{"id":101948,"date":"2020-05-05T15:11:08","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T22:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=101948"},"modified":"2020-05-06T16:27:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T23:27:10","slug":"buddhist-nikayas-in-sri-lanka-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/05\/05\/buddhist-nikayas-in-sri-lanka-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"BUDDHIST NIKAYAS IN SRI LANKA Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised 6.5.20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third nikaya to emerge in Sri Lanka was\nthe Ramanna Nikaya.<\/strong>  Ramanna nikaya was started byAmbagahawatte Saranankara. (b. 1832)\nHe had received the Kalyani Upasampada of the Siyam Nikaya from Benthara\nAtthadassi,   but later found that this\nordination was suspect. Instead of joining Amarapura nikaya, Ambahawatte\nSaranankara decided to go to Burma and bring back a fresh Upasampada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kulatunge gives two possible reasons for this.\nHe says low country Siyam Nikaya had become disgusted with their own Nikaya,\nwhich they said was corrupt and the bhikkhus immoral.  Standards of the low country monks had      deteriorated.  Vagegoda Dhammakusala, of Rankotmale vihara,\nVagegoda, close to Tangalle, had some time before, written to Saranankara Sangharaja\nabout the unprincipled behavior of the low country Siyam monks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low country Siyam also found that Malwatte\nlooked down on them   as second class. Low country Siyam monks were\nnot given equal status by Malwatte, though they were equally learned. It is\ndifficult to see how these could have been precipitating causes for Ven.\nAmbagahawatte to run to Burma, but these are the explanations Kulatunge has\nfound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kulatunge says Ambahawatte Saranankara had\nbeen influenced to go to Burma by his teacher Ven. Bulatgama Dhammalankara.  Two bhikkhus who had got ordained in Burma\nearlier, Pohoddaramulle Vanaratana    and\nVaskaduwe Dhammakkhanda had also told him about Burma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambahawatte Saranankara left for Burma in\n1860, with Dipegoda Silakkandha, Palpola Dhammadassi, two samanera and two\nlaymen.    He received higher ordination in\n1861 in Ramanna desa in Lower Burma,  \nfrom Neyyadhamma\nMunivara nanakitsiri Sangharaja of Ratnapunna Vihara.  He was\ngiven the name \u2018Indasabhavaranana Sami\u2019. He received a second ordination\nat   Udakukkhepa Sima, in Irrawaddy River.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team returned in 1862 to Galle harbor, to\na great welcome. Those assembled to meet him included Ven. Bulatgama\nDhammalankara of Paramananda Vihara in Galle and Ven. Akmimana Sobhita of\nVijayananda Pirivena in Wellawatte in Colombo. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter the first higher ordination of the\nnew Ramanna Nikaya was performed in 1864 at Udakukkhepa sima at Mahamodera\nGalle. Those ordained were all from Siyam nikaya. The delay of two years was because they were\nwaiting to join up with two other monks, Ven. Warapitiye Sumitta and\nPuwakdandave Pannananda ,   who had also gone to obtain ordination from\nSiam and Ramanna. Sumitta acted as the Preceptor for the Ramanna Upasampada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kulatunge also mentions another ordination.  He says 16 from Matara nikaya   and five from Ambagaswatte group had,\nassembled at Sailabimbaramaya in Dodanduwa and got ordained and entered the\norder under Mirisse Dhammananda. Ambagahawatte had signed as Ambagahawatte\nIndasabhavaranana Sami  in the articles of association of this\nnikaya.    It is not clear how these two\nordinations link up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second Ramanna Higher ordination ceremony\nwas held at Gampola in 1867. An Udakukkhepa sima was built on Mahaweli Ganga at\nRankada Ella near Gampola by the owner of Unambuwa walawwa, Gampola, with the\nassistance of others. The bhikkhus of\nthe aranyavasi group received ordination from Ramanna there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramanna Nikaya has looked to the forest monks\nto increase its ranks. Most of the forest monks at the time were attached to\nAsgiri. They were happy to leave Asgiri and join Ramanna as all sorts of charges\nwere made against Asgiri. Ramanna\nNikaya is today known for its vanavasi monks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramanna spread in Nuwara Kalaviya, Sat Korale,\nSatara Korale, Dumbara, Matale, Hevaheta, Uda palata. Ramanna also expanded into Kegalla and Dambadeniya,\nhelped by bhikkhus such as Minvane Dhamma kusala, Katugastota Sumanatissa and\nNaranpanave Indrajoti. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were other bhikkhu lineages that\nsupported the spread of Ramanna in the up country. They included, Sarananda\nbhikku paramparava, whose center, Sarananda Pirivena was in Anuradhapura. Also\nthe Waduwatte parapura and the Handagala parapura in Nuwara Kalaviya.  Handagala vihara in Hurulu palata is a\nRamanna vihara. The Vanavasi parapura of Kossokanda at Maradankadavala which\nhas links with the Handagala group also helped propagate Ramanna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramanna nikaya had its own distinctive style.\nThey used begging bowls instead of plates. Instead of umbrellas, they used\nfolded palmyrah leaves, in the form of “bogava”.  