THE BETRAYAL OF BUDDHISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R004000080002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 140
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: REPORT

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THE
~~~RAYAI OF BUDDHNSMI
AN ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE REPORT
OF THE
BUDDHIST COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY
"THE RELIGION OF THE BUDDHOO PROFESSED BY THE
CIIIFFS AND INHABITANTS OF THESE PROVINCES IS
DECLARED INVIOLABLE AND ITS RITES AND MINISTERS
AND PLACES OF WORSHIP ARE TO BE MAINTAINED AND
PROTECTED''. (ARTICLE 5, THE KANDYAN CONVENTION)
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THE
BETRAYAL OF BUDDHISM
AN ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE REPORT
OF THE
BUDDHIST COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY
0
'7111; RELIGION OI' THE BUDDHOO PROFESSED BY THE
CHIEFS AND INHABITANTS OF THESE PROVINCES IS
DECLARED INVIOLABLE AND ITS RITES AND MINISTERS
AND PLACES OF WORSHIP ARE TO BE MAINTAINED ANI)
PROTECTED". (ARTICLE 5, THE TiANDYAN CONVENTION)
0
2499
19156
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ALL. RIGHTS RIiSERVEI)
ltitla the exception of brief extract.,
for reviews, this boot may not be
reproduced in whole or ill part br
ally process Whatsoever Without the
.c,ritten consent of the Publisher.,,
PKIATLU Al
DIJA IA\IJAYA
L':L1.AX,GODA.
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FOREWORD
The Buddhist Committee of Enquiry was set up on 2nd
April 1954 in accordance with a resolution adopted at the 33rd
annual conference of the All-Ceylon Buddhist Congress held at
Kegalle on 27th December 1953. Its terms of reference were
''to inquire into the present state of Buddhism in Ceylon and
to report on the conditions necessary to improve and strengthen
the position of Buddhism, and the means whereby those
conditions may be fulfilled''.
The Committee of Enquiry- was composed of the--lollowiug
members:
Rev. Ambanwelle Siddharta Dhammananda,
presently Anunayake of the Malwatte Chapter
Rev. Haliyale Sumanatissa of the Asgiriva Chapter
Rev. Pandita Palannoruwe Vimaladlamma,
Vice-Principal of Vidyodaya Pirivena Colombo
Rev. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya, Principal of
Sri Dhamnrananda Pirivena Balangoda
Rev. Pandita Sri Gnanaloka, Vice-Principal of
Sarasvati Pirivena, Balagalla
Rev. Kotahene Pannakitti, Vice-Principal of
Vidyalankara Pirivena, Kelaniva
Ur. U.1,Malalasekera P. de S Iiularatna 111,sq:
I)r. T. Viniafanandav D. C. AVijayawardena Esq.
AMessrs: L. H. _Mettnnaiidav T. 13. Illlepohi, (who resigned later)
Rev. iMladiha Pannaselra and Mr. C. D. S. Siriwardena joined
Hie Committee at a later stage.
wlessrs T. U. do Silvio and 11. 1). S. Abey?atne acted
+rivta.ries to the Committee.
The "Buddhist Commission' as it came to lie popul;tcl~'
l i e u n held its sittings throughout the length and br'e;ulth of
iii-, u,i;otry, beginning at Raanapura on 26M)
aunt 19,54 ;6ri
iu(linr at Anuratlhapur;r on 22nd 1\Iay 1955. It travelled
t+_osin;ately ii, X300 miles and heard evidence Croat organis,i-
tio.is and individuals representing all sections o1 13udilhl,t
,skitty, both laity and Sangha.
The full report of the Committee of Inquiry is printed
u Sinhalese. In this abridged version the original historical
in i,odiietion has been replaced with a, shorter and more general
n' and the chapter on administration of Temple Property
on'itted altogether. Other chapters have been shortened,
with the exception of "Religion & and State in Ceylon" which
is printed in its entirety. Considerations of space have made
the omission of all but tLo most important statistics obligatory,
and the reader is referred to the original and complete Sinhalese
v c.-sion for further details, statistical and otherwise.
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INTRODUCTION.
More than twenty-five centuries ago the Sautbuddha
came to Lanka, say our chronicles, at the Durutu full
,soon, in the ninth month of btiddhahood, to purify and
prepare this Island for the time when it would become the
repository of his matchless teaching of freedom and the
most splendid part of his Kingdom of Righteousness.
Shortly after he had sent forth his first sixty arhat
disciples to extend the frontiers of the Kingdom of
Righteousness, whose Wheel of Conquering Truth no
ascetic, priest, deity, tnara, or brahma, could prevail against,
the Blessed One set out for Uruvela to bring the one
thousand Jatilas (matted hair ascetics). into the orbit of
enlightenment.
