Sinhala Sangha and the concept of a nation

“The Order of Sinhala Sangha spread far and wide and reached the confine of neighbouring countries. Their presence was felt both in the north and south of the Indian sub-continent. South Asian countries too hosted the Sihala Sangha.”
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by Prof. Abaya Aryasinghe

(March 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Order of monks established by Arahat Mahinda was popularly known as Sinhala Sangha. It belonged to the Theravada school. On different interpretations and analyses of knotty points of the Dhamma which arose from time to time separate centres such as Abhayagiri and Jetavana took roots in Anuradhapura. They were purely creations of the Sihala Sangha. Into these establishments penetrated influences of Indian Bhikkhus of divergent views and expanded the horizen of Buddhist thought and learning. Abhayagiri-vasins got the new name Dhammaruci and the Jetavanavasins received the name, Sagalika after the names of such schola-monks who came to Sri Lanka. Sanghamitta was a Colian Bhikkhu who won the favour of king Gothabhaya. In the time of king Aggabodhi II a bhikkhu named Jotipala came from South India to check the spread of the Vaitulyavada doctrine in Sri Lanka. These powerful and learned monks never tried to plant chapers or centres of their own on Sri Lankan soil. They all worked under the common canopy of Sinhala Sangha.
The Order of Sinhala Sangha spread far and wide and reached the confine of neighbouring countries. Their presence was felt both in the north and south of the Indian sub-continent. South Asian countries too hosted the Sinhala Sangha.

It was a veteran member of the Sinhala Sangha who built a vihara at Buddhagaya for the visiting theras from Sri Lanka. Upasika Bodhisri had built a residence for the use of Sihala Sangha at Amaravati in South India. Chapata, a Burmese monk who lived in the 12th century obtained higher Ordination in Sri Lanka and remained here for ten years under the tutalage of Sinhala Sangha. This monk returned to Burma with the idea of establishing Higher Ordination in his country in the line of the rules set out by the Sinhala Sangha. Out of four monks who accompanied him to Buram only one was of Sinhala nationality. The others were from Kancipuram, Tamralipti and Kamboja. These missionaries though from five different nationalities banded themselves as Sihala Sangha and work for the good of the Burmese Buddhists. No evidence is coming forth to prove that any raised a communal or racial cry in their dealings. At Ratubaka in Java an inscription discovered recently refers to the existence of an Abhayagiri Vihara of the Sihala Sangha. Undoubtedly this establishment had been set up by Sihala Sangha of the Abhayagiri Vihara at Anuradhapura for the use of the monk in Java.

Eminent commentators such as Buddhaghosa and Buddhadatta came from the Cola country. Their birth-place is however not traced definitely. There exists a commentary called the Andhatthakatha along with Kurundi and Sihalattha-Katha. The former must have been a compilation by the Andhara Bhikkhus within the confine of the Sihala Sangha. To the monk, Kassapa who was a Colian goes a share of credit for writing Tikas for the Vinaya and the Abhidhamma. Anuruddha of the Ramanna country was sent to Sri Lanka with some wise monks to restore the Higher Ordination in the reign of Vijayabahu I. It was a Sihala thera named Ananda who revived the dying flame of Buddhism in the Cola country in the post-Vijayabahu period. King Parakramabahu II invited monks from the Cola country to work for the unification of the Sangha in Sri Lanka in the Dambadeniya period. This invitation should not have been extended to them had those monks belonged to a hostile Order of monks. In the time of king Parakramabahu IV a Coliya monk was elevated to the high position of Rajaguru.

The end of the 15th century was a land-mark in the history of the Sihala Sangha. A group of monks from the Ramanna country came to Sri Lanka for Higher Ordination. The ceremony was held on the Kelani river with appropriate observation of the Vinaya rules. The monks thus ordained went back to Burma and established Vinaya-Sima near Pegu for their future ordinations. Patronised by King Dhammacetiya, all Bhikkhus in Ramanna were higher ordained in the tradition of the Sinhala Sangha. Among the countries in South-east Asia, Thailand deserves our attention as a country which received Buddhism at a very early time. A thera named Udumbara (probably hailed from Dimbulagala) was invited by King Lidayya of Thailand to be his Rajaguru. In 1323, monks from Thailand and Kamboja visited Sri Lanka for Higher Ordination also at Kalyani at the behest of Sihala Sangha.

In the time of Kirti Sri Rajasinghe, Upali thera from Thailand was invited to re-establish Higher Ordination in Sri Lanka when Buddhism was in the path of extinction in this country. Upali thera was the Founder of the Siamese Sect of the present day.

On evidence advanced above, one may easily endorse view that within the charter of Sihala Sangha many nationalities worked for the promotion of the Sasana with no internal divisions. There is no clue to say that they tried to promote their own racial or communal interest. Unlike in the modern time in the Order of Bhikkhus there had been no divisions of the Sangha in keeping with their social differences. The ancient community of Bhikkhus nourished in the true Sasana traditions upheld Sihala Sangha as their becon and worked accordingly. It should be noted that in all these moves the members of the Sihala Sangha took the leadership and the rest followed.

This is the excellent lesson that these noble spiritual sons of the Buddha had thought the civilised world.

Why not follow the same principle in dealing with the politics in this country?
- Sri Lanka Guardian