Traces of the Dharma
Preliminary reports on some ye dhammâ
and ye dharma inscriptions from Mainland South-East Asia
Peter Skilling *
The ye dharma stanza occurs in inscriptions throughout the ancient Buddhist world. It is engraved on a range of media, including clay, brick, stone, and metal, and is written in ink on palm-leaf, paper, cloth, and wall surfaces. It is copied in a range of contexts: on objects to be installed in stupas or images, on the outer surfaces of stupas and images (around the base or halo, or on the back), in the colophons of manuscripts, on the front or back of thangkas, and so on. It is recited in rituals for the consecration of stupas, images, and thangkas. The stanza is known in several distinct recensions, in Prakrit, Pâli, and Sanskrit. ' The number of inscriptions is immense, and more continue to be found or noted. 2 Despite this ubiquity, the function of the stanza is still imperfectly understood.
The stanza was spoken not by the Buddha, but by Ašvajit (Pâli Assaji), one of the group of five monks converted in the Deer Park near Benares. Sâriputra, then a wandering ascetic, was impressed by Ašvajiťs radiant demeanor and calm deportment, and asked him who his teacher was and what his teacher taught. Asvajit replied:
The Tathâgata has declared the cause and also the cessation Of the things (dhamma) that arise from causes: Such is the teaching of the Great Šamana. 3
Upon hearing the verse Šariputra attained the first stage of realization, the state of srotàpanna or 'stream- winner'. Sâriputra repeated the verse to his companion Maudgalyâyana, and the latter also attained the first stage. This momentous event is narrated once only, in the Vinayas of the various schools, and the verse occurs once only
* Research Fellow, Lumbini International Research Institute, Lumbini (Nepal), and Nonthaburi, (Thailand). I am grateful to Kannika Wimonkasem (Silpakorn University, Bangkok) for her comments and suggestions on the reading of the inscriptions. 1. For a preliminary attempt to classify the recensions of ye dharma inscriptions see Peter Skilling, 'A Buddhist inscription from Go Xoai, Southern Vietnam and notes towards a classification of ye dharma inscriptions', in 80 pi Satsadachan Dr. Prasert na Nagara: ruam bot khwam wichakan dan charuk lae ekasanboran [80 Years: A collection of articles on epigraphy and ancient documents published on the occasion of the celebration of the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Prasert Na Nagara], Bangkok, 21 March 2542 [1999], pp. 171-187, section II. 2. For a recent example see Lore Sander, 'An Unusual ye dharma Formula', in Jens Braarvig (éd.), Buddhist Manuscripts, Vol. II {Manuscripts in the Scheyen Collection III), Oslo: Hermes Publishing, 2002, pp. 337-349. 3. I translate here from the Pâli version, Vinaya (Pali Text Society edition) 1.40,28-29. In fact there are no semantic differences between the various recensions.
Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, 90-91 (2003-2004), p. 273-287.
