Poson: Moment of spiritual awakening

by Kalakeerthi EDWIN ARIYADASA

"O Great King, we are monks - disciples of the Monarch of Righteousness. We have come over from "Jambu Dvipa" (India) with your well-being in mind". (Ven. Arahant Mahinda Thera outlines His mission to King Devanampiyatissa).

Two thousand three hundred and fifty years ago, a dramatic encounter took place, in the wilderness, in the vicinity of Anuradhapura. This was the ritual Royal chase of the ruling monarch, who was out hunting with his retinue, as part of the national spring holiday. He had decreed water-sports nation-wide, and took to the chase, with forty thousand of his men accompanying him.

He was shocked into disbelief, when someone called out to him by his first name "Tissa". There was no one in the whole of his Kingdom, who would have the audacity to call him by his first name.

It is then that Arahant Mahinda, explained his sacred mission to the King. Mahawamsa, Sri Lanka's national historical chronicle, narrated in those graphic terms, the tremendous spiritual event of the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka through the formal conversion of King Devanampiyatissa to the dispensation of the Supremely Enlightened Buddha.

Ven. Arahant Mahinda Thera conducted the first-ever IQ test in Sri Lanka, when he asked the king a series of questions to assess the monarch's intellectual stature, before the Arahant decided to expound some profound concepts in the Buddhist system to this Ruler.

King Devanampiyatissa came through with "flying colours" - so to speak. And, Ven. Arahant Mahinda became fully convinced that the mind of the king was the right fertile soil to plant the noble teachings of the Buddha. The King lavished all the offerings he could on Ven. Arahant Mahinda and those holy individuals who came along with him.

With surprising alacrity the process of converting the total island to Buddhism took place.

There is in this mass conversion of the land into Buddhism, an aspect of the culture of ancient Sri Lanka that needs scrutinising.

Prior to King Devanampiyatissa (247 - 207 B.C.) there were six rulers, who held sway over those pioneering Aryan settlements, that formed the ancient Kingdom of Sri Lanka.

All those rulers adhered to Hinduism. The Royal father of King Devanampiyatissa was Mutasiva - quite clearly a Hindu name. His son Devanampiyatissa, who succeeded him to the throne, was, without any doubt an ardent Hindu ruler, to begin with.

Central issue

The central issue here is that King Devanampiyatissa altered almost instantly, the two-century old Hindu tradition he was heir to, and embraced fully and totally this new religion.

What was the dynamism, that prompted this ruler, to effect such a dramatic change in his religious loyalty?

To my mind, the elite rulers of Sri Lanka were familiar with the Buddha's doctrine of compassion all along.

In the instance of King Devanampiyatissa, he had cultivated an "unseen" friendship with Emperor Asoka. This imperial friend would have kept him fully informed about the Buddhist faith.

The Emperor sent his own son Ven. Arahant Mahinda Thera to Sri Lanka primarily because of this intimate "unseen" bond that existed between the Emperor and the King. Sri Lanka was a privileged land, without even the trace of a doubt, in the scheme of the Emperor's campaign to conquer men by compassion. He sent out Buddhist missionaries to all parts of his far-flung Empire.

The Emperor's prioritisation of Sri Lanka, in his campaign of compassion, is further strengthened by his decision to send his daughter Bhikkhuni (nun) Sangamitta to Sri Lanka, bearing the sacred gift of the sapling from the sacred Bodhi Tree at Buddhagaya.

It is quite valid to assume, that the Hindu system that existed in Sri Lanka prior to the conversion of King Devanampiyatissa, had not taken firm root in Sri Lankan society.

Had there been a strongly entrenched religious tradition in Sri Lanka, prior to the arrival of Ven. Arahant Mahinda with his supreme message of Buddhism, the dispensation of the Supremely Enlightened Buddha would not have had an opportunity with that speed. Besides, there is no record whatsoever of people resenting the establishment of the new religion. This must invariably be because there was no entrenched system of faith that held sway over the people.

The arrival of Buddhism in Poson, determined the moment in which one nation matured into a land with a clearly discernible cultural identity. Arahant Mahinda's introduction of Buddhism, provided the nucleus around which this gentle and kind culture could eventually form.

Holy venue

In consequence the Poson Full Moon Day enables us to remember that historical Poson Full Moon Day in the reign of King Devanampiyatissa when we awoke into a national and religious culture of our own. From there our rites and rituals, our mores, came to be determined by the system brought to us as a sacred gift by Ven. Arahant Mahinda Thera.

The holy venue in which this defining moment took place was originally characterised as Ambatala (Mango Rock) as it was in a massive mango grove.

Later on the rock assumed the name Mihintala (the Rock of Mahinda). One cannot help but note an intriguing historical development relating to the name of this rock. Mahinda Rock (Mihintala) seems to have created a problem to the Venerable author of Mahawamsa. He wrote his work in Pali. In many an instance, he translated the original names into Pali.

When he compiled the national chronicle about five centuries after the sacred visit of Ven. Arahant Mahinda, the author had forgotten the process through which the name Mihintala came into being. He took the first segment of the name Mihin to signify "mixing" (there is a Sinhala expression "Muhun" - to mix). The second segment "Tala" (rock) did not offer any obstacle. In that context he gave the Pali version "Missaka Pabbata" to Mihintala, unaware that Mihindu meant "Mahinda Rock".

The greater irony is that some tend to translate 'Missaka Pabbatha" back to Sinhala as "Musu-pavva" totally forgetting that they are talking about Mihintala.

This irony grows. Some translate it into Missaka Parvata, giving it a Sanskrit version.

Whatever the name, on that historical Poson day this rock became the perpetual monument of the awakening of this land into a cultural identity of its own.