Lehrforschungsbericht von Jürgen Piechotta zum Thema:

The globalization of Buddhism

in Sri Lanka:

Preconditions, channels of interaction and dynamics of change

Geschrieben im Rahmen der Lehrforschung in Sri Lanka WS 2001/02 - WS 2002/03: “Globalisierende Wirkungen der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit”

bei Prof. Dr. Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka

1. Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Hartmann Tyrell

Bielefeld, Februar 2003

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Contents

1. Introduction.................................................................................................................. 3

2. Methodology and literature .......................................................................................... 4

3. The framework of globalisation – aspects of the Sri Lankan Buddhist environment.. 8

3.1. Is Buddhism one? The question of homogeneity and difference in Buddhism 9

3.2. Threats from outside and the reactions to them – perceived challenges of

Buddhism in Sri Lanka today......................................................................................12

3.3. Buddhism and mission .........................................................................................16

4. How globalisation works - the Channels of Interaction..............................................17

4.1. Media of transnational communication and information .....................................18

4.2. Buddhist development aid – sponsorships and donations from the rich..............19

4.3. International Buddhist organisations ....................................................................22

4.4. Cosmopolitan Buddhists: travelling and studying abroad....................................25

4.5. Personalized globalisation on the rise – persons, contacts and relationships as

driving forces...............................................................................................................29

5. The impacts of globalisation: changes due to international exchange ........................30

5.1. Tracing religious change: how does it happen? ...................................................30

5.2. Aiming for the Bodhisattva – the social turn of the Sangha ................................33

5.3. Gender in Buddhism – the re-establishment of the bhikkhuni order in

Sri Lanka .....................................................................................................................34

6. Conclusion: Visions about the future of Buddhism....................................................36

Bibliography ................................................................................................................39

Index of web-sites ........................................................................................................41

Index of newspaper articles: .......................................................................................41

Glossary of Buddhist terminology...............................................................................43

Annex: Questionnnaire:...............................................................................................45

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1. Introduction

“From the beginning Buddhism has been subject of globalisation.” (INT 0013/27-28)

The globalisation of Buddhism is not a new phenomenon. It can be traced back to the early days of

the religion, starting at the latest during the times of the Indian emperor Asoka. In Sri Lanka,

Buddhism has always been a major determinant of the history. In return Sri Lanka has also left its

own imprint on the religion, not only inside the country but also abroad. The major contribution

was certainly the writing down of the Pali Tripitaka and the Pali commentaries in the fifth century

CE (Gethin, 1998, p.38), but also in the subsequent history „Sri Lanka was an important intellectual

home of Buddhism“ (Goonatilake, 2001, p.65) and gained international importance especially as a

“country that has both produced and attracted the highest calibre of scholars” (Bond, 1992, p.vi).

This feature is, as we will see in the subsequent text, also highly important for Sri Lanka’s role in

today’s globalisation of Buddhism.

But what does “globalisation” mean? The concept has been very much debated in the sociological

literature. A deep and thorough reflection of the various concepts would neither be fruitful nor be

possible due to the limitations of time and the length of this paper. Therefore I will restrict myself

here to a few lines and to one definition, which seems to be practicable and to fit well into my

research framework: In their book “Global Transformations”, David Held and Anthony MacGrew

have briefly defined globalisation as “the widening, deepening and speeding up of world-wide

interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life.” (Held et al, 1999, p.2) The concept I

am going to subsequently use, is focussing on this “interconnectedness” between the different forms

of Buddhism in many countries and regions. As this “interconnectedness” is happening through the

various channels of international interaction which I am going to describe, I will use the two terms

synonymously.1

This paper is the outcome of a ten-week-long field study in Sri Lanka which I undertook from July

to October 2002. The basic research questions can be summarized as follows: How can the

dynamics concerning the globalisation of Buddhism be described? Through which channels does it

occur? What are the preconditions of such a globalisation and in which environment does it take

place? And finally: What are the consequences resulting from this process?

1 The reader should keep in mind that the term “globalisation” might be insofar misleading, as much of the relations I am going to show are taking place within Asia.

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The text is divided into five major parts: At the beginning I will give some remarks on my data and

the research process. Then I will describe some aspects of the Sri Lankan environment of Buddhism

which influence the dynamics of globalisation. The third part is the core of the whole work. It

describes the channels through which international Buddhist interaction actually occurs. Thereafter

I will try to show how these channels influence “local” Buddhism and will give some examples of

changes due to international exchange in Sri Lankan Buddhism. Finally, I will give an outlook on

the future of Buddhism and its relation to “the West”.

2. Methodology and literature

Methodology:

This methodological part will reflect upon my proceedings during and after the field stay and upon

the literature on the topic of this study. First I will give some reflections on my general

methodological approach. Then I will describe the “field” I was researching in, before referring to

the types of data I could collect. Finally I will present the analytical work, which led my to the

research findings.

General methodological approach

The general research approach I used for my field research is the “grounded theory” by Glaser &

Strauss (1967)2. One of the major characteristics of this approach is to see the process of empirical

research not as linear but rather as “circular process”3 with the phases of defining the sample, data

collection and analysis being entangled with each other. Therefore I started to analyse the data and

develop the first codes and memos already soon after the beginning of data collection, and

continued with this process during the whole research. (see: Strauss, 1998, p.33) A second major

characteristic of the approach is, not to define the sample of the research beforehand, but to be

constantly in search for cases with a „maximal variation“ (Merkens, 2000. p.291), that might give a

new, interesting perspective on the theory which is being developed („theoretical sampling “). So

during the whole field stay, while the structure of my argumentation developed, the sample

developed with it. “Another strategy, which was central in my research, is the strategy of

2 Strauss himself calls the grounded theory a “style” for the ananlysis of qualitative data. (Strauss, 1998, p.30) 3 Hildenbrand, (1984), quoted from Lachenmann, 1995, p.11

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triangulation4, i.e. the collection and consultation of several types of empirical data: interviews,

group discussion, newspaper articles and a questionnaire.

As already implicitly stated, the predominant focus of this research paper is to generate a theory of

the globalisation of Buddhism, emerging from the collected data. This approach is founded on the

belief, that a theory not being based in data is becoming speculative (Strauss, 1998, p.25). In the

text, I tried to indicate to the reader, whether a theory emerged from the data or whether it was

being a purely theoretical thought. I also indicated when data was ambivalent on certain aspects and

interpretations or when the number of indications was very small or weak and formulated the

respective statements accordingly. Often, the resources which led me to a certain assumption are

mentioned in the footnotes. I thus want to enable the reader to decide him- or herself to follow my

argumentation or not. (see: Steinke, 2000, p.324-326)

The field and field entry:

The field of a particular empirical research can of course never be imagined as a clear distinction of

inside and outside (Steinke, 2000, p.335). This is particularly true in a research which is trying to

describe dynamics of globalisation. I believe, the field of my research can be best described as a

particular layer of urban, highly educated monks and Buddhist scholars. They accounted for the

vast majority of interviewees, participants in group discussions and conversational partners5 and the

channels of international interaction affect them rather directly, while less educated monks in the

rural areas are affected in more indirect ways. As for the distinction between monks and laypeople,

it turned out to be very difficult to distinguish clearly and attribute the overall relevance of

globalisation on one of the two groups. Therefore I decided to indicate in the respective passages if

the issue was valid for monks or laypeople or both. The same is true for the distinction of gender.

As the number of female interviewees was far smaller than the number of the ones, I have decided

to use female attributes (“nun”) only when this seemed especially relevant.

The concrete entry into the field came along largely due to a Chinese monk6, who introduced me to

a large number of monks from various countries and arranged the contacts with the Postgraduate

Institute of Buddhist and Pali studies and the temple, where I lived for most of the time. These two

4 Flick (2000, p.309ff.) distinguished between several types of triangulation : triangulation of data, of the, researcher-triangulation, triangulation of theories, within-method-triangulation, triangulation of perspectives and between-method triangulation. In my research, I applied in particular the between-method triangulation, which is largely equivalent to the general term “triangulation” used by other authors. (see also: Lachenmann, 1995, p.11; Steinke, 2000, p.320f). Flick’s “systematic triangulation of perspectives” is very close to Strauss’ concept of “theoretical sampling”. 5 The reason for choosing this group as basis of my research was on the one hand the theoretical assumption that highly educated monks and scholars would participate in the process of globalisation more intensely and on the other hand the practical aspect of them knowing English.

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places also became the major locations where I recruited my interviewees from. Only after around

half of the field stay I became more independent from the help of this monk and was able to rely

largely on my own connections. The role, I was attributed to in the field (see: Lachenmann, 1995,

p.5) , I believe was usually the one of a German student, or of a Buddhist scholar.

Data:

Before starting the actual research on the topic I needed around two or three weeks to attain the

necessary context knowledge about Sri Lankan Buddhism in general. As already mentioned I have

collected various kinds of data during my research. This was partly due to the motivation to

triangulate the data and partly because I was not able to get enough information on all topics

through a single kind of data.

The major empirical pillar of my research were the 24 interviews, 2 group discussions and around

20 conversations7, which I carried out with Sri Lankan and foreign monks and scholars. These

interviews can be best characterised as “focussed interviews”8 with a strong emphasis open

questions9 in order to generate narrations by the interviewed.

The second resource of my study are newspaper articles which I researched for in the

documentation unit of The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House)10. These

newspaper articles became in particular important to gain information about those issues, on which

I couldn’t get enough knowledge in the interviews11 and as supplement- or context knowledge on

6 I got to know this monk through a Chinese fellow in my research group, who himself got in contact to this monk through an administrator in the Chinese embassy. 7 Methodologically, in my research, the group discussions didn’t serve a fundamentally different purpose than the interviews, the only difference being the number of interviewees participating. Therefore I am describing them here equivalently. The same is true for the conversations. A “conversation” is in my terminology characterized due to the fact, that I would make notes only after it. In an “interview”, recording was done during the conversation. Four of the interviews and both group discussions I could record, in the other interviews, I jotted down notes while interviewing. 8 A main distinction of “focused interviews” in comparison to other forms of interviews is its focus on a certain topic (Merton & Kendall 1979; Merton et al. 1956; taken from: Hopf, 2000, p.353). 9 Strauss, 1998, p.44; Hopf, 2000, p.356 As Lachenmann (1995, p.10) notes, such an open approach does not exclude the working on am implicit set of questions in the inquiry. I did this in my research, especially towards the end of the field stay. 10 Lake house is issuing three of the main English-language newspapers in Sri Lanka (Daily News, Sunday Observer and Daily Observer). Their documantation center works on not only their own newspapers but also the other major Sri Lankan dailies and weeklies. 11 These were especially the chapter of the international Buddhist organisations and the reactions to the Mahayana threat in 1990.

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some issues. All in all, I read around 200 – 300 articles, dating from the 1960s up to the present

day.

The third kind of data I obtained was a questionnaire which I gave to students of the Postgraduate

Institute of Pali Studies and of the Buddhist and Pali University near the end of my field stay (see

annex: questionnaire). At that time I had gained enough insight into the topic, so that I was able to

ask precise questions which I needed to boost some of my arguments12. Unfortunately the number

of questionnaires which I got back is quite small, accounting to only twelve13. Nevertheless the

questionnaires became a substantial base of information on a few issue, obviously without any

quantitative meaning but indicating some tendencies. This is insofar no major problem, as the basic

motive of this research was, not to in the first case to determine exact quantitative data on the

globalisation of Buddhism, but to find out how it works. (see also: Merkens, 2000. p.291)

Analysis:

As already mentioned did the phase of analysis not succeed the phase of data collection, but was

started already very soon after getting the first pieces of data.14 I usually proceeded as follows: On

the same day the interviews took place, I transcribed the handwritten notes I had taken during the

interview into the computer, developed the first codes and memos15 and tried to relate them to each

other. I generally tended to use sociological rather than in-vivo codes (see: Strauss, 1998, p.65).

After around one month I put these notes into a visualised system of categories16. This procedure

did not only show the relations between the different categories, but also made some topics and

aspects obvious which so far were missing in my data and which I would have to ask for in

following interviews. During the whole time of research the codes and the system of categories

were continuously developed further. The implications of this process of continuous analysis were,

that I could gradually ask more precisely for certain issues in the interviews and that in the end of

my research I could boost this data with an exact search on certain topics in the newspapers and

with the questionnaire. After being back from the field I re-analysed the whole data using Atlas-ti, a

computer programme for analysing qualitative data. During the process of writing I engaged in sub-

coding of the already found codes in order to be able to work as analytical and accurate as possible.

12 The major topics of the questionnaire were sponsorship structures of the students, international communication and information and “liking for Buddhism” (change through international exchange) 13 I had given out around 70 questionnaires. The reason why I got back such a small percentage of these, I believe lies mostly in organisational problems, i.e. I seem to have not made clear enough, where the students should give back the questionnaires! 14 The reason why “analysis” appears here as a separate sub-chapter is purely for the reason of readability. 15 Memos are theoretical reflections on a particular passage of an interview, on a whole interview, or on a certain concept (see Strauss, 1998). 16 chart (see: Lachenmann, 1995, p.15; Strauss, 1998, p.44, 190)

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Here, also the newspaper articles and the questionnaire were analysed and coded. During the whole

research most of the data was seen through, analysed and coded around four to seven times.

Literature:

To find literature on my topic turned out to be quite difficult. There is very little written on

contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhism and I could find no analytical work on the globalisation of

Buddhism at all.

