{"id":103177,"date":"2020-06-04T15:54:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103177"},"modified":"2020-06-04T15:54:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:54:25","slug":"let-the-poson-full-moon-dispel-the-gloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/04\/let-the-poson-full-moon-dispel-the-gloom\/","title":{"rendered":"LET THE POSON FULL MOON DISPEL THE GLOOM!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Let the Poson full moon dispel the gloom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May peace, health, and content in the land bloom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first three months of the lunar calendar of the Sinhalese:\nBak, Vesak, and Poson (roughly corresponding to the months of April, May and\nJune in the Gregorian calendar which is in common use today) are each marked by\none of their three most important annual celebrations. The month of Bak has the\nSinhala Aluth Avurudda, an age-old harvest festival organized  according\nto traditional astrological beliefs based on the idea of the sun completing an\nannual circuit across the twelve signs of the zodiac from Aries to Pisces, and\nresuming another  (marking the end of one lunar year and the beginning a\nnew year); hence it is also called the Surya Mangalyaya (Sun Festival); the\nAluth Avurudda is a secular celebration marked by feasting and recreational\nactivities that usually go on for days in normal times. The Vesak is an\nentirely religious  ceremony that pays homage to the Buddha, marking the\nfull moon day of the month as the day that his birth, enlightenment and death\nare traditionally believed to have taken place; this is the most important\nreligious celebration of the year for Sri Lankan Buddhists. Colourful\nilluminations and the unique dansaelas (alms centres that offer free food and\nbeverages to all who are willing to accept them). The third most important\nannual national ceremony is held on the Poson full moon poya day, which, this\nyear falls today (June 5, 2020). It is also a completely religious event that\nis hardly less significant than Vesak. If Vesak is dedicated to the Buddha,\nPoson is held for paying homage to Arhant Mahinda, who is revered as the Anu\nBudu or Surrogate Buddha, for it was he who brought Buddhism to Lanka and\nestablished it as the country\u2019s state religion in the 3rd century BCE as recorded\nin the Mahavansa or the Great Chronicle composed in the 5th century CE, thus\nofficially  initiating the still dominant Sinhala Buddhist civilizational\nfoundation of the island nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social, cultural and political significance of these\ncelebrations is inexhaustible, irrespective of the secular or spiritual nature\nof each ceremony. They are not  meaninglessly fun and frolic based. They\ncreate and consolidate solidarity within the nation and project its identity to\nother nations as worthy of their courtesy, friendship and formal and informal\nrecognition (i.e., what is collectively called the \u2018comity of nations\u2019),\nsomething that was gravely jeopardised during the previous few years. They are\nmass national morale-boosters, so to speak. These three festive or celebratory\noccasions could not be properly observed last year and the year before and\nthat  fact added to the collective gloom that enveloped the Sri Lankan\nsociety when the buoyant mood of the post-war years was deliberately squashed\nby an engineered regime change. (Foreigners and culturally alienated locals do\nnot experience any empathy with Sri Lankans on these points.) November 2019\nbrought some respite. People were hopeful that the general election that was to\nfollow would bring a permanent end to the gloomy anarchical state of affairs,\nand give them the chance to celebrate all three events making up for what they\nhad to forego before. But the Covid-19 pandemic started wreaking havoc across\nthe world. Yet, Sri Lankans as a nation still remain relatively safe from the\ndeadly virus, and can look forward to a reasonably early easing of the existing\noppressive situation.  