Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
His colleagues induced him to
leave the country for decency's sake and peace was restored but
subsequently, after Chapaṭa's death, the remaining three
disciples[154] fell out on questions of discipline rather than
doctrine and founded three factions, which can hardly be called
schools, although they refused to keep the Uposatha days together. The
light of religion shone brightest at Pagan early in the thirteenth
century while these three brethren were alive and the Sâsanavaṃsa
states that at least three Arhats lived in the city. But the power of
Pagan collapsed under attacks from both Chinese and Shans at the end
of the century and the last king became a monk under the
compulsion of Shan chiefs. The deserted city appears to have lost its
importance as a religious centre, for the ecclesiastical chronicles
shift the scene elsewhere.
The two Shan states which arose from the ruin of Pagan, namely Panya
(Vijayapura) and Sagaing (Jeyyapura), encouraged religion and
learning. Their existence probably explains the claim made in Siamese
inscriptions of about 1300 that the territory of Siam extended to
Haṃsavatî or Pegu and this contact of Burma and Siam was of great
importance for it must be the origin of Pali Buddhism in Siam which
otherwise remains unexplained.
After the fall of the two Shan states in 1364, Ava (or Ratnapura)
which was founded in the same year gradually became the religious
centre of Upper Burma and remained so during several centuries. But
it did not at first supersede older towns inasmuch as the loss of
political independence did not always involve the destruction of
monasteries. Buddhism also flourished in Pegu and the Talaing country
where the vicissitudes of the northern kingdoms did not affect its
fortunes.
Anawrata had transported the most eminent Theras of Thaton to Pagan
and the old Talaing school probably suffered temporarily. Somewhat
later we hear that the Sinhalese school was introduced into these
regions by Sâriputta[155], who had been ordained at Pagan. About the
same time two Theras of Martaban, preceptors of the Queen, visited
Ceylon and on returning to their own land after being ordained at the
Mahâvihâra considered themselves superior to other monks. But the old
Burmese school continued to exist. Not much literature was produced in
the south. Sâriputta was the author of a Dhammathat or code, the first
of a long series of law books based upon Manu. Somewhat later Mahâyasa
of Thaton (_c._ 1370) wrote several grammatical works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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