In Colombo itself there are several bookshops dedicating themselves exclusively or mainly to

literature on Buddhism. One remarkable feature of all these bookshops is that the vast majority of

books which can be found there are “theological” works about the doctrine of Buddhism and

closely related topics. There are only a small number of books viewing Buddhism from a social

scientist’s perspective with most of these being historical analysis from the time of Buddha until the

Buddhist Reformation in the 19th century. Thus the number of comprehensive social scientific

studies on contemporary Buddhism in Sir Lanka is very limited17 and their approach and findings

are not uncontested. Goonatilake strongly criticizes “the most prolific writers” on Sri Lankan

Buddhism18, and says that the research done is “seriously flawed with respect to basic facts on the

ground, the methodology sued and the conclusions arrived at.” (2001, p.xii)19. So I believe this

paper to be one of the few genuinely empirical works on modern Sri Lankan Buddhism as a whole

and the only one on the globalisation of Buddhism in Sri Lanka up to this point of time.

3. The framework of globalisation – aspects of the Sri Lankan Buddhist

environment

Before starting to describe the channels of international interaction and the resulting consequences I

will dedicate myself to the some features of Buddhism and aspects of the Sri Lankan Buddhist

environment which seemed to me to be relevant for to topic of globalisation. First I will describe

17 Books that can be named in this context include: “Work of Kings” by Seneviratne and “Buddhism Transformed” by Gombrich and Obeyesekere. But even in these works the major part is dealing with historical analysis, only the smaller part is dedicated to the contemporary situation. Ironically it is very difficult to find copies of these books in Sri Lanka (see also: Goonatilake, 2001, p.223). I couldn’t find “Work of Kings” in any of the major book shops in Colombo; “Buddhism Transformed” was available in only one shop – and this also only because one of the authors had brought some of the copies there personally. (see also: Goonatilake, 2001, p.223) 18 These are, due to Goonatilake: Richard Gombrich, Gananath Obeyesekere, Bruce Kapferer and Stanley J. Tambiah 19 Goonatilake explains his criticism as follows: “Instead of coming to a priori conclusions about Sinhalese society and then selectively choosing characters and events to illustrate them, the authors should have first asked what important social changes were occurring in the country and then sought possible explanations for these in some of the ongoing changes in religions and religious roles.” (Goonatilake, 2001, p.100) Furthermore he criticizes Sri Lankan anthropology

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similarities and differences between several kinds of Buddhism, then elaborate on the perceived

threats Sri Lankan Buddhism is facing today and finally write on aspects of Buddhist mission.

3.1. Is Buddhism one? The question of homogeneity and difference within

Buddhism

The answer to the question in this headline can obviously be answered with “yes” or “no”

depending on the point of view. In this chapter I will discuss on the one hand the commonalities and

similarities of all forms of Buddhism20 and on the other hand show that there are differences

between the major schools and even between different countries within the schools21. These

differences are insofar important as only they enable and foster certain forms of change due to the

globalisation of Buddhism, which I will describe in the penultimate part of this paper.

When not the unity of Buddhism is stressed, it is usually divided into two or three big schools.

Usually three schools are mentioned22, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana23. Sometimes

Vajrayana is seen as form of Mahayana.24 In my field study Vajrayana was rarely mentioned25, and

therefore I will only refer to the commonalities and differences between Mahayana and Theravada

in the following lines.26

All forms of Buddhism, this is undisputed, have certain commonalities. These include aspects as the

“simple faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha, the Five Principles of Ethics, The Four

for its “chain of citations” (p.225). Concluding from all these weaknesses he calls the findings “highly questionable” (p.224) 20 I will not discuss further ideas, indicating that all religions are one. Such ideas would for example include the widespread belief in India that Buddhism is a form of Hinduism or the very common belief among Sri Lankan Buddhists in my sample, that Jesus had studied about Buddhism in his youth (compare also: Pannananda, 1987) 21 Even within Sri Lanka Buddhism is not completely homogeneous. However differences between the three Nikayas are restricted to some very minor issues: Sanatha Nanayakkara mentioned to me aspects like differences in the pronounciation of Pali and the way of wearing the robes. Yet these differences appear to be fairly subtle, as one Mahayana nun told me that she would not be able to see such differences. 22 (see: Cousins, 1997, p.370; Gethin, 1998, p.40; Aryaratne, 1995, p.1) 23 The term “Theravada “at first meant something like ‘original teaching’ came to be interpreted as the teaching of the Elders as opposed to the teaching of other (later) schools.” (Cousins, 1997, p.391) Sometimes Theravada is called the “Southern school” or “Hinayana”. Latter, though frequently used is viewed to be an insulting term (compare: Cousins, 1997, p.370). Mahayana is sometimes called the “Eastern School”, Vajrayana “Northern school” or “Lamaism” which is considered an insulting term (compare: Cousins, 1997, p.370). 24 (see: Rahula, 1996, p.xiv) Interestingly Zen Buddhism, which is usually considered as belonging to the Mahayana tradition can also be interpreted to be a Theravada branch (See: Ratnayaka, 1980, p.223ff). 25 Probably the reason for this is, that the relations between Sri Lankan and Vajrayana Buddhism are very scarce. I have not been told of any relationship in all interviews, nor came across any Tibetan monk or temple in Sri Lanka. 26 Mahayana latter being usually “regarded as the original orthodox Buddhism, Theravada as a historically later school (compare: Cousins, 1997, p.391; Rahula, 1996, p.xiv; see also Bechert, 2000a, p.11)

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Noble Truths and the Noble Eight-fold Path” 27 which are also agreed on by the major international

organisations28. There even seems to exist a pan-Buddhist international identity to a certain

degree.29 However several interviewees in my study claimed that often these commonalities of

Buddhism are underscored, and the differences between Mahayana and Theravada are emphasized

too strongly.

So what are the differences? On a “philosophical” level, there are two major differences between

Mahayana and Theravada. Firstly, the written doctrine is a different one and not mutually

accepted30. Secondly both schools don’t have the same vision of the ultimate goal of a Buddhist, be

it buddhahood, arahantship or becoming a bodhisattva31. On a non-philosophical level the two

schools differ from each other in many points, such as robes (compare: Gethin, 1998, p.88), style

temples, rules of conduct for the monks (Vinaya), or ordination procedures.

But Buddhism is not only diversified between the schools. Gombrich for example writes that

Mahayana itself is “very heterogeneous”32 and also Theravada is far from being a homogeneous

body. Although it does have a single monastic Vinaya lineage and accepts the authority of the Pali

canon33 there is “no simple orthodoxy. A variety of interpretations and practices have probably

always existed and persist down to modern times.” (Gethin, 1998, p.253) In my research I have

27 (Aryaratne, 1995, p.8; compare also: Rahula, 1996, p.xiv) 28 The World Buddhist Sangha Council has agreed on “basic points unifying the Theravada and the Mahayana” (Rahula, 1974, p.137). Similarly the World Fellowship of Buddhist was according to Professor Thilakaratne “founded with the idea that we must not underscore similarities” (INT 0007/141-142). 29 Indications in favour of such a pan-Buddhist identity include: Incidents in fellow Buddhist countries are closely reported on in the Sri Lankan newspapers, often with a remark on the necessity of s olidarity with these fellow Buddhists. Furthermore there is an internationally recognized Buddhist flag. Finally, all subjects in my study would identify themselves as “Buddhists”. Indications against it: There is no internationally celebrated Buddhist day (see article: “International Buddhist day procession in London”, Daily News, 20.07.) and there are no strong international organisations. Also the fact that the peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan state (which is dominated by Singhala Buddhists) taking place at the time of this reseach is held in Thailand, a country mostly populated by Buddhists supports this view. If there was any strong Buddhist international identity Thailand could not be seen as a neutral power being able to host these peace talks. (see for example: “Thailand seek kudos for hosting Sri Lankan talks, Daily News, 10.09.02) (for the whole issue compare also: Gombrich, 1991, p.9) 30 “Southern Buddhists (…) do not accept the authority of the Mahayana literature” (Cousins, 1997, p.388) 31 The authors I read give different accounts of the views of the two schools on this topic. Ratnayaka says that Mahayana sees Buddhahood as the only goal to achieve and Theravada aiming to either Buddhahood or Arahatship. (1980, p.223) Cousins stresses that “the essence of the Mahayana (…)[is] the heroic ideal of the bodhisattva path” (1997, p.386). Gombrich sees the difference in the emphasis of the Bodhisattva ideal (aim of “love”) in Mahayana and the “nirvana” in Theravada. (1991, p.17, 375) Giammasi found out that most of the asked Theravada monks saw that threir school had three ways to the goal, but Mahayana only had one.” (Giammasi, 2001, p.9) see also: “Mahayana beliefs in Bodhisattva, The Island, 21.12.97 32 (Gombrich, 1991, p.22), Cousins even thinks that it is “more diverse than the Northern and Southern traditions” (Cousins, 1997, p.417) 33 The interviewed in my research saw no difference on a doctrinal level between all countries belonging to Theravada. This may be explained by the view that “the doctrine IS the Tripitaka” (INT 0004/67).

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received manifold accounts of differences between Theravada countries, particularly concerning

practices, symbols and objects of worship34.

A last distinction within Buddhism refers to the distinction between the Sangha and the laypeople.

There is a debate in the literature whether this clear distinction actually exist or if the categories can

be overlapping35. All subjects in my sample however could categorise themselves and others into

one of these two groups without any reservations.

These above mentioned distinctions are essential categories to define identity. All monks in my

sample used nationality to define identity and all male monks (except for one) would refer to

themselves and be referred to being Mahayana or Theravada bhikkhus. More difficult is the case of

many nuns, some of whom got their higher ordination due to the Mahayana tradition, yet follow

the Theravada Vinaya.36 The nuns I interviewed officially belong to the Mahayana tradition, but

they read the Pali (Theravada) literature, follow the Theravada monastic rules and are more

sympathetic towards the Theravada tradition. Their identity remains ambiguous and not

unproblematic, as the exclamation of a Burmese bhikkhuni shows: “we don’t know how we can

exist, as Mahayana or as Theravada!”

The monks’ outward expression of these identities is primarily accomplished with the robes37. One

Malaysian monk remarked: “This is identity. There is identity. If everyday I change my robe I will

lose my identity” (DIS 0001/737-738Mal). Therefore most monks and nuns don’t change their

robes when going abroad, except for practical reasons38.

34 In my interviews following differences were mentioned: Thai monks go on alm rounds and are allowed to smoke, which is both not the case in Sri Lanka (compare: Gethin, 1998, p.107). Some Burmese and Thai monks, but no Sri Lankans wear tattoos. The Sri Lankan Sangha emphasizes education, the Burmese Sangha meditation. Sri Lanka is the only country requiring a Bodhi tree within temple premises and the shrine room is comparatively small. In Thailand monks shave their eye-brows in contrast to Burma. Futhermore the Shiva-Linga is worshiped only in Thailand whereas in Sri Lanka Hindu Gods have an own shrine room in each temple. 35 Thilakaratne writes about “two different groups of society” (1997, p.60) and Gombrich and Obeyesekere see the distinction as “essential to the traditional Theravadin view of the world” (1988, p.23). On the other hand says Goonatilake: “The allegedly sharp division between monk and laity is a recent colonial construct”(Goonatilake, 2001, p.60) and remarks that “”Dharmapala, which is considered by the authors illustrative of his halfway status, is not unusual in Sri Lanka.” (Goonatilake, 2001, p.60) 36 see in detail in Chapter “Gender in Buddhism – the re-establishment of the bhikkhuni order in Sri Lanka” 37 There is a clear difference between Mahayana and Theravada robes. Within the schools the differences are more subtle: in Theravada the major distinction is the robe-colour. The national boundaries of these colours though (that all monks in one country, and only they, wear exactly the same colour) seem not to be cut clear. Laypeople don’t have such an outward possibility to express their identity, nor would they probably feel that this was necessary. 38 Such practical reasons for changing the robe would be for example that is it difficult to wear a Theravada dress in a cold country. Another example is that several foreign bhikkhunis reported of not being recognized nuns by the Sri Lankan public while wearing their native clothes or being regarded as Mahayana nun while actually wearing a (foreign) Theravada robe.

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3.2. Threats from outside and the reactions to them – perceived challenges of

Buddhism in Sri Lanka today

In the following lines I will describe two sides of the same topic: first I will describe the feeling by

many Sri Lankan Buddhists that their religion is being threatened by actors from outside39 and

secondly I will show the efforts of Sri Lankan Buddhists to defend their religion against these

challenges.

Threats

Sri Lankan Buddhism is endangered. That is at least a very widespread view among Sri Lankan

monks and one very central topic in my interviews. Also in the newspapers there have been

repeated publications of articles in the last two years viewing that Buddhism was being “betrayed”40

in Sri Lanka and that it was endangered and declining (The Island, 10.12.00). Some people even

believe that „in Sri Lanka in another ten or twenty years, Buddhism will be gradually out“ (DIS

0001/649-650Mal).

There can be found at least two factors, which are probably contributing to the strength of this

feeling in Sri Lanka. Firstly, the Theravada Sangha has traditionally tended to preserve “pure

Buddhism”41 from any kind of change. Secondly, many „Sri Lankan Buddhist monks (…) have

become committed to a particular interpretation of the Mahavamsa which, they argue, reflects a

bond between the island, Buddhism, and the Sinhala people”42. Consequently “Sri Lanka is

projected as the chosen land of Theravada Buddhism and it is incumbent upon the Sinhalese to

protect it”43.

Though some of these perceived threats come from inside Sri Lankan Buddhism itself44, the most

strongly perceived dangers enter from outside, especially from the Christians and the Muslims.

