Intrinsic value of knowledge contained in PLMs

The main perceived value of PLMs, according to community members, related to knowledge. As one community educator stated:

I don’t care if the document is damaged but at the least the knowledge it contains has to be disseminated… As I said, my idea is not to see importance in the material but in the knowledge inside… We have to admit that a palm leaf is only the material used to record knowledge. It is just like paper, which is not important. However, the most important thing I always emphasise is the knowledge inside… I don’t conserve palm leaves but the knowledge in them. If all knowledge is translated, I don’t care if the physical objects are burnt or thrown away. (CEL)

Many community members expressed the idea that knowledge represented the core value of PLMs. Most saw Buddhism as the most essential value. In more specific terms, the community as a whole believed PLMs to contain five elements of knowledge, which were, in order of importance: Buddhism, history, the Lanna language and writing, medical treatment, and older sources of wisdom.

4.2.1.1 Comm unit y views on Buddhis t knowl edge

Among the communities in this region, Buddhism has long been considered the highest form of knowledge. One community leader explained:

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It is the Buddha’s teaching. The way to prolong Buddhist teaching is to maintain the age of Buddhism. The people who wrote Lanna Tham script on palm leaves intended to continue teaching Buddhism for 5,000 years because they believed that the reign of the Buddha Kotama would last that long. (CLP)

This view is based on the local legend about maintaining the current Lord Buddha Kotama for 5,000 years before Phra Sri Ariya Mettrai gains enlightenment and becomes the next Lord Buddha. The most significant Buddhist value of PLMs is contained in their religious discourse.

The Buddha’s teachings are used and applied to laypeople’s lives; through these teachings the community is taught to be good and to behave in morally correct ways, particularly through the use of sermons, folktales and lifestyle.

i) Value of sermons in Buddhist knowledge

Some community members saw sermons as especially representative of the ways in which PLMs are used for religious instruction or exhortation regarding how people should behave. On particular occasions, such as on every monk’s day, a monk delivers a lecture about morals, retribution for bad behaviour and fables that illustrate such principles. In this sense, sermons were felt by the community to be an extremely important aspect of PLM use, dating from the time when these beliefs were very strongly held.

ii) Value of folktales in Buddhist knowledge

Some people in the community recognised the tales inscribed on PLMs to include the life values people adopt because they believe in Buddhist doctrine. One teenage community member illustrated the benefit of the tales:

There are many ancient tales in the temple, such as “Ma Khon Kham” [“The Golden-haired Dog”] and “Seing Meing” [a tale about a boy called Seing Meing]. They are contained in the PLMs. The monks use this content in order to teach children. I also refer to the tales when I am in a conversation group. (CMMM)

Another teenager explained that:

The more the “Lanthong” tales were published, the more they sold out. Right now, they are in their fourth edition. There are around ten short stories in the tales. They were translated from PLMs… and are meant as a guideline for life practices. They also include some humorous remarks and ideas. (CMYM2)

These study participants thus suggested that the stories in PLMs should be understood as morality tales. The first story, a folktale from Lampang province, is called “Ma Khon Kham” and is about a golden-haired female dog which had two daughters. One had a prosperous life because of her

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gratefulness, while the other was eaten by a giant because of her ungratefulness. The second story is “Seing Meing”, a well-known folktale in the northern and north-eastern parts of Thailand, which tells of an intelligent but cunning boy who is finally punished because of his personality flaws. Other stories of interest are collected in “Lanthong”, folktales that have been gathered together and published in the Lanna language.

As there has been no international publication, collecting these old folktales, all of which offer moral lessons, is almost impossible. The origins of the tales are unclear; some occur only in ancient Lanna documents written in LannaTham script. Moreover, it can be difficult for contemporary people to read or understand the stories, since the languages used are not taught in the modern educational system.

Both the participants above also noted that children and adults could learn how to behave from these ancient tales. Furthermore, according to the teenagers, the material was important not only in terms of the provision of knowledge but also in the sense of supplying humour and amusement.

iii) Value of Buddhist knowledge as a guide to living one’s life

Many community members shared the opinion that a prime form of knowledge contained in the manuscripts concerned how to live one’s life. As one explained, “There are traditions, practices, moral precepts, and Dharma [the principles or teaching of the Buddha] which relate to how to live” (CMYM2). Within the manuscripts, Buddhist content represents not only abstract concepts but also invaluable guidelines to using Dharma and moral themes to encourage good behaviour in the community. For example, in Dharma, there are five moral precepts that are used as training principles for everyday behaviour: 1) not harming other living beings; 2) not taking what is not given; 3) abstaining from sexual misconduct; 4) abstaining from falsity; and 5) abstaining from intoxicants. These five tenets, then, can be seen as influencing people and encouraging them to behave correctly in order to achieve peace, happiness and virtue within the community.