While at Uruvela, the idyllic countryside of his final
struggle and victory, preparing the Jatilas for liberation,
tlcs Blessed One visited Hintavat, the Snowy Region, and
seated by Lake Anotatta, on the rock Manosila, he surveyed
the world, and saw Lanka the Island sanctified by the
presence of the three previous Buddhas of this aeon, and
known in the past as Ojadipa, Varadipa, and Maudadipa,
full of excellent qualities, as the place most suited for
preserving his Doctrine pure for posterity. Theft he rose
to the sky and travelling along the pathway of space, in
the manner of a heroic lion, radiant with the infinite
grace of a Supremely Enlightened One, arrived in Lanka
for the first time, freed it of the uncivilised impure
elements that infested it, blessed it with the Great
Protective Chant of Amity, taught the Law to a vast concoltrse
of devas, asuras, gattdhabbas, kinnaras and such other
beings, who assembled to hear him, at the beautiful
Mahanaga Forest on the Mahavaeli at Alutnuvara, bestowed
a handful of locks of his hair to Suinanadeva, and
returned to Uruvela.
'Twice more the Lord of the Three Worlds, the August
One, the Buddha, visited this Lanka, this Jewel of the
Indian Sea, remembering its importance for the future of
his Law, and just before passing away finally, spoke to
Sakka, the chief of deities, thus: "Vijaya, son of Siha-
bahu the king, has come to Lanka with seven hundred
followers from the Lala country. Chief of deities, guard
hint and his followers and Lanka well, for there shall
my teaching fake root and flourish...."
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1. Asoka Spreads -the Teaching.
The. establishing of the Buddha's Law in. Lanka took
place two hundred and thirty six years :,aif ter the nibbana of
the Buddha, at . Kusinara. That is when the great Maurya
empire, founded by Candagutta, the contemporary of
Alexander the Great, reached its zenith under the greatest
of all kings known to history, Asoka, who turned from conquests
of the sword to conquests of the Good Law of the Blessed
One, and spread the fragrance of the peerless, teaching of the
Sublime One, the teaching of concord and compassion thruoghout
the then known world. The influence of Asoka, who turned
away as he himself says in his edicts from `the gods who
were believed in all over Jambudipa' and had been 'shown to
be false' to the Sangha, the Order of the Blessed One, Was
immense: For the' first time in the history of the world,
Indian culture in its Mauryan Buddhist form spread from
Devanagara (Dondra) in southern Lanka to Greece, in accor-
dance with Asoka's words.
"I shall be diligent of the good of the whole world,
materially and mentally: walking the path of peace, I shall
lead the world too from passion to peace". And it is in
this effort of Asoka that all the later waves of Buddhist
culture, which inundated Asia, to the North, East and South-
east, of India, took their rise, . and found their inspiration.
Therefore, T. W. Rhys Davids wrote:
"His (Asoka's) name is honoured wherever the teach-
ings of the Buddha have spread, and is reverenced from
the Volga to Japan, from Ceylon and Siam to the borders
of Mongolia and Siberia", and Koeppen, "If a man's fame
Can be measured by the number of hearts that revere his
memory, by the number of lips that have mentioned and
still mention him with honour, Asoka is more famous than
Charlemagne or Caesar".
II. Establishment of the Sasana in Lanka.
Asoka sent his son Mahinda, and his daughter Sangliamitta,
to Lanka, to secure the. perpentuity of the Incomparable
teaching of Nibbana, which is replete with the compassion
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and right understanding of the Blessed. One. It is thus that
the people of this country came to have the noble doctrine
and be included in the Buddha's Kingdom of Righteousness early
in their history, and are now the oldest living Buddhist nation
in the world.. The consequences of the inclusion of this country
in the Kingdom of the Buddha cannot be fully grasped without
realising that but for. the continuance of the Dhamma, through
the study and practice of it in Lanka, there would have been no
pure Sasana, in Burma, Siam, Cambodia, or Laos, and the True
Doctrine of the Buddha, recited and accepted by the arahats, at
Rajagaha, Vesali, and Pataliputta, that is to say, at the first three
great councils of the Ariya Sangha, would have disappeared long
ago. Or in other words, if the Aarahat, Anubuddha Mahamahinda
Thera, the son of Emperor Asoka, had not come to this Island;
and set THE WHEEL OF THE BUDDHA'S LAW in motion,
the Pali canon would not have been recorded, the authentic,
clear, and complete, account of the path to the extinction of ill,
nibbana, would have vanished, and only the confused and
conflicting accounts of the Master's teaching would have remained
in the world.
Mahamahinda Thera not only brought the Dhamma, the
Doctrine to Lanka, but he also taught it to the people of this
country in such a way that it became the dominating element
in all their activities and inspired them to develop a new culture,
which became and still still is, the basis of the social outlook
of this country. And because Mahamahinda Thera taught in a
masterly way, the Dhamma in Lanka never became a mere
creed, a religion, a morality or a philosophy. Because of that
teacher the Dhamma is for the people of this country something
they cannot do without, something comparable to the air they
breathe or their life-blood. With the abandonment of the
Dhamma the people of this country shall wither, fade away,
and perish. Therefore those who are trying to make the people
of this country accept false teachings,., all the apostles of un-
enlightened teachings in this country, are undermining the
foundation of the social structure of Buddhist Lanka.