„The biggest challenge comes from the Christian missionaries“ (INT 0024/374-375). This view

seems to be very widespread among Sri Lankan Buddhists and in many interviews the topic was

39 Therefore this topic possesses an international dimension, which makes this chapter interesting for the whole of this paper. The reactions described will also become relevant, when talking about the changes induced by the processes of globalization. 40 a term used by Stanley Tambiah as title of one of his last books about Buddhism in Sri Lanka. (see also: The Island, 05.07.01; Daily Mirror, 09.08.00) 41 Which is obviously a social construct and “has never existed” (Cousins, 1997, p.372; see also: Carrithers, 2000, p.140) 42 “In a discourse of national authenticity Sri Lanka becomes represented as Dhammadipa (Deepa means island – dhamma refers to the Buddha’s teachings.)” (Abeyesekara, 2001, p.9; see also: De Silva; Bartholomeusz, 2001, p.3; Bechert, 2000b,p.343, Rahula, 1974, p.17; Carrithers, 2000, p.147) 43 (Abeyesekara, 2001, p.9; see also: Bodhi, 2000, p.24; Roesel,, p.4) This view, has been “ referred to elsewhere as ‘Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism’.” (De Silva; Bartholomeusz, 2001, p.3) 44 I have been told about several threats, such as increasing scholastic ignorance and materialism of the Sangha, high rates of monks disrobing, missing protection by the government and spread o f liquor and gambling.

13

mentioned without even asking for it. The descriptions of these missionary activities are amazingly

similar in all the interviews:

The Christian missionaries are acting „especially in the rural areas. There they are

going home to home, house to house, and give material things like food and clothes and

medicine (...) They go to people and offer them things and then ask them to purchase

and distribute some books – message of the Jesus – and try slowly to convert them.”

(INT 0013/70-78)

Common to all the narrations is the reference to Christian missionaries giving material assistance to

poor “innocent Buddhists”45 and clandestinely converting them and even seducing them to go and

evangelise themselves46. These activities are usually thought to have “success to some extent” (INT

0013/91; INT 0024/368). The Christian missionaries are seen to belong to evangelical churches,

most of them registered as companies or non-governmental organisations.47A second way of

conversion, however far less mentioned, is seen in Christians marrying Buddhists, thereby forcing

them to convert to their religion.

As resource of their knowledge about this topic, some people mentioned the press, which actually

rather often issues articles about this topic48. Though I cannot estimate the factual dimension of

Christian missionary activities, there are enough indications to infer that such activities actually

exist49.

The second most threatening external influence was seen – in particular by women50 - in the

Muslims. They are said to convert Buddhists by two means: Either they marry Buddhists,

converting their spouse, or they

“offer start-up money for businesses, they offer financial support, training, community

support. So we can see, in Colombo at least, that more and more people are converting

to Islam and having more and more children.” (DIS 0001/618-620US)

As this quotation illustrates, usually the Muslim community is seen to be growing through

conversion and a high rate of reproduction51. This growing number of Muslims is felt to be a threat

for Sri Lankan Buddhism.

45 This is a term repeatedly used by the “Buddhist Times”, a radical right wing Buddhist newspaper appearing monthly since June 2002. Aryaratne (1995, p.5) talks of “ignorance” of the poor people. 46 (see also: Giammasi, 2001, p.11; Aryaratne, 1995, p.8, 14) 47 It was interesting that everyone mentioning the topic knew a particular number (usually around 200, yet never exactly the same) of these Christian sects and NGOs (see: Aryaratne, 1995, p.14). 48 (see for example: Daily News, 23.03.01; Daily News, 04.04.01) 49 Several of the interviewed – including one Christian and a person who said he didn’t “believe in any -ism”- related about personal encounters with such missionaries. 50 Women mentioned this threat substantially more often than men. They also reacted much stronger in the group discussion than the men. This might be attributed to the feeling that “if people change to Muslim so it’s dangerous for women” (INT 0012/361) . Therefore they are “afraid of Muslims” (INT 0012/351).

14

In contrast to this, I received virtually no accounts of the feeling to be endangered by Hindus, which

is highly surprising, considering the general political situation in Sri Lanka and even attacks on

Buddhist symbols by the LTTE52.

Similarly Mahayana Buddhism is today not felt to be a menace to the Sri Lankan Theravada

Buddhism53. This is in particular striking against the background of the situation in 1990 which will

be explained below:

Reactions

In that year, a Sri Lankan monk –Pelpola Vipassi Thera – went to Japan to receive Mahayana

ordination from the Shingon sect. In spite of his claims that he was “still a follower of Theravada”

(Sun, 22.05.90) there were strong reactions in the Sri Lankan public54.

A part of these reactions was opposed to Mahayanism as such, reinforcing existing prejudices about

the school55. Some people developed sceneries of Theravada being attacked by the “Mahayana

menace”, doing a “calculated attempt to ruin Buddhism” (Daily News, 05.06.90). Therefore this

threat would have to be “eradicated” 56 in order to save Theravada. Other voices criticised

Mahayana-based nursery schools which would turn “the young minds (…) naturally towards

Japanese Mahayanism” (Daily News, 04.06.90) and warned that “the Japanese yen will flow in fast

and in its wake the younger bhikkhus may take to the Mahayana way of life” (Daily News,

28.05.90). These strong reactions were culminating in the demands by some, to abolish the freedom

of religion in Sri Lanka in order to save Theravada Buddhism57!

On the other hand, more moderate voices called these reactions “over-blown”58 and claimed that “if

Theravada sects put it’s own house in order (…) it has nothing to fear” (The Sun, 22.05.90). Some

even raised doubts about the general superiority of Theravadism (see: Daily News, 23.05.90). As a

whole however, the more radical anti-Mahayanist voices were dominating the debate.

51 They are said to get far more children than Sri Lankan Buddhists. 52 As for example a car bomb exploding in front of the Temple of Tooth, which hosts the most important Buddhist relict in Sri Lanka. (Roesel, p.6) 53 I heard that there is one part of the Sangha which is more conservative and more repulsing against Mahayana, however I had none of these monks in my sample. 54 I got the information on this topic largely by evaluating the debate in the Sri Lankan English-language press. 55 Prejudices alleged were for example that all Mahayana monks are allowed to marry and get children and to drink alcohol (Weekend, 27.05.90 Daily News, 28.05.90). 56 These terms were used by the Chief incumbent of Mallikaramaya in Ratmalana Ven. Weligama Gnanaratne Anunayake Thera at the annual prize giving ceremony of Vajiragnana Dhamma school (Daily News, 05.06.90) and by the Chief Editor of the Etymological Sinhala Dictionary (The Island, 24.05.90). The Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA) also patronized the slogan “Resist the Mahayana terror” (The Island, 27.05.90). 57 Again, Ven. Weligama Gnanaratne Anunayake Thera and Harischandra Wijetunge (see prior footnote) were the authors of these demands. 58 (Sun, 22.05.90; see also: The Island, 27.05.90; Daily News, 04.06.90)

15

Also ten years later, there are reactions to defend Sri Lankan Buddhism from perceived threats –

now being found in the Christian missionaries59. A part of these reactions are constituting

themselves on a political level:60 I have received reports about inquiries and complaints to the

government, which were initiated by laypeople, the Maha Sangha and even the supreme patriarch

(see: Daily News, 23.03.01). There have also been calls for the government to actively oppose the

missionaries and restrict their freedom of action.

Another part of the reactions even consists of crude physical violence against Christian missionaries

by ordinary Buddhists:

Now people have been forming into vigilance societies (…) and break into their

buildings and attack them and drive them away. (…) They beat them up. In one Korean

outfit, the Korean owners had to run (…) without a thread on their body.61 (INT

0024/377-394)

Even if only a few Buddhists are reacting in such radical ways, Westerners, who are usually viewed

to be Christians, have to be prepared to be sometimes treated with scepticism by certain groups of

Buddhists.62

If Buddhism is really endangered cannot be determined here. But anyway – the perception exists

and Sri Lankan Buddhists act accordingly, defending themselves. And they do even more than that,

touching on the grounds of other religions, too. In the next chapter I will show that Buddhism itself

also possesses the idea of mission and actually puts this idea into practice.

59 It can be theorized that these threats by the Christians are even felt more strongly than the threats by Mahayana, as the Sighalese have a collective memory of the very brutal Portuguese and Dutch (and the more subtle British missionary activities during the colonial times (Rahula, 1974, p.56, 60f., 64, 82; Ariyaratne, 2000, p.10f; Jayewardene, in: Peebles, 1994: foreword) which “rendered Buddhism slowly dwindle into oblivion.” (Murthy, 1990, p.8) Another factor might be that “the social service tradition of Theravada is very weak and this makes poor Buddhists vulnerable to Christian missionaries masquerading as social workers.” (Weeraratne, 2001, p.142) Also the revival of Buddhism in the 19th century can be seen as a reaction to the threats by missionary activities b y the protestants at that time (see: Koschorke, 1996, p.76) 60 In 1998 the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress discussed the “formation of a political party to ensure the rights of the majority community [as] both major parties today appear to be interested more in the rights of the minorities” (Sunday Times, 22.02.98). Unfortunately, I am not able to determine, against which threats exactly this party should be aiming. 61 Those incidences however would not be reported in the media, as then “everybody will start with the same tactics” (INT 0024/403) and so they remain unknown to the general public. 62 I personally also became “victim” of these tendencies of protection. When I wanted to obtain some statistics from the “Department of Buddhist Affairs” I was told that I would need a paper from an Sri Lankan university in order to prove that I am really a researcher. This security would be needed because “there have been many complaints about residents in Sri Lanka who do things against Buddhism”.

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3.3. Buddhism and mission

„Buddhism had a missionary zeal from the beginning.“ (Dhammajoti, p.3)

This view is uncontested, both in the literature I read and in the empirical data I got. The existence

of an idea of mission in Buddhism can also be seen linguistically: in Pali the term “Dhammaduta”,

means “the transmission of Buddhism”63. Buddha himself has been called “the first and the greatest

missionary that lived on earth64 who even recruited his followers to spread the Dhamma65 . During

the whole of Buddhist history there have been many missionaries carrying the Dhamma to the

World66. Also today numerous celebrities, like the Thai King Bhumibhol (Daily News, 01.12.94) or

A.T. Aryaratne (2002, p.8) and other leading monks have called for Buddhists “to spread the

Dhamma overseas”67. Even awards are given for missionary achievements68.

Also organisations have been engaging in missionary activities69. One of the objectives of the

World Fellowship of Buddhists, the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth and the German

Dhammaduta Society is to “propagate the sublime doctrine of the Buddha” (www.wfb-hq.org). This

objective is put into practice for example by the translation and spread of some Buddhist literature

into various languages and the raising of funds to spread the Dhamma70.

But the idea of mission is popular not only on the level of organisations and leading Buddhists, but

also with common monks. In my sample there were several bhikkhus, who said they wanted to

spread the Dhamma –either in their home country or abroad - after finishing their studies.

There are many ways, Buddhists try to spread their religion: books are published, web-pages

launched and temples and institutes built, where interested people can go to study about Buddhism

(see: Dhammajoti, p.13). It is common belief though, that missionaries will be most successful, if

they don’t centre on the spread of Buddhist philosophy, but rather teach Buddhist meditation. As

one Sri Lankan monk remarked:

63 .The term can be found in the names of several organisations and committees engaged in the promotion of Buddhism. For example there is the German Dhammaduta Society, or the Dhammaduta committee of the World Fellowship of Buddhists 64 Narada, 1999, p.35, see also: The Island, 23.01.02 65 In the Tripitake it says: ”‘Oh monks, Go forth to the world disseminating the Dhamma, for the well-being, the happiness of as many people as possible.’” (Ariyaratne, 2000, p.5, see also: Goonatilake, 2001, p.57) 66 Famous examples of missionaries are: „Mahinda Thera, son of [Asoka] the emperor (…) was sent to Sri Lanka for propagating the Buddhism” (Murthy, 1990, p.2f.) Also the leaders of Vidyodaya, and Vidyalankara “ had instilled in themselves and other younger bhikkhus a strong sense of mission.” (Dhammajoti, p.6) 67 Daily News, 24.06.96; see also: Daily News, 20.08.01 68 In 2002 a Sri Lankan monk, who became top-monk in Malaysia and Singapore got the second highest award for missionary activities in Burma by the Burmese ambassador (The Island, 14.01.02) 69 These activities cannot be said to have a large impact. Though the argument here is only, that the idea of mission exists and there are some efforts to put it into practice. 70 Daily News, 17.04.69; Daily News, 01.09.67

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“In other ways, if you give cassettes or booklets, sermons, that won’t work much. Only

thing is meditation. With meditation Buddhism can be globalised.” (INT 0013/129-130)

Additionally to the power of its meditation, the success of Buddhist missions, as in the past as in the

present, can be partly attributed to the adaptability of Buddhism (Cousins, 1997, p.369), which

enabled it to be “ prayed all over the world without any barrier” (INT 0013/208-209) and gradually

become “universal” 71.

The general characteristic of the Buddhist way to missionate can be described as “tolerant”

(Goonatilake, 2001, p.57) and more passive, waiting for the people to become interested, rather than

missionating aggressively72. So often the free will of those who are converted is stressed and terms

like needs (of the people who should be converted) or „The necessity for promoting Buddhism“

(Bodhi, 2000, Title, my italics) are used to describe their motives to convert. One interviewed

mentioned for example that during colonial times:

“Western people, those who learned Buddhism, those who study Buddhism THEY were

interested in Buddhism and they found something, so they wanted to introduce this thing

to the West.” (INT 0013/232-235)

In spite of this rather passive approach, success in propagation efforts is received enthusiastically.

Mass-conversions by Hindus to Buddhism in India and conversions in other countries are celebrated

in the Sri Lankan press; the development and progress of Buddhism in different countries around

the world is reported about and analysed73.

