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Royal Message
Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol
of the Kingdom of Thailand
I am delighted and profoundly honoured to present a 40-volume Pāḷi Tipiṭaka in Roman-script edition to 14 leading institutions in Japan today. This occasion is especially meaningful because this publication is the world’s first complete edition of Pāḷi Tipiṭaka in Roman script --from the only Great International Council-- convened by 2,500 Theravāda Buddhist monks in the Buddhist Era 2500 or 1957 A.D. It is, therefore, a Heritage of Humanity Enlightenment which has been preserved in pristine purity for over 2500 years.
In 2005, Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana graciously presented the inaugural set to the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on March 6, 2005, to be preserved at the Presidential Mansion in Colombo. The inaugural set for the Kingdom of Thailand was presented to the people of Thailand and is now preserved at the Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Thailand in Bangkok. The inaugural set for the western world was presented to the Kingdom of Sweden and is now preserved at the Uppsala University Library.
The presentation of the World Tipiṭaka Edition is a meritorious act following the publication of the Tipiṭaka in Siam-script edition by my Great Grandfather, King Chulalongkorn Chulachomklao of Siam, who in 1893 had the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka printed in book-form for the first time in the world. Over two hundred and sixty of these sets were presented to leading institutions worldwide, including no less than 30 sets in Japan, over a century ago.
May the merits of the World Tipiṭaka printing and the presentation bring wisdom, prosperity and life-long happiness to the people of the world, now and always.
10 September 2551 (2008)
Osaka, Japan
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World Tipiṭaka 