The\nbogava introduced by Ambagahawatte was made usable by CB Nugawela, chairman of\nthe Up country Sabha for the Protection of Nikaya. They wore robes that\nwere   dyed according to the traditional\nrules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More important, Ramanna did not allow devales\nfor various gods   to be built in their\ntemples. They rejected the worship of the gods.In\n1871 Ambagahawatte began a debate on the subject. The Deva puja vadaya\u201d    continued for three or four decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramanna Nikaya was considered to have pure,\ndisciplined, virtuous bhikkhus, stated Kulatunge. Ramanna gave ordination to\nanyone without caste discrimination. These\npractices impressed the intelligentsia and they supported the Ramanna nikaya,\nsaid Kulatunge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramanna succession led to many disputes and\nthe possibility of splits. However, Kulatunge reports that \u2018all acted in unity while\nperforming Upasampada. Regional Samagri Samgha sabhas were set up, such as the\nUp country Sri Athadassi Sangha sabha of the Gallangolla Samgha Community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Gallangolla samgha community, which is vanvasi,\nobjected to Ramanna obtaining registration from the government .They said that\nin ancient times there was no such thing. \nThis was interference into their freedom. They split and formed the\nMulika Ramanna Nikaya in 1954. They reunited\nwith the rest of Ramanna in 1968. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three nikayas were named after the places\nfrom where     they got their higher\nordinations. Siyam Nikaya simply took the name of the country the Upasampada came\nfrom, Siam. In the case of Amarapura and Ramanna, they took the name of the\nBurmese region that the ordination came from. Amarapura was in Upper Burma\nclose to present day Mandalay. Ramanna desa was in Lower Burma. Hamsavati was\none of the three divisions in Ramanna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sangha never liked the fact that the two\nNikayas which had broken away from Siyam, Amarapura and Ramanna, were operating\nas separate nikayas, bringing the total of main Nikayas to three. The Sangha\nwanted to see the two \u2018younger\u2019 Nikayas brought together <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A historic\nagreement merging the Amarapura and Ramanna Chapters was signed in 2019.The two\nchapters would hereafter be known as a single entity, the Sri Lanka Amarapura\nRamanna Saamagri Maha Sangha Sabha.\u201dThe agreement was signed by the Amarapura\nMahanayake,  Ven. Kotugoda Dhammavasa and\nthe Ramanna Mahanayaka, Ven. Napana Pemasiri .The two prelates would function\nas Joint Chairpersons of the new Sangha Sabha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement\nmarks a turning point in the history of the Buddha Sasana in the country, said\nthe Sangha. It was reached after years of talks.  The reasons for this merger included the need\nto take decisions jointly regarding issues affecting the Buddha Sasana and the\ncountry, building a disciplined Sangha society and providing guidance to young\nmonks to face social challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sangha community, it appears, is in no\nhurry to add Siyam Nikaya to this list. \nThe Siyam Nikaya remains the most important of the three Nikayas. It\nplayed a historical role. It is the Nikaya which saved Buddhism in Sri Lanka.\nIt is also Sri Lanka\u2018s sole royal nikaya. It was installed in Sri Lanka at a\nhigh diplomatic level.  The Dalada\nMaligawa and   the Raja Maha vihara come\nunder Siyam Nikaya. Siyam has the best Upasampada, one which can be traced\ndirectly to the Sinhala Upasampada which had gone to Thailand long ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The division between the three Nikayas did not\n get deeper over the years. There was\nnothing to  encourage further division\nand plenty to discourage it. There were no doctrinal differences, no separate\ncongregations and no differences in ritual.   \nAll three Nikayas  ministered to\nthe same pool of lay Buddhists,  uttering\nthe same gathas and reciting the same pirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1998 or so, Bellanwela Wimalaratne   and Karagampitiye Jinaratana  said in interview that divisions in terms of\nnikayas are not there now in the way it was in the past. Today, the three\nNikayas work together and receive alms together. There is no division as such,\nthey said. Now everyone works together except in disciplinary proceedings. When\nnecessary monks live for extended periods in temples that do not  belong to their own nikaya. The Sangha   now \ngroup themselves according to pupillary succession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Until\nthe Siyam Nikaya was set up, there was no talk of caste in the sangha.the Pali\nsentence used by  Malwatte was  also present in the   Polonnaruwa and Dambadeniya katikavata.\nThere  it was interpreted mean \u2018suitable\npersons\u2019 which was always a condition in enrolling into the Sangha. The present\ncaste system was not in existence at the time, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walpola Rahula in his  book Satyodaya\u201d, (Godage 1992) pointed\nout  that though Buddhism does not recognize\ncaste, caste is active in all three Nikayas in modern Sri Lanka . Siyam starts\nwith caste. In the case of Amarapura and Ramanna,though there is no caste\nbarrier to  joining, \u2018caste is alive and\nactive in the temple\u2019 ,said Walpola Rahula. There is a secret presence of\ncaste.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not that secret. The caste affiliation\nof a  Karawe temple, for instance, is\nopen knowledge. I think ( Kamalika Pieris)  \nthat  temples get linked to a\nparticular caste,  not because of the\nSangha,but becase of the patrons, those who gave the money to build the\ntemple.These donors tend to come from just one caste. The chief priest\ninstalled there   would  be someone known to them and therefore also of\nthe same caste and the pupillary descent would also go caste-wise.  