For twenty -three centuries Lanka has been nourished
with the quintessence of human thought the sublime, teaching of
the Sambuddha, the Supremely Enlightened One, and now the
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people of this Buddhist Lanka, are being. asked to give it up
for crude teachings of unenlightened teachers, for exploded
beliefs,. outworn theories, and played out philosophies, The
Buddhists do not want to exchange gold for lead or bread
for filth, they want to hold fast to their compassionate,
refined, and reasonable view of life, and their. noble culture,
which is founded, on the Dhamma. Nor do they want to
conquer others. Buddhist Lanka wants to live in virtue, and
in the wisdom of mercy and amity, and inspire other nations
too to live in harmlessness and peace, which form the
essence of noble living. As Paul Peiris says, the message of
the son and daughter of Asoka-
"left to the Sinhalese that heritage of high ideals,
gentleness, and contentment of which neither the centuries
of ruthless warfare, nor the more insidious attacks of modern
commercialism, has succeeded in robbing them",
Lanka at the time was . divided into three kingdoms. The
country north of the Mahavaeli and the Deduru Oya with
the capital was the Raja or Pihiti Rata (kingdom); that to the
south of the Mahavaeli and the plateau including the flat country
up to the Kalu Ganga, the Ruhunu Rata, and the mountainous
area in the centre together with the lowland between the Deduru
Oya and the Kalu Ganga, the Maya Rata.
III. Three Great Kings.
Within a quarter of a century of the passing away of Maha-
mahinda Thera, the Island became weak and subject to attacks
of South Indian adventurers, one of whom Elara, a Cola noble,
reigned for forty - four years till overthrown by the most
heroic of Sinhalese kings Dutthagamini Abhaya, 'son. of the
king of Ruhuna, Kavantissa. He brought the whole. of Lanka
under his sway, and gave peace and prosperity to the Island
for twenty-four years. Three outstanding figures illuminate the
history of Lanka. They are Devanampiyatissa, Dutthagamini
Abhaya and Parakkama Bahu I. The first was the wise ruler,
who accepted the culture of the best of the 11auryas brought
thither with the Three Jewels, by Mahamahinda Thera, and
whose, reign of forty years . was peaceful and happy for the
people of this country. The second was the man of action,
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brave, confident, and noble, who has become the model of Lanka,
for all time as the defender of the culture, institutions, traditions,.
and independence, of this Buddhist nation, whose devotion and
loyalty to the Three Jewels have been unsurpassed elsewhere
in the world. Duttbagamini improved Anuradhapura, which even
today-
11 more perhaps than any other relic of Buddhism
captures the imagination of the student, and reveals some-
thing of the splendid civilisation which grew up about
the Sangha. Its vast dagobas, its ancient trees and pleasant
parks, its slender stone pillars and 'great carved lintels
remain to tell of a noble city, where kings vied with one
another in honouring the Sangha" (Kenneth Saunders).
The reign of Dutthagamini was a time of great con-
structive activity, architecturally, and in many other ways;
the great Mahavihara, the earliest and the greatest monastic-
college of Lanka, founded by Mahamahinda Thera was at the
height of its glory, and the country blessed not only with
plenty, but with wise and virtuous monks too, who brightened
the firmament of the Sasana. That Lanka was regarded even
then as the centre of the Pure Dhamma preserved from the
time of the Third Council held at Pataliputta in the time
of Asoka, is clear from the record in the Mahavansa of the
thousands of foreign bhikkhus who were present when the
foundation of the Ruvanveli Mahaeetiya was laid.
The third great figure in the history of Lanka was Parakkaina
Bahu I, the mightiest of all the kings of this country and
the greatest of its rulers. It was due to his prowess that the
darkness in which Lanka was enveloped as a result of the
Cola occupation of the eleventh century, and the internal
strife and dissension of the twelfth, was dispelled, and Lanka shone-
as a strong and well - governed country. Never before had
this country risen to the eminence it reached under this king.
IV A period of decline.
After the death of Duttahagamini there was a steady
decline politically and culturally for many decades and in-the
time of Vattagamini Abhaya who had to contend with five
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the practice of the Dhamma continued. Further, dissensions in
the Sangha had already arisen in the reign of Vattagamini,.
Tamil usurpers, there was such a falling away from the.
Mamma that the Pali canon, which up till then had- been
transmitted - orally, was committed to writing, at tbo Atoka r
Cave, monastery near Matale, to prevent the pure Dhamma
from disappearing altogether.