This is largely due to the altruistic commitment to\ntheir duties and the selfless sacrifices of the health workers and security forces\npersonnel tasked with the containment and control of the disease; they have\nbeen efficiently mobilised and managed under the current government; the\nprocess has been facilitated by the common citizenry empowered as they are by\nthe characteristic moral attributes of resilience, patience, compassion, and\ndiscipline imparted to them by the dominant traditional culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan Buddhists are observing the 2267th Poson Full Moon poya\nday today, Friday June 5, 2020. Buddhists have been instructed by the Maha\nSangha and the government to do the Poson devotions and carry out other\nobservances associated with it, while being confined to their houses as\nrequired under the quarantine conditions. The state Poson ceremony is to be\nheld  today at the Mihintala Raja Maha Viharaya under the guidance of the\nincumbent monk Ven. W. Dhammaratana in conformity with specific health\nguidelines.  We may now reflect on the special significance of Poson for\nthe nation in this unexpected period of apprehension as well as hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sinhala word \u2018poya\u2019 comes from the Pali \u2018uposatha\u2019 (which\nmeans \u2018to fast\u2019); in the Sinhalese lunar calendar, the full moon day of every\nmonth is considered by the Buddhist public as their main poya day or fasting\nday in each month, which they are recommended  to spend, as Buddhists,\nengaged in religious rituals and practices. The special  significance of\nthe Poson poya day for Buddhists derives from the fact that  Arhant\nMahinda Thera (son of Emperor Asoka Dharmasoka of Jambudipa\/India) arrived at Mount\nMissa and stationed himself \u2018on the rocky peak of the delightful and celebrated\nAmbatthala\u2019 in the island of Tambapanni or Lanka along with four other\nbhikkhus, a samanera or novice bhikkhu named Sumana (young son of Sangamitta,\nMahinda Thera\u2019s sister), and an upasaka (a lay follower) by the name of Bhandu,\nwho was a grandnephew of Devi of Vedisa in the Avanti country, who was none\nother than Mahinda Thera\u2019s mother. This momentous event has been dated to 247\nBCE in terms of information given in ancient Chronicles such as Dipavansa and\nMahavansa composed respectively in the 4th and 5th CE, the latter relatively\nmore sophisticated than the former. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 13 of the Mahavansa deals with the arrival of Arhant\nMahinda Thera in Lanka and Chapter 14 with his meeting with the ruler of the\nisland king Tissa\/Devanampiya Tissa, and the royal reception of the\nmissionaries and their simultaneous introduction to the populace in the capital\nAnuradhapura. From the various incidental scraps of information that can be\ngathered from the previous and following Chapters, it can be inferred that this\nobviously formal introduction of Theravada Buddhism to Lanka was as much an\ninstance of peaceful political intervention as a religious-cultural event. For\nexample, Arhant Mahinda lived for some time at Vedisa visiting his mother and\nother relatives just before proceeding to Lanka on his mission. In Chapter 13\nof the Mahavansa (contained in the first part of the book translated by George\nTurnour in 1836, which Mudliyar L.C. Wijesinghe added, with notes and\nemendations, to his own  Government of Ceylon commissioned translation of\nthe Mahavansa in two parts published in 1889), we have the following detail\nconcerning this brief stay of Arhant Mahinda in the Avanti country: \u2018At this period\n(of Mahinda\u2019s visit) she (the queen) was residing there, in Cetiyanagara (LCW\nemends this as \u2018Vedisa\u2019). While the thera was sojourning there, he thus\nmeditated: The period has arrived for undertaking the mission enjoined by my\nfather. May the said Devanampiyatissa, having already solemnised his\ninauguration with utmost pomp, be enjoying his regal state. May he, after\nhaving ascertained from my father\u2019s ambassador the merits of the three blessed\ntreasures (sent by my father), acquire a right understanding of them (the\ndoctrines of Buddha). May he on the full moon day on the month of \u2018jettha\u2019\nvisit Missa mountain (Mihintale), for on that very day shall I myself repair to\nrenowned Lanka\u201d\u2019. So, Mahinda Thera\u2019s mission was a royal command to be carried\nout; the Lankan ruler, Devanampiyatissa, on the other hand, was required by\nEmperor Asoka to \u2018acquire a right understanding of the three blessed treasures\u2019\n(which LCW interprets as the \u2018doctrines of Buddha\u2019) earlier conveyed to the\nformer through ambassadors sent to him by the latter (i.e., Asoka). The fact\nthat Mahinda Thera was his son also means something; that is, it indicates a\nrelationship that was valued at a personal level (enhancing the political\naspect of the mission). Mahinda Thera waited till the death of the aged king\nMutasiva, the revolutionary Pandukabhaya\u2019s son; he was waiting for