But the caste affiliation of a Buddhist temple\nends there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any Buddhist vihara is open to all Buddhists, whatever\nthe caste. They can come in and worship, attend bana, pirit, participate in a  prerahera, give a dane,  or simply sit   there, regardless of their social status. Access\nis not denied in a Buddhist temple on grounds of caste,  or any other status. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also another twist to this. The\ncreation of Amarapura and Ramanna Nikayas indicate  that Sri Lanka did not have a strong caste\nsystem or indeed a caste system at all. In a normal caste system,  never mind a strict one, castes which are\nprohibited from ordination, cannot  crash\nin and create new Nikayas as they did here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kulatunge suggests that if the Amarapura and\nRamanna  Nikayas were not created then\nthe non-govi castes would have gone Christian , \u2018like Wattala Negombo and\nChilaw.\u2019 This is unlikely. Sri Lanka has undergone 450  years of Christian rule and throughout this\nperiod  there was fierce resistance to\nconversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-Buddhists, specially Christians working\nin  questionable NGOs , look at the\nNikayas and declare that Buddhism is a caste ridden religion. They seem unaware\nthat in India, Christianity was confined to the low castes. In Sri Lanka too  the Christian church was obliged to respect\ncaste differences. Ralph Pieris told me that his family was living in Panadura\nin late 1930s or early 1940s (  forget\nwhich) and the Anglican Church they attended had two separate sets of pews for\nGovigama and Karawe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In Protestant\nChristianity, each Christian  is registered\nwith a church and attends services there. Baptisms are also carried out in that\nchurch, with great sentiment. If a Christian is dying, you need to know   the church the patient attended, before you  can find a  priest to give Extreme Unction. Otherwise they\nwill not come. Extreme Unction differs with each denomination, apparently.  I speak from experience .In the Buddhist  community, a bhikkhu will come  to a \ndeathbed without  asking any\nquestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude, Amarapura and Ramanna\nNikayas  did not arise  due to doctrinal disputes and the wish to\nstart new religions, as in the case of Protestant Christianity. Nor was it an\nexcuse to  engage in a purely caste exercise.\nIf so, all they had to do was to get a shoddy Upasampada  from somewhere  and \nwave the caste flag. The non-Govigama castes, wanted  instead to create  a \nnon-govi Sangha that the island could be proud of  and in this way  contribute to the  strength and integrity of the Sangha. This\nessay is based on information from T.G. Kulatunge\u2019s \nBuddhist Nikayas in Sri Lanka<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

APPENDIX<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandra R de Silva, historian has provided\nsome factual information on the nikayas..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • CR\nde Silva says Siyam Nikaya has over 18,000 monks. Amarapura has about 12,000\nand Ramanna has between 6000 and 8000 monks.<\/li>
  • Amarapura\nnikaya split into divisions due to geography, caste identity and other\ndisputes. Each   branch has its own\nMahanayake. The Constitution of the Amarapura Nikaya specifically forbids the\nuse of official titles when participating in political activity. <\/li>
  • Ramanna\nhas a single Mahanayake and is organized into regional units. It is\nparticularly strong in the south west, but has expanded into other regions\nduring the last century.     It has no\nspecific caste affiliation, but many of its prominent lay supporters are from\nthe Karava caste. <\/li>
  • Seniority\nand respect among peers is the key factor in advancement in the Nikaya\nhierarchies. Ramanna is the most democratic in this respect. It allows a monk\nwith three months residence in an area to have a vote in the Regional council.\nBut the President and Vice President have to be \u2018mahastavira\u2019 or monks with at\nleast ten years of experience after their higher ordination. All other office\nbearers also come from senior ranks. <\/li>
  • In\nthe case of Amarapura, the Ruling Council of 43 is made up of the Mahanayakes\nand the secretaries of the 21 constituent units plus the Chief Secretary\nGeneral of the Nikaya. It is this body of senior Bhikkhus who elect the Supreme\nChief, ‘Uttaritara Mahanayake’ who has life tenure. The executive committee of\n11 bhikkhus that makes most of the decisions is equally tilted toward senior\nmonks, being made up of 6 office bearers and 5 other monks elected by the\nRuling council, Sri Lanka Amarapura Mahasanghasabhaa. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    (Source Buddhism,\nConflict and violence in modern Sri Lanka,<\/strong> ed. by Mahinda Deegalle, 2006,\nrepr 2020) (Concluded) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 6.5.20 The third nikaya to emerge in Sri Lanka was the Ramanna Nikaya.  Ramanna nikaya was started byAmbagahawatte Saranankara. (b. 1832) He had received the Kalyani Upasampada of the Siyam Nikaya from Benthara Atthadassi,   but later found that this ordination was suspect. Instead of joining Amarapura nikaya, Ambahawatte Saranankara decided to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}