Sri Lanka plays a central role in the propagation of Theravada Buddhism. Due to its fairly high

standard of education and good fluency of many monks in English it has “the strongest potential for

transmitting the Dhamma” (Bodhi, 2000, p.22).

Recapitulating this chapter, it shall be remembered that a positively connotated idea of the

propagation of Buddhism exists, as well as efforts in various forms, to put this idea into practice.

4. How globalisation works - the Channels of Interaction

The previous chapters have described some of the backgrounds against which the “globalisation” of

Buddhism is taking place. The following chapters are the core of this paper. The overarching

questions I will try to answer is: How does the globalisation of Buddhism actually work? Which

channels are used for the transnational Buddhist interaction?.

71 One example is, that Buddhism does not demand strict vegetarianism from its followers, a rule which would have hindered it from being spread to many, especially colder places. (Narada, 1999, p.41) 72 As exceptions can be seen the missionary tactics of some Japanese sects, like Sokagakkai (Bechert, 2000b,p.358) and Hong Wan Ji, who are “aggressively propagating like Christians” (INT 0007/135-137).

18

The structure is going to be as follows: First I will describe communication and information media

used by the monks in my sample. Then I will discuss the function of money and the role of

Buddhist organisations in the international exchange and finally I will write about travels and

studies of monks abroad.

4.1. Media of transnational communication and information

“The Information Age presupposes one thing – the free flow of information.”

(Abeyesekara,2001, p.2)

In the following lines I will describe the general availability of transnational communication and

information channels, and the use of these by the group of urban, highly educated monks and

Buddhist scholars in my sample.

As for the communication channels, the arrival of modern technology has brought along substantial

changes. E-Mail seems to have become the most popular media for transnational communication,

more widely used than letters or telephone74. This has dramatically increased the frequency and

speed of international exchange75.

Concerning information channels, the interviewed reported about four channels to get information

about foreign countries76: books, television, newspapers and the internet. Generally the availability

of and access to these media, has constantly increased in the last decades77.

As for foreign books, the availability in Sri Lanka – in particular of those about Mahayana

Buddhism - is said to have improved substantially in the last 20 years, too. Also the introduction of

TV in 1980 enabled as laypeople as monks, to get more information about foreign forms of

Buddhism78. Another very important media are the newspapers, which frequently issue articles

about Buddhism all over the world79, in particular when Buddhists and Buddhist heritage are

73 Daily News, 06.06.02; Daily News, 21.10.98 74 In the questionnaire, all 10 monks named E-Mail as means of contacting friends abroad, only five marked letters and another five telephone . Of the around forty monks and laypeople I asked for an E-Mail address during my field-stay only two didn’t have one at all; a few used the addresses of their universities or temples! Also the various committees of the World Fellowship of Buddhists are using E-Mail as means to communicate in between the biannual conferences. 75 However I was told that in other countries the use of modern technology might not be as much tolerated as in Sri Lanka. Thailand and Burma were named to me as more restrictive countries concerning the use of technology. 76 The fifth channel, which has shown to be of central importance - direct personal contracts - is excluded here, but will be referred to in later chapters. 77 compare also: Rahula, 1974, p.96; Bodhi, 2000, p.14 78 However, these TV-programmes can also lead to the transportation of distorted images. A American nun told me: “the monks here watch the Chinese movies on TV and then they think that all people there wear these clothes” (INT 0016/35-36) 79 see for example articles: “Buddhism among the Turkic people”, The Island, 09.04.02; “The search for Nirvana in South Africa”, Sunday Leader, 20.05.01

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threatened80. Sometimes not only reports about foreign countries are issued but articles are written

by foreign monks and scholars81; so foreign voices and perspectives can be received directly. Last

but not least the internet is becoming of increasing importance82. World-wide there are hundreds of

web-sites dealing with Buddhist topics83, with the largest and most popular one -

www.buddhanet.net - attracting around 200.000 hits per day.84

Summarising this chapter, it can be inferred that Sri Lankan Buddhists today have increasingly

more possibilities to inform themselves about foreign forms of Buddhism and get in contact with

Buddhists living abroad - possibilities which are not only hypothetically existing, but factually used,

at least by the layer of monks and scholars in my research.

4.2. Buddhist development aid – sponsorships and donations from the rich

Flows of money are playing an important role in the international Buddhist exchange. In this

chapter I will try to characterize these flows, which appear in two forms: as scholarships for monks’

studies and as donations to temples and other formal organisations.

Regarding scholarships, I found two different types of them in Sri Lanka. The first one concerns

mostly young monks from poor countries, like Bangladesh and Nepal. They are offered free lodging

in a temple and free education in its attached pirivena, but they normally don’t receive money as

such.

The second type of sponsorship is mostly received by monks, who study in universities or institutes

of a comparable degree. They receive proper money, in order to finance their daily lives and their

studies. These monks come, both from richer (mostly Mahayana) and poorer (mostly Theravada)

countries, with those from more affluent countries often receiving assistance from their home-

countries and those from poorer countries mostly from abroad. The majority of the sponsors come

80 see for example: “Buddhism and Idolatry”, The Island, 24.07.01; “Tribals threaten to boot out Buddhists from far eastern India”, Daily News, 15.01.01 81 see for example articles by the Austrian Bhikkhu Samanera Pajalo, Daily News, 13.02.02, the Nepalese Bhikkhu Ananda, Daily News, 27.02.02 or the Thai Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, Daily News, 20.01.00 82 Of the eleven respondents of the questionnaire, answered only two, they didn’t use internet at all, one said to use it seldom and six answerer with sometimes. There are several projects of computerization of the Tripitaka carried out by scholars from various countries in the world, which enable the interested audience to read the scriptures on the Internet. To get more information about this topic also compare: Thanissaro, Bhikkhu, computerization of the Buddhist scriptures for the 21st century” in: Buddhism for the new Millenium (see also: www.gold.ac.uk/history/ibric.htm; www.dhammakaya.th.org) 83 These sites attract the attention of other media, too. There has been repeated coverage in Sri Lankan newspapers of Buddhist web-sites on the internet in the last years(see for example: “Beyond the Net – a Dhamma Web on the Internet”, Daily News, 30.05.02, The Island, 26.05.02; “Web-site soon to propagate Buddhism in other countries”, The Island, 08.04.02; “E-learning Buddhism on the internet”, Daily News, 15.08.01)

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from the more affluent Mahayana countries (some from the West) which sponsor both, Mahayana

and Theravada monks. As typical example for a highly internationalised sponsorship structure I

would like to mention the case of a Burmese monk who finances his studies in Sri Lanka with the

help of relatives and “Dhammabrothers” (fellow monks) from Burma, China and Korea!

The actual resources of the sponsorships can be of various kinds. Usually the expectation is to get

sponsored by one’s master. However, in particular monks from temples situated in poorer countries

have to find their sponsors outside their temple, with most of those who achieve this getting

sponsorship by friends and relatives. All in all sponsorship is attained either through the own temple

or through personal, informal relations. Institutionalised scholarships with formalized way of

application are very rare85.

The second type of international exchange involving flows of money are donations86. Like the

above described sponsorships, also these donations entering Sri Lanka are taking several forms:

either proper money is given or the donations come as material assistance, often Buddha statues,

books or the erection of buildings (Daily mirror, 16.05.02). As “donor countries” (INT 0007/50)

again Mahayana countries are most prominent with Japan having been mentioned most in my

research, followed by China, Korea, and Singapore. The only Theravada country named was

Thailand87.

As for the kind of donors, I got reports about delegations of monks and nuns coming to Sri Lanka

and donating, rich laypeople who are befriended to Sri Lankan monks, official authorities,

particular temples and sects, and other organisations.

In all cases mentioned – even those involving organisations - funds were obtained through informal

personal relationships. Often these contacts had been initiated while travelling or studying abroad.

Formal, institutionalised funds with predefined application processes have not been mentioned to

me88!

This highly personalised sponsorship-structure even seems to indulge many Sri Lankan monks to

systematically try to get in contact with foreigners in order to receive funds in the long run. In one

interview, a Sri Lankan scholar advised a Chinese monk:

84 The site is existing since 1993. (see article: “Promoting Buddhism on the internet”, The Island, 03.07.02; Daily News, 05.07.02) 85 Out of a sample of about 20 monks, whose resources I got to know, there was only one who received a formalized scholarship. 86 Unfortunately it turned out to be quite difficult to obtain information on transnational flows of sponsoring. Therefore my database on this point is not very strong and any generalization of my findings can only be done with great caution. 87 The flows of assistance between Thailand and Sri Lanka are mutual (see: Daily Mirror, 16.05.02). In all the reported cases when Thailand was the donor, Buddha statues were given to Sri Lankan temples. 88 In my research only “Sarvodya movement” received donation from institutionalized funds.

21

“Don’t make friendship with Sri Lankan monks. Many people want to make friendship

with foreigners, because they think you may come from an important temple. And they

will maybe expect you to be invited to go there. It is very important for monks to go to

foreign countries, to go abroad. And when they have been there, they will come back to

Sri Lanka and through their contacts they will get somebody come here to donate for

their temple.” (INT 0008/12-15)

It can even be suggested that sometimes the expectation to receive funds by a foreigner may

dominate much of the interaction. A Chinese monk told me:

“In Sri Lanka, when you tell them you are from Japan or Korea, they are happy. When

from China [which is seen as being less affluent], they will change their face.” (INT

0015/40-41)

As the quotations shows that strategic, long-term planning with financial aims is not totally foreign

to Buddhist monks. In order to accept donations it seems not even to be necessary to highly

estimate the donors. Japanese Buddhism for example, is generally perceived in a rather negative

way in Sri Lanka which does however not impede Japanese assistance from coming in.89

“Mahayana money is good” (INT 0007/88) as long as it meets the ultimate goal!

But what is this ultimate goal? What is this money used for? My data suggests that most of it is

utilized either for social purposes (e.g. pre-schools and training courses) or for the building of

temple infrastructure (stupas, shrine rooms, meditation rooms) - activities which are not only

important as such, but also raise the prestige of the respective temple and the leading monks.

Finally I would like to give another example in order to show the importance of money in the

Buddhist globalisation: the struggle of Sri Lanka and Thailand for the permanent seat of the World

Fellowship of Buddhists’ permanent headquarters. The issue was debated for several years in the

1960s and was finally resolved when the Thai government offered to sponsor the construction of a

building in Bangkok, which should then serve as headquarters90. It is there up to the present day.

89 In one interview for example, I talked to a Sri Lankan monk, who stayed in Japan for half a year. He said that he didn’t like Japanese Buddhism but on the other hand told about his plans to start an educational center - with money he wanted to organize from Japan. 90 see articles: “Malalasekera to urge location of WFB hqrs in Colombo”, Daily News, 13.04.69 and “Request to big powers not to sell arms”, Daily News, 26.05.72.

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4.3. International Buddhist organisations

The third channel I could identify are International Buddhist organisations. They are not a new

phenomenon, with the first - the Mahabodhi Society and the Young Mens‘ Buddhist Association

(YMBA) - being founded in 1891 and 1903 (see: Bechert, 2000b, p.359).

Obtaining information about the role and way of functioning of international institutions in Sri

Lanka today turned out to be a very difficult task. Most scholars and intellectuals I asked could only

name a few organisations - usually the World Fellowship of Buddhists and one or two others -

without knowing in detail what they actually do. Furthermore I couldn’t find any literature about

these organisations. Consequently I had to gather most of the information from articles in the local

newspapers91, besides the internet and very few interviews.

Most of the data I obtained that way, dealt with the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) which

most people considered to be the most important of all international organisation. Therefore the

bulk of this chapter will be dedicated to this organisation.

The WFB was founded by representatives from 27 countries in Colombo in 1950. Today it

encompasses 37 Nations from all continents and all major Buddhist schools and claims to act “on

behalf of the Buddhist world (Daily News 25.07.98)” representing both, monks and laypeople (see:

www.wfb-hq.org).

The organisation has five main aims and objectives:

1. To promote among the members strict observance and practice

of the teachings of the Buddha;

2. To secure unity, solidarity, and brotherhood amongst Buddhists92;

3. To propagate the sublime doctrine of the Buddha;

4. To organize and carry on activities in the field of social, educational,

cultural and other humanitarian services;

5. To work for happiness, harmony and peace on earth and to

collaborate with other organisations working for the same ends.

Source: www.wfb-hq.org

91 Research for these articles was carried out in the documentation center of The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House) which is issuing three of the main English-language newspapers in Sri Lanka (Daily News, Sunday Observer and Daily Observer) though also documenting other newspapers. 92 The chairman of the WFB-Sri Lanka, Nemsiri Mutukumara answered on my question, which was the main importance of WFB that it was “to bring people together, create understanding and solidarity” (INT 0024/112-113), which corresponds roughly to this point number 2 in the declaration.

23

The performance on the different aims has been varying. The main achievement is certainly its

function as international forum for Buddhist laypeople and monks to exchange ideas, discuss and

coordinate. When the organisation was founded, it was one of the first attempts to enhance

communication between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism which before had had almost not

interacted with each other. The exchange in the WFB happens in two ways: firstly and most

importantly at the biannual conferences, where several hundred participants from all over the world

participate93 and secondly through several committees which are carrying out the work between

these conferences.

Social service and representation of Buddhists seems to have been more prominent in the WFB’s

work especially in the 1970s. They launched campaigns against the errand use of Buddha images in

advertising94, supported activities in order to enhance social welfare95 and tried to promote and

protect Buddhism96. Since the end of the 1970s the number of such activities seem to have been

decreasing with the general tendency of the WFB being reported about less97.

