(,,BUDDHISM AND THE DUTCH. EUROPEAN RIVALRY ON SRI LANKAN SOIL ,,),,in the mid 16th century, the Dutch were at war with the spanish and the portuguese in Europe, they also attacked portuguese territories in the Far East to gain an overseas empire of their own, and wrest control of the lucrative spice, this conflict between the Dutch and the portuguese over the colonies was to last until the mid 17th century, and sri lanka was one of their battlegrounds, After senarat, s son ascended to the throne as Rajasinha ll in 1635, he won a major victory over the portuguese, weakening their hold on the island, in 1638, he concluded a treaty with the Dutch to secure their assistance against the portuguese and in return, he granted them a monopoly of the island,s cinnamon trade, The portuguese were eventually driven out by the Dutch in 1660 However. they refused to keeo their promise Rajasinha to return his territories, as stipulated in their treaty Eventually, they controlled all the coastal areas., leaving kandy a land locked kingdom ,,,(,,CINNAMON COMES FIRST,,,),,While the portuguese went all out to destroy Buddhism and convert the local population to christianity, the Dutch had a different policy, they considered sri lanka as a base for their trade in cinnamon, and intended to generate as much revenue as they could from the island, Religion and politics thus took a back seat to their cinnamon business, However they did not leave matters of faith entrely untouched, in fact, they actively persecuted the catholics, seeing them as the remnants of portuguese power. they even proclaimed that anyone found sheltering or protecting a catholic priest could be put to death,,in an utmost display of forgiveness and compassion, it was the Buddhists who saved the catholics from being totally annihilated by the Dutch, coastal areas, and even the kandyan kings occasionally gave refuge to catholic priests, The Dutch however, largely left the Buddhists alone alone although they did encourage conversions to protestant christianity, this persuasion was felt through the schools, the legal system and the civil service children were initiated into christianity in schools, and a person had to be a christian to own land or to join the government service the result was that many sinhalese became nominal christians they remained Buddhists at heart and in practice, but baptized for the sake of their careers and personal lives..Although they discriminated against Buddhists, the Dutch were nowhere as cruel as the portuguese had been, they were willing to make concessions for the sake of good relations, if this would help in their spice trade in the 18th century, they even provided ships for a mission to Thailand to bring back monks to restore the sri lankan sangha with the Dutch focusing on commerce, the Buddhists enjoyed a degree of freedom and were generally able to practice their religion in peace... Like · · Share Bandara Tikiri (,,PURIFICATIONS AND FAILED MISSIONS,,),,Vimala Dharma suriya ll came tothe throne of kandy in 1687, and tried to revive the Sasana which had again fallen into decline, During his peaceful reign of 20 years, he sent mission to Arakan in Burma to bring back monks to conduct proper ordinations, in one ceremony, 33 novices were ordained and a further 120 men joined the sangaha, This was the second time that Arakan monks conducted ordinations for the sri lankans, sri Viraparakrama Narendrasinha, the son of Vimala Dharma suriya, was to be the last king of sinhalese origin, crowned in 1706, he was also a devout follower and patron of Buddhism He passed away without an heir and a relative from south India succeeded him, starting a line of Nayaka kings of kandy,sri vijaya Rajasinha was a Hindu by birth but converted to Buddhism on ascending the throne in 1739, the Sasana was again in decline and he sent envoys to Burma requesting for monks to yer again resuscitate the sangha these missions failed, with almost all the Burmese monks losing their lives on their way to the sri lanka by boat,, Discovering that Buddhism was flourishing in Thailand, sri vijaya Rajasinha sought the help of the Dutch to send a mission there they obliged, knowing that their assistance would increase their influence in kandy and benefit their spice business A large merchant ship was provided to bring benefit their spice business A large merchant ship was provided to bring envoys to Thailand, but this too failed due to shipwreck. ,A, second mission managed to reach the court of king Boromkot who agreed to send thai bhikkhus to sri lanka, unfortunately, sri king vijaya