Luse luphracvadanuvada vinicchaya(Court Decision
on Transmigration). Vinicchayaliterature, as well as the
contexts in which it is produced and deployed, could
be profitably studied in light of Burmese Buddhist le-
gal sources (e.g., rajasats, dhammasats) and culture
dating to precolonial Myanmar.
Devotional and meditative literature includes
handbooks focused on different aspects of daily prac-
tice associated with the Buddha and his teachings. Such
handbooks help explain the meaning and dynamics of
devotional and meditative activity. Examples include
UTan ̇Cui’s Pu tlcipnaññ(Method of Reciting
Stanzas, 1999) and Muigh Ññhan ̇ Cha ra to’s
Vipassanaa lup pecañtarakrl(Way of Vipassana
Practice, 1958). The latter volume discusses the intri-
cacies of VIPASSANA (SANSKRIT, VIPAS ́YANA; insight)
MEDITATION, which has become popular in South and
Southeast Asia, as well as in the West.
In closing, it should be emphasized that there are
several kinds of material that fall outside the types dis-
cussed here. These materials include novels, such as
Gurunanda’s Samavati e* tacbhava samsara(The Life
of Samavati, 1991), which draws its story about a queen
from the fifth-century philosopher BUDDHAGHOSA’s
commentary on the DHAMMAPADA(a work of verse in
the Pali canon). Clearly, a vast literature awaits those
willing to engage the complexities of Burmese and the
Burmese Buddhist world.
See also:Myanmar; Myanmar, Buddhist Art in; Pali,
Buddhist Literature in
Bibliography
Bhe Mon ̇Tan ̇, U. Mranmacape samuin ̇(History of Burmese
Literature). Yangon, Myanmar: Sudhammavat, 1955.
Chulalongkonmahawitthayalai, et al. Comparative Studies on
Literature and History of Thailand and Myanmar.Bangkok,
Thailand: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn Uni-
versity, 1997.
Herbert, Patricia, and Milner, Anthony, eds. South-East Asia:
Languages and Literatures, a Select Guide.Honolulu: Uni-
versity of Hawaii Press, 1989.
Hla Pe. Burma: Literature, Historiography, Scholarship,
Language, Life, and Buddhism.Pasir Panjang, Singapore:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985.
Houtman, Gustaaf. “The Biography of Modern Burmese Bud-
dhist Meditation Master U Ba Khin: Life before the Cradle
and past the Grave.” In Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Tra-
ditions of South and Southeast Asia,ed. Juliane Schober. Hon-
olulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
Huxley, Andrew. “Studying Theravada Legal Literature.” Jour-
nal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies20, no.
1 (1997): 63–91.
Janakabhivamsa, Arhan ̇. Abhidhamma in Daily Life,tr. and ed.
U Ko Lay. Yangon, Myanmar: Aung Thein Nyunt, 1999.
Khin Maung Nyunt. An Outline History of Myanmar Literature:
Pagan Period to Kon-baung Period.Revised edition. Yangon,
Myanmar: Cape Biman, 1999.
Kratz, E. Ulrich, ed. Southeast Asian Languages and Literatures:
A Bibliographical Guide to Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian,
Javanese, Malay, Minangkabau, Thai, and Vietnamese.Lon-
don and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1996.
Smyth, David, ed. The Canon in Southeast Asian Literatures: Lit-
eratures of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand, and Vietnam.Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2000.JASONA. CARBINEBU STON (BU TÖN)Bu ston rin chen grub (pronounced Bu tön rinchen-
drub, 1290–1364) was the most illustrious member of
Zhwa lu Monastery in Gtsang (Tsang), located in west
central Tibet. He was also the Tibetan scholar most ac-
tive in collating and editing the Tibetan Buddhist
CANON, the Bka’ ’gyurand Bstan ’gyur.The Bka’ ’gyur
(Kanjur) is the collection of Tibetan translations of
works attributed to the Buddha. The Bstan ’gyur(Tan-
jur) is the collection of Tibetan translations of impor-
tant Buddhist commentaries and other related
materials. The formation of the Bka’ ’gyurand Bstan
’gyurbegan with the collecting of manuscripts and
translations of Buddhist texts into Tibetan in the early
ninth century. The process culminated in the early
fourteenth century when, according to the Blue Annals
(a translation of Gzhon nu dpal’s Deb ther sngon po),
manuscripts scattered over many monasteries and
temples in Tibet were gathered together in Snar thang
(Narthang) Monastery.
Bu ston then took the Snar thang version of the canon
to Zhwa lu, where he checked the translations against
Indian originals, added other works, and produced a
Bka’ ’gyurand an authoritative version of the Bstan
’gyur. The Bka’ ’gyurand Bstan ’gyurthat Bu ston edited
is the origin of the majority of the extant Tibetan canons.
The categories under which he grouped the various texts
are the most widely used and admired. He gives a de-
tailed description of his work in his Chos ’byung(His-
tory of Buddhism), partially translated into English by
the Russian scholar Eugène Obermiller in the 1930s.BU STON(BU TÖN)