The Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation
An Interview with Professor Peter Skilling
The Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation (FPL) is a Bangkok-based initiative to conserve, digitize, and study the Buddhist manuscripts and visual arts of Southeast Asia. The foundation evolved from the Fragile Palm Leaves manuscript preservation project, established by Professor Peter Skilling in 1994 in response to the realization that historically valuable palm-leaf manuscripts were being sold as souvenirs in the markets of Thailand and neighboring countries. Professor Skilling is a leading scholar of the Buddhist history and literature of South and Southeast Asia, as well as a Khyentse Foundation advisor and former Khyentse Fellowship awardee. He has lived and worked in the region since the early 1970s.
FPL’s extensive manuscript collection contains texts written in Pali and various Southeast Asian languages that are important for the study of Theravada Buddhism, Pali philology, history, literature, and more. Also featured in the collection are paper books, gilt and lacquered ceremonial manuscripts (Pali: kammavaca), manuscript chests, and woven ribbons used for binding the loose-leaf texts into bundles. Since 2016, the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) has been working with FPL to digitize and make available the manuscripts in its collection.
Beyond this, an important part of FPL’s work is the digitization of manuscripts, visual culture, and inscriptions at temples and museums, mainly in the central region of Thailand but also in Malaysia and Cambodia. This is done “in the field”: that is, the artifacts are digitized in situ and remain where they are. Khyentse Foundation supports both FPL’s day-to-day operations and BDRC’s digitization effort, which is expected to be completed in 2026.
KF talked to Prof. Skilling about the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation, the importance of its work, and some of his other activities.
The Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation (FPL) is a Bangkok-based initiative to conserve, digitize, and study the Buddhist manuscripts and visual arts of Southeast Asia. The foundation evolved from the Fragile Palm Leaves manuscript preservation project, established by Professor Peter Skilling in 1994 in response to the realization that historically valuable palm-leaf manuscripts were being sold as souvenirs in the markets of Thailand and neighboring countries. Professor Skilling is a leading scholar of the Buddhist history and literature of South and Southeast Asia, as well as a Khyentse Foundation advisor and former Khyentse Fellowship awardee. He has lived and worked in the region since the early 1970s.
FPL’s extensive manuscript collection contains texts written in Pali and various Southeast Asian languages that are important for the study of Theravada Buddhism, Pali philology, history, literature, and more. Also featured in the collection are paper books, gilt and lacquered ceremonial manuscripts (Pali: kammavaca), manuscript chests, and woven ribbons used for binding the loose-leaf texts into bundles. Since 2016, the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) has been working with FPL to digitize and make available the manuscripts in its collection.
Beyond this, an important part of FPL’s work is the digitization of manuscripts, visual culture, and inscriptions at temples and museums, mainly in the central region of Thailand but also in Malaysia and Cambodia. This is done “in the field”: that is, the artifacts are digitized in situ and remain where they are. Khyentse Foundation supports both FPL’s day-to-day operations and BDRC’s digitization effort, which is expected to be completed in 2026.
KF talked to Prof. Skilling about the Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation, the importance of its work, and some of his other activities.
Roughly how many manuscripts are in FPL’s collection and what kind of texts do they contain?
There are about 10,986 bundles of palm-leaf manuscripts. They date from the 18th and 19th centuries, a period of intense manuscript production. For the most part, they contain Pali texts in the Burmese script, Burmese-language texts, and mixed (bilingual) Pali-Burmese texts. There are a lesser number in other Southeast Asian languages and we should not neglect that Buddhism’s outreach has always been multilingual. The subjects comprise canonical texts, commentaries, and sub-commentaries of the traditional Theravada Tipitaka, plus summaries and manuals on ancient wisdom and knowledge, including, for example, Abhidhamma philosophy and Pali grammar.
Why are the manuscripts important?
The teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha were passed on orally and then written down in manuscripts for some 2,000 years. Southeast, Central, and East Asian manuscripts—whatever languages they are in, from ancient Gandhari to Pali to Tibetan, Mongolian, or Chinese, without exception—are the precious repositories of the dhamma. Just as Buddha images stand for the life and wisdom of Sakyamuni Buddha and of all Buddhas, past, future, and present, just so manuscripts are the “dhamma body”—the treasure-house of teachings and practices bequeathed by the Buddhas. When these teachings are preserved, recited, and taught by living Buddhist communities or samghas, the Three Precious Jewels—Buddha, dhamma, and samgha—are alive and present for the benefit of all beings, everyone.
How did FPL acquire the manuscripts? Does it continue to build the collection?
The manuscripts were acquired in the early 1990s from open markets in Bangkok and other cities. For various reasons, since the 1990s we have not acquired any more. One simple reason is this: We have enough on our hands as it is!
How many have been digitized to date? Why is this work significant? Have there been any interesting discoveries?
Nearly 10,000 have been digitized so far. The digitization project gives universal access to thousands of Pali and vernacular Theravada manuscripts, for the first time ever. These manuscripts are fragile and, like all things, impermanent. Writing texts on palm leaves is a fine art that had declined and virtually disappeared by the 20th century. The surviving manuscripts show how Buddhist communities devoted their resources, love, and energies to preserving the buddhadhamma. Today, we try to emulate them by making the manuscripts accessible and giving them a long life through digitization. This amazing accomplishment of BDRC in conjunction with FPL and KF springs from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision and understanding.
