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Aluvihare Rock Temple
The Aluvihare Rock Temple (also called Matale Alu Viharaya) is a sacred Buddhist temple located in Aluvihare, Matale District of Sri Lanka. Surrounded by hills, the Aluvihara cave temple is situated 30 km north of Kandy on the Matale-Dambulla road. The history of Aluvihare Rock Temple is traced back to the 3rd Century B.C to the reign of Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura, King Devanampiyatissa. It is believed that the king built the dagoba, planted the Bo sapling and founded the temple after the introduction of Buddhism to the country during his reign. Aluvihare Rock Temple was the historic location where the Pāli Canon was first written down completely in text on Palm-leaf manuscript, ola (palm) leaves. Many monastery caves, some of which exhibit frescoes are situated near this temple. History and significance In the 1st Century BC, during the reign of Valagamba of Anuradhapura, King Walagamba, Sri Lanka underwent a famine known as 'Baminithiyasaya' for 12 years. There w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aluvihare
Aluvihare ( ) is a suburb of Matale, in Central Province of Sri Lanka. It lies north of Matale and north-east of the capital Colombo. The suburb is situated on the Kandy-Jaffna highway (A9). It was founded by Valagamba of Anuradhapura, around 300 B.C. but did not receive the name Aluvihare until a later date. The Aluvihare family originated from the area, an important family responsible for looking after the Aluvihare Rock Temple, and thus serving the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka. dinamina.lk Today, Aluvihare is a popular attraction for both tourists and Buddhists wishing to visit the . See also * |
Bhikkus
A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimokṣa, prātimokṣa or pāṭimokkha, pātimokkha. Their lifestyles are shaped to support their spiritual practice: to live a simple and meditative life and attain Nirvana (Buddhism), nirvana. A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni but can be ordained as a samanera, śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇērī. Definition ''Bhikkhu'' literally means "begging, beggar" or "one who lives by dāna, alms". The historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, having abandoned a life of pleasure and status, lived as an alms mendicant as part of his śramaṇa lifestyle. Those of his more serious students who renounced their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopted this lifest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhist Temples In Matale District
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of development which leads to awakening and full liberation from '' dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes such as asceticism or sensual indulgence. Teaching that ''dukkha'' arises alongside attachment or clinging, the Buddha advised meditation practices and eth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Sri Lanka
The history of Sri Lanka covers Sri Lanka and the history of the Indian subcontinent and its surrounding regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Prehistoric Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The Balangoda Man, earliest humans found in geography of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka date to Prehistory of Sri Lanka, Prehistoric times about 35,000 years ago. Little is known about the history before the Indo-Aryan Settlement in Sri Lanka, Indo-Aryan Settlement in the 6th century BC. The earliest documents of the settlement on the Island and its early history are found in the national chronicles of the Mahavamsa, Mahāvamsa, Dipavamsa, and the Culavamsa. According to the Mahāvamsa, a chronicle written in Pali, Pāḷi, the preceding inhabitants of Sri Lanka were said to be Yaksha, Yakkhas and Naga people (Lanka), Nagas. Sinhalese people, Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BC with the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pali Language
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddhism. Pali was designated as a classical language by the Government of India on 3 October 2024. Origin and development Etymology The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. K. R. Norman suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound , with being interpreted as the name of a particular language. The name Pali does not appear in the canonical literature, and in commentary literature is sometimes substituted with , meaning a string or lineage. This na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhagosa
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese ''mahāvihāra''. His best-known work is the ''Visuddhimagga'' ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on the scriptural canon of the Theravāda school. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravāda Buddhism this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation." The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravādin scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. Buddhaghosa is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravādin Buddhists as the most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravāda school. Name The name ''Buddhaghosa'' means "Voice of the Buddha" (''Buddha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talipot Palm
''Corypha umbraculifera'', the talipot palm, is a species of palm native to eastern and southern India and Sri Lanka. It is also grown in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Mauritius and the Andaman Islands. It is one of the five accepted species in the genus ''Corypha''. It is a flowering plant with the largest inflorescence in the world. It lives up to 60 years before bearing flowers and fruits. It dies shortly after. Description It is one of the largest palms with individual specimens having reached heights of up to with stems up to in diameter. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with large, palmate leaves up to in diameter, with a petiole up to , and up to 130 leaflets. The talipot palm bears the largest inflorescence of any plant, long, consisting of one to several million small flowers borne on a branched stalk that forms at the top of the trunk (the titan arum, '' Amorphophallus titanum'', from the family Araceae, has the largest unbranched inflorescence, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tripiṭaka
There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons. Tipitaka Encyclopædia Britannica (2015) Some of these collections are also called ''Tipiṭaka'' () or ''Tripiṭaka'' () , meaning "Triple Basket", a traditional term for the three main divisions of some ancient canons. In ancient India, there were several Buddhist scriptural canons that were organized into three main textual divisions: Vinaya (monastic rule), (which contains teachings of the Buddha) and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the current capital of Colombo in the North Central Province, on the banks of the historic Malwathu Oya. The city is now a World Heritage Site famous for its well-preserved ruins of the ancient Sinhala Kingdom, Sinhalese civilisation. While ''Mahāvaṃsa'' places the founding of the city in 437 BCE, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia. It is the cradle of the Hydraulic Sinhalese civilisation, Theravada Buddhism, and the longest-serving List of capitals in Sri Lanka, ancient capital of Sri Lanka that has survived for 1500 years. Moreover, it was the first capi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahaweli River
The Mahaweli River (, literally "Great Sandy River"; 'mahawali gangai'', is a long river, ranking as the longest river in Sri Lanka. It has a drainage basin of , the largest in the country, which covers almost one-fifth of the total area of the island. The Mahaweli Ganga starts at Polwathura (in the Mahawila area), a remote village of Nuwara-Eliya District in bank Nawalapitiya of Kandy District by further joining of Hatton Oya and Kotmale Oya. The river reaches the Bay of Bengal on the southwestern side of Trincomalee Bay. The bay includes the first of a number of submarine canyons, making Trincomalee one of the finest natural deep-sea harbours in the world. As part of Mahaweli Development programme, the river and its tributaries are dammed at several locations to allow irrigation in the dry zone, with almost of land irrigated. The production of hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaya Rata
Malaya Rata is the mountainous areas of central Sri Lanka. It is also one of the three historical regions of the island of Sri Lanka, with Rajarata and ''Ruhunurata''. Malaya Rata was historically known to house the natives tribes; Yaksha, Raksha, and to a certain extent the Naga. See also * Provinces of Sri Lanka * History of Sri Lanka The history of Sri Lanka covers Sri Lanka and the history of the Indian subcontinent and its surrounding regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Prehistoric Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back a ... References Mountains of Sri Lanka {{SriLanka-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
