritance receives sustained treatment. Indeed, sangha (ciitudisa-sangha), and are not to be divided into shares or apportioned. 14 > Uttamasikkhii, £kaql(v). Uttamasikkhii. c. I706. Rhan TisiisanaAchak Anvay Cii Tamb [Treatise on the ofTisiisana]. Ms = NL kanl;l85. l It is 7--9 folios in length in the manuscripts used. 4 Sinsailghapiila. c. I614. Vinaya Decisions ofSirisanghapiila. Mss = UCL I07I6 ff.chau(v)-cha!Jl(r)), '" Robert Lingat, "V'maya et droit laYque: Emdes sur les conflits de Ia loi religieuse et de Ia loi laYque c£ V'mi,74· · dans l'Indochine hinayaniste," Bulletin de !'Ecole franraise d'Extreme-Orient 37 (I937), 4I5-77· 5 UCL 107I6 £ji(r); c£ Vin I, 74-75· 6 Ibid. ff.cha!Jl(r)-charp(v). 13 Vin I, 303-o5; Sp, II33-34i Sp-~ 3· 343; Vjb, 498-500; Palim, 246-49; Vmv 2, 20I-D2; Palim-n~ 2, 7 Ibid. ff.chal}.(r)-chal_l(v); Vin I, 45-46. 8 Ibid £ja(r); Vin I, I97· 33-36. 10 9 Ibid. ff.ja(r)-(v); Vin I, 250. Ibid. ·ff.ji(r)-(v). n Ibid. £ju(v); c£ Vin 4, I26. '4 Sirlsailghapala, UCL 4893 £ph3J!1(r), UCL 107I6 ff.ja(v)-ja(r). r86 CHRISTIAN LAMMERTS Genres and jurisdictions Although they are presented as such, these are not verbatim "citations" of by the Buddha himsel£18 Despite the fact that slavery was a common fea­ the Vinaya-mahiivagga or of any later commentarial restatement of its rules. ture of Burmese monasticism throughout the second millennium, certain Here the basic canonical formulae are slightly reworked, perhaps because Pali commentaries do appear to forbid the monastic ownership of slaves the author was recalling them from memory rather than copying them (diisa) as a category of bonded individual contrasted with other types of from a written text, or perhaps because he was citing written monastic servants.19 legal compendia or handbooks. We may cite the following two cases from the. collection that exemplify The interlineated gloss (nissaya) that serves as a vernacular translation these various concerns: and brief exegesis of these Pali statements goes on to explain that citation I. II regulates monastic inheritance of property classified as light goods that are owned by the individual monk (puggalika), whereas citation III reg­ nth, waning Pyatho, sakkariija 966 Uanuary 4, r6o5]. The following ulates heavy goods that are owned by the collective fraternity (saitghika). judgment in the Vinaya dispute between the monk Dhammanandi Sirisanghapala concludes his discussion with a vernacular list of the twenty­ and the donor of the Golden Monastery was passed at Sagaing by five types ofheavy goods parallel to that found in Vinaya-cullavagga. 15 Twice Sirisailghapala. As for the remaining property of the dead monk which in the introduction, the making of monastic bequests or wills (accayadiina) has not been distributed or deeded before death: his ·heavy property is expressly prohibited, 16 although the author, following the Vinaya, notes should be retained [as property of the monastery collectively] and that gifts donated during a monk's lifetime remain valid after death. All of the monks of the monastery should distribute his light property and this is perfectly consonant with basic rules contained in the root text of the requisites to those who nursed and aided him while he was sick Since Vi naya. according to the Vinaya monks may not possess slaves, it is right that Interestingly, many of the inheritance cases recorded in Decisions dis­ slaves are inherited according to mundane law (lokavat). As for the cuss problems that arose in the 'context of disputes over who should four types of object of veneration (cetiya), including manuscript-texts inherit manuscripts belonging to a dead monk. Embracing the later Pali (cii pe kyamb gan) and Buddha images, these are classified as neither commentarial classification of manuscripts as objects of veneration of light or heavy property nor as requisites. As Dhammanandi is one the dharnma (dhammacetiya),'7 Burmese Vinaya jurists viewed them and among the four types of son [i.e., was his close disciple),2° and has other objects of veneration, such as Buddha images, as a type of property taken care of the deceased monk, he should receive the manuscripts exempt from the usual descriptive classification of light or heavy goods. and Buddha images. As for the heavy property which is not to be Another major issue in the disputes concerns the inheritance of monas­ separated from the monastery, it may be transferred to anyone in tic property by laypersons aside from those who can be classified as a whom the donor of the Golden Monastery has faith. Except for the supporter of the sick (giliinupa_tphiika), and especially the reversion of prop­ five root texts of Vinaya-piifi and the two Vinaya-a.tthakathii, a total of erty donated