Nevertheless the WFB has achieved to attract a fairly big number of celebrities to either participate

at it’s conferences or even hold posts at the organisation,98. Furthermore the WFB achieved an

affiliation with UNESCO. It is being recognised as non-governmental-organisation qualified to

maintain official consultative relationships with the UN, a status no other Buddhist organisation had

attained before99.

93 At the conference in 1972 there were 250 participants(Sun, 17.05.72), in 1978 800 delegates from 28 countries (Daily News 5.10.78), in 2002 even 1200! (Daily News, 12.09.02) see also: Bechert, 2000b, p.359 94 Daily News, 18.01.69; Observer, 31.12.73; Observer, 03.01.74 95 see for example articles: “WFB offers seeds, plants” , Daily News, 01.03.75; “grow-more-food campaign from today”, Observer, 08.06.71; “Center for Buddhist Youth” Observer, 02.01.74; Pagoda in Paris by next year”, Observer”, 10.07.74; “Bangladesh appeal”, Daily News, 08.06.72; “Courses for the unemployed”, Sunday Observer, 17.11.76; WFBY for Dharma Pectaya to train Buddhist nuns”, Daily News, 13.04.76 96 (Daily News, 01.09.67, Daily News, 21.08.68) 97 The latest article covering the WFB I could find dates back to April 2000, which is more than two years at the time of this research. Reports about social activities by the WFB since the 1980s include: “WFB to help needy school children in Eastern Province”, Daily News, 18.04.96; “WFB sponsors Buddhist rehabilitation Fund”, Daily News, 09.11.87; “Seminar on restauration of the bhikkhuni Order”, Observer, 02.03.97 Futhermore this view of decreasing social engagement was confirmed by Nemsiri Mutukumara and another former WFB-representative: The only social activity of WFB they could name was: the supply of books for a temple in Southern India. 98 For example acted the former Thai Prime Minister Sanya Dharmasakti as President 1985-1998, who succeeded the Thai Princess Poon Pismai Diskul who held the office 1963-1984. Often Presidents, Prime Ministers of the hosting countries of the biannual conferences have been present for the opening ceremony. See also articles: “Duty of Buddhists to spread the Dhamma – King Bhimibhol”, Daily News, 01.12.94, “Dalai Lama points to message of Buddha at WFB parley”, Daily News, 27.10.78; “Princess to preside”, Daily Mirror, 06.05.72; “Premier to inaugurate Buddhist conference”, Observer, 07.05.72 99 (Observer, 10.10.70; Daily News, 25.11.74) The United Nations are also organizing a religious conference with Buddhists participating. (Observer, 10.10.70; Daily News, 25.11.74)

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As for the judgement of the general performance of the WFB I would like to give a statement by

Dr. Malalasekera, the founder and long year President of the World Fellowship of Buddhist. He

said in 1972:

The WFB “has done nothing. Only two important things happened. The monks of the

Mahayana and Theravada sects were brought together and secondly the Buddhist flag

is seen everywhere in the world.” (Daily Mirror, 02.06.72)

Although the statement was given thirty years ago, it corresponds very well to the WFB’s image,

which I could identify in my research. Those monks and scholars who knew something about it

were quite critical about the WFB, which was generally depicted as concentrating on holding

expensive conferences without any impact transcending these100.

As already mentioned, the information I could obtain on other organisations was significantly less

than information on the WFB. Therefore they will be treated here only in brief.

One of those other important organisations is the World Buddhist Sangha Council. It was founded

in Colombo in 1966 and serves primarily as forum of discussion and exchange for monks and nuns

from all over the world. Its main aims - besides fostering the exchange of bhikkhus from different

schools and traditions - are to improve moral, intellectual and spiritual standards and to promote the

adaptation of Buddhism to changing social and economic circumstances (see: Bechert, 2000b,

p.360).

Furthermore there is the German Dhammaduta Society (GDS), a Sri Lankan/German organisation

seeing itself as “a vehicle for transmitting Asia’s best gift i.e. the Dhamma, to the West”101. The

GDS was the only organisation being described to me as very active. This perception goes together

with my finding that in the last two years the GDS regularly appeared in the Sri Lankan English-

language newspapers for activities of various kinds (see also: Bechert, 2000b,p.352).

Another institution, which is usually considered to be “the highest place” (INT 0013/415) of

scholarly Buddhism, is the Pali Text Society (PTS). The “once legendary” (Goonatilake, 2001,

p.101) organisation is one of the oldest existing Buddhist organisation and is situated in London. Its

main function is the publication of Buddhist scholarly books. The PTS has been evaluated by

Cousins to be “very active under its most recent presidents, K.R. Norman and R. F. Gombrich.”

(Cousins, 1997, p.390)

100 One interview partner called the use of the conferences “more academic. In the long term some things happen, many don’t.” (INT 0007/10-12) Another one stated: “They write a book at the end of the conference, which nobody will read.” (INT 0022/25-26). 101 (Bodhi, 2000, Foreword by Senaka Weerarathna, Hony. Secretary of the German Dharmaduta Society)

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Other important Buddhist international organisations, which I will only mention here, are the

Buddhist Publication Society, the Asian Buddhist Congress and the World Buddhist Propagation

Conferences.

Summarising all this, the main importance of the international Buddhist organisations lies in their

function to foster encounters of Buddhists from the different schools and in them publishing a large

number of Buddhist books. These contributions are without a doubt very valuable for the

international exchange of Buddhist. However as for the impact on different forms of Buddhism my

research suggests that the channel described in the next chapter is far more important.

4.4. Cosmopolitan Buddhists: travelling and studying abroad

In this chapter I will try to outline the diverse forms of physical movements of monks and other

Buddhists beyond national borders. Basically I will divide these movements into two types: short-

time travels to and long-term stays in foreign countries.

First I will touch on the short-term travels. They appear in four different forms, which will be

explained below: 1. Holidays: There is allegedly a tendency that Monks and Buddhist scholars have

been travelling more in the last decades. This is mostly attributed to the improving economic

standards of most Asian countries; holidays of monks abroad have become quite usual.102 2. Travels

with a missionary purpose: This form of foreign travel, though less often mentioned in my research

is also quite common. 3. Conferences: Those monks, who are active in bigger organisations or have

a high academic degree sometimes attend international conferences abroad103. These conferences

are said to have become more frequent in the last years, too. 4. Pilgrimages: Also the “The ancient

tradition of pilgrimage104 (...) has revived considerably in the last century.” (Cousins, 1997, p.407).

In Sri Lanka alone there are today several travel agents offering organised Buddhist tours to India,

Nepal and Burma.105 All in all, we can see clearly that all these forms of short term travels to

foreign countries are not uncommon and that there are becoming gradually more frequent.

102 Around one third of the travels mentioned in the questionnaire was declared as “holiday”. 103 This is obviously especially true for the leading monks and activists; Goonatilake even calls them „global players (Goonatilake, 2001, p.84) 104 Whether this is really an “ancient tradition” is not undisputed. One Buddhist scholar told me these Pilgrimages had been inspired by the Catholics. 105 In India and Nepal the places where Buddha was born, became enlightened, preached and died are the main attractions, Myanmar is promoted as one of the centers of Theravada Buddhism. For Buddhist pilgrimages see internet-sites: www.gabos.com; www.passionasia.com.

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Now I will dedicate myself to describe more detailed the long-term travels – or to be more precisely

to the long-term studies of monks and laypeople abroad. I will thereby concentrate on the Sri

Lankan scene and on the foreigners who come to Sri Lanka to attend university.

As already mentioned in the chapter on scholarships, in Sri Lanka there are two kinds of

educational institutions offering Buddhist studies to foreigners.

Firstly there are many pirivenas which accept foreign students. These students are mostly young

monks – many of them under eighteen years old - who come from poor countries. The studies in the

pirivenas are often in Singhala language but generally the graduation certificate enables them to

apply for universities in various countries. In most cases however the monks are expected to go

home after their studies.

The second kind of institutes are universities. In Sri Lanka there are presently four institutes with

university degree that offer Buddhist studies to foreigners106. The Postgraduate Institute of Buddhist

and Pali studies (PGIBPS), which is offering Theravada and Mahayana studies, accepts foreign

students since 1980, Kalenya University (KU) since 1992. The courses of the Buddhist and Pali

University (BPU), offering only Theravada studies have been open for foreigners since the

beginning of the institute, in 1981. Additionally to these universities which are located in and

around Colombo, Peradenya University (PU) near Candy also has a programme for foreigners.

Alone in the institutes in Colombo, there currently study more than 130 foreigners; in the PGIBPS

they even account for the majority of students (65 against only 50 Sri Lankans).

Particularly in the 1990s their number has been gradually increasing (see table 1). The proportion of

the countries where the students come from has been constantly changing. This can be attributed to

several factors, such as the civil war in Sri Lanka, language facilities and sponsorship structures.107.

Especially the number of students from Myanmar, who accounted for almost half of all foreign

students in 2002, has increased dramatically.

But why do these monks and laypeople come to Sri Lanka to study Buddhism? Common to all of

them is that they wanted to study Theravada Buddhism and so they had to chose within the

spectrum of Theravada countries. Sri Lanka has been chosen for mainly two reasons. The first one

is the matter of language. Also in other Theravada countries Buddhist Institutes have been opened

106 The subsequent information I have received from authorities from the Postgraduate Institutes of Buddhist and Pali Studies, Kalenya University and the Buddhist and Pali Universities. 107 I was told for example that the number of students from East Asian and Western countries dropped after bombs went off in Colombo in the 1990s. Also did the BPU lose many students from Korea, since they stopped their courses in Korean language in 1995. Furthermore the University opened branches in Singapore, Cambodia, Korea and soon Vietnam, which had a negative effect on the number of students in the headquarter in Colombo. The increasing number of students especially from Myanmar and Bangladesh can possibly be explained by a growing number of sponsors mostly from East Asia and by the decreasing importance of Burma in the Theravada world.

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for foreign students108, but they teach in their native language. In Sri Lanka the language of

instruction is English109 which has the advantage that many monks can already speak English and

that “it is an international language” (DIS 0001/92Mal).

Table 1: Number of foreign students in Sri Lankan Buddhist Universities

(according to institute, year and country of origin)

PGIBPS BPU KU total

Country of origin 1982 1991 2002 2002 2002 2002

Bangladesh - - 2 10 3 15

Cambodia - - 2 2 - 4

China - 5 13 1 4 18

India - - 3 3 - 6

Japan 1 1 - - 2 2

Korea - 2 10 - 1 11

Malaysia 1 - 3 - - 3

Myanmar - - 24 30 10 64

Nepal - - - - 2 2

Singapore - - 1 1 - 2

Thailand - - 2 1 - 3

U.K - 1 2 - - 2

U.S.A - - 1 - - 1

Vietnam - - 1 - - 1

Total 2 9 65 48 22 135

Sources: Assistant Registrar of the PGIBPS / Registration Officer of the BPU/senior lecturer from KU

This clear preference is as far surprising as English is sometimes considered “not so adequate to

express certain things” (DIS 0001/67-68Mal) concerning Buddhism. The second reason for

choosing Sri Lanka, is the perception of the country being the intellectual centre of Theravada

Buddhism with a high standard of teaching110. Other reasons, which were named less frequently are

low costs of the studies111, the existence of accredited universities112, the fact that “Sri Lanka has a

great history about bhikkhuni” (DIS 0001/45-46Bur) and existing personal relations.

108 I was told about an international Buddhist school in Burma and another one in Thailand. 109 Almost all of the around 20 people I spoke on this topic named “English” as a reason to chose Sri Lanka 110 Around two thirds of the 20 monks mentioned the high quality of studies in Sri Lanka as reason of their choice. (see also: Bond, 1992, p.vi) That Sri Lanka is actually being such a centre can already seen in the fact that “many former members of the Sangha with Ph.D. degrees are now serving as senior university professors (…) abroad.” (Dhammajoti, p.11). 111 Also for the choice between different institutes in Sri Lanka fees were named to me as a reason of choice by authorities of one of these institutes. The statistics also show that monks from poorer countries tend to attend BPU in comparison with the PGIBPS, which demands much higher fees. Students of more affluent countries in tendency also attend higher levels of studies (such as PhD or M.phil in contrast to B.A. or M.A.).

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These personal relations account for the major channel spreading the information about the

particular institutes of Buddhist studies. Almost all of the around twenty questioned students got to

know about their place of studies through personal relations, either their own ones, or the ones of

their masters. The messages about the universities are often spread to foreign countries by former

graduates. Institutionalized channels of knowledge about the institutes, like formal connections

between universities, are very rare, as well as other information channels like the internet. All in all

foreign students have become an integral part of the departments of Buddhist and Pali Studies in Sri

Lankan universities.

On the other side there are also many Sri Lankan monks going abroad to study or at least aiming to

do so (Dhammajoti, p.9). Their motivations may be of different kinds. Some of them may want to

go abroad because they hope to thus attain “greater social honour” (Hettige, 2000, p.182) or make

rewarding connections. Some may even try to find employment and disrobe (Bodhi, 2000, p.25),

while others would go because of a genuine interest in other forms of Buddhism. This popularity of

foreign travels is also one reason why more and more novices and young bhikkhus are keen to

attend universities113, as only a high level of education enables them to find a place in the

international academic scene. Also the pirivenas have adapted to this trend, preparing for the

government exams, which allows their students to sit for entry examinations into educational

establishment many parts of the world. (Goonatilake, 2001, p.96).

As a consequence to all the travels depicted above, there are today a big number of monks with

international experience. Also most of the monks and scholars I talked to, showed to be rather

cosmopolitan114. To conclude this chapter I would like to give one very remarkable, though by far

not exceptional example of Buddhist cosmopolitanism. It is the case of an American bhikkhuni,

whose master is a Vietnamese Mahayana monk residing in a temple in Germany. She lived in

Taiwan for 12 years and now studies Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka hoping to obtain higher

ordination soon - maybe from Korean bhikkhunis.