Here it may be mentioned, that the elders, who met at
Atoka Lena, and recorded the teachings of the .Buddha performed
the greatest service to the world in the history of the
Sambuddhasasana. It was their foresight that saved the Path
.to Deliverance in all its pristine purity to humanity and but
for their work this country could not have continued to be
the custodian of the Pure Doctrine of the Buddha. But the
recording of the Pali canon on ola leaves did not prevent
the Dhamma from being neglected or distorted. In fact possessed
of written scriptures the monks found less interest in learning
the Dhamma by heart, and the decline in the study and also
to writing the Pali canon held at the Atoka Vihara, was the
secession of the Abhayagiri Vihara from the Theravada, and
the separation. of the monks of that monastery from those
of the Mahavihara. The gulf between the two communities of
monks widened with time and wrong doctrines also held sway
from the first century B. C. to the second half of the twelfth
century A. C.
and one of the reasons for the Fourth Council, for committing
Therefore, we find in the rock-inscription of Parakkama Bahu
I that for 1254 years from Vattagamini's time the Sasana was
decaying with the Sangha divided. It was to rid the Sasana
of its impurities that the monks led by the Venerable Dimbulagala
Kassapa and supported by the great Parakkama Bahu framed, the
rules for the monks and brought about unity and order and
diligence in the practice of the Code of Discipline in the Sangha..
In the reign of Mahanama 951-973 A. B. the commentaries
to the Pali canon were written for the most part by the
great Buddhaghosa, who came from India; during his reign
Sinhala nuns are said to have visited China and given the
bhikkhuni ordination to Chinese women. But as no mention of
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the visits of Theravada nuns from Lanka are mentioned in
the writings of Mahavihara monks, it is possible that the
Sinhala nuns who visited China were of the Abhayagiri Nikava.
After the death of Parakkama Balm "Ceylon", says
Paul Peiris, ` was overrun by Indian hords...Twenty thousand
merciless warriors swept through the country, plundering,
ravishing, mutilating, and slaughtering. Even the yellow
robe of the ascetic could not avail to save the person
of the priest. The holiest shrines were violated and over-
thrown. The Ruvanvelisaya, "which stood like the
embodiment of the glory of all the prious kings of old",
was despoiled of its priceless relics. In sheer wantonness
they loosed the cords which held together the rare palm-
leaf books and - scattered the leaves to the winds. The
King himself was taken prisoner and blinded". This was
in the thirteenth century.
The fourteenth and fifteenth ? centuries produced no great
changes in the life of the people of this country. The period
ending with the arrival of the Portugese has been summed up
in these words by a British historian, David Hussey:
"The coming of Vijaya and his followers, about 486
B. C., began a reign of prosperity which reached its height
in the reign of Tissa and Duttliagamini. After that Ceylon
entered a long period of slow decline, due largely to
Tamil invasions. The decline was averted for a time by
various kings, chiefly by the great Parakkama Bahu, but
it set in again. By 1505, the wars with the Tamils were
over. The long and fierce struggle had spoiled the glory
and destroyed the prosperity of the Sinhalese kingdom:
but at the end of it the Sinhalese had the two
things which they most valued, their religion and
their distinct nationality in their hands. They had
gone through a terrible struggle to keep them, but they
had kept them, and to that extent they had won."
V. The Portugese Period.
"There is no page in the store of European colonisation
more gloom- and repulsive than that whiell recounts the
proceedings of the. Portugeae in Ceylon', ~av s Tennant, and
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continues thus: 'Astonished at the magnitude of their
enterprises, and the glory of their discoveries and conquests
in India, the rapidity and success of which secured for
Portugal and unprecedented renown, we are ill-prepared
to hear of the rapacity, bigotry, and cruelty, which
characterized every stage of their progress in the East.
They appeared in the Indian Seas in the threefold character
of merchants, missionaries, and pirates. Their ostensible
motto was, 'amity, commerce, and religion'; but their
expeditions consisted of soldiers as well as advanturers,
and included friars and a chaplain-major; and their instruc-
tions were, `to begin by preaching, but, that failing,
to proceed to the decision of the sword".
The Protuguese occupied the maritime provinces and
remained here for 150 years, oppressing and harassing
the people of this country in a manner hitherto unknown.
The Portuguese historian Manuel de Faria y Souza wrote-
When he (Jeronymo de Azavedo) was acting in Ceylon
as lord of war, he used to oblige women to throw their
own children in to stone-troughs and pound them in '
them, as they would spices in brass mortars, without
any mitigation of the cries uttered by those innocent
under the blows that fell and without any pity for the
hearts of mothers who saw themselves made the cruel
executioners of their own souls. As soon as they had reduced
(the children) to paste, he had the women beheaded as if
they had not obeyed him".
The Sinhalese in their extremity produced great leaders to
fight the ruthless Catholic invader from Portugal, such as
Mayadunne, Cosme Mudaliyar, Vidiya Bandara and Raja-
sinha of Sitavaka, who made the position of the foe uncertain
and difficult to maintain. The Portuguese finally were expelled
from this Island on 24th June 1658. One of their historians
laments the loss of Ceylon thus-
"Of all the great and lamentable losses and ruins
of the Portuguese State in East Indies, the greatest
and the most painful in the opinion of all well
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qualified to judge, was the loss of the Island
of~ Ceylon, because of the fruitful and most rich,
and in every respect the most happy kingdom which was
thereby lost, the enormous expense incurred on that
conquest, and the bloodshed and lives which it cost on
the Portuguese nation; all of which came to naught by
our mismanagement, and is as forgotten, so far as a
remedy is concerned, as the grief is remembered. And if
as we ought, we make more account of the ruin of that
Christianity and of its appurtenances, the extent of these
losses being of the supernatural order, is so inexpressible,
that it exceeds the limits of our sorrow, and the powers
of our commiseration: for comparing what we possess
with what we have lost, our hopes and our failures, we
shall not find it cause for greater srnlrow nor an object
for similar grief".
