Saddavimala
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Saddavimālā (Lao: ສັດທະວິມະລະ , lit. Purity through Words) is a vernacular Buddhist text preserved in Lao and Khmer manuscript traditions and edited by the French scholar François Bizot together with François Lagirarde. The work is associated with yogāvacara/kammaṭṭhāna meditation lineages of Mainland Southeast Asia and has been used by scholars as evidence for a wider “Southern Esoteric Buddhism.”[1]
Title and language
[edit]The title Saddavimālā appears in Lao and Khmer manuscripts; EFEO projects use the transliteration conventions published in the Bizot–Lagirarde edition.[2]
Discovery, manuscripts, and edition
[edit]Working from Lao and Cambodian sources, Bizot and Lagirarde produced the first critical presentation of the text in 1996 (EFEO). Their edition also notes comparative material from a Northern Thai manuscript tradition.[1][3]
Contents and themes
[edit]Scholars identify passages linking body–syllable visualizations and cosmological schemata typical of yogāvacara/kammaṭṭhāna materials. One study notes the mapping of the five syllables na–mo–bu–ddhā–ya to five Buddhas—an exegetical motif also seen in related traditions.[4] A brief section near the beginning incorporates the imagery of the “five-branched fig tree,” resonating with other Khmer/Lao yogāvacara texts.[5]
Relation to yogāvacara / kammaṭṭhāna
[edit]Saddavimālā is frequently cited in discussions of the Tai–Khmer kammaṭṭhāna (yogāvacara) tradition documented by Bizot and later scholars, which emphasizes ritualized syllables, diagrams, and internal visualizations alongside standard Theravāda practices.[6][7]
Scholarship and interpretation
[edit]The EFEO volume includes philological studies such as Ole Holten Pind’s analysis of Saddavimālā 12.1–11 and its possible Mūlasarvāstivādin sources.[8] More recent work situates the text within broader discussions of Dhammakāya-type visualizations and “Southern Esoteric Buddhism.”[9][10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Bizot, François; Lagirarde, François (1996). La pureté par les mots (Saddavimālā). Textes bouddhiques du Cambodge, Laos, Thaïlande. Vol. 3. Paris–Chiang Mai–Phnom Penh: École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO).
- ^ "User's guide – EFEO Lanna Manuscripts". EFEO Lanna Manuscripts. École française d’Extrême-Orient. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
… transliteration system … published in La pureté par les mots : Saddavimala … pp. 271–275.
- ^ McDaniel, Justin (2005). "Notes on the Lao influence on Northern Thai Buddhist literature" (PDF). CrossAsia (pdf). Retrieved 2025-08-20.
Bizot and Lagirarde working mostly on Lao and Cambodian manuscripts of the Saddavimala … used one Northern Thai manuscript for comparative purposes.
- ^ "Buddhas of the Past and of the Future (Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism – excerpt)" (PDF). Brill / Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia (pdf mirror). 2019. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
… the five buddhas therein are equated with each of the five syllables na-mo-bu-ddhā-ya … referring to Saddavimālā (Bizot & Lagirarde, 1996).
- ^ Woodward, Hiram (2021). "Dhamma Puzzles" (PDF). Udaya (pdf). Retrieved 2025-08-20.
The Lao text, the Saddavimala, has a brief section near the beginning incorporating the imagery of the fig tree …
- ^ Crosby, Kate (2000). "Tantric Theravāda: A Bibliographic Essay on the Writings of François Bizot and others on the Yogāvacara Tradition" (PDF). Contemporary Buddhism. 1 (2). Retrieved 2025-08-20.
- ^ Kourilsky, Gregory (2024). "The "Kammatthan Buddhist Tradition" of Mainland Southeast Asia: Where Do We Stand?". Journal of the Siam Society. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
Includes discussion of Saddavimālā and its textual origins and uses.
- ^ "Reference to: Pind, O. H. 1996. Saddavimala 12.1–11 and Its Mūlasārvāstivādin Origin". Journal of the Siam Society. 2024. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
Cites the chapter in Bizot & Lagirarde (1996).
- ^ Malasart, Witit (2023). "Visualising the Dhammakāya through a Buddha Image". Religions. 14 (12). Retrieved 2025-08-20.
Notes Bizot's placement of related manuscripts within the yogāvacara tradition.
- ^ "Southern Esoteric Buddhism (encyclopedia entry)". Encyclopedia.pub. Retrieved 2025-08-20.