112 It was remarked that a university degree was an essential asset to receive employment. 113 Dhammajoti, p.9; see also: Rahula, 1974, p.96 114The ten respondents of the questionnaire had on the average been in three to four foreign countries -counting only those travel connected to their being Buddhist in some form. (i.e. each of them knew additionally to their home country and Sri Lanka two to three other countries) Most of the other monks and scholars I talked two had similar, sometimes even much more internationalized biographies. At this point I would like to caution the reader again not to forget the biases of my sample described in the methodological chapter

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4.5. Personalized globalisation on the rise – persons, contacts and

relationships as driving forces

In this concluding chapter on the channels of exchange between Buddhist countries, I will describe

two things: I will show that the overall characteristic of Buddhist international interaction is a high

degree of personalisation, and I will argue that such exchange has had a rising tendency in the last

years.

Let’s first talk about personalisation. As a whole, the international interactions of Buddhists can be

characterised as “globalisation on a personal basis” (INT 0008/46). This high degree of

personalisation can be observed easily when re-analysing the different channels of interaction.

Monks today still find their university to study abroad through narrations by fellow monks, in spite

of internet and other modern information channels. Young monks are sent abroad by their master to

a place, he has direct relations to. Not institutionalised scholarships account for most of the

students’ incoming funds, but sponsorships by friends and masters. Similarly, donations are usually

not being given by following a certain formal procedure but due to personal relationships between

the donor and the receiver115.

Even many of the international organisations – especially the smaller ones - can be described as

highly personalised in their way of functioning. Often they are headed by some charismatic founder

with outstanding management skills, and “when he dies some money and the buildings stay” (INT

0022/6-7) but often the whole organisation structure breaks down in the long run or the organisation

looses much of its virility. This pattern is true, to different degrees, as much for the WFB, as for the

Mahabodhi Society, the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the Asian Buddhist Congress116 and

also for a number of temples117. The most important Sri Lankan personalities of the 20th century,

who have built such structures are: Dr. Malalasekera (WFB), A.T. Aryaratne (Sarvodya), Olcott

Gunasekera (ABC) and Mahalgama Vipulasara (Parama Dhamma Cetiya Pirivena).

“All Buddhist Sects the world over have (…) established closer links as never before in

recent history.” (Aryaratne, 1995, p.3)

115 In some cases even when organisations nominally donate money this can be attributed to personal efforts and collections in a personalized way. E.g. I was told about a donation “officially” given to a Tanzanian temple by the WFB. In fact though this money had been contributed by participants of the general conference, who collected it during the meeting. 116 This view about the ABC was given to me by an experienced senior monk from Europe having lived in Sri Lanka for around thirty years. (INT 0022/8-9)

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As the quotation already indicates, the basic argument of this paragraph is not that international

interaction between Buddhists is a new phenomenon, but that particular channels of interaction

have been used more intensively or have only come into existence in the last decades. New media

which have accelerated communication and information, are of course E-Mail and the internet. As

for the others channels, especially travels of people have become more intense, be it for Pilgrimage,

study purposes, conferences or holidays. But also television and books are informing more about

foreign Buddhism than ever before.

In general, most respondents viewed the international exchanges becoming more intense in the last

decades. This view seems plausible due to the increasing economic standards in most Asian

countries and the improved means of communication, information and travelling.

All in all, the “availability of information [on Buddhism abroad] is much different than it was 20

years ago” (DIS 0001/525-526) and Buddhism is becoming more and more internationalised.

5. The impacts of globalisation: changes due to international exchange

In this penultimate part of my paper I am going to discuss two things. First I will reflect on the way

change is mediated through international exchange. (The fact that Buddhism is being changed by

international influences is generally agreed on118.) Secondly I am going to give two examples of

changes in Sri Lankan Buddhism which can – at least partly – be attributed to foreign influences.

5.1. Tracing religious change: how does it happen?

“Globalisation impinges upon culture in complex ways, but precisely how it shapes and

modulates cultural change is yet to be fully understood.“ (De Silva, 2000, p.8)

In this chapter I will dare to give some ideas about exactly this point. How does international

interaction actually influence “local” Buddhism and change it?

The question is particularly interesting for religions, as they are usually not easily adopting changes,

but on the contrary tend to preserve their traditions and their heritage. This is particularly true for

Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhism, which has historically been quite resistant to changes119.

Consequently, „religious change is not often an intended consequence“ (Gombrich, 1991, p.15) and

117 Some temples in Sri Lanka are acting beyond the borders, with many of these focusing on a single monk. For example, I was told about a leading monk who “wanted to make this temple a bhikkhuni center. (...) After he passed away and the new hamduru came the whole structure collapsed.” (DIS 0001/457-462) 118 On the question in the questionnaire if Sri Lankan Buddhism was influencing Buddhism in their home country and vice versa, only two times “no influence” was felt, eight times “very little influence” nine times “some” and two times even “strong influence”.

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mostly develops in uncontrolled and manifold ways on the individual level. In my research I could

identify several ways, how globalisation affects “local” Buddhism: through “liking”, donor

influences, reactions to threats, monetary possibilities and “alternative options”. The impact due to

monetary possibilities and reactions to threats will be dealt with in the next chapter, an example for

“alternative options” will given in the chapter afterwards. I will now dedicate myself to describe

changes due to “liking”. Beforehand I want to give two quotations to exemplify the process.

One Sri Lankan monk told me:

“I studied in Thailand, I followed the Thai way. I found this thing good to introduce in

my place. I come here and I introduce that here. This is the general way, even when

teachers go to other countries and find something good, they will introduce it in their

school” (INT 0013/315-320)

A Chinese monk gave a similar idea:

“For example we have learned Mahayana Buddhism and then we come here and have

the influence of Theravada and then maybe they will follow something when they see

it’s good.” (DIS0001/745-749)

As these examples illustrate, change through international interaction requires two steps, “liking”

and “adopting and taking home”. “Liking” can be differentiated into two forms which I will

subsequently call “liking for Buddhism” and “liking for oneself”120.

“Liking for Buddhism” means, that a monk gets to know a new idea, behaviour or object which he

thinks would be beneficial for Buddhism in his country of origin or for Buddhism as a whole (see

also: Gombrich, 1991, p.16). It seems that most foreign monks, who study in Sri Lanka find

something there they like121. The areas they are most impressed by are one the one hand education,

especially the Sunday school, and on the other hand the high level of social involvement of the Sri

Lankan temples122.

“Liking for oneself” influences Buddhism in a different direction. It is about aspects which heighten

the comfort of monks’ lives, give them more freedom or enhance their power and prestige123. Such

119 see: Giammasi, 2001, p.17; Carrithers, 2000, p.140f. 120 An other, very special, way of influence is the case of Sri Lankan bhikkhunis being ordained in the Mahayana tradition and therefore taking over some of those ideas into the Sri Lankan Buddhism scene. Yet another one is induced by laypeople who have moved to the West. Obeyesekere relates about calls for a stronger sacramentalization of Buddhism by Sri Lankans living abroad (INT0004). 121 Of the ten foreign monks who answered the questionnaires, eight (!) responded, they had found something in Sri Lankan Buddhism they would like to introduce when they go back to their home country! In the interviews, two monks mentioned this point, without being asked for it. 122 Of the eight respondents of this question, seven mentioned the educational system and four the social involvement. (see also: Liu, 2003) 123 Upali Salgado warned in one letter to the editor in the Daily News (28.05.90) that “the Japanese yen will flow in fast and its wake the younger bhikkhus may take to the Mahayana way of life which is an open, easy licensed but accepted way of living, with priesthood, marriage and children, liquor etc.”

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issues include the use of technology, more liberal eating habits and other modifications of the

Vinaya, or the rejection of the bhikkhuni order by male monks. 124 Also monks’ belongings are

changed that way. Many monks wear foreign slippers, bags and robes according to personal

preference and “fashion”.

As for “liking for oneself” often these new behaviours or opinions are accepted in the host country,

but are not at home. They can only be adopted because the monks are “out of the eyes”

(INT0016/26) of their peers and their master and therefore “not under tight Vinaya control”

(Goonatilake, 2001, p.83). Therefore it can be suggested that “Liking for oneself” in most cases

induces only temporary change as long as the monk is being abroad. In contrast “liking for

Buddhism” often involves innovative ideas and practices which have a better chance to be accepted

in the country of origin, too. Thus international exchange sustainably modifies local Buddhism!

Yet before these dynamics can take place, two preconditions have to be met. The most fundamental

precondition is the awareness about these other, foreign forms of Buddhism and accurate

information about their actual characteristics. A lack of knowledge often leads to prejudices about

the other form of Buddhism which tend to be rather negative than positive. The increasing access to

information in Sri Lanka today has generally generated more sympathy and openness towards these

other forms, particularly by the younger generation of monks (see: Giammasi, 2001). A second

precondition which is normally needed to adapt to foreign ideas - especially according to “liking for

oneself”- is a certain degree of sympathy towards the other form of Buddhism125.

As we have seen in the past chapters, in Sri Lanka today information about foreign forms of

Buddhism is increasingly accessible through a wider coverage in the mass media. The deepest– and

probably also most accurate - impressions however are attained through personal contacts with

other monks and in particular due to long-term stays in foreign countries. This can be supposed,

even if it is not guaranteed, that students from the host country do get in close contact with the

foreigners and so attain profound information about these different kinds of Buddhism126.

124 This denial generally increases the power of the male monks and gives them a better position to re ceive contributions from the laypeople. Concrete other stories of other changes due to “liking for oneself”, which I was told in my research included for example Chinese monks going to Japan for several years ending up to get married, Thai monks enjoying the unknown freedom of using technology in Sri Lanka or Nepalese monks coming back home from Sri Lanka not accepting the equality of the bhikkhuni order any more. 125 As Giammasi found out the “overall opinion of the Mahayana Tradition [in the Sri Lankan Sangha is] generally very positive” (2001, p.9) . So also this condition would be largely met in Sri Lanka. This general positive attitude however is not for Japanese Buddhism which is usually seen in a very negative way due to the fact that some Japanese Buddhist monks are allowed to marry and don’t live in temples. So in spite of the fairly high degree of donations from Japan, the influences upon Sri Lankan Buddhism should remain little, a view shared by Prof. Endo, a Buddhist scholar from Japan having lived in Sri Lanka for 20 years. 126 In the Postgraduate Institute of Buddhist and Pali studies for example there were only very few Sri Lankan students attending the English language classes frequented by all the foreign students. Additionally the English classes are held

33

Sponsorships and donations, and together with them donor influences and increasing monetary

possibilities, are influencing Buddhism in another, more superficial way127. Influences according to

donors’ wishes for example can have an impact on the style of temples or Buddha statues. How

strong these flows of money do influence Sri Lankan Buddhism is disputed. One scholar stated that

“if the donor [of a temple] is (...) Thai, the temple will look like Thai” (INT 0007/52-53). Most

other scholars and monks see less strong influences and find that “some elements” (INT 0023/21),

for example one room, would be changed “to please the donor. The [general] architecture would not

change.” (INT 0018/55-58)128. Increasing monetary possibilities due to incoming flows of money

influence Sri Lankan Buddhism in particular by enabling more social activities by the temples. This

issue - with its various determinants due to globalisation - will be discussed more in detail in the

following chapter.

5.2. Aiming for the Bodhisattva – the social turn of the Sangha

Already Buddha himself had recognised that “material well-being provides an environment

favourable to ethical and spiritual advancement of the people” (Nanayakkara, 1992, p.2). According

to the doctrine, however, it is not the primary concern and duty of the monks, to engage themselves

for the physical wellbeing of the laypeople. Nevertheless social service is one aspect of today’s Sri

Lankan Sangha. (see Liu, 2003) Whether this has always been the case or if this is a fairly new

phenomenon, is disputed. Some authors argue that “the well-documented history of social welfare

policies (...) are integral to the Buddhist tradition”129. Others believe the phenomenon has surged

only in the end of the 19th century130. The question in my work was, how recent Buddhist

globalisation has influence and modified this social involvement of the temples.

during weekdays whereas the classes in Singhala take place at the weekends. So even between the lessons there would be little contact between Sri Lankan and foreign students. Furthermore the majority of Sri Lankan students is not fluent in Englis h. Therefore exchange is happening mostly between the foreign students, less between Sri Lankans and foreigners. A similar finding of segregation I made in a Pirivena hosting several young monks from Nepal and Bangladesh. In this temple the quarters between Sri Lankan and the foreign monks are separated. Such systematic segregation of host nationals and foreigners occurs in many places. And it is not without consequences: For example, I got to know one monk, who has lived in Japan for half a year, but says that he does “have not so much information about the Japanese Buddhism” (INT 0006/41-43) As for such long-term stays, it is can be important to know the local language in order to absorb new ideas. For most of the foreign students I got to know in Sri Lanka, this facilitating factor was not given. 127 The only instance I found money being influential in a more substantial manner was in a newspaper article, suggesting Mahayana influences on Sri Lankan children due to Japanese sponsoring of pre-schools (Daily News, 04.06.90). 128 In my field stay I found a few places with foreign style objects: E.g. the meditation room in the Parama Dhamma Cetya Pirivena, I was told is Zen-Buddhist style, some of the Buddha statues come from abroad. 129 (Goonatilake, 2001, p.60; see also Rahula, 1974, p.xii) 130 see: Bond, 1992, p.241; Gombrich/Obeyesekere, 1988

34

Firstly, there has been a spread of knowledge about and more sympathy for the Bodhisattva ideal,

due to the general increase of knowledge about Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka131. This growing

sympathy for the Boddhisattva ideal may involve a modified self-image of the Sangha, which may

then lead to an increased engagement in social activities. Weeraratne even believes that “only now,

due to contact with Japan and the Mahayana monks are there some members of the Sinhalese

Sangha who are taking to the field to do social service.” ( 2001, p.142)

As a second factor, the Mahayana influence is not only relevant in terms of intellectual influence

but in form of monetary possibilities. This means that material assistance from Mahayana countries

(and in smaller quantities from the West) is enhancing some of the programmes carried out by the

temples (see: Liu, 2003).

