Situating Dharmapala

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Sarath Amunugama

Published:

2019

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

This chapter examines the traditional relationship between the Sangha and the Buddhist laity and the role of the king as a protector of the Sāsana (the Buddhist order). It briefly traces the vicissitudes of the Buddhist order in Sri Lanka from the fifteenth century. A decline in the status of the Sangha was arrested by the intervention of the monk Welivita Saranankara under royal patronage—the pupils of Saranankara initiated a religious and literary resurgence. A setback occurred when the British, who annexed the Kandyan kingdom in 1815, pledging to uphold the traditional status of Buddhism, went back on their promise at the insistence of Christian missionaries. The Buddhist order lost its traditional state patronage. However, the Saranankara tradition continued through his line of pupils in southern Sri Lanka. Prominent scholar monks of this tradition are identified in this chapter, followed by a brief account of Dharmapala’s career highlighting his role in the Buddhist revival.

Türkçe sayfa →