Today is Poson Full Moon Poya Day. (In this year it is held on 2014 June 12)
Poson Full Moon Poya
Day is of very special significance to Sri Lanka because it was on this day
in the year 247 BC that Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka. It was from
this momentous day in the annals of our country that our people have been able
to follow and practice a philosophy that far surpasses any that has been known
to mankind. Buddhism has earned the encomiums of thinkers of both the Orient
and the Occident such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Bertrand Russel. So much so
Buddhism has become the fastest spreading religion in the world today.
Emperor Asoka was instrumental in introducing Buddhism to
Sri Lanka. He was such a devout and righteous monarch that historian H. G.
Wells describes him thus: “Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs
that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousness and
serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Asoka shines, and
shines almost alone a star. From the Volga to Japan his name is still honoured.
China, Tibet and even India, though it has left his doctrine, preserve the
tradition of his greatness. More living men cherish his memory today than have
ever heard the names of Constantine or Charlemagne.
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| Mihinthalaya Hill, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka |
Asoka‘s son (Arahant Mahinda/Mahinda)himself
accompanied by four Bhikkhus (Name called Itthiya,
Utthiya, Sambala and Bhaddasala), one Samanera (Name called Sumana) and lay Upasaka(Name called Bhanduka) arrived in Lanka to convert
the Sinhalas. It was on a festival day that they reached Lanka. They met the
reigning King Devanampiyatissa who
had gone with a party to hunt deer on a hill called Missaka (modern Mihintalaya).
It’s a Very beautiful place fiiled with sweet mango trees and innocent deers.
An interesting conversation then followed.
The Arahant Mahinda arrested the attention of the king by
addressing him simply as ‘Tissa, Tissa, Come this way’.
This caused a certain amount of trepidation in him and hence
the king reverently inquired who he was.
Then the Arahat replied;
“ Samana Mayan Maharajah,
Dhamma Rajassa Savaka,
Taveva Anukampaya ,
Jambudipa Ida Gata”.
“Samanas are we O Great King,The disciples of the King of Truth,Our Lord Buddha.Out of compassion for thee,Have we come hither, from Jambudvipa(Dambadiva).”
When the king heard this fear left him, remembering the
message of his friend Emperor Asoka, he was persuaded that these were
Samaneras.
The King then asked,
“By what way are you come?
And since the answer was:
“Neither by land nor by water are we come,” he understood
that they had come through the air.
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| Arahant Mahinda met King Devanampiyatissa |
The Arahant Mahinda knew the answer was understood by King. Then
Arahant Mahinda decided to ask few question to ensure the intelligence of King Devanampiyatissa.
Arahant Mahinda showed the mango tree near that place and
ask
Arahant Mahinda : King,
What is this tree?
King : Sir ,This is a
Mango tree.
Arahant Mahinda : Are there any mango trees except this?
King : Yes Sir, There are Many other Mango trees.
Arahant Mahinda : Are there any other trees except this
mango tree and other mango trees.
King : Yes sir, there are many other trees also.
Arahant Mahinda : Are there any trees except others trees
and other Mango Trees?
King showing a mango tree that was first showing up by Arahant
Mahinda and replied
“Yes Sir, It is this mango Tree”.
Arahant Mahinda : King, Do you have Relations?
King : Yes Sir, I have Relations
Arahant Mahinda : King, Do you have Non-relations?
King : Yes Sir, I have Non- relations
Arahant Mahinda : King, Do you have any other except
relations and Non-relations?
King : Yes Sir, It is
me.
In the conversation that ensued Arahat Mahinda found that
the king was an intelligent and cultured being.
After this the Arahant Mahinda preached the Cullahatthipadopama Sutta to the king
and his followers, hearing which they all sought refuge in the Buddha, the
Dhamma and the Sangha and embraced this new teaching.
The mission headed by the Arahant Mahinda included Itthiya, Utthiya,
Sambala and Bhaddasala Theras so that it would be possible to perform the
Upasampada ceremony which required five Theras.
Special importance was attached to this mission to Lanka by Emperor
Asoka as evident from entrusting it to Arahant Mahinda, son of Asoka himself.
Tissa had been a friend of Asoka even before the former’s elevation to the
throne though the two had never met. The first thing that Tissa did after the
inauguration of his rule in 250 BC was to send envoys, bearing costly presents
to Asoka. At the head of this diplomatic mission was Tissa's own nephew Maha
Arittha and its members included the Brahmana chaplain, a minister and the treasurer.
The envoys embarked at Jambukolaon the northern
coast of the modern Jaffna peninsula and reached Tamnalitti (Tamralipti,
the modern Tamluk in Bengal) after a voyage of seven days. In seven more days
they reached Pataliputra the capital of Magadha, where they delivered Tissa’s
presents to the Maurya emperor. Asoka received the envoys with graciousness,
conferred suitable ranks on the members of the mission and entertained them in
a befitting manner. As return presents to the Lanka ruler, Asoka sent
everything that was necessary for a royal consecration and an exhortation to
embrace the Buddhist faith.
After a stay of five months at Pataliputra, Arittha and his
companions returned home, bearing the presents of Asoka with which Tissa was
consecrated, as the chronicles say, for the second time. The statement in an
ancient text that before Tissa there was no royal consecration in Lanka, and
the fact that Tissa and his successors bore the title of Devanampiya, by which
Asoka refers to himself, in his inscriptions, indicate that the purpose of Tissa
in sending the mission to the Maurya court was to obtain the consent and
support of the Indian potentate for his assumption of regal status which his predecessors
did not enjoy. It Was just a month after his consecration with Maurya ceremonial
that Arahant Mahinda arrived in the island and Tissa, we may be certain, was
prepared to give him an enthusiastic welcome.
The undoubted powers of persuasion which the preacher possessed
must have been reinforced by the message, fresh in the king’s memory, which his
envoys brought from Asoka and Tissa gave the preacher a ready hearing. Having
invited the missionaries to the city, he left for his palace. The first day of Arahant
Mahinda in Lanka was spent at Mihintale, Where he solemnised the first
ecclesiastical act by admitting to the Order a lay follower who had accompanied
him from India. Arrived at Anuradhapura and having taken up his abode in the royal
pavilion in the Mahamegha park to the south of the city, the Arahant Mahinda
preached a number of sermons in the days that followed and established
thousands of people of all ranks, men as well as women, firmly in the faith.
Many took to the holy orders and, for their residence the king granted to the
Sangha the royal park of Mahamegha. The consecrated boundaries were fixed by
the king himself ploughing a furrow to mark them and so as to include the city within
them.
The accounts of the conversion of the king and the people of
Lanka to Buddhism, written by monks after that religion had secured for itself dominance
over the minds of the people, are overlaid with edifying legends in which the
miraculous element is conspicuous. Arahant Mahinda and his companions transport
themselves by air from Vedisagiri to Mihintale, gods are at hand to make smooth
the path of the religious teachers and impress the multitude with the efficacy
of their doctrines. Earthquakes which do no harm to anyone vouch for the veracity
of the prophecies ascribed to the Arahant Mahinda. At sermons preached on
important occasions the Devas in the congregation far outnumber the humans. Elephants
without anyone’s bidding, indicate to the king the exact spots on which sacred
shrines are to be sited. In spite of this legendary overlay, the main event
i.e. that Buddhism was accepted by the people and the ruler of Lanka, is attested
by the presence at Minintale and
Anuradhapura of epigraphical and other monuments of a Buddhist character
attributable to that period.
Mihinthalaya Hill Image provided from : Malaka Rathnayake