The FPL collection preserves some unique texts. One is a letter about monastic boundaries giving the authoritative decisions of a high-ranking Burmese monk that was sent to monks in Sri Lanka. There is also an accompanying commentary. This letter is being prepared for publication by leading specialists, who report that at present it is accessible only in the manuscript in the FPL collection.
Tell us more about the work to digitize the manuscripts, visual culture, and inscriptions at the temples and museums.
This is a big project focused at present on Thailand. There are thousands of temples in the country and many have large collections of palm-leaf and paper manuscripts. Until the 20th century, Pali and Thai-language manuscripts were mostly written in a special writing system known as Khom Bali and Khom Thai. The 20th century ushered in the age of printed books in the modern Thai alphabet. The art of reading the Khom letters died out, with the result that the old manuscripts lay neglected. The manuscript libraries contain hundreds of unknown Pali texts that await digitization, study, and translation.
“Visual culture” includes mural paintings, wood-panel paintings, and illuminated manuscripts. These are especially important because, unfortunately, not much is being done to record and preserve them, especially the panel paintings, which are hardly studied at all. These materials are endangered by wear and tear, neglect, and the environmental degradation of the modern period. They need to be preserved for the study of the evolution of Thai Buddhist thought, practice, and art history. Panel, mural, and manuscript paintings all contribute to the understanding of two of Thai Buddhism’s main themes: the past lives and final life of Sakyamuni Buddha, as well as other past and future Buddhas. This is a rich and understudied field.
Regarding the inscriptions, we are slowly building up an archive of the Pali inscriptions of Thailand. This is something that has not been done to date. Why are these inscriptions important? Engraved on long-lasting materials like stone and metal, they are some of the oldest extant Pali texts. The oldest Pali manuscripts go back four or five hundred years at best, while the inscriptions go back roughly 1,500 years. This is a big difference! The engraved texts are a powerful visual proof of how much the ancient peoples of early Central Thailand, or Dvaravati, valued the dhamma. They show how the ancient Buddhist society went to the very heart of the dhamma expressed in the teachings of dependent arising and the Four Truths of the Noble Ones.
Can you name any examples of texts that you have found to be significant to our understanding of Buddhism’s outreach during the “age of manuscripts”?
A good example of a text that was once widespread among Thai, Lao, Khmer, and other communities is the Pali and vernacular versions of the Ushnishavijaya dharani—here in fact not a dharani (a mantra-style formula) but a narrative sutra in prose and verse. The verses are recited for the blessings of long life and health, just as they are in Nepal, Tibet, and East Asia. This is a wonderful conjunction of an international Buddhist practice that is shared by all traditions.
Another example is “The Birth Story of Prince Vessantara,” one of the most popular Jatakas (stories of Sakyamuni’s previous lives) of all time, which was recounted in many languages across Asia and across the centuries. FPL has digitized many versions, in Pali or Thai or as bilingual or sermon versions. We have photographed visual versions from wood-panel, manuscript, and mural paintings. We now have a visual and textual archive of some of the many expressions of this grandest of Jataka narratives.
Does your work extend to identifying or studying manuscripts in other collections?
Yes, indeed. Periodically we receive inquiries from around the world from private individuals and specialists.
You also work with Prof. Saerji of Peking University. What does your collaboration entail?
I have worked with Prof. Saerji for over 20 years, reading and researching Sanskrit and Tibetan texts in both Bangkok and Beijing. I always benefit from his prodigious expertise in and dedication to Buddhism’s rich and diverse heritage. I look forward to further visits from him to collaborate especially on Kangyur and Tengyur texts, and I also hope to pay him another visit at Peking University, where he has attracted an excellent group of teachers and students. It is a pleasure, a joy, to share my experience and knowledge with these representatives of the new and next generation of Chinese scholars.
What are some of the other projects that keep you busy?
Too many projects and too many ideas keep me too busy! I try to teach the beauty and importance of the Buddha’s teachings in literature, history, and the arts. Written texts—words—go hand in hand with the visual arts—pictures. They are something to cherish as Buddhist heritage and world heritage—indeed, as humankind’s universal heritage. I stress the need to learn ancient languages like Pali, Gandhari, Sanskrit, and Classical Tibetan so we can study these texts, and the need to master the arts of translation and communication so we can pass on the Buddha’s teaching to everyone regardless of their language. Learning languages and letters is challenging and enjoyable. Let us not be complacent but learn and learn and learn. Buddhist studies is a lifetime adventure!
As the ancient texts say, ciram titthatu buddhasasanam—May the Buddha’s teaching live long! The Pali tradition reports that Sakyamuni’s final exhortation to his followers was:
Impermanent, unstable
Are all compounded things:
With diligence accomplish
Your aims and your goals.
I am grateful—we at FPL are all grateful—to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, to Khyentse Foundation, and to the extended family of patrons and friends of the dhamma for their firm support and encouragement of the preservation and translation of the Buddha’s teaching, as well as to BDRC for their digitization work.
EVAM
Featured image above: FPL team member Somneuk Hongprayoon presenting a print copy of the temple’s Mon-script Pali manuscript “The Questions of King Milinda” to the abbot, Wat Paramai, Nonthaburi Province, Thailand, c. 2018.
All photos courtesy FPL.