A brief history of the teachings in Sri Lanka up until and including the time of Buddhghosa is given by Nina van Gorkom in the first chapter of Pilgramage in Sri Lanka.
I became interested in the history of Sri Lanka and started to read the “Mahāvaṁsa”, an old chronicle, compiled at the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century A.D.
After the third Council, which was held in India during the reign of King Asoka (250 B.C.), missionaries were sent out to different countries 2. The arahat Mahinda, King Asoka’s son, was sent to Sri Lanka together with four other monks, a samanera (novice) and a lay-disciple. They went to Mahintale where they met the Singhalese King Devānaṁpiya Tissa while he was hunting deer. The King laid aside his bow and after Mahinda had tested him on his readiness to hear the Dhamma he preached to him the “Lesser Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Foot Print” (Middle Length Sayings I, no 27). This sutta describes the life of a bhikkhu who abstains from ill deeds through body, speech and mind, who “guards the six doors” through mindfulness, develops jhāna (absorption-concentration) and finally attains arahatship.
The following day Mahinda and the other monks went to Anurādhapura where the King presented Mahinda with the royal park. This place became the “Mahā Vihāra” (Great Monastery), a famous center of Buddhism. The monastery of Cetiyapabbata and many other monasteries were established as well.
Mahinda had brought the “Tipiṭaka” and the commentaries to Sri Lanka and these were translated into Singhalese. Many Singhalese wanted to lead the “homeless life” and were ordained monks. Women wished to become bhikkhunīs, nuns, and bhikkhunī Saṅghamittā, Mahinda’s sister, came to Sri Lanka in order to ordain bhikkhunīs. She brought the sapling of the Bodhi tree from India to Sri Lanka. During the reign of King Devānaṁpiya Tissa the “Thūpārāma Dāgaba”, the oldest stupa in Sri Lanka, was also constructed and in this stupa the relic of the Buddha’s right collarbone was enshrined.
The Buddhist teachings declined in India, but they were preserved in Sri Lanka. However, when one studies the history of Sri Lanka one sees how difficult it must have been to preserve them. Invading kings and also local kings who did not support the Sangha threatened the survival of the teachings.
After an invasion by Tamils, King Duṭṭhagāmaṇī (about 150 B.C.) restored the position of the Sangha and started to build the “Ruvanvelisāya”, the great and famous stupa of Anurādhapura, which contains relics of the Buddha and which is together with the Bodhi Tree the center of worship in Anurādhapura up to today.
Not only wars, also famines have threatened the survival of the teachings which were not yet committed to writing. Many people died during those famines and the arahats who survived on roots and fruits continued to recite the teachings with heroic fortitude. When they had no more strength to sit up, they continued reciting while lying down.
Wars, famines and also the introduction of wrong beliefs and wrong practice made it difficult to preserve the teachings. Finally, in 89 B.C., the teachings were committed to writing. Five hundred monks undertook this great enterprise in the cave of Aluvihāra (Alulena) which we visited during our pilgrimage.
Several centuries later (410 A.D.) Buddhaghosa Thera came from India to Sri Lanka. Here he composed his famous “Path of Purification” (Visuddhimagga). He edited all the commentarial material he found in Sri Lanka and translated these commentaries from Singhalese into Pāli. The commentaries to the Vinaya, to most of the Suttanta and to the Abhidhamma were translated and edited by Buddhaghosa. The “Atthasālinī” (Expositor) is the commentary to the first book of the Abhidhamma, the Dhammasaṅgaṇi.
Sri Lanka, where the Tipiṭaka and the commentaries were preserved, is an inspiring country to visit in order to recollect the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. The fact that numerous arahats lived in this country proves that the Dhamma was truly practised in daily life.
How fortunate are we that these teachings have been fully preserved until today?
R