What we can take from this history is the precarious thread by which Theravāda came down to us today. It only survived by a very narrow margin in more than one instance.
An introduction to the trials and tribulations of the Saṅgha in Sri Lanka.
]]>Being perceived as a good Buddhist woman worked as a powerful form of career capital for the respondents in the sample, who used their faith to combat gender disadvantage in their work settings.
]]>Ranjani de Silva has been described as the “person most responsible for the Theravāda bhikkhunī revival,” and “the prime mover in the re-establishment of the bhikkhunī sangha in Sri Lanka.” Yet her full story—including her account of the revival—had never [before] been told.
]]>… the general Buddhist public even in Sri Lanka do not seem to know of what stuff the newly “resurrected” bhikkhunis are made.
A biography of the Venerable Badalgama Dhammanandani, Head Bhikkhuni of Visakharamaya Temple about seven kilometers into the hinterland of Veyangoda, Sri Lanka.
]]>When we adopt a Buddhist perspective on the wounds that afflict our world today, we soon realize that these wounds are symptomatic: a warning signal that something is fundamentally awry with the way we lead our lives.
You can also listen to this book on Pariyatti’s website.
]]>He legitimised the secularisation of the modern Sangha and its interpretation of Buddhism as exclusively Sinhala
]]>… the situation of the nuns who are neither strictly lay, nor monastic, allows for a variety of ways of learning and conveying Buddhisms - ways that are both molded by and in turn define contemporary religious changes
]]>… independence was perceived as an opportunity for a particular ethnic group
]]>In the interests of conservatism it has had to compromise with modernity in such features as the veneer of bureaucratically efficient procedures and also the multiplication of interstitial roles. But the groups of devout men firmly penned into their quarters and lectured daily on the Jatakas pose no threat to traditional Buddhist order
]]>… the evidence found in early printed liturgical booklets that promote Buddha-vandanā points to a different kind of modernization. This article reveals how Buddhist activists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries made use of the capabilities presented in the colonial context, including print technology, to promote this devotional ritual practice as a principal marker of a newly constructed Buddhist identity.
]]>Much as a soaking in good oil will prime a lamp’s wick for the lighting, miracle stories prepare the audience for the cultivation of potent emotions and resultant ethical transformation.
]]>Since July 20, 1985, a new higher ordination (upasampadā) movement has emerged at the Dambulla Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. The architect of this movement, a Sinhala Buddhist monk named Inamaluwe Sumangala, challenges the contemporary Buddhist monastic practice of ordaining monks on the basis of their castes
]]>On the face of it, the movement seems to involve a debate about the irrelevance of caste to higher ordination between Sumangala and the monks of the Asgiriya temple, one of several chapters of the Siyam Nikaya that ordains only high-caste Buddhist males. However, the challenge constituted by the new ordination can be seen as part of a broader attempt on Sumangala’s part to redefine monastic identity
… there are at least three major orientations within Sinhalese religion: 1) Bodh Gaya, commemorating the enlightenment experience; 2) Kataragama, where access to transformative “this-worldly” sacral power is sought; and 3) Kandy, where religion legitimates a people’s cultural and political past and present through civil ceremony
]]>What all three pilgrimages have in common is functional in nature: the need to cope with various manifestations of dukkha
Over 15,000 photographs of Buddhist archeological sites, pilgrimage centres, and temples in SE Asia, as well as Videos, Maps, Posters, etc.
]]>I, too, am a bhikkhuni. The bhikkhuni sangha did not perish, but long ago spread from here to China
]]>… a historically and contextually sensitive understanding of elite lay Buddhist women in Sri Lanka, bringing a “critical yet empathetic look” at their participation in ethno-nationalist Sinhala Buddhist hegemony
]]>… without showing any disrespect simply because it is worded in Sinhala, if you listen to this marvellous Dhamma with worshipful devotion and gladness, you will surely gain heavenly bliss
A Sinhalese poem on the dangers of Saṃsāra and the benefits of the practice, showing that the southern lineage of Buddhism also had a thriving literary tradition.
]]>… valuable material for the contemplation of the transit of ideas between South Asia and Korea
A Chinese monk visits medieval Sri Lanka and perhaps influences Korean sculpture, challenging our notions of nationalized Buddhisms.
]]>This essay will help the Buddhist lay follower to understand, from a practical angle, the main points of the Buddha’s teachings as they bear on the conduct of daily life. Constant practice of these principles will ensure that they are built into his character, enabling him to develop into a well-rounded human being, a centre of sanity in a confused world adrift in fashionable philosophies full of empty promises.
You can also listen to this book on YouTube.
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