The real reason for the above wfil is perhaps to be
found in the following passage from the same author
(Father De Queyrox S. J.), "This is not a question of
herrings and codfish, but of diamonds, pearls, seed pearls,
rubies gold, silver, pinchbeck, copper, (white and black),
cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cardamoms, gallingale, musk,
silk, tapestry, wrought cloth, and other immense riches,
and manufactures, which God distributed over these vast
regions and seas, and which the industry of the natives
can greatly increase, were it not for the tyranny of
their princes. And he who is the master of these, at
least by commerce, cannot fail to astound the world".
"They found in Ceylon', as Paul Peiris writes, "a
contented race, and it fairly prosperous country.... and
it is melancholy to reflect that they succeeded in
producing nothing but chaos. Out of it long list of
high-horn Hidalgos whom Portugal sent to Ceylon, it is
difficult to point to one name as that of an enlightened
statesman and high-principled administrator....
No stately fabric remains as compensating gain for
that religious fanaticism to which ample witness is borne
by the desecrated ruins of those lovely structures which
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the piety of generations had strewn broadcast over the
country.... Their bequest to the Dutch was a colony of
half-castes, a failing agriculture, a depopulated country,
and a miserable and ill-conditioned people.... They had'
in Ceylon an opportunity almost unique in the experience
of European nations in the East, but their moral fibre
had proved unequal to the occasion".
V1. The Dutch Period.'
The Dutch who succeeded the Portuguese came here
with a good reputation as administrators, but they ended up
their connection with this country as a treacherous and
aggressive people who were in some respects as cruel as the
Portuguese. Thus in them Rajasinha the Second was deceived
and by them he was betrayed. It was Rajasinha II who
was responsible for the coming of the Dutch, whom lie,
invited to Ceylon to help him get rid of the Portuguese,
believing that they' were as good as they appeared to he.
The Dutch were not as fanatical as the Portuguese in the
propagation of Christianity; the Dutch were here like the
English later not to save our souls but to rake in the shekels.
The Dutch were permitted by the King of Kandy to
build fortresses in the east coast so as to make ` their
operations against the Portuguese in the west easy. The
King of Kandy was to bear the expenses of the war and
the Dutch had to hand over to him the fortresses taken. from
the Portuguese. The Dutch did not keep to the contract;
perfidiously they retained what they got from their European
predecessors. The Dutch were here for `the cinnamon of
Ceylon', which they said was `the very best in the universe,
and abundant'. They had a monopoly of the most valuable
product of the time in, this country and were most concerned
about protecting the cinnamon for their benefit. They did
nothing to advance the happiness of the people of the
regions over which they had control. The Dutch did not
persecute the Buddhists; ? all their venom was directed against
the Roman Catholics.
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"Portuguese influences, a lethargic and, corrupt
officialdom, the concentration, on private profit, nepotism,
and favouritism, a precarious financial system, a vexatious
system of taxation, laws of unnecessary severity, were
the signs of the intrinsic weakness and the hastening
decay of Dutch power in Ceylon. Thus it is no matter
for wonder that the Dutch power in Ceylon collapsed
at the first touch of the advancing Britisher."
VII. The British Period.
The British who succeeded to the heritage of the. Dutch
in Ceylon in 1796 were the most able of the three European
powers which conquered Ceylon; they were, able to forge
their fetters on Lanka in such a way that the people began
to hypnotize themselves into the belief that they would for
ever be bound to the chariot wheels of Britannia. So great
has been the denationalization of the Sinhalese in the
British period that even to this day many of our leaders
pay poojah to the British in a number of unconscious ways,
which cannot escape the impartial onlooker. The method
adopted by the English was to subjugate the minds of the
people by `education, exhortation, and the press' (Tennant).
The results of their administration will be recounted in the
next chapter.
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CONTENTS
I.
Religion and State in Ceylon
1
IT.
Education
42
TII.
Contemporary Social Conditions
99
TV.
Economic Conditions
109
V.
Social Services
111
VT.
The Sangha Today
Ilri
VII.
Pirivena Education
120
VTTI.
Tolerance
123
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-I-
RELIGION & STATE IN CEYLON
The New Constitution.
