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Sri Lankan Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2% of the population as of 2012. Practitioners of Sri Lankan Buddhism can be found amongst the majority Sinhalese population as well as among the minority ethnic groups, most notably the Sri Lankan Chinese. Sri Lankan Buddhists share many similarities with Southeast Asian Buddhists, specifically Thai Buddhists and Burmese Buddhists due to traditional and cultural exchange. Sri Lanka is one of only five countries in the world with a Theravada Buddhist majority, and others are Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Buddhism has been declared as the state religion under Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution which can be traced back to an attempt to bring the status of Buddhism back to the status it enjoyed prior to the Dutch and British colonial eras. Sri Lanka is one of the oldest traditionally Buddhist countries. The island has been a centre of Buddhist scholarship and practices since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spans . Thailand Template:Borders of Thailand, is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar, to the northeast and east by Laos, to the southeast by Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the southwest by the Andaman Sea; it also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the state capital and List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, largest city. Tai peoples, Thai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th to 11th centuries. Greater India, Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon kingdoms, Mon, Khmer Empire, and Monarchies of Malaysia, Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schism
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, such as the Great East–West Schism or the Western Schism. It is also used of a split within a non-religious organization or movement or, more broadly, of a separation between two or more people, be it brothers, friends, lovers, etc. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group. Schismatic as an adjective means pertaining to a schism or schisms, or to those ideas, policies, etc. that are thought to lead towards or promote schism. In religion, the charge of schism is distinguished from that of heresy, since the offence of schism concerns not differences of belief or doctrine but promotion of, or the state of division, especially among groups with differing pastoral jurisdict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Buddhist Council
Since the Mahaparinirvana of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhist monastic communities, the "''sangha''", have periodically convened for doctrinal and disciplinary reasons and to revise and correct the contents of the Buddhist canons. Referred to as Buddhist "councils" (Pāli and Sanskrit: ''saṅgīti'', literally meaning "reciting together" or "joint rehearsal"), the famous First Buddhist Council is recorded in Buddhist texts as being held one year after the Buddha's passing, when Ananda recited all of the spoken sutras, which were recorded in Rajagriha. The two next major Councils were held more than 100 years later. The details of the later councils are debated by modern Buddhist studies. Various sources belonging to different Buddhist schools may contain different accounts of these events. First Buddhist council All six of the surviving Vinaya sources of various early Buddhist schools contain accounts, in whole or in part, of the first and second co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Buddhist Schools
The early Buddhist schools refers to the History of Buddhism in India, Indian Buddhist "doctrinal schools" or "schools of thought" (Sanskrit: ''vāda'') which arose out of the early unified Buddhist monasticism, Buddhist monastic community (Sangha (Buddhism), saṅgha) due to various schisms in the history of Buddhism, history of Indian Buddhism. The various splits and divisions were caused by differences in interpretations of the Monasticism, monastic rule (Vinaya), doctrinal differences and also due to simple geographical separation as Buddhism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent. The early Buddhist community initially split into two main Nikāyas (monastic groups, divisions), the Sthavira nikāya, Sthavira ("Elders"), and the Mahāsāṃghika ("Great Community"). This initial split occurred either during the reign of Ashoka, Aśoka (c. 268-232 BCE) or shortly after (historians disagree on the matter). Later, these groups became further divided on doctrinal grounds int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sthavira Nikāya
The Sthavira nikāya (Sanskrit "Sect of the Elders"; ; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. They split from the majority Mahāsāṃghikas at the time of the Second Buddhist council. Scholarly views Origin The Sthavira nikāya was one of the early Buddhist schools. The Sthavira nikāya was separated from the majority Mahāsāṃghikas during the Second Buddhist council resulting in the first schism in the Sangha.Harvey, Peter (2013). ''An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.).'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pg. 89-90. The Mahāsāṃghika ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'', a text written to justify this school's departure from the disciplinary code of the elder monks, asserts that the council was convened at Pāṭaliputra over matters of vinaya, and it is explained that the schism resulted from the majority (Mahāsaṃgha) refusing to accept the addition of rules to the Vinaya by the minority (Sthaviras). The Mahāsāṃghikas therefo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vibhajyavāda
Vibhajyavāda (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''Vibhajjavāda''; ) is a term applied generally to groups of early Buddhists belonging to the Sthavira Nikāya, which split from the Mahāsāṃghika (due either to the former attempting to make the Vinaya stricter, or the latter wishing to reform it; see: Sthavira Nikāya main article) into two main groups: the Sarvāstivāda and the Vibhajyavāda, of which the latter are known to have rejected both Sarvāstivāda doctrines (especially the doctrine of "all exists") and the doctrine of Pudgalavada (personalism).Williams, Tribe, Wynne; ''Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition'', p. 91.Cousins, LS (2001)On the Vibhajjavadins. The Mahimsasaka, Dhammaguttaka, Kassapiya and Tambapanniya branches of the ancient Theriyas Buddhist Studies Review 18 (2), 131-182. During the reign of Ashoka, these groups possibly took part in missionary activity in Gandhara, Bactria, Kashmir, South India and Sri Lanka. By the third century C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhaghosa
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" (''Budd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the original Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) notations used for the same calendar era. The two notation systems are numerically equivalent: " CE" and "AD " each describe the current year; "400 BCE" and "400 BC" are the same year. The expression can be traced back to 1615, when it first appears in a book by Johannes Kepler as the (), and to 1635 in English as " Vulgar Era". The term "Common Era" can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish religious scholars. Since the late 20th century, BCE and CE have become popular in academic and scientific publications on the grounds that BCE and CE are religiously neutral terms. They have been promoted as more sensitive to non-Christia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Ceylon
British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies from 1931 to 1948, was the British Empire, British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka. The British Ceylon period is the history of Sri Lanka between 1815 and 1948. It follows the fall of the Kingdom of Kandy, Kandyan Kingdom into the hands of the British Empire. It ended over 2300 years of Sinhalese monarchy rule on the island. The British rule on the island lasted until 1948 when the country regained Sri Lankan independence movement, independence following the Sri Lankan inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch Ceylon
Dutch Ceylon (; ) was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch managed to capture most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka, they were never able to control the Kingdom of Kandy located in the interior of the island. Dutch Ceylon existed from 1640 until 1796. In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and partly by Sri Lankan ( primarily of Sinhalese origin) kingdoms, who were constantly battling the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was oppressive to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Portuguese were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese king (the king of Kandy) invited the Dutch to help defeat the Portuguese. The Dutch interest in Ceylon was to have a united battle front against the Iberians at that time. History Background The Portuguese The Dutch were invited by the Sinhalese to help fig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of Sri Lanka
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (, ) has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. it has been formally amended 21 times. It is Sri Lanka's second republican constitution, replacing the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972, its third constitution since the country gained independence within the British Commonwealth as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, and its fourth constitution overall. Former constitutions of Sri Lanka ;Donoughmore Constitution ;Soulbury Constitution Under the Soulbury Constitution, which consisted of The Ceylon Independence Act, 1947 and The Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council 1947, Sri Lanka was then known as Ceylon. The Soulbury Constitution provided a parliamentary form of Government for Ceylon and for a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission. Minority rights were safeguarded by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