As mentioned above, the Buddha’s teachings, for example in the form of Dharma, are employed not only by monks but also by laypeople. Buddhism teaches moral principles covering how to live as parents, children, teachers, students and good citizens. In daily life, listening to sermons by monks and reading folktales are seen as appropriate ways for everyone to learn the Buddha’s lessons.

4.2.1.2 Value of hi st ori cal knowledge

Other community members stated that another significant form of knowledge contained in PLMs was historical. One member elaborated on this idea: “The content that we translated is the whole of Lanna history, including the history of the cities of Chiang Saen, Chiang Khong, Phikulchai,

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Nuntaburi, Nan, Haen and Tak, as well as the history of the routes of rivers” (CLA). In essence, this type of history is a localised study of the past which allows people to learn where they came from and who they have become.

One community member emphasised the importance of the translation of historical knowledge:

People who cannot read see an ancient object only as something which cannot harm them. In fact, there is historical value to a physical object… but for me, the knowledge is more important than the object. (CEL)

This particular participant thus felt the importance of PLMs to be located in their historical knowledge, more so than in the idea that the manuscripts might be holy objects.

4.2.1.3 Lanna s cri pt and font kn owl edge

Many community members regarded Lanna script to be another crucial aspect of PLMs. One community educator said:

What I have is language. What I want is to teach Lanna script to Lanna people. I would like them to be able to read Lanna script… The Lanna script should be the language of the Lanna or local people. Therefore, I think local people should read Lanna texts first.

Everything we have talked about, hoped for and dreamt would come true if Lanna people could read Lanna scripts. But in real life it is impossible because Lanna people still cannot read Lanna script. When they cannot read the manuscripts, they can’t understand their value. They don’t know what they are and they don’t know what it is. So, what we’re dreaming about is still far away. (CEL)

This participant believed the most vital solution to all issues relating to PLMs to be the Lanna script. He argued that the more people there were who knew and could use Lanna script, the more accessible and meaningful PLMs would be.

While most community members emphasised the Lanna language, another community educator focused on Lanna script as a font to develop and then apply in product design. He said that, “Being a product designer myself, I never see the younger generation of designers applying the Lanna font in their designs”. Although only this educator identified the style of the Lanna font as being significant, all interviewees focused on the local language as meaningful in PLMs.

4.2.1.4 Medi cal knowledg e i n P LMs

One of the essential forms of knowledge in PLMs, according to people in the community, was medical treatments. They stated that there were formulas, local treatments and herbal medicines

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within PLM content. One female community member told a story about her great grandfather, a folk doctor, who read PLMs in his free time to gain ideas about herbal remedies and recipes for medicines. She saw him create his own herbal remedies in the garden after he had read these PLMs. He planted numerous herbs, brought them into the sunlight, then sliced and pounded them, and used them to heal patients. He also inscribed his own herbal recipes onto PLMs. Indeed, local medical treatment was often based on such wisdom (CMOF1).

4.2.1.5 Stud y and res earch

A slightly different value invested in PLMs, although still within the branch involving sources of knowledge, concerns how study and research might further education in Buddhism, history, language, and herbal remedies and recipes. Community people talked about how study and research were important elements in the preservation and durability of the manuscripts. One community member said:

In my personal view, I consider study to be important. I love studying and reading. I have studied from antique books. Even though I cannot read LannaTham, I feel that a PLM is a book and it should be conserved and maintained. (CMMM)

This interviewee insisted that, no matter where and how he learnt, study brought knowledge and new perceptions. Both he and a female participant also felt that work on PLMs would be interesting for students and researchers.

To summarise, a key value contained within PLMs is that of knowledge, which the participants in this study saw as the most valuable aspect of PLMs. As forms of knowledge and wisdom are founded on community experiences, relations and perceptions, the communities here placed much emphasis on the knowledge found within Buddhism, as presented in the form of sermons about the Buddha’s teachings. The Lanna language also enables literacy. Another value is study and research in further and higher education. Thus, according to community members, the knowledge contained in the manuscripts includes the Buddha’s moral teachings, historical information, information about the Lanna language, medical treatment, and study material.