The year 1948 ushered in a new era in Ceylon history. It
brought about vast changes in the temporal affairs of the
country. There have been important changes in the position
of different religions, which are not easily recognized. One
such change is that for the first time recognition has been
granted to religious bodies in a constitutional enactment for
our country. Another difference is that the religious freedom
granted up to 1948 by the law, viz. " liberty of conscience
and free exercise of religious worship to all persons who
inhabit and frequent the said Settlements of the Island of
Ceylon, provided always that they quietly and peaceably
enjoy the same " (Proclamation of 23rd September, 1799), has
given place in the Constitution to the right without any qualifica-
tion of "free exercise of religion". There are in Ceylon religions
which still proclaim that their work is not over until the whole
of Ceylon has been brought under their sway and that with
Buddhism and Hinduism there can be no compromise.
(See Chapter I of the Official History of the Church of Ceylon
entitled " A History of the Diocese of Colombo "- A Centenary
Volume by the Ven'ble F. L. Beven, 1946). No religion claim-
ing to teach Divine Truth can compromise with any other
religion and so " free exercise of religion " can only mean all
activities which mean death to other religions. In a demo-
cratic country which recognizes several religions we feel that
the law needs to be more specific of the rights recognized.
" The recognition by the State of religious bodies necessarily
involves relationship between those bodies and the State ".
(Constitutional Law, Wade and Phillips, page 456).
In Ceylon where several religions exist side by side their
relative status within the body politic is also a question
of the greatest importance. The law of Ceylon has created
two classes of religious bodies the Christian religious bodies
enjoying a fully autonomous status of a type that no
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religious body has anywhere else in the world except in
the Vatican and the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim religion&
having a subordinate status. Their relative status represents
he conquering and the conquered.
II, British Colonial policy regarding Religion.
British colonialism' has been a unique phenomenon in Ceylon
History.' The Dutch and the Portuguese merely superimposed
a foreign bureaucracy upon the existing political and social
order. British colonialism aimed at complete revolution. For our
cod Oboe, we shall explain the aims and methods in the words
of"'title of England's greatest historians, whose massive erudi-
tion and unquestionable authority are bywords in academic
circles, Lord Acton, Regius Professor of History at the Univer-
sity cf Cambridge. i
The history of the organization and administration of thy.
Punjab is a practical lesson upon the duties of the English
Government in its Oriental possessions. We have to
accomplish a change both in the State and in society tc'Y
supersede the traditional government and the traditional
civilisation. Indian culture, though it was developed by the
same Aryan race to which our own civilization is indebted, has
been arrested in its progress. Its law has been identified
with its religion and, therefore, religipn has tied down the
people to the social usages and opinions which were current
when the laws were first reduced to a code. The religion
and manners of the Orientals mutually support one another
neither can be changed without the other. Hence the
pioneer of civilisation has to get rid of the religion of India,
to enable him to introduce a better culture, and the pioneer
of Christianity has to get rid of the Indian culture before
lie can establish his religion. Thus the future progress
both of Christianity and of civilisation demands that the
Oriental career of England' should not stop short at the
point of contact with Eastern kingdoms and governments
but should go on to deal with Eastern society ". -(The
Rambler, May 1862, page 534).
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Lord Acton goes , on to say that this change in society
was being accomplished not by violent suppression but by
" choking out of all. life " of the. local institutions by
apparently harmless laws and unseen administrative changes.
This duty that Acton speaks of was accomplished with greater
success in Ceylon than in India. The role that Christianity
was to perform in a British colony is clear. Governors North,
Maitland and Brownrigg planted Christian missions on this
soil on instructions from Secretaries of State like Lord
Castlereagh. Brownrigg admitted his missionary role as Governor
openly :
"It is not necessary to dwell upon my sincere) zeal
for a wide extension of the Christian faith, as it were
independent of other motives ; because it is in fact inseparably
connected with my political office ". -(Farewell letter to
the Wesleyan Missionaries, 1820).
III. The Kandyan convention of 1815.
It has been repeatedly asserted in official statements of
our Government that Elizabeth is Queen of Ceylon, as successor
to Sri Wickrama Raja Sinha, and is the latest sovereign of
the oldest monarchy in the Commonwealth. This view has also
been stated by the eminent Constitutional lawyer, Sir Ivor
Jennings:
"On the other band the idea of monarchy is essen-
tially Indian in the neighbouring Island of Ceylon ... the
Queen is the latest of a line of monarchs, which started
a thousand years before there was an England".-(The
Queen's Government, by Ivor Jennings, 1954, pages 38 - 39).
When the British King became ' King of Ceylon in 1815
on the cession of the Kandyan Provinces, the British Crown
assumed some of the prerogatives of the Kandyan monarch. In
law the position is that the Crown may chose what preroga-
tives to assume, but once assumed they can be laid by, but
they are never lost. They may be resumed at any Mine.
The Kandyan Provinces ceded on guarantees expressed in
the Convention which contained as far as Buddhism was
concerned the clause:
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4
`The Religion of the Buddhoo professed by the Chiefs
1tid inhabitants of these Provinces is declared inviolable and
i= Rites and Ministers and Places of Worship are to be
ma&1Staiaed, and, protected -(Article 5 of the Kandyan
Convention).
