ධර්මද්වීපය වූ මෙම හෙළ දෙරණ බුදුරදුන් උපන් පුණ්‍ය භුමිය නොවේද?
The
commonly accepted theory that all the Buddhas are born in India – is it a must
to happen in that manner? Following the teachings of Buddha, can we agree with
the genuineness of a theory of that kind? It is necessary for us to find
answers for these questions. “All the Sanskara Dhammas are impermanent” is
the teaching of the Buddha. Based on that, above mentioned statement cannot be
taken as a true statement. After the end
of this world, Kalpa Vinaasha, can we think of a structure which similar
to this world? This is actually something that we cannot believe in. This world
is subjected to change day by day. It’s a crystal clear truth that a theory of
this nature will not go hand in hand with the teachings of the Buddha.
We can
assume that a theory of this nature had been established to satisfy the need of
building a relationship between all the Buddha related incidents with India. If
Lanka and India are compared well and analyzed deeply, who would say
that Lanka is not the ideal land to happen all the incidents related to
Buddha?
The way of
life of the Bhikkus in the caves situated in the monasteries adds more
value to the history of Sasana (Sāsana) in the Buddha’s time. There are
many such monasteries here in Lanka which were dwelled by the Bhikkus
who stepped on to the path of Nibbana (Nibbāna), i.e. the supreme bliss
taught by Buddha Dhamma. A very systematic methodology adopted to offer
such caves to the Buddha and to his great disciples, the great Sanga, can
be seen only in Lanka. Thanks to the art of writings on the rocks, inscriptions,
the attempt made by Ashoka to suppress the great journeys made by Buddha
and his great disciples, Sanga, for the betterment of the people of Lanka
by the journey of Mahinda Thero became totally fruitless. I would like
to present some of those inscriptions here. There are some special ones among
them. Extra consideration is paid for those inscriptions which were written for
the cave-offerings for Buddha.
These inscriptions are evident
for the offerings of caves by the people lived in the ancient times for the use
of the Buddha and his great disciples, Maha Sanga. Aren’t they? This
particular system cannot be observed in any country in the world. Though there
are enough of rich texts of this nature which can be used by anyone to identify
the places that Buddha had lived in, they are still mislead by the Indian
influence. Even the Pali (Pāli) scripts which are considered
as something brought to Heladiva in the visit of Mahinda Thero,
had been developed really only after his visit to Helabima following the
inscriptions and with the help of the minister Aritta. This can be
identified from Mahavamsa (Mahāvamsa) itself.
1
" බගවත ගොතම ශමණෙ මොගලි “
bagawatha gothama shamane mogali
පුත තෙරහ ශරිපුත තෙරහ
පූශ putha theraha shariputha theraha
poosha
තෙර පුන තෙරහ ශදි විහරිය අගත anagatha chathu disha shagasha
dine parumaka
අබය පුත පරුමක එරක " (සෙ.කි.අ.ප. 42 පිට) abaya putha parumaka eraka” (Se.ki.a.pa.
page 42)
Meaning:
Eraka, the son of Parumaka
Abaya offered (this cave) for all the Sangas namely Mugalan Thero, Sariyuth
Thero, Pusha Thero, Punna Thero lived with the Buddha Bagawath Gauthama who
come from all four directions. (se.ki.a.p. Page 42)
2
-" ගොතම ශමණෙ බඩකරික අනද “gothama
shamane badakarika anada
තෙරශ ච පුණ තෙරශ පුශ තෙරශ therasha cha
puna therasha pusha therasha
අගමගශ ලෙණෙ මනප දශන නම agamagasha
lene manapa dashana nama
අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ " agatha
anagatha chathudisha shagasha”
(ඔ.යු.හෙ.හු. 7.8) (O.yu.he.hu.7.8)
Meaning:
The cave called Manapa Darshana
which belongs to the chief disciples of the Buddha such as Ananda Thero – the guardian
of Dhamma of Gauthma Buddha, Punna Thero, Pusha Thero is offered for the Sangas
coming from all the four directions who are present and not present (here).
(O.yu.he.hu. 7,8)
3
-" පරුමක අබය පුත තිශහ නවිකහ ලෙණෙ “parumaka abaya
putha thishaha navikaha lene
ගොතම ශමණෙ කරපිත " (ද.බු.සි.පි.ම.51)
gothama
shamane karapitha” (da.bu.si.pi.ma.51)
Meaning:
The cave of Tissa - the naval
chief, the son of Parumaka Abaya was built for Gauthma Buddha. (Da.bu.si.pi.ma.
51)
4
-" බත තිශ ගුතහ ලෙණෙ ගොතම ශමණෙ “batha
thisha guthaha lene gothama shamane
ශමණෙ පතිට පිතෙ " ( ගලගෙදර
බගවා ලෙණ) shamane pathita pithe” (Cave Bagawa in Galagedara)
Meaning:
The Cave of Tissa Guttha, the
attendant, wais built for Gauthama Buddha.(Baghava cave in Galagedara)
5
-" චොරිකය මහ රCOහ මහ ලෙණෙ ගොතම “chorikaya maha rajaha
maha lene gothama
ශමෙණෙ පතිට පිතෙ " (මුල්ලුකොඩුලුමලෙයි) shaman pathita pithe” (Mullukodulumalai)
Meaning:
The great cave of the great
King Chorikiya is built for Gauthma Buddha. (Mullukodulumalai)
6
" උපශක පුඩශහ ලෙණෙ
ගොතම ශමණෙ “upashaka
pudushaha lene gothama shaman
දිනි පරුමක වෙලහ ච ගමික වණ තිශහ dini
parumaka welaha cha gamika wana thishaha
ච ගමික වලුහ ච උපලය පතිට පිතෙ
" cha gamika
waluha cha upalaya pathita pithe”
(බු.වැ.වඩිනාගල.සෙ.4) (Bu.Wa.Wadinaagala.Se.
