Abstract:
Lokappadipakasara was composed in Sukhodaya period. It is considered that this Pali text described Sukhodaya scholars view of the world and the universe in detail. The important contents from various texts such as Tripitaks, Commentaries, and Sub-Commentaries are compiled and analized by the auther; Phra Medhankara, both in prose and poetry. This work indeed is a research and a literary work of great value and known not only in Thailand but also in Burma and Srilanka as well. The evidence of this fact can be seen in Stone Inscriptions of Sukhodays period, a Burmese text called Sasanavamsa and also chronicle describing the Thai royal envoys and Srilanks envoys in later Ayudhya period. The manuscripts of this text were inscribed on palm-leaves in Khmer and Mon alphabets. Six of eight chapters have been already studied and critically edited by others, so the seventh chapter entiled Okasalokanidesa should be respectively done. The purpose of this thesis is to make a critical edition of Lokappodipakasara chapter VII in Khmer and Mon alphabets and translate it into Thai. Also the Pali language used in the original text will be studied and some important parts of the content will be analized. The thesis is devided into 5 Chapters. The first chapter is an introduction stating the topic of the thesis, the purpose, the limit and the benefits which can be gained from the research. The second chapter deals with Lokappadipakasara chapter VII from the manuscripts kept at the National Library and at Wat Petchplee in Petchburi analizing the language and poetic forms in this text. Also the origin of ideas presented in Lokappadipaksara Chapter VII, including the views regarding the world, the universe and measurement of distance and time is studied. The third chapter is the edited Pali of Lokappadipakasara chapter VII. The fourth chapter is the Thai translation of Lokappadipakasara chapter VII gathered with footnotes on meanings of words which are important to the understanding of the contents. The fifth chapter is the conclusion and suggestion. The result of the research can be concluded that among all edited manuscripts, the royal manuscripts are more proper and accurate than the public ones. The Pali language used in Lokappadipakasara chapter VII is similar to that in commentaries. Both poetry and prose are used. The metrical forms used are, for examble, Patthyavat, Indravichien, Upachati and some in the time of the Buddha. The content is the description of Okasaloka or the universe, explaining the extense, the limitation, the beginning and the end of the universe, the meaning and the kinds of kappa, the distance between various phooms the measurement of distance and time. In other words, the composer has expressed his view of the world and universe in every detail. His view gives us a picture of the world and the universe in which there are both similarities and differences with the scientific view. His view of the extense, the form and the end of the universe is similar to the scientific view. The difference is that Lokappadipakasara emphasizes the mutability and the uncertainty of nature and the influence of the mind on both the prosperity and the destruction of natural and human conditions so as to advise people to do good carefully.