-On the eve of National Day of Sri Lanka-
Advent of Buddhism in Sri Lanka
-K.M.De Silva, Colombo
It is very likely that the early Aryans brought with them some form of
Brahminism. By the first century BC, however, Buddhism had been introduced to the Island,
and was well established in the main areas of settlement. According to the Mahavamsa the
entry of Buddhism to Sri Lanka occurred in the reign of Devanampiya Tissa-250-210 BC, a
contemporary of the great Mauryan emperor Asoka whose emissary Mahinda( Asoka's son, as
some authorities would have it, or his brother, as is suggested by others) converted
Devanampiya Tissa to the new faith. Once again the Mahavamsa's account of events conceals
as mush as it reveals, and what it hides in this instance is the probability that
Buddhists and Buddhism came to the island much earlier than that.
The Buddha (or Enlightened One) was born in North India around 563 BC.
(Chief Editor corrects:Budha was born in Nepal but not as the author has mentioned). The
son of ksatriya chief of the republican Sakya tribe, his youth and early manhood were
passed in ease and luxury. But in time he became increasingly dissatisfied with his life
and as a comparatively young man he abandoned his home and family and opted for a life of
asceticism in a search for salvation. Six years of this austere existence left him
profoundly disillusioned with it, and quite convince that asceticism taken to exaggerated
lengths was not the path of salvation. This realization spurred him on to a single-minded
search for a more satisfying means of salvation. On the fortieth day of a long spell of
meditation, an understanding of the cause of suffering dawned on him. He had attained
enlightenment.
At the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Varanashi, he preached his first
sermon and gathered his first five disciples. This sermon, 'Turning of the Wheel of Law'
as it was called, incorporated the Four Nobel Truths (Suffering, the cause of Suffering,
Cessation of the Cause, and the Path leading to Cessation) which form the nucleus of
Buddhist teaching. The Buddha explained that the world was full of suffering, that this
was caused by human desire through the Eightfold Path consisting of eight principles of
action: right views, resolves, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, recollection and
meditation, the combination of which was described as the Middle Way, the basis of a life
of moderation and equipoise. Salvation lay in achieving nirvana, or freedom from the wheel
of rebirth. The doctrine of karma was essential to the Buddhist conception of salvation,
but in contrast to the Brahaminical view of karma it was not used to buttress the
prevailing caste structure, since Buddhism was basically opposed to caste. Buddhism was,
if not atheistic, at least non-theistic is as much as the emphasis on casualty as the
basis of analysis left nothing to divine intervention, and in the Buddhists system a God
was not regarded as essential to the universe. Despite the severely rational undertones of
its arguments, its simplicity and freedom from complicated metaphysical thinking
contributed to its immediate appeal to those who heard it.
About a hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvana the sanghs split
in two-the Sthavirs(elders) and Mahasanghikas (members of the Great Order). Accoring to
tradition there were three Buddhist Councils, the first of which was held at ajagrha after
the Buddha's parinirbana. It was at the second, which took place at Vaisali a century
later, that the split occurred. At the third Council in Pataliputra in 250 BC during the
reign of Asoka, the Sthavirs emerged as the orthodox or Theravada sect (9the Sthavirvada
school), and the more sectarian Buddhists succeeded in excluding the dissidents and
innovators-the heretical Mahasanghikas- from the Sthavira or Theravada faction. This paved
the way for the later schism of Buddhism into the Little Vehicle (Thereavada) or more
orthodox branch, and the Greater Vehicle or Mahayana branch with its stress on the
compassionate bodhisattva, intent on enlightenment for himself and the liberation of
others. Though Buddhist sources have naturally endeavoured to associate Asoka with the
third Council he does not refer to it any where in his inscriptions, not even in those
relating specifically to the sangha.
Aspka's conversion to Buddhism had occurred after his famous Kalinga's
campaign of 260 BC. Remorse stricken at the carnage and the fearful destruction he had
caused when he utterly routed the Kalingas, he found himself attracted to Buddhism in his
effort to seek expiation. After a period of two and a half years he became a zealous
devotee of Buddhism, but he would not permit his personal commitment to Buddhism to
conflict with his duty-indeed the practican necessity-imposed on him as ruler of a vast
empire to remain above the religious rivalries and competition within it. Thus the
restraints of kingship in a multi-religious empire may have prompted the decision not to
participate actively in and associate himself with the third Council. However, he could
and did lend his patronage to the missionary impulse which emerged from this Council's
deliberations where the decision was taken to send missionaries to various parts of the
sub-continent and to make Buddhism an actively proselytizing religion which in later years
led to its propagation in South and South-East Asia. One such mission was that sent to Sri
Lanka in the time of Devnampiya Tissa.
The Mauryan Buddhist mission to Sri Lanka found itself preaching to a
receptive audience. No doubt the conversion of Devnampiya Tissa was decisive in ensuring
its success. At a time when the authority of the Kingdom of Anuradhahapura over the
kingdoms' in the island was on the increase, its patronage of Buddhism would have greatly
hastened the acceptance of that religion by the people at large. According to both
epigraphic and literary sources, the spread of Buddhism over the island's settlements was
swift. But as it expanded its sway, Buddhism was transformed by the assimilation of
pre-Buddhistic cults, and rituals and ceremonials of an exorcist character. Buddhism was
coming to terms with its Sri Lankan environment.
The rapid spread of Buddhism was not without political implications.
For one thing, religious sentiment strengthened the friendly links established between Sri
Lanka and the Mauryan empire. The Buddhist mission to Sri Lanka had been led, as we have
seen, by Mahinda who was either Asoka's son or brother; following on his success came
Sanghamitta, a kinswoman of Asoka, to establish the order of Buddhist nuns in the island.
