Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T16:52:14.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Buddhism in Ceylon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Josiah Crosby
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The three Buddhist sects, peculiar to Ceylon, are agreed upon all fundamental points of doctrine. The differences between them are confined to points of practice and of outward observance.

As has been seen the Siam Sect was founded after the arrival at Kandy in a.d. 1753 of a delegation of monks sent from Siam at the request of King Kīrti Srī to renew the validity of monastic orders, which had come to lapse in Ceylon in the course of frequent wars and internal disturbances. The following quotation is taken from Donald Obeyesekere's Outline of Ceylon History (Colombo, 1911):—

“In 1750 the Emperor (i.e. King Kīrti Srī), with the assistance of the Dutch, dispatched an embassy with presents and a letter to King Dammika of Siam, requesting the latter to send some learned priests for the purpose of advancing Buddhism in Lankā (Ceylon). Accordingly there arrived in Lanka a learned high priest, named Upali, with over ten other, priests, bringing with them books of Dharma and the Vinaya, such as were not to be found in Ceylon. They were received with great ceremony and honour by the Emperor, and ere long the rite of ordination was conferred, amid great rejoicing, on the principal sāmaneras (novices) of Ceylon. The Siamese priests were given the Malwatta Vihīra to reside in. Another chapter of priests, together with the high priests Mahā. Visuddhācariya and Varananamuni, were sent over to Ceylon during this reign by the King of Siam, and hundreds of Sinhalese underwent the upasampadā ordination.”

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 79 , Issue 3-4 , January 1947 , pp. 166 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1947

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adikaram, E. W.Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon. Published by D. S. Puswella, Migoda, Ceylon, 1946.Google Scholar
Appleton, G.Buddhism in Burma (Burmu Pamphlets, No. 3). London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1943.Google Scholar
Codrington, H. W.A Short History of Ceylon. (Revised Edition.) London: Macmillan and Co., 1939.Google Scholar
Copleston, , Reginald, D.D.Buddhism Primitive and Present in Magadha and Ceylon. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1892.Google Scholar
DrDavy, J.An Account of the Interior of Ceylon. London, 1821.Google Scholar
Dhammāpila, Bhikkhu. Basic, Buddhism. Published by the All-Ceylon Buddhist Students' Union, 1945.Google Scholar
Hocart, H. M.The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Memoirs of the Archæological Society of Ceylon, Vol. IV. Published in London for the Government of Ceylon by Luzao and Co., 1931.Google Scholar
Knox, Robert. Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon. First published in London in 1681. New edition published by Messrs. MaeLehose in 1911.Google Scholar
Nābada, Thero. The Mirror of the Dhamma. Published by the Ceylon Daily News, Colombo, 1945.Google Scholar
Obetesekere, DonaldOutline of Ceylon History. Published by the Times of Ceylon, Colombo, 1911.Google Scholar
Parker, H.Ancient Ceylon. London: Luzao and Co., 1909.Google Scholar
Smith, Vincent A.A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911.Google Scholar
Ceylon Daily News, passim.Google Scholar
Times of Ceylon, passim.Google Scholar
The Maha-Bodhi (Journal of the Maha-Bodhi Society), passim.Google Scholar