Rajasinha died while the envoys were away unsure of the policies of his successor, Boromkot did not allow the thai monks to proceed to the island the envoys returned without achieving their objective,, 21 hours ago · Like Bandara Tikiri ,,(,,ASSISTED BY THE DUTCH, REVIVED BY THE SIAMESE,,).,,Kirti sri Rajasingha was crowned in 1751, He adopted Buddhism and became one of its greatest patrons, A genuinely compassionate man, he also called a halt to his predecessor,s policy of burning down catholic churches and repressing their faith,, Due to the failure of the previous missions, the sangha had gravely degenerated and there were no properly ordained monks left in the country, with few exceptions, monks had abandoned the study of the Dhamma and vinaya and had instead begun to be engaged in astrology, agriculture and trade, older monks ordained their close relatives so that the wealth of their temples and monasteries could be kept within their own families,, Determined to correct this sad state of affairs, kirti sri Rajasingha, on the advice of his teacher ven, velivita saranankara, requsted the Dutch to help send another mission to Thailand, the Dutch obliged and two years into his reign, five envoys began their journey, After many mishaps, delays and close calls, the mission finally arrived and met king Boromkot, they returned with ven upali thera and 25, other senior monks the sri lankans who later ordained under the thai monks came to be known as the siyam Nikaya, or the siamese fraternity, of monks,, The sangha at that time was also in danger of being overly influenced by Hindu beliefs and practices, They had started to perform Hindu rituals at the expense of proper Buddhist practices, and this influenced the masses as well velivita saranankara worked against this trend and helped to bring the sangha back to the authentic teachings and practices, the Thai monks also helped to ressert the position of Buddhism, they persuaded the king to reorganize an annual event worhipping Hindu gods, to onstead celebrate and honour the Tooth Relic This festival called the Esala Perahera, is still celebrated in kandy and is by far the island,s biggest annual event,,,, During kirti sri Rajasingha, s reign of 35 years , Buddhism although sill under colonial rule, enjoyed a period of stability and growth, He was succeeded by his brother sri Rajadhi Rajasinha in 1796, also a scholar and patron of the sasana these two monarchs distinguished themselves by restoring and rebuilding numerous ruined and abandoned themselves by restoring and rebuilding numerous ruined and abandoned temples and shrines in kandy and the castal areas, Dutch rule came to an end in 1796, with the coastal areas of the island passing into British control,, (,,VELIVITA SARANANKARA,,,). Velivita saranankara was born in 1698, in the village of velivita near kandy, and was to have an immeasurable effect on sri lankan Buddhism, He became a monk at the age of 16, when the sasana was at one of its lowest ebbs and the sangha almost entirely corrupt, Rejecting the rampant materialism of his contemporaries , he returned to the austere practices and proper behaviour of a Buddhist monk, Going from place to place, living in caves and sustained only by alms, he gradually attracted the attention of several other monks who wanted to follow him in the right way of practice, they formed themselves into a small fraternity that came to be known as the silvat samagama, or Brotherhood of the pious And because he always begged for his food, he cme to be known as pindapata saranankara,,He became the advisor to king sri vijaya Rajasingha and together they did their best to revive the sangha by bringing in properly ordained monks from Burma and Thailand. The king however, passed away without successfully achieving this task, saranankara remained as the teacher to his successor, kirti sri Rajasingha, and urged him to send another mission to Thailang, Together with ven Upali Thera, the leader of the thai monks, saranankara founded the siyam Nikaya when he was appointed the head monk of sri lanka, he wrote the phrase, oh monk? Be not proud/ on the door to his room as a personal reminder,, Due primarily to his efforts, the corruption of the sangha diminished and proper monastic practices were restored saranankara wrote several Buddhist works and poems and passed away in 1778 CE at the age of 81, He is remembered as one of the most important figures in the Buddhist history of sri lanka,,
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 11:53:43 +0000
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