.What these words meant has been the subject of much
discussion which we shall not enter into- here. The meaning
to be attributed to them will depend- on whether they must
be uadetstood to mean what the English draftsman intended
they should, at a future date, convey, or what those demanding a
guarsutee wished embodied in the Convention. What is more
important are, what were the prerogatives the British Crown
did assume, and these have nothing to do with the words of
the Convention. What were the prerogatives that the predecessors
of Elizabeth assumed as successors to Sri Wickrama?
IV. Government connection with
Buddhism .1815 - 1853.
The Sinhalese monarch "protected " the Sasana and
maintained it in its purity: The word protected is the nearest
equivalent to the word signifying the functions of a Sinhalese
king as regards the State. He exercised his power over the Religion
to prevent schisms and heretical interpretations of the Dhamma.
There is no authority to perform that function today. He also had
certain specific prerogatives which in 1815 were :
I. The appointment and dismissal of ecclesiastical officials.
2. The appointment of the Karaka Sabhas of Malwatta and
A sgiriya and the enforcement of their decisions.
3. The custody and protection of the Tooth Relic.
4. The organisation and protection of religious ceremonial
at Kandy.
.5. The supervision of the administration of the Buddhist
temporalities.
10 6. The appointment of lay officials at temples.
?. Patronage of the education system of Pirivenas.
These prerogatives were assumed and exercised until 1853.
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V. Heathen Idolatry.
We shall ilot here repeat the story of missionary activity
in Ceylon of Christian missionaries as it has been recorded
elsewhere. By 1838 they had realised that . their-, efforts had
not the results they expected and so began to press the
Government to sever its connection with Buddhism. Reverends
Boake, Spence Hardy and Murdoch carried on ceaseless agita-
tion, and they enlisted the support of leading government officers
like the Colonial Secretaries Anstruther, Emerson 'Tennent and
Government Agent Wodehouse. Missionary and official alike -desired
the end of the traditional social order. The Government wanted tol
dispossess the people and the temples of their land and break down
the system of land holding in return for services so that the land
could be passed on to European planters and the peasantry
converted into ?a wage earning labour class on plantations.
Traditional institutions like our family system, local govern-
ment institutions and the religious institutions which cemented
the social life of the people had to be destroyed. Not the
least dangerous to their plan were the temples.
Selby, the Queen's attorney, said that Buddhism held the
same position in Ceylon as the Anglican Church in England.
The first step then was to sever the connection between the
State and Buddhism. An Ordinance, No. 2 of 1846, was passed
to create a Central Buddhist Committee, consisting of laity and
clergy, which would undertake the functions of the Government.
Naturally the Sangha objected. The Ordinance -was disallowed
but for a different reason. The law officers reported
" An important objection, to the Ordinance lies in the
hierarchical machinery which it creates.
The Central Committee. are to have the custody of
the relic which involves the power of exhibiting, it and of
thus bringing together as they please large masses of people,
being the most under their influence,under circumstances which
render them most susceptible of mischievous influences. Over
all priests of viharas and. Basnayaka Nilames, they have
power of removal involving the inquiry into the performance
of their duties and to their appropriation of the revenues
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of every temple in Kandy, and they are elected representa-
tives, but of a large aristocracy of priests and officers, itself in
a great measure self-elected.
On the whole then, I conceive the Queen's assent
should be withheld from this Ordinance as giving a danger-
ous organisation to the Buddhist hierarchy ". (Report from
Legal Adviser 'to the Crown, F. Rogers to the Rt. Hon. W.
E. Glads*ne, 25th June, 1846).
In 1853' the Government ceased to exercise the prerogatives,
promising to give the Buddhists "an honest working constitu-
tion " but this promise was never fulfilled.
The missionaries and officials were right in thinking , that
it w. the secular arm of the State i. e. royal protection that
upheld the Buddhist religion for twenty centuries. They
wrong when they gave the religion only twenty-five years
ftt E=
after ? . withdrawal of Government support.
+ veryone knows ", they said, " that it is the Chris-
tian litish'Government that upholds the Buddhist religion,
-
aid *ects it from the spoliation, contempt and abandon
n2 *i . of the Buddhists ".
Impoverishment of Temples.
Between.1819 and 1853 the Government had confiscated
from time to time vast extents of temple lands. In 1846, it claimed
10,000 acres belonging to the Natha Dewala in Katukele. alone,
mention of which is made by Col. Forbes. The withdrawal of
protection in 1853 gave the Government the chance of impoverish-
ing the temples and undermining their authority further. Two
enactments were devised for this purpose.. , One was the Temple
Lands Registration Ordinance requiring all temples to register
their claims to all their lands. Where the incumbents failed
to register their claims in time the land was confiscated. When
claims were made they were gone into and large extents of
land were confiscated and the incumbents compelled to pay
the survey fees for the lands in respect of which their claims
were allowed. In most cases they had to pay twice the value
of the land. The temples had no right of appeal against any
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decision of .the Temple Lands Registration Commissioners. It is
estimated that, in, all the temples lost as much as 800,000
- acres.