Thirdly, social activities can be seen as a reaction of some temples to the missionary activities of

Christians. As one Sri Lankan monk suggested:

“The monasteries, many monasteries have started social service, social works, those

things, orphanages, help the poors, that was the need of the day because you know these

…a few years back, maybe the last 20 years, Christian missionaries have started the

social service.” (INT 0013/60-64)

The argument is that the temples engage in social activities with the conscious effort to link poor

Buddhists to the temples in order for them not to convert to Christianity. To test if this hypothesis is

true however, further research would be needed.

5.3. Gender in Buddhism – the re-establishment of the bhikkhuni order in Sri

Lanka

As a final example, to show the international influences upon Sri Lankan Buddhism I will report

about the developments concerning the re-establishment of the bhikkhuni order in Sri Lanka132.

The nuns’ order as such had been founded during Buddha’s time and was introduced in Sri Lanka in

the early days of Buddhism and persisted there until around the eleventh to 13th century. During

this time the Sri Lankan bhikkhunis were so strong, that they even re-established the nun’s order in

China in the 5th century A.D.133 Then, it however became extinct together with the males’ order.

131 see: Giammasi, 2001 132 The establishment of an order is defined here as the existence of a group of nuns, who have received the higher ordination (fully ordained nuns) and are capable themselves to ordain other nuns. Without the existence of fully ordained monks or nuns it is necessary to consult foreign bhikkhus or bhikkhunis for ordination. Whether monks can ordain nuns is disputed. (compare: Badra, 2001, p.1. / own data) 133 For the historical developments of the bhikkhuni order see: Gethin, 1998, p.90f; Badra, 2001, p.21f.; Weeraratne, 2001, p.139)

35

Though the bhikkhu Sangha was re-established from the 18th century onwards, the bhikkhuni order

remained in oblivion until the beginning of the 20th century. Only then, a “movement to re-establish

the bhikkhuni ordination lineage in Theravada Buddhism” (Gethin, 1998, p.91) appeared. The first

step of re-establishment was carried out in 1908, when Mary Katharene de Alwis went Burma and

studied Buddhism there. She came back to Sri Lanka after 14 years as nun of ten precepts134 and

thus enabled the gradual emerging of a lineage of samaneris. (see: Badra, 2001, p.23f)

Around fifty years later, a woman called Dr. Hema Gunatilaka went to China and Korea, in search

of a possibility of higher ordination for nuns. After coming back, in 1972, she opened an

educational institute for nuns in order to lay foundations for the long-term plan of re-establishing

the bhikkhuni order. In 1986, an official society of nuns was founded in Sri Lanka and in the

following years there were held several ceremonies of higher ordinations for nuns.

In 1988 a group of Sri Lankan bhikkhunis went to Los Angeles to receive the ordination by

Taiwanese Mahayana bhikkhunis. In 1996, another ceremony was organized by Dr. Mapalgama

Vipulasara Maha Thero together with the Indian Maha Bodhi Society and the Korean branch of the

Association of International Maha Sangha. This time, a large group of Mahayana and Theravada

monks was present at this ordination, which was carried out by Korean bhikkhus and bhikkhunis

according to the Mahayana tradition. Two years after this event and with the support of several

Maha Theros, a group of nuns received the higher ordination according to the Theravada tradition

in Taiwan, thus “re-establishing the Theravada bhikkhuni Order in Sri Lanka after nine hundred

years of time” (Badra, 2001, p.27).135

The impact of globalisation in this example works through what I have called “alternative options”.

Had Sri Lanka been a fairly isolated country, the re-establishment of Buddhism would not have

been possible, especially considering that the biggest part of the Sri Lankan male Maha Sangha has

been against it136. Only the options to go abroad and receive ordination by foreign nuns and monks -

together with the consciousness of the nuns’ order being existent elsewhere - has step by step

achieved the order to be re-established.

The situation of the nuns’ order today is ambivalent. Gombrich and Obeyesekere talk about the “re-

emergence of a monastic role for women” (1988, p.41) with a big number of fully-ordained

bhikkhunis in Sri Lanka following all the precepts. The Board of Bhikkhuni Sasana is today is even

offering ordinations to foreigners. (Badra, 2001, p.40) Also acceptance by the laypeople seems to

134 a nun of ten precepts is a so called Samanera, i.e. a nun without the higher ordination 135 for the described developments from 1908-1998 compare: Badra, 2001, p.24ff. 136 In contrast to most monks, the majority of scholars seem to be in favor of the re-establishment of the nuns’ order.

36

be achieved137. On the other hand, there is still no official recognition by the Maha Sangha and the

nuns I interviewed138 felt, that most “Theravada monks don’t like nuns” (INT 0012/63-64)139. It can

be inferred so, that though the situation of bhikkhunis is said to be worse in other Theravada

countries like Burma, their role in Sri Lankan Buddhism is not yet fully fought out.

6. Conclusion: Visions about the future of Buddhism

In this concluding chapter, I will try to outline some visions about the future of Buddhism.

Interestingly many Buddhists see “the West” as being an important place when talking about the

future of Buddhism. Therefore I will start this chapter with some remarks on Buddhism there:

Buddhism has been known to “the West” for many centuries140, with stronger contacts establishing

only since the 19th century141. But even then, knowledge about Buddhism was largely confined to a

small elite until the 1960s when it started to become more popular142. Today several hundred

thousand “Westerners” have adopted Buddhism in one or another of its different forms143, and

“many more quietly incorporate Buddhist practices into their daily lives” (Bodhi, 2000, p.9).

These developments are reflected in the perception of Western Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Most of the

people in my research have the notion that Buddhism is already quite strong in the West, generally

137 In a group discussion with nuns I was told that the“[lay-]people here, treat us like monks” (INT 0012/158). This involves them frequenting of a Sunday school organized by a bhikkhuni temple and the conceding of monk’s privileges to nuns, like the reservation of certain seats on public buses. 138 Unfortunately I could only talk to a few bhikkhunis: I had one group discussion with one Burmese and four Nepali nuns and each one interview with that Burmese and another American bhikkhuni. Therefore the empirical data in this chapter can give only a small glimpse of the situation. 139 The monks’ dislike of nuns is mostly attributed to their fear of loosing a part of the goods distributed to the temples by the lay people. Monks’ doubts about the acceptance of female nuns are by the Buddha are not agreed with and seen as excuse. 140 Bodhi believes first contacts to have taken place in the 13th century (2000, p.4-5), Gethin even dates it back to the the third century B.C.E. (1998, p.273). 141 see Bodhi, 2000, p.4-5; Bechert, 2000b; The Mahabodhi-Gesellschaft as the first Western Buddhist organisation was founded by Dharmapala in 1897, the English “Buddhist society and the German “Buddhistische Gesellschaft in 1907 (Bechert, 2000b,p.341, 352f). 142 “At the beginning of this phase [of popularization] Buddhism was largely a counter-cultural phenomenon, adopted by those in rebellion against the crass materialism and technocratic obsessions of modern society: hippies, acid heads, disaffected university students, artists, writers, and anarchists (…) Today Buddhism is espoused not only by those in the alternative culture” (Bodhi, 2000, p.9; see also p.4ff) 143 There are many forms of Buddhism represented in the West, with different forms having been dominant at different times. Until the 1960s the Pali tradition had been the main tradition represented in the West, which now Zen Buddhism becoming the most popular in the 1960s and 70s and the Tibetan Vajrayana school in the 1980s and 1990s (Bodhi, 2000, p.11)143. “One explanation for this might be the more attractive, more exotic surfaces of these schools of Buddhism; another might be the charismatic personalities of their teachers, the Zen masters and Tibetan lamas” (Bodhi, 2000, p.18) or the fact that “within their fold the lineage of meditation practice has been kept more alive than in mainstream Theravada .” (Bodhi, 2000, p.18) Finally the increasing number of Tibetan refugees, especially in the USA, propagating their form of Buddhism might have an influence (see: Bechert, 2000b,p.357).

37

overestimating its significance by far.144 Even more importantly, Buddhism is thought to be on the

rise145, or at least as having the potential for it.146 Contrasting this with the perception of Buddhism

being threatened in Sri Lanka (and possibly in the whole of Asia) it becomes clear what many

Buddhists hope for: a new revival of their religion in the West147.

But if this becomes true, if there will be a revival in the West, what would Buddhism look like in

the future? Or asked differently: How can Western Buddhism be characterized?148 The major

feature is the existence of “partly syncretistic, partly innovative attempts to create new styles of

Buddhist practice conformable to the Western temperament” (Bodhi, 2000, p.11)149 with the

borders of the different schools being blurred. One American bhikkhuni describes the situation as

follows:

All the different traditions are going and most people don’t separate. (…) They don’t

think ‘Oh, are you the good kind or are you the bad kind.’ Most Westerners think ‘Oh

you are Buddhist and so you can teach me something about Buddhism.’ So a lot of

information is starting to mix in the West.” (DIS 0001/571-578)

The different schools of Buddhism, which have often seen each other as rivals in Asia, peacefully

coexist and cooperate in the West (Bodhi, 2000, p.10). In some cases the have even merged to new

forms of Buddhism150 constituting a form which Bechert has called “Ekayana”, one vehicle

(2000b,p.356)151.

But will these new forms of Buddhism lead to a worldwide homogenisation of Buddhism? Most of

the interviewed tended to believe this (see also: Thilakaratne, 1997, p.54). However there are

enough indications that this is not going to happen:

144 This notion is re-enforced by several Buddhist monks or scholars who lived in the West for some time, who by nature have contact with an over proportional number of Buddhists in these countries bringing the news of a strong Buddhism to the people at home. 145 See also: “Buddhism grows rapidly in Australia”, Daily News, 10.07.02; “The search for Nirvana in South Africa”, Sunday Leader, 20.05.01; “Global conference on Buddhism in Singapore” by Nemsiri Mutukumara, Daily News, 06.06.02 146 see: Bodhi, 2000, Foreword by Senaka Weerarathna; Also see: Daily News, 24.09.01 147 As already mentioned in an earlier chapter, Buddhist meditation is seen as the major reason for many Westerners to embrace Buddhism who are thought to be less interested in the Buddhist doctrine (see also: Bodhi, 2000, p.10,19; Bechert, 2000b,p.344) Bodhi even sees the danger that, if these transmissions of Buddhism do not “include a strong emphasis on Buddhist ethics (…)we would probably wind up with a watered-down or secularized version of the Theravada” (2000, p.21) 148 Timmermann asks, how Buddhism was “translated when it came to the West?” (Timmermann, 1992, p.65) 149 Bechert describes for example that most Buddhist Unions in England call themselves „independent“ („Nicht-sektengebunden”) (2000b,p.353). 150 Bechert for example says that in British Buddhism Tibetan, Japanese and Chinese Buddhism have found their place without leading to major controversies (Bechert, 2000b, p,353). Aryaratne talks of the Western Buddhist Order founded by Ven. Sanharakkhita Maha Thero of England as an “innovative effort” (Aryaratne, 1995, p.6). 151 With a similar projection, Aryaratne suggests to “adopt A Universal Charter for Buddhist Practice in the 21st Century” (Aryaratne, 1995, p.1).

38

Firstly, the West should not be overestimated in its importance for Buddhism, especially in a time

in which Asia is gaining more and more weight in the global economy and subsequently in all other

fields of society. Furthermore, as my research shows, most of the transnational Buddhist interaction

is already taking place within Asia - with “the West” playing only a marginal role.

Finally have dynamics due to the process of globalisation shown to be very complex and manifold.

Most social scientists stress developments as fragmentation, revitalization, hybridisation and

resistance152. Also the dynamics outlined in this paper show that Buddhists are not just accepting all

influences coming from outside but react in various ways to them. In some cases they pick out those

elements they like best, in other cases they just change what is being favourable to them – and

sometimes they even try to preserve their religion categorically from all influences and re-orient

towards their “tradition”.

The future of Buddhism is not going to be a homogeneous one. Buddhism is going to remain one of

the most diversified and multifaceted religions in the world!