Mutasiva\u2019s\nson, Devanampiyatissa to ascend the throne. This suggests that Emperor Asoka\nhad envisaged the introduction of a lasting change of order in the country by way\nof converting the ruler and the people to the new spiritual way shown by the\nBuddha. The old Mutasiva, being his father\u2019s son, was probably too independent\nminded to give up his traditional ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 11 gives hints about the nature of the relationship that\nhad existed between Emperor Dharmashoka of Jambudipa and DevanampiyaTissa of\nTambapanni or Lanka. The chapter is titled \u2018The Inauguration of Devanampiya\nTissa\u2019. Mutasiva dies an old man after a sixty year reign, leaving ten sons and\ntwo daughters. Devanampiya Tissa, the second son, is crowned king. He sends a\ndelegation of ambassadors led by his chief minister Maha Arittha, his maternal\nnephew, accompanied by the Brahman of the Hali mountain, a minister of state by\nthe name of Malla, and a retinue, bearing royal gifts to the court of\nDharmashoka in Pataliputra (Patna today). They are well received there, and\nafter a five month stay, they return to Anuradhapura, along with Dharmashoka\u2019s\nown ambassadors bearing valuable gifts and royal advice to the Lankan ruler\nasking him to accept the treasures of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.\nDharmasoka\u2019s ambassadors also bring requisites for Devanampiya Tissa\u2019s\ncoronation a second time. What made that a necessity? It is possible that the\nrelationship between the two monarchs was unequal. It could be that it was an\nempire vs vassal state relationship. Even the title \u2018Devanampiya\u2019 (Pali lit.\n\u2018beloved of the gods\u2019) belonged to Emperor Dharmashoka. It is found in his rock\nedicts. It could have been conferred on the Lankan king as a special honour or\na special mark of recognition. This connection laid a firm foundation for the\nevolution of Sri Lanka as a celebrated centre of commerce and culture on par\nwith the physically much larger and more powerful nations in the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the Mahavansa itself refers to this highly\nformal  exchange of deputations of ambassadors between the two kings prior\nto the arrival of Arhant Mahinda suggests that the story of the monk on the\nmount with his sacred mission surprising the monarch on the chase in the\nwilderness is a dramatic fictionalisation of a real historical event found in\nthe \u2018epic poem\u2019 which the Mahavansa is according to one interpretation.\nProbably there was no better way of recording for posterity of a gradual profound\nprocess that must have spread over a long period of time marked with disputes\nand debates and even violence between the adherents of local animistic forms of\nreligious belief and the \u2018newfangled\u2019 (so to say) Buddhists (the process here\nbeing the weaning of the rulers and the common people of their primitive modes\nof religion). The miraculous aerial passage of Mahinda Thera and group from\nJambudipa to Lanka, and from Mount Missaka (Mihintale) to the capital\n(Anuradhapura) must be a similar piece of fiction. The ambassadors travelled\nbetween the two countries by sea and land. The missionaries must have used the\nsame modes of travel. The famous \u2018intelligence test\u2019 given by the monk to the\nking could be a part of the drama. The diplomatic interactions between the two\nmonarchs made it evident that Devanampiya Tissa didn\u2019t lack intelligence. Could\nwe say that bhikkhu Mahanama, the author, in this context, mythologised history\nto make it more memorable and popular, instead of doing the reverse as normally\ncharged? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foreign missionaries addressed the locals in the latter\u2019s own\nlanguage (the ancestor of today\u2019s Sinhala), which means that it had been a\nsophisticated enough medium for them to communicate the new doctrine, and that\nthe audiences were intellectually advanced enough to be receptive to its\nmessage. So, the \u2018introduction\u2019 of Buddhism by Arhant Mahinda was not the case\nof a hardly civilized primitive people being led from total darkness to clear\nlight in spiritual terms, but  an inspiring example of an increasing\nnumber of people of an obviously civilised community being rationally and\ncompassionately persuaded to embrace Buddhist teachings in place of their less\nrational traditional beliefs. It is significant that Arhant Mahinda Thera began\nhis missionary preaching with the profound Cullahatthipadopama Sutta or the\n\u2018Discourse on