The other enactment was the Service Tenures Ordinance,
passed at the instance of the missionaries who found the
system of land holdings whereby tenants were obliged to pay
services to temples and dewalas in return for their land,
preventing the spread of Christianity.
" I have said that Christianity is incompatible with
the maintenance of this institution, serfdom operating as
a direct prohibition of conversion, adding to deprivation of
civil rights, the forfeiture of religious liberty ..................
If a temple serf should become a Christian, he could
not of Bourse perform any of the services in a heathen
temple ; consequently, under the laws as at present admi-
nistered he would lose his land ".- (Sessional Papers
1869-70. Papers on Service Tenures, Paper No. 5).
The Service Tenures Ordinance removed the influence of
the temples by making it possible for a tenant to pay a small
money payment in place of services. 'temples became neglected
and their customary festivals and rites difficult to maintain.
Other anomalies sprang up. It became possible to sell a tenant's
rights free of services due and large acreages of land today
have been sold in that manner and form part of estates.
Most strange of all it has become possible to build Christian
Churches on land dedicated to temples. One recent case
is the proposed Roman Catholic Church at Yayamulla in the,
Kurunegala District on land dedicated to the Kataragama
Dewale of Kandy.
VII. Result of the lack- of a Governing Authority.
A person renouncing the world and living away from
,society needs no governing authority. But when a: fraternity
.exists to minister to the needs of a community it must be
held together by rules and administered by a legally constituted
authority whose decisions are accepted as legally valid. When
property to maintain the fraternity is found, the need for a
in trade, commerce or agriculture. He must lease out any
land and invest any money on approved investments listed in
Section 20 of the Trusts Ordinance. These are investments-
bringing poor returns.
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centralized organization is all the greater. The need for a
centralized authority is -less inn a State where there ? was reli-
gious unity and the king gave the legal support through the
exercise of his prerogatives. But in the face of opposition of
intolerant religions, well organized, a religion like present-day
'-`Buddhism with no organization to hold it together against dis-
integration from within and. hostile attack -from outside cannot
last. Moreover religious bodies in our society are called upon
to undertake large scale social service schemes like education.
Such functions are impossible without organization. That is
why a learned professor of Sociology from abroad said in a
lecture at the Colombo Y M. B. A. that -Buddhism cannot
-last fifty years.
After 1853 it is a story of gradual deck ie and disinte-
gration. What the enemies of Buddhism expected gradually
came to pass. With no administration and control the Sangha
began to manage the temple endowments. The enemies began
to howl about "scandalous abuses ". They persuaded Govern-
ment to confiscate these lands wholesale. A Bill was prepared
for the purpose. The timely 'arrival of Col. Olcott, who with
the Veu'ble Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala protested to the British
Parliament, saved the situation. -
. One other consequence of a lack of an authority was that
there was no organization to start Buddhist education.
'Col. Olcott looking for a way of starting schools had to
-organize Buddhist educational societies. Consequently, the,
Buddhist educational movement has remained a secular move-
ment, with serious loss to both the Sangha and the laity.
While the religious influence of the Sangha in education is
denied to Buddhist children in their formative years, the Sangha
were denied the opportunity of modern education which would
enable them-- to minister to the needs of the Buddhist laity
in the new. society that was created.
VIII. The - position ' Today.
Today, there is an. Ordinance governing Buddhist affairs.
It was the result of agitation on the part of men like Col.
Olcott and Dr. W. A. de Silva. It provides to some extent
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a system of management of temple lands. It also provides
very inadequate remedies for certain Buddhist problems. Bat-
the main reasons for these Ordinances hive been poll--
tical.The provisions of the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinances have-
been prompted not by the desire to protect the religion but to
protect the Government against possible political danger. One-
provision provides for compulsory registratioti of Bhikkhus and
it is a penal offence to don a yellow robe, without registration.
Yet when the Tapasa Sect consisting of persons of doubtful
character was let loose by certain enemies of Buddhism to-
destroy the respect for the Sangha the Government - took no
action. The provision made for succession to the office of
Viharadhipathi is so inadequate that disputes have to be taken
to the civil courts and contested like testamentary actions.
As regards temple properties the Temporalities Ordinances
have certain common features :
A. Buddhist temporalities are brought under the law of trusts.-
B. Each temple is separately administered. ?
C. Trustees are under the control of public officers.'
D. Rules of Mortmain have been incorporated.
We shall briefly refer to the significance of each of these-
features.
(A). The law of trusts : Although the law of trusts is an
excellent law for certain purposes, it involves certain disadvan-
tages. An owner of property has the control, management and
the enjoyment or use of the property. He is strong in his-
possession. In a trust the control and management is vested
in one person, the trustee, and the use in ai othgr, the bene-
ficiary. Political interests were so safeguarded... The law of trusts
prevents the best incomes -from being derived because of this
dual ownership and ? +ecause a trustee is by law prevented
from making the more lucrative kind of investments or engaging
in trade, commerce or agriculture. He must lease out any
land and invest any money on approved investments listed in
Section 20 of the Trusts Ordinance. These are in'vestments-
bringing poor returns. '
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