152 see: De Silva, 2000, p.6, 11,103; Hettige, 2000, p.169; Tambiah, 1976, p. 433

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Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998 Giammasi, Pia (Hwei En). Looking at the Mahayana tradition from the perspective of the Theravada Sangha. Unpublished essay submitted to the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kalenya, 2001 Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L.. The discovery of the grounded theory. Strategies for qualitative reserach. Chicago: Aldine, 1967 Gombrich, Richard. Buddhist Precept and Practice. Second Edition with minor corrections. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1991 Gombrich, Richard; Obeyesekere, Gananath. Buddhism Transformed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988 Held, David; McGrew, Anthony; Goldblatt, David; Perraton, Jonathan. Global Transformation. Oxford: Polity Press, 1999 Hettige, S.T.. „Dilemmas of post-colonial society after 50 years of independence”. In Sri Lanka at Crossroads edited by S.T. Hettige and Markus Mayer, pp. 7-18. Colombo, Heidelberg, New Delhi: Macmillan India Limited, 2000 Hettige, S.T.. „Globalisation and local culture: the case of Sri Lanka”. In Sri Lanka at Crossroads edited by S.T. Hettige and Markus Mayer, pp. 169-205. Colombo, Heidelberg, New Delhi: Macmillan India Limited, 2000 Hopf, Christel. „Qualitative Interviews – ein Überblick“ In Qualitativen Forschung, ein Handbuch edited by Uwe Flick, Ernst von Kardorff und Ines Steinke, pp.349-360. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2000 Jayatilaka, Ramanie. Globalisation and Rural Women. Colombo: Centre for Society and Religion, 1998 Karunatillake, W.S.: “The Religiousness of Buddhists in Sri Lanka through belief and practice”. In Religiousness in Sri Lanka edited by John Ross Carter, pp.1-34. Colombo: Marga Institute, 1980 Kitayawa, Joseph M.. “Buddhism and Social Change - An Historical Perspective”. In Buddhist Studies in honour of Walpola Rahula edited by Somaratna Balasooriya et al., pp.84-102. London: Gordon Fraser, 1980 Koschorke, Klaus. “Christentumsgeschichte in globaler Perspektive”. Aus Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 107 , p.29-49, 1996 Lachenmann, Gudrun. “’Methodenstreit’ in der Entwicklungssoziologie”. Working paper N° 241, Sociology of Development Research Centre, University of Bielefeld, 1995 Liu, Tao. Die Beiträge der buddhistischen Institutionen zur Sozialentwicklung in Sri Lanka. Unpublished essay submitted to the University of Bielfeld. Bielefeld, Maquet, Jacques. “Bhavana in Contemporary Sri Lanka: The Idea and Practice”. In Buddhist Studies in honour of Walpola Rahula edited by Somaratna Balasooriya et al., pp.139-153. London: Gordon Fraser, 1980 Merkens, Hans. „Auswahlverfahren, Sampling, Fallkonstruktion.“ In Qualitativen Forschung, ein Handbuch edited by Uwe Flick, Ernst von Kardorff und Ines Steinke, pp.296-299. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2000 Merton R.K.; Kendall, P.L.. „Das Fokussierte Interview.“ In: Qualitative Sozialforschung edited by Christel Hopf and E. Weingarten, pp. 171-204, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1979 Murthy, Krishna M.. Buddhism in South Asia. New Delhi: Crown Publications, 1990 Nanayakkara, Sanath. Ethics of material progress: the Buddhist Attitude. Dehiwala, Sri Lanka: The World Fellowship of Buddhists Dhammaduta Activities Committee, 1992 Narada, Thera. Buddhism in a nutshell. Dehiwala, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 1999

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Peebles, J.M. (editor). Buddhism and Christianity. Colombo: All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, 1994 Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha taught. Dehiwala, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 1959, 1967, 1996 Rahula, Walpola. The Heritage of the Bhikkhu. New York: Grove Press, 1974 Ratnayaka, Shanta. “Zen is the Theravada Branch of Buddhism in Mahayana Countries”. In Buddhist Studies in honour of Walpola Rahula edited by Somaratna Balasooriya et al., pp.223-233. London: Gordon Fraser, 1980 Roesel, Jakob. Die neuere politische Entwicklung auf Sri Lanka, 1994-200, n.d. Schütze, Fritz. Biographieforschung und narratives Interview. Neue Praxis, 13, p. 286-293. year: 1983 Seneviratne, H.L.. The Work of Kings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999 Steinke, Ines. „Gütekriterien qualitativer Sozialforschung“. In Qualitativen Forschung, ein Handbuch edited by Uwe Flick, Ernst von Kardorff und Ines Steinke, pp.319-331. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2000 Strauss, Anselm. “Grundlagen der qualitativen Sozialforschung: Datenanalyse und Theoriebildung in der empirischen und soziologischen Forschung”. Muenchen, Fink, 1998 Tambiah, Stanley S.. World Conqueror and World Renouncer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976 The Buddhist Information Centre (publisher). World Buddhist Directory. Colombo, 1984 Thilakaratne, Asanga. Globalisation: Buddhist perspective to economics. Colombo: The Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, 1997 Timmerman, Peter. “It is dark outside. Western Buddhism from the Enlightenment to the global crises”. In Buddhism and Ecology edited by Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, pp.65-76. London: Cassell plc., 1992 Weeraratne, Amarasiri. “The Theravada tradition today”. In Buddhist Cultural writings Vol IV edited by the Department of Cultural Affairs. Colombo, 2001 Witanachchi, Lalitha Karalliadde (publisher). Customs and Rituals of Sinhala Buddhism. Nugogoda, Sri Lanka: author, 1999 Wijayawardhana, G.D.. “Literature in Buddhist Religious life”. In Religiousness in Sri Lanka edited by John Ross Carter, pp.67-76. Colombo: Marga Institute, 1980

Index of web-sites www.buddhanet.net www.dhammakaya.th.org www.gabos.com www.gold.ac.uk/history/ibric.htm www.passionasia.com www.wfb-hq.org

Index of newspaper articles: Daily Mirror, 06.05.72: Princess to preside. Daily Mirror, 02.06.72: WFB delegates feted at A`pura. Daily Mirror, 09.08.00: Buddhism betrayed. Daily Mirror, 23.04.01: A million Indians to embrace Buddhism.

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Daily Mirror, 16.05.02: Lanka funds Thai temple. Daily News, 01.09.67: Fund to spread Dhamma in Ghana” (by WFB) Daily News, 21.08.68: WFB to help restore Bobobudur shrine. Daily News, 18.01.69: Buddha image on Ghandhi stamp causes furore. Daily News, 13.04.69: Malalasekera to urge location of WFB hqrs in Colombo. Daily News, 17.04.69: WFB hqrs will be located in Bangkok. Daily News, 26.05.72: Request to big powers not to sell arms. Daily News, 30.05.72: WFBY inaugurated. Daily News, 08.06.72: Bangladesh appeal. Daily News, 25.11.74: Buddhist makes history at UNESCO. Daily News, 01.03.75: WFB offers seeds, plants. Daily News, 13.04.76: WFBY for Dharma Pectaya to train Buddhist nuns. Daily News 5.10.78: Sri Lanka Delegates at World Buddhist meeting. Daily News, 27.10.78: Dalai Lama points to message of Buddha at WFB parley. Daily News, 09.11.87: WFB sponsors Buddhist rehabilitation Fund. Daily News, 23.05.90: Mahayana and Theravada.Letter to the editor by M.B.G. de Silva. Daily News, 28.05.90: Clean-up the Sangha is necessary. Letter to the editor Daily News, 04.06.90: Purify before protesting. Daily News, 05.06.90: Duty bound to protect Theravada Buddhism – Anunayake Thera. Daily News, 01.12.94: Duty of Buddhists to spread the Dhamma – King Bhumibhol. Daily News, 18.04.96: WFB to help needy school children in Eastern Province. Daily News, 24.06.96: Lanka should send Buddhist missionaries abroad – Thera. Daily News, 03.04.97: Twelve foreigners embrace Buddhism. Daily News, 25.07.98: Buddhist world to honour two Ministers on Sunday. Daily News, 21.10.98: Buddhism growing at a phenomenal rate in Gujarat. Daily News, 21.06.00: Promoting Buddhism in Europe. Daily News, 23.03.01: Protest against unethical conversions. Daily News, 04.04.01: The conversion of Buddhists. Daily News, 05.07.01: Promoting Buddhism on the internet. Daily News, 20.08.01: Foreigners want to learn Buddhism. Daily News, 24.09.01: Buddhism is gaining popularity in the West. Daily News, 19.11.01: Hindu outcastes embrace Buddhism. Daily News, 06.06.02: Global conference on Buddhism in Singapore. by: N. Mutukumara. Daily News, 10.07.02: Buddhism grows rapidly in Australia. Daily News, 12.09.02: Global conference on Buddhism – 1200 Buddhist leaders to attend Observer, 10.10.70: Recognized by UNESCO. Observer, 08.06.71: Grow-more-food campaign from today. Observer, 07.05.72: Premier to inaugurate Buddhist conference. Observer, 31.12.73: WFB protests over Buddha add. Observer, 02.01.74: Center for Buddhist Youth. Observer, 03.01.74: WFB protests over this add. Observer, 10.07.74: Pagoda in Paris by next year. Sunday Leader, 20.05.01: The search for Nirvana in South Africa. Sunday Observer, 17.11.76: Courses for the unemployed. Sunday Times, 22.02.98: New party for Buddhists. The Island, 24.05.90: Constitution or Buddhism. The Island, 27.05.90: Title unknown The Island, 10.12.00: The decline of Buddhism. The Island, 03.07.01 :Promoting Buddhism on the internet. The Island, 05.07.01: Is Buddhism being betrayed in Sri Lanka? The Island, 14.01.02: Buddhist missionary honoured for 50 years of selfless service. The Island, 23.01.02: Is missionary activity the cause of war? The Sun, 17.05.72: 250 delegates at Buddhist Conference. The Sun, 21.10.78: International Buddhist Monetary Fund. The Sun, 22.05.90: Storm in a tea cup. Weekend Express, 27.05.90: Mahayana impact on Lanka’s history. Author: Sunil Wijesekara. Weekend Express, 15.04.00: WFB marks 50th anniversary.

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Glossary of Buddhist terminology153

- Arahant: enlightened person, one who has seen nirvana ; one of the final aims to become for a Buddhist, especially in Theravada Buddhism; the Arahant is usually considered to be more selfish than the Bodhisattva

- Arahantship: the state of being an Arahant

- Bhikkhu : a Buddhist monk

- Bhikkhuni: a female clergy (a nun)

- Bodhisattva: being who has undertaken to become a Buddha; one of the final aims to become for a Buddhists,

especially in Mahayana Buddhism; the Bodhisattva is usually considered to be more altruistic than the Arahant , working for the enlightenment of others.

- Buddhahood: the state of being a Buddha

- Dhamma : Buddhism as a religious doctrine or truth

- Dhammaduta: Pali term, meaning “the transmission of Buddhism”.

- Ekayana : Pali term meaning “one vehicle”; The term stands for Buddhist schools trying to represent all forms

of Buddhism (unify Buddhism)

- Hamduru: see: bhikkhu

- Higher ordination: the ceremony which has to be carried out for a monk to leave the status of a samanera and become a bhikkhu

- Maha Thera: an elder monk

- Mahavamsa : an important Buddhist chronicle

- Mahayana: One of the big Buddhist schools. Today Mahayana Buddhism is predominant for example in:

China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore.

- Nikaya: a fraction of the Sri Lankan Sangha

- Nirvana : Buddhist enlightenment, which guarantees freedom from rebirth

- Pali: a middle Indo-Aryan language; literally meaning “text”, the word denotes the language of the Theravada Buddhist Canon

- Pirivena : school or university for Buddhist monks (usually within temple premises)

- Samanera : a Buddhist novice

- Sangha: the Buddhist monastic order

153 For most of the explained terms I used the glossary from “Buddhism Transformed” by Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere or the glossary from “Buddhist Precept and Practice” by Gombrich. All other terms I tried to describe myself. The knowlegable Buddhist scholar may excuse the simplifications necessary in order for this glossary not to become overboarding.

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- Sarvodya: a big non-governmental organisation in Sri Lanka, seeing itself as a “movement”; its ideas on development are based largely on the authority of the Buddhist doctrine

- Stupa: large conventionalized burial mound containing relicts; a stupa is an important structure in a Sri Lankan

temple.

- Theravada: one of the big Buddhist schools; today Theravada Buddhism is predominant for example in: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia

- Tripitaka: the Pali Canon ; it is the written doctrine of Theravada Buddhism

- Vajrayana: the school of Buddhism being predominant in Tibet

- Vinaya: the Buddhist monastic discipline

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Annex: Questionnnaire:

For a research by Juergen Piechotta on the topic of

“Buddhism and Globalization today”

First of all I would like to present myself and my research project to you briefly: My name is Juergen Piechotta and I am a student of development sociology at the university of Bielefeld in Germany. I came here to Sri Lanka to carry out a research project which will be part of my masters degree. As I have been interested in Buddhism for several years I decided to reseach about Buddhism and Globalization today. My main interest is to find out how globalization is functioning in the Buddhist field. So I would be very happy if you could take your time to fill out this questionnaire. It will take you around 25 to 45 minutes. Surely I will not show your filled out questionnaire to anyone and in my final report it will not be able for anyone to trace from whom I got the information. (But of course if you prefer not to answer one or some of the questions out of whatever reason you might leave them unanswerded!) The Questions: 1) Which foreign countries have you been to since you became a monk / since you started studying about Buddhism? (and how long did you stay there and what was the purpose of the stay?)

Country How long Purpose (study, holiday..)

2) Do you have any friends who you know through Buddhism and who live in foreign countries (= not Sri Lanka) at the moment? Yes No If yes: a) How do you keep in touch with them? (you may mark one or several boxes) Telephone E-Mail Letters

Others no contact

b) Please write where your friends are from, where they live now what is the purpose of his/her stay and how you got to know them?

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Country of origin of the friend

Country of resi-dence of the friend

Purpose of stay (study, work, etc.)

How did you get to know him/her

3) Do you know any internet-sites concerning Buddhism? Yes No

If yes: a) How often do you enter such web-sites? almost never seldom sometimes frequently very often b) Please name the sites you know!

4) Who is sponsoring your studies? (master, temple, relatives, friends, scholarship …)

Who (master, temple …) From which country is the sponsor?

Don’t want to answer

5) Do you know about the scholarships of some of your friends who study Buddhism abroad?

Yes No Don’t want to answer

If yes: Please fill out the following table about any of your friends

Friend’s country of origin

Country in which studying

Who sponsors? Sponsor’s country

Please answer the next question only of you are Sri Lankan! 