Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
It will be observed that throughout this controversy both sides
appealed to the king, as if he had the right to decide the point in
dispute, but that his decision had no compelling power as long as it
was not supported by evidence. He could ensure toleration for views
regarded by many as heretical, but was unable to force the views of
one party on the other until the winning cause had publicly disproved
the contentions of its opponents. On the other hand the king had
practical control of the hierarchy, for his chaplain was _de facto_
head of the Church and the appointment was strictly personal. It was
not the practice for a king to take on his predecessor's chaplain and
the latter could not, like a Lamaist or Catholic ecclesiastic, claim
any permanent supernatural powers. Bodôpayâ did something towards
organizing the hierarchy for he appointed four elders of repute to
be Saṇgharâjas or, so to speak, Bishops, with four more as
assistants and over them all his chaplain Ñâṇa as Archbishop.
Ñâṇa was a man of energy and lived in turn in various monasteries
supervising the discipline and studies.
In spite of the extravagances of Bodôpayâ, the Church was flourishing
and respected in his reign. The celebrated image called Mahâmuni was
transferred from Arakan to his capital together with a Sanskrit
library, and Burma sent to Ceylon not only the monks who founded the
Amarapura school but also numerous Pali texts. This prosperity
continued in the reigns of Bagyidaw, Tharrawadi and Pagan-min, who
were of little personal account. The first ordered the compilation of
the Yazawin, a chronicle which was not original but incorporated and
superseded other works of the same kind. In his reign arose a question
as to the validity of grants of land, etc., for religious purposes. It
was decided in the sense most favourable to the order, _viz._ that
such grants are perpetual and are not invalidated by the lapse of
time. About 1845 there was a considerable output of vernacular
literature. The Dîgha, Samyutta and Anguttara Nikâyas with their
commentaries were translated into Burmese but no compositions in Pali
are recorded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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