Apart from frequent exchanges of gifts and envoys between the two countries, Asoka also
sent a branch of the bo-tree under which the Buddha had attained enlightenment. This tree
still survives at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, while its parent was cut down in later
centuries by an anti-Buddhist fanatic.There was also the close link forged between the
state and Buddhism. Evnampiya Tissa himself granted a royal park as a residence for the
ordained priesthood. This was the beginning of the Mahavihara, the historic center of
Buddhist orthodoxy in ancient Sri Lanka. Within a short time of Mahinsda's mission,
Buddhism emerged as the established religion of the country. Finally, at this time the
level of development of Sri Lanka's agricultural economy did not yet provide an adequate
foundation for a unifies and centralised state. But settlements spread all over the island
were evidently speaking a common language and were found soon using a common script. The
rapid spread of Buddhism was a potent factor of unification, primarily cultural no doubt,
but one which strengthened the process of political unification within the island.
The eastern German economy needs state aid-for a
long time to come
-Klaus von Dohnanyi, Germany
It started out as just another day, but the night of 9 November 1989
was to become the most unusual night for freedom. Like in the last act of
"Fidelio", the people came out, blinded by television floodlights, still unable
to believe that they had cast off their chains; they drove, they tumbled across to the
West, through the gates in the Wall that. Just a minute earlier, had been an insuperable
barrier. "Madness" was the mood of the hour. No mention of 'one people', no
focus on material desires. The tears were tears of joy; joy at the unexpected happiness of
courageously won freedom.
Today we so often hear that the euphoria of the first few hours has
given way to a more sober mood-yet how could it have been otherwise? People who live in
freedom quickly get used to it. But people need more in their lives than freedom: they
need work, security and justice.
Ten years after the fall of the Wall, the landscapes of the former GDR
have been transformed. Often mockingly quoted, ex-Chancellor Kohl is proving his critics
wrong: the landscapes of East Germany are indeed beginning to flourish. The roofs are
newly re-tiled, the facades are painted in bright colors, important buildings have been
lovingly restored, roads and railways have been modernized, people can phone anywhere in
the world: no one familiar with depressing appearance of the old GDR would have believed
it possible.
But ten years after the Wall came down, unemployment in the
"new" Lander stands at over 17%, if one adds those "artificially
employed" in state-supported jobs and training schemes, the figure is almost 25%, in
contrast, the rate in the west is declining and has now come down to approximately 9%. Nor
does this include an overstaffed civil service, 30% more employees per inhabitant than in
the west, or manpower reserves in the private sector which results from the lack of
productivity compared in the west. The new Lander were largely de-industrialized after
1989: roughly one fifth of Germany's population lives on this one-third of its territory,
but only just over one-tenth of the country's overall economic output and less than
one-twentieth of its exports are produced there.
There are of course major successes. Revived GDR firms and new
companies are holding their own in the face of competition. The automotive sector employs
more than 30,000 people, with 22,000 plus in Saxony and Thuringia alone. The IT firms
centered in and around Dresden are doing well on the world market.
But most of the East German firms are small, much smaller than the EU
average. The battle for a place on the markets is tough. There are hardly any national or
even European 'brands' of east German origin. The equity base is, in view of the
challenges, inadequate, and the margins are narrow. The commitment and flexibility of the
east German workers will be able to close these wounds of history only very slowly.
The landscapes are flourishing-but industry is still suffering badly.
If the relative rates of industrial growth in eastern and western Germany remain as they
have stood since 1995, it will take many decades before even roughly comparable living
standards are possible. Today's per capita tax revenues in east Germany are still less
than half of those in the west of the country. In view of a share of only 8% of total
German tax revenues, high transfers will continue to be needed from the West for the
foreseeable future-even if, in its 1999 annual report on German unity, the new Federal
Government puts the annual transfers for the 'actual' rebuilding of the economy at 'now
only' DM 40 billion.
In social terms, Germany remains divided. Nowadays, those looking for
the causes generally start from 1989/90, with the self-liberation of the GDR, the opening
up of East German and Eastern European markets, the accession of the GDR to the Federal
Republic. After all, there was a time, in its heyday, when the GDR was regarded as the
tenth-strongest economy in the world and when it created almost 70% of its national
product in the goods-producing sector-1980. Today, only 600,000 people are still employed
in the manufacturing sector, 1989 over 3 million. Even the rural areas in the west have a
higher average industrial presence than the traditional industrial centers of eastern
Germany.
What needs to be done? We shall continue to need a lot of patience, a
lot of time and money. Even if the adjustment of the economic structures is advancing
further, it will be a long time before east and west arrive at the same level, given the
slow growth rates. Misplaced expectations must not be reawakened. It is therefore
important for the government to survey the situation after ten years and to set out the
next ten years of the project of rebuilding the east with clearly defined objectives,
timetables and financial requirements, so that the Germans know what to expect and can
review the progress made. Annual debates then could be held in which the situation is
reviewed in an east-to-understand way and any necessary corrections are made. Confidence
in the east will develop only if the democratic market-based system proves both committed
and capable of learning.
Anyone who casts his gaze back ten years will never forget the joys of
freedom experienced at the time in a reunited Europe. Even if the wounds of the past have
yet to close, we should not be too disappointed: the injuries were too deep. The job is
not yet finished, but the task has not been abandoned. And finally: the reunification of
Germany also resulted in the reunification of Europe and a peace beyond the dreams of
anyone on this continent at the beginning of the century.
The author, a former Federal Minister and Mayor of Hamburg, is
involved in rebuilding the economy of East Germany as a consultant and a manager-editor. |