4)
Meaning: The
cave built by Parumaka Wela, Gamika Warna Tissa, Gamika Walluka and Upalayaa
was offered for Gauthma Buddha.(Bu.wa.Wadinagala.se.4)
7
" ගපති තිශ
පුත පරුමක උතරශ ලෙණෙ “gapathi thisha putha parumaka utharasha lene
ගොතම නම ශමණෙ පතිටපිතෙ " gothama
nama shamane pathitapithe ”
(බු.වැ.වඩිනාගල.සෙ.4)
(Bu.Wa.Wadinaagala.Se. 4)
Meaning:
The cave of Parumaka Uthara,
the son of Tissa - the chief of the house, was built for Buddha.
(Bu.wa.Wadinagala.se.4)
8
" පිත මහ රCOහ බඩකරික පරුමක ශුමන පුත
“pitha maha rajaha
badakarika parumaka shumana putha
පරුමක චෙමශ ලෙණෙ රCOතිශහ රCOයශි parumaka chemasha lene rajahathishaha
rajahayashi
නියතෙ අගත අනගත බගවත සගස " niyathe agatha anagatha bagawatha sagasa( Sithul Pawwa)
නියතෙ අගත අනගත බගවත සගස " niyathe agatha anagatha bagawatha sagasa( Sithul Pawwa)
(සිතුල් පව්ව)
Meaning: The
cave of Parumaka Chemasha who is the son of Parumaka Shumana – the treasurer of
the great King Panitha was certainly offered by the Queen of Tissa for The
Nobal One and his Sangas coming and not coming (Sithulpawwa).
The members in the Bamana
clang (බමණ වංශය)
also had offered the caves for the Buddha and his great disciples, Sanga. There
are some who are interested in making wrong interpretations for them as a group
of people came from India. We have found facts from inscriptions that the
people of this Bamana clang had lived in the ancient Heladiva.
Even the members in the Bamana clang such as Sāriputhra
and Moggallāna (1) were not the
ones having connections with India, but were the members in the ‘Bamana’
clang lived in Heladiva, the inscriptions record.
1 "ශගශ බමණ මෙගලි පුත පරුමක මCOමපුත දතහ ලෙණෙ" (සෙ.කි.අ.ප.ක්‍ර. 52)
“shagasha bamana megali putha parumaka majhama
putha dathaha lene” (Se.Ki.A.Pa.Kra. 52)
2 " බමණ කනක තුබෙ ගොතම නම ශමෙණෙ
පතිට පිතෙ" (බරන්දර)
"bamana kanaka thube gothama nama shamene
pathita pithe ” (Barandara)
3 " බමුණ මිශ කුට ගොතම ශමෙණෙ අගත
අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ" (සෙ.කි.අ.ප.ක්‍ර. 28)
“bamuna misha kuta gothama shamene agatha
anagatha chathudisha shagasha” (Se.Ki.A.Pa.Kra. 28)
4 " බමණ අතිමත කහ ලෙණෙ ශගශ " (සිං.ශි.සං, 110)
“bamana athimatha kaha lene shagasha” (Sin.Shi.San,110)
5 " බමණ ශුග පුත පුශ දෙවශ ච දතශ ච ලෙණෙ ශගශ" (සිං.ශි.සං, 63)
“bamana shuga putha pusha dewasha cha dathsha cha lene shagasha”(Sin.Shi.San,63)
There
are many more undiscovered inscriptions in Heladiva. Some inscriptions
in north and east regions are destroyed already. In the time of Buddha in Heladiva,
most of the Buddhist monasteries were located in north and east regions. Most
of them are destroyed by the traitors and Hindu temples are built on them.
Above
mentioned
term ‘Bamana - බමණ’ does not represent the Hindu
Brahmins found in India. Here ‘Bamana - බමණ’ is used to
a particular clang called Ādisaala Manthaka (ආඩිසාල මන්Gක). That is how
they are described in the book called Varigapoornikā. If this clang had
been originated from India then Mahāvamsa and Atthakathaas (2) would have certainly praised and utmost preference
would have been given for them. If that was the case, it can certainly be
stated that the Yakkhas and the Nāgas (3)
would have kept aside then and made all arrangements to convert the Brahamin
in to a Helaya (Helayā).
The main task of
the Bamana clang mentioned in the inscriptions is to lead a life of
meditation in the monasteries. They developed their spiritual life up to the
stage of Sages and focused in discovering the sciences and technologies which
could be used for the betterment of human beings. It was their responsibility
to discover new knowledge such as the technology for building tanks,
mathematics, medical science, architecture etc. They were a group of people
lived even before the time of Buddha and they fulfilled their task well, patriotic
and very sensitive as well. Not only that, from the time of the Buddha they lived
a life which was driven by the virtues taught in the Buddha Dhamma. They
could immediately experience the fruitions in the supermundane path as they practiced
Dhamma with highly developed minds. Because of this, the leaders in the
country did not attend to the administration activities in the country and the
country became an easy ‘prey’ of the invaders.
1 - These
two noble persons were the chief disciples of the Buddha, Agrasharavakas.
2 - These
are the commentaries.
3 - These
are the two types of inhabitants lived live Heladiva.
{The English translation of 'බුද්ධෝත්පත්තිය හෙළදිවයි' (Buddha was born in
Heladiva) - Part – 7}
Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)
Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)
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