to an individual monk by the donor following the monk's seven texts, whatever other manuscripts remain are to be considered 21 death. property belonging to the monastery as before. Another feature concerns the ownership and inheritance by monks of II. slaves (diisa; kyvan). It is clear that Sirisailghapala views the monastic own­ 4th, waning Tagu, sakkariija 967, Wednesday [March 12, r6o5]. Before ership of slaves as a breach of monastic law. Slavery is presupposed as an the [the following judgment was passed at Ava] in the Vinaya acceptable lay Buddhist practice in , and there are several instances in the Tipitaka that suggest that the monastic ownership of ser­ 18 vants (e.g., iiriimikas, veyyiivaccakaras) was common and indeed prescribed Jonathan Silk, Managing Monks: Administrators andAdininistrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monas­ ticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), ch. 3; Gregory Schopen, Buddhist Monks and Business Matters (Honolulu: University ofHawai'i Press, 2004), 193-218; Petra Kieffer-Pulz, "Stretch­ ing the Vmaya Rules and Getting Away with It," Journal of the Piili Text Society 29 (2007), 15 Vin. 2, 170; Lingat, "Vmaya et droitliique," 444-45· ID-35· 16 UCL 10716 £ch"-'!l(v); £ju(r). C£ Vin 2, 267-68; Lingat, "Vinaya et droit laique," 461-65. 19 Vm 2, 267; Vjb 499· '"' C£ Vm r, 45; Ja, 135. '7 Sp-~ 1, 172. :u SirlsaiJ.ghapala, UCL 10716, £jai(v); UCL 4893, £bi(v). r88 CHRISTIAN LAMMERTS Genres and jurisdictions dispute between [the monks] Pafifiara_q1si and Uttamara_q1si. As for the under mundane law, respectively- enables a provocative set of reflections. light requisites of the deceased monk that were not given or deeded A monk is simultaneously subject to two jurisdictions whose authority in [by him before death], the one who attended him while sick should any particular instance is determined by the class of practices in question. receive [a share] and the remainder should be distributed among the Oskar von Hini.i.ber has pointed out that Pali commentators recognize the monks present at his monastery. It is proper that the heavy property authority of royal law over the sangha in the case of certain regulations, remains with the monastery. As for his texts and Buddha images, it and it appears that a similar overlapping of jurisdictions is at work here. 2 5 is appropriate that Pafifiara_q1si and Uttamara_q1si each receive a share The inheritance of monastic property that is not governed by Vinaya is because they were one among the four types of son to the deceased regulated by mundane law. Contrary to the commonly held assumption - [i.e., were his close disciples] and took care of him. The following that monks simply renounce all family ties and status upon ordination, texts shall remain as part of the collection of the monastery ... 22 here we see that for purposes of succession, monks could remain as sons Since according to the Vinaya, monks may not possess slaves, it is or fathers and their surviving biological relatives had a right to inherit proper that the slaves belonging to the deceased monk are inherited property that was illicit in Vinaya terms. by his lay relatives. 2 3 Both of these records typify the inheritance rulings in Decisions and are in The Early Dhammasattha and Their Complex Relationship many respects commensurate with basic Vinaya rules governing inheritance to Vinaya oudined in the Mahavagga, except' for two departures. The first concerns Pali Vinaya literature is often read as testimony to what Buddhist monastic the judgment in the first case that grants the reversion of the heavy property legal culture was really like in historical Southeast Asia. While in certain belonging to a monk to the donor of his monastery following his death. cases canonical Vinaya texts and their mainstream commentarial treatments Here the donor is not granted the right of complete ownership, but has the may provide a reasonably accurate reflection of juridical realities, it is often ability to transfer or re-donate the monastic property of the deceased to difficult or impossible to determine to what extent they are expressions another monk of the same monastery "in whom he has faith." 