the Shorter Elephant Footprint Simile\u2019 (for a good English\ntranslation of which one may check out this link:  https:\/\/www.dhammatalks.org\/suttas\/MN\/MN27.html<\/a>). The Mahavansa text\ncontains similar references to other discourses of the Buddha. Reading them is\nessential for a fuller understanding of the book. The Cullahatthipadopama Sutta\ncontains the story of how brahman Janussoni, while riding out of Savatthi, at\nthe time the Buddha  was living in Jeta\u2019s Grove near that city, sees the\nWanderer Pilotika Vacchayana coming towards him after a visit to the great\nsage. Janussoni is greatly impressed by what he hears about the Buddha from\nVacchayana, and he calls on him. The Buddha teaches him the rational way of his\nteaching. If an elephant hunter finds one big footprint of an elephant in the\nforest and concludes that it is the footprint of a big male elephant, he is not\nnecessarily right. There are many other points to consider before arriving at\nthe right conclusion. Janussoni is taught about the \u2018footprints\u2019 of the\nTathagata (Buddha), which involves his teachings about virtue, sense restraint,\nmindfulness and alertness, abandoning hindrances, the Four Jhanas, and the\nThree Knowledges. Buddha in this discourse makes an incidental reference to\n\u2018cosmic expansion and cosmic contraction\u2019 (two thousand five hundred years\nbefore modern physicists came out with the theory that the universe expands and\nthen contracts! We are now in the expanding phase of the universe according to\nthis theory).  A ruler and a race capable of responding to profound\ndoctrinal concepts and explications were certainly not an uneducated and\nintellectually too unrefined a people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we were a civilized people even before the formal introduction\nof Buddhism. This is being confirmed by recent archaeological discoveries and\nrevolutionary new methods of exploring the past. We can be truly proud of our\nlong history that is distinguished in its various aspects, of our beautiful\ncountry, of our language literature and our multilingual legacy of the past\ncenturies, the democratic system of government which is getting stronger by\nsurviving unprecedented trials, and above all, of our humanistic and\nhumanitarian spiritual tradition that eschews violent extremism, and that\nfinally \u2018aims at creating a society where the ruinous struggle for power is\nrenounced; where calm and peace prevail away from conquest and defeat; where\nthe persecution of the innocent is vehemently denounced; where one who conquers\noneself is more respected than those who conquer millions by military and\neconomic warfare; where hatred is conquered by kindness, and evil by goodness;\nwhere enmity, jealousy, ill-will and greed do not infect men\u2019s minds; where\ncompassion is the driving force of action; where all, including the least of\nliving things, are treated with fairness, consideration and love; where life in\npeace and harmony, in a world of material contentment, is directed towards the\nhighest and noblest aim, the realization of the Ultimate Truth Nirvana\u2019 (The\nwords within quote marks are from Ven. Dr Walpola Rahula\u2019s \u2018What the Buddha\nTaught\u2019. The apt relevance of these sentiments to the conflict-ridden world of\ntoday including our country need hardly be pointed out.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historic event that the Poson ceremony commemorates today is\nthe ever enduring cornerstone, buried in history though it is, that our hoary\nforefathers laid with great hindsight and foresight for building our unique\nisland civilization. The Sinhalese built that great edifice in Lanka, their\nonly historic homeland, disciplined by the Buddhist teachings introduced by\nArhant Mahinda. Protecting the great legacy that forms the warp and weft of the\nmost hospitable and humane cultural fabric of our country is the responsibility\nof, not only the Sinhalese Buddhists, but Sri Lankans of all ethnicities and\nreligions. It is a common inheritance of all Sri Lankans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Let the Poson full moon dispel the gloom! May peace, health, and content in the land bloom! The first three months of the lunar calendar of the Sinhalese: Bak, Vesak, and Poson (roughly corresponding to the months of April, May and June in the Gregorian calendar which is in common use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103177","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=103177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}