Monk order in ancient Sri Lanka

Kamalika Pieris

Olcott Gunesekera has drawn attention to the fact that the Bhikkhu Sangha is the oldest organisation in the world. It has been in existence for 2500 years. It is a self perpetuating institution , with great emphasis on unity. Buddha placed great emphasis on the unity of the Sangha. It was considered a heinous offence to create schism within the Sangha. The organisation was not centred on a specific person or persons.

The activity of spreading the Dhamma was not given to individual monks, but to the community of monks. This helped create a cohesive Sangha and prevented conflict between organisational and individual goals. The Sangha were to be guided by the Dhamma and the Vinaya.

Patimokkha

Gunesekera notes that the Sangha had a strong set of rules and a structure which was able to survive the centuries. The Vinaya gave the code of conduct and monks were expected to follow it. There was the regular recitation of the patimokkha, the rules of conduct to be followed by all monks residing within a stated limit. Monks came together at regular periods for this, usually twice a month.

Attendance at these meetings was obligatory. This provided an opportunity for monks to purify themselves if they had transgressed any of the Vinaya rules. The onus was on the individual to report the transgression.

Absorption into the Sangha was highly selective. Only worthy individuals were ordained. Training was done with thought and care. There was a preceptor (upajjhaiya) in addition to the teacher, to help novice monks. The monasteries were elaborately organised and the Sangha were monitored.

Survival

The names of the monks were listed in registers. Authority was decentralised. When the Sangha became debased and it became impossible to find even five upsampada monks, the monks took steps to ensure its survival.

Trevor Ling notes that the Sangha survived 'most notably' in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka the Sangha became a formidable national institution. The Sangha had received its ordination directly from India. This gave it a special status.

Brahmi inscriptions show that the Sangha initially led ascetic lives in simply prepared rock shelters. Subsequently monasteries were built close to urban centers. The monks also increased in numbers. According to Fa Hsien the monks in the Anuradhapura alone numbered around 8000 in the 5th century AD.

The Sinhala Sangha asserted through its chronicles, Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, that there was a special relationship between Sri Lanka and Buddhism. Sri Lanka was custodian, interpreter and disseminator of Theravada Buddhism.

The Sangha preserved the Buddhist texts using both the oral and written traditions. Mihintale inscription of Kassapa V shows that special honour was paid to monks for reciting certain sections of the scriptures by heart.

Malalasekera says that that the commentaries brought in by Mahinda show that they were written commentaries. Writing had appeared by the time of the Buddha. He says what the Aluwihare monks did was to arrange the canon and commentaries systemically. Copies of the Aluwihare texts were deposited in leading monasteries.

These monasteries became centres of Buddhist scholarship. They attracted scholars from the South and the Southeast Asia. Siriweera says that the study of Buddhist texts over a continuous period of about 16 centuries and the maintenance of monastic libraries enabled the monasteries to preserve the entire range of Theravada literary tradition.

Monasteries

The Sangha had worldly responsibilities as well. The monasteries got donations of agricultural property, tanks and villages. This turned the Sangha into landowners and made them a formidable economic force.

The records of the 9th and 10th centuries show that monasteries had money, labour and a complex administration. Romila Thapar noted that in India also, from the 3rd to 7th centuries AD, the Buddhist monasteries were rich and the Sangha engaged in commercial activities. They loaned money on interest. They rented their lands and took one sixth of the produce as their share.

Thapar notes that in the time of Dharmasoka in India, Buddhism was not confined to a religious belief. It was a social and intellectual movement influencing many aspects of society. This would have been the situation in Sri Lanka too. Buddhism supported rational thought and inquiry as against dogma and blind faith.

This style of reasoning would, I think, have encouraged scholarship and learning in a wide variety of subjects. For instance Buddhism placed great importance on historical accuracy.

This led to the writing of accurate histories. Mahavamsa shows that they advised on architecture. They knew about medicine. Karunatilaka says that monasteries would have been well placed to play the role of promoters of technological knowledge and skills as well.

It is possible to show there was continuity in the Sinhala Sangha. There were several fraternities of the Sangha, each with its respective headquarters (mula). According to the Mahavamsa, the Galaturumula fraternity started in the time of Dathopatissa II (639-650). In the medieval period, it had a link to royalty.

Fraternity

Lahugala inscription says that the head of the Galaturumula fraternity came from the lineage of Siri Devi, who was a daughter of Lankapura Mahadevi who had been a consort of Kitti (Vijayabahu I).

In the Kurunegala period, Kitsirimevan Kelani Vihara as well as the Gatara Pirivena were under Galaturumula. In the Gampola period, Maitreya thera of Galaturumula fraternity took part in the purification of the Sangha held during the reign of Parakramabahu V. Devundara, Totagamuwa, and Dadigama had Galaturumula monks.

Medhankara Maha Thera was the head of Galaturumula in Kotte period. Sri Rahula, Ven. Mangala Thera and Ranmungoda Dipankara Thera were his pupils. Ven. Mangala thera, later Sangharaja, was the younger brother of Sri Rahula.

He was the head of Sunetra Devi Pirivena and the vihara at Saman Devale. He succeeded Sri Rahula at Totagamuwa. He wrote a Sinhala sanne on Bhakti sataka. The Galaturumula fraternity faded away in the Kotte period.

The writings of R A L H Gunawardana, Olcott Gunesekera, A Guruge, T Ling, G P Malalasekera, Walpola Rahula, W I Siriweera and R Thapar were used for this essay.