24 An.issue of scholastic or commentarial ideals. As Charles Hallisey and Anne Black­ over which there is considerable divergence from Vinaya law concerns how burn have argued, Vinaya handbooks and monastic legal rulings - such the ownership and inheritance ofslaves is handled. Although Sirisailghapala as Decisions - allow us to further historicize the ways in which monastic holds that, according to the Vinaya, monks may not possess slaves, he does law was actually negotiated in practical textual, juridical, and pedagogi­ not expressly forbid them to monks. Rather, he rules that should a monk cal contexts.26 Things become increasingly complicated in circumstances own slaves, their partition falls under the jurisdiction of mundane law, where this broad field of Vinaya-related legal learning and literature is not according to which the dead monk is treated as a member of a family and the only relevant genre of law bearing on monastics. thus his relatives have a right to inherit the slaves. The category of "worldly law" that Sirisarighapala invokes is a refer­ Sirisanghapala's recognition here of what we might call the "two legal ence to the legal genre known as dhammasattha, which consists of hun­ bodies" ofa monk- his legal identity under supermundane Vinaya law and dreds of distinct texts that survive in Burmese, Tai, Lao, and Cambo­ dian manuscripts. In Burma, the vernacular term lokavat, cognate with 22 Fourteen textS in pure Piili: Vinaya-piiriijika-piifi and -a.tfhakathii; Vinaya-pariviira; Greater Vinayasangaha-a.tfhakathii; Lesser Vinayasangaha-a.tphakathii; Sutta Silakkhandavagga­ Pali loka-vatta - "worldly practices" or "worldly duties" - is used as a a.tfhakathii; Sutta Mahiivagga-atthakathii; Sutta Piithikavagga-piifi; Dhammasangar'i; Vibhanga; Dhiitukathii; Puggalapafifiatti; Abhidhiinappadfpikii-pkii; Saddaniti. The following are bilin­ gual glosses (niima): Vinaya-piifi-niima; (Vinaya-)a.tfhakathii-niima; Greater Vinayasangaha­ 25 Oskar von Hiniiber, "Buddhist Law According to the -Vinaya: A Survey of Theory and atthakathii-niima; Sutta Silakkhandavagga-a.tfhakathii-niima; Sutta Mahiivagga-atthakathii-niima; Practice," Journal ofthe International Association ofBuddhist Studies 18 (1995), 7-45· Nyiisa(=Mukhamattadtpant)-niima Handbook; Niima of Greater Subcommentaries on the Foun­ 26 Charles Hallisey, "Apropos the Piili Vinaya as a Historical Document," journal of the Piili Text dational (Curricular) Texts. Society 15 (1990), 197-208; Anne M. Blackburn, "Looking for the Vinaya: Monastic Discipline in 2 3 Sir!sanghapala, UCL 10716 ff.jalp.(r)-(v); UCL 4893 £be(r). the Practical Canons of the Theravada," Journal ofthe International Association ofBuddhist Studies 2 4 C£ Schopen, Buddhist Monks and Business Matters, 222-;-23. 22 (1999), 281-309. CHRISTIAN LAMMERTS Genres and jurisdictions synonym for dhammasattha from the early sixteenth century onward. This is clearly aware o£ and in discussions of other matters refers to, the genre was present in Burma by the mid-thirteenth century and has certain Vinaya by name as an authoritative source of the law of theft.2 9 It is remote parallels with Brahm~ical dharmaiiistra literature, espe­ possible to speculate that the reason for the omission of such a section cially in terms of its overall literary structure. However, while dharmasiistra is because monastic and lay jurisdictions were not regarded by the com­ deals in detail with a range of prescriptions of socio-theological relevance piler of the Dhammaviliisa as fully separate - that is, laws derived from only within a Brahm~cal context - such as its rules concerning duties both Vinaya and dhammasattha had authority over both lay and monastic at the different stages of life (iiframa), caste purity; and ritual procedure­ communities. only the eighteen grounds for litigation (vyavahiirapadas) find echo in As noted previously, according to the Discourse on the Property of the dhammasattha. 2 7 Dead of the Vinaya and its commentaries, the supporter of a sick monk Although dhammasattha texts betray affinities with Vinaya and other Pali (giliinupapthiika) is entitled to receive a share ofmonastic property following canonical and commentarialliteratures, this relationship is complex owing his death. Citing a non-canonical narrative of a judgment attributed in to the fact that dhammasattha developed largely outside the scholastic tra­ the text to the Buddha himsel£ the Dhammaviliisa extends this rule to dition that gave rise to successive Theravada commentaries on monastic apply to all supporters of any sick and dying person, wheJ:4er monastic or law. The genealogy of dhammasattha is murky and difficult to reconstruct lay.3° Thus, here we have a case where a Vinaya rule concerning monastic before the seventeenth century, but it is evident that the Southern Indian inheritance is accommodated within and refashioned by an early Burmese and Lankan commentators such as Buddhaghosa and Sariputta, who were dhammasattha text and made applicable to society at large. responsible for codifications of Mahaviharin Vinaya orthodox}' during the There are numerous other examples of the same phenomenon that fifth-twelfth centuries CE, were either unaware of dhammasattha or unwill­ involve different