THE BIBLE OF SRI LANKAN BUDDHISM

THE BIBLE OF SRI LANKAN BUDDHISM

Way back in 89 BCE, Valagamba, one of the island’s most remarkable kings, set in motion the creation of the monumental Pali Canon, the largest and oldest compendium of Buddhist practices, which was commissioned to put into robust written form the teachings that had until that moment been passed on only orally.

This commission was carried out in the Aluvihare Rock Temple, itself barely 30 30-mile drive from The Flame Tree Estate and Hotel. Eighty times larger than the Bible, the Pali Canon reveals much more than the importance of Buddhism itself. It embodies the island’s enduring attachment to rules, regulations, and laws. The country’s legal system today is a mixture of Roman-Dutch law, English law, Kandian law, Thesavalamai and Muslim law. Overwriting all this is its constitution. But overwriting even this is what is most commonly accepted as correct, mainly because of Buddhism's mores, its paramount religion.

Under his patronage, 500 monks assembled in Aluvihare to begin the task. It was to be a momentous moment for the challenge they had set themselves was immense. Firstly, they had to recite the doctrines. That would have taken many years. Then they had to agree on an acceptable version of the teachings before transcription. That must have taken even longer. Finally came the lengthy work of transcribing them, using ola leaves from talipot palms. The resulting Pali Canon became the standard scripture of Theravada Buddhism. It was written in the now-extinct Pali language, an ancient Indian language thought to be the language spoken by Buddha and used in Sri Lanka until the fifth century CE. Scholars argue (as they do) about how much of the work can be attributed to one person or to Buddha himself – but believers are mainly free of such elaborate debates.

The Canon lays out in unambiguous terms the doctrines and rules of conduct that Buddhists should follow. It consists of three parts. The first, the Vinaya, concerns itself mainly with the rules for monks and nuns. The second, the Sutta Pitaka, is the Canon’s practical heart, comprising around 10,000 teachings and poems of Buddha and his close companions that focus on the typical challenges of life. The last, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, is where the higher teachings sit – the ones most focused on Enlightenment.

The monks were probably still hard at work on the Pali Canon when Valagamba died in 77 BCE, bringing his adopted son, Mahakuli Mahatissa, to power. But under his patronage, copies were dispatched across the kingdom and to other Buddhist countries. Aluvihare Rock Temple still exists, its caves dotted with ancient inscriptions, but its great library was burned down during the Matale Rebellion in 1848.