Vinaya-related laws, where Vinaya prescriptions initially ing to classifY it as a legitimate repqsitory of authentically Buddhist law. designed for the monastic community are interpreted as binding on all In mainland Southeast Asia, however, Pali Vinaya literature and dham­ -persons. But it would be wrong to assume that in all cases Vinaya and masattha circulated in cpexistence throughout the second millennium. dhammasattha were easily commensurable. It is precisely in the context of This coexistence was not always frictionless, and in seventeenth-century laws concerning monastic inheritance in later dhammasattha treatises that Burma there are cases of monastic authors harshly criticizing dhammasattha disagreements between the two genres were recognized and the separation as a non-Buddhist literature and an obstacle to the path of nibbiina. 28 On of monastic and lay jurisdictions became increasingly exigent. the one hand, there are instances where surviving dhammasattha texts largely agree with parallel legal provisions in the Vinaya corpus, or indeed The Manusiira Dhammasattha on Monastic Inheritance seem to have taken texts of that corpus as a source for its rules. Yet, on the other hand, there are laws concerning which Vinaya and dhammasattha Redacted in Pali verse and given a prose nissaya commentary in 1651, radically disagree, and such instances of conflict were a cause of significant the Manusiira is the earliest dhammasattha for which we have secure data anxiety in contexts where orthodox textual and jurisprudential purity was concerning authorship and the exact year of compilation. For present_ pur­ a principal concern. poses, it is important because this is the first dhammasattha to include an The earliest surviving dhammasattha text was written sometime before explicit discussion of laws regulating the inheritance of monastic prop­ 1628 CE. This dhammasattha, entitled Dhammaviliisa, does not contain a erty belonging to the sangha as a community whose regulations differ separate section that discusses monastic inheritance, although its author from those of non-monastics. That is, it is the first Burmese legal text to

'7 Dietrich Christian Lammerts, "Buddhism and Written Law: Dhammasattha Manuscripts and Texts in Premodern Burma," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University (2oro). •9 Dhammavilasa. c. 1628. Dhammaviliisa Dhammasat. Mss = 1386 £gu(v); UBhS 163/582 £gat!l(v); ' 8 Christian Lammerts, "Narratives of Buddhist Legislation: Textual Authority_ and Legal Hetero­ c£ Sp, 304. doxy in Seventeenth through Nineteenth-Century Burma," journal ofSoutheast Arian Studies +P JO Dhammavilasa, BL Or Add 12249 ff.chai(v)-cho(v); NL 1386 ff.ghiil).(r-v); UBhS 163/582 ff.ca(r-v); (February 2013), n8-44. UCL 9926 ff.chau(r-v). CHRISTIAN LAMMERT$ Genres and Jurisdictions 193 recognize a clear distinction between monastic and lay jurisdictions and The key passage in question from the Manusiira-nissaya commentary their respective authoritative, textual sources. Moreover, in this section of follows: the text, the compilers explicitly affirm that the rules of dhammasattha I cite the following verses [from the Manusiira-piitha] concerning the and Vinaya regarding monastic inheritance are not in harmony, but in inheritance of monastic property and requisites (parikkhara): disagreement. Upon the death of the father of a sangha, a mahiithera takes the requisites of Before citing the passage in question, a few remarks concerning the com­ going forth, gifts, and offerings. II . _ pilation and overall structure of the text of the Manusiira are necessary. The Dividing his slaves and property mto four shares, the mahathera takes Manusiira in fact contains two texts: the Manusiira-dhammasattha-piitha two. A thera of lesser rank takes one. Dividing the remainder into four and the Manusiira-dhammasat-nissaya. The latter work is a bilingual Pali­ shares, a newly ordained monk takes three. II Burmese interphrasal commentary (nissaya) on the former monolingual A novice takes one. A takes just the gift [given by the deceased]. If there are none of these, an equal takes the property, since Pali verse text (path a). In nearly all surviving manuscripts of the Manusiira, 32 a monk is not a relative of a householder. 11 these two texts are transmitted together, and it is unlikely that at any time since r65I the Pali text circulated or was accessed independently of the The vernacular meaning (adhippiiya) of these verses is as follows: nissaya. The structure of the nissaya commentary is conventional: It cites When a mahiithera who is a parent of a saiJ.gha dies, it is right th~t his in succession one or occasionally several verses from the Pali text and then eight monastic requisites (parikkhiira) - the upper robe, outer robe, girdl7, glosses each word or phrase of the verse individually in succession. This lower robe, ladle, razor, bowl, and needle- his gardens and water-tanks, his interverbal or interphrasal linguistic and semantic gloss is then followed donative offerings, food, and so forth, are inherited by the highest ranki~g by an all-vernacular section that presents a translation of the meaning mahiithera among his monastic disciples. If [the deceased] left any specie, (adhippaya) of the verse. In many instances, however, the commentary slaves, or [other] property (kyel; kyvan uccii), after dividing it. in:o ~our offers far more than simple translation and gives lengthy vernacular digres­ shares, it is right that the highest-ranking mahiithera among his disciples sions on legal topics that are often only distantly related to the verse takes two. A lower-ranking thera [who was his disciple] should take ?ne. After apportioning the remaining share into four shru:es, new~y or~amed cited. monks (paiijan sac), should take three. No':'ic~s are eno~led to inhent [the The compilers based their recension of the Pali sections of the Manusiira remaining] one share. If there are any lay disciples,. relaov~s, or supporters, (Manusiira-piitha) on some preexisting dhammasattha text. At present we they are entitled to only as much as has been delivered mto theu hands, cannot say whether this earlier text was written in Pali, Burmese, Mon, equivalent to their acts of . If there ar~ none of ~ese ~our, then the or some other language, although the introductory verses do mention a [general community of] monks who are entlrled .to the inhentance shoul~ sixteenth-century Mon version that may have served as a prototype. Nor is take it. Why is this? Because monks are not relaoves of laypersons. Such iS the extent of the compilers' editorial intervention in the shape of the Pali the law of the dhammasat. text certain, although it would seem, from passages such as the one cited However, the law of the Vinaya is as follows: in this chapter, that if they had any disagreements with the legal content of the received text, these were registered only in the commentarial gloss .. When a mahiithera becomes unwell and is supported by his own disciples or other [monks], [his property after death] should be distributed amo~g That is, they did not seek to alter the text or meaning of the dhammasattha those monks in the place of his illness. In apportioning hi~ property ~ this as they inherited it. way the monks who gave support to the sick should receiVe an addltlonal The interlineated Burmese section of the Manusiira (Manusiira-nissaya), share. A novice should receive a half-share. Whosoever served as a supporter by contrast, was not a received text, but an original commentary written in of the sick monk, whether a monk, novice, or layperson, is entirled to keep 1651 by Manuraja, the tax-lord or "Eater" ofKuilli}. Village, and the monk whatever they received in their hands [as a gift] from the dying, but o~ly Tipitakalailkara, both of whom were clients of the royal court at AvaY monks are allowed to inherit property that was not transf~rred [as a gl~] before death. If there are any novices who supported the sick monk until

3I Lammerts, "Buddhism and Written Law," 334-56. Manuraja, Kuinl_t ca. and TipiraJ

This is what the texts of the Buddha's teaching (siisanii kyamb) instruct regarding monastic inheritance. Extended analysis is given in the Vinaya Pipaka. The ancient [law of] the partition of monastic inheritance [trans­ mitted in the dhammasattha corpus] is at odds with these Vinaya regula­ tions. For that reason I have purified the text. May my act of purification be cleansed by the clear water of wisdom. 38

"Purifications" such as these were enjoined across Burmese legal culture 39 Lammerts, "Narratives of Buddhist Legislation," I4I-42. during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Throughout this period, 4° Victor Lieberman, Strange Parallels: Southeast Ana in G!~bal Context, c.8oo-I830 vol. I (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), I58-2n. 41 Steven Collins, and Other Buddhist Felicities (New York: Cambridge University Press, 6 3 Lingat, "Vinaya et droit liique," 449, n. I. 1998). . 37 Vru)J:.tadhamma Kyau Thaii.. I77I. Vinicchaya-pakiisani [Legal Judgments Explained]. Mss = UCL .P. Gordon H. Luce, "Mon Glosses in the Pahtothamya Temple," journal ofthe Burma Research Society 983I £che(r); UCL 6526 £jhaJ11(r). I8 (I975), 126-35; Than Tun (ed.), Nhoizp tve. kyok cii myiil; (recendy discovered inscriptions) 8 3 V"-\l!J.adhamma, UCL 6526, £Jifia(r); UCL 983I, ff.chai(r)-chau(v). (Yangon: Myanmar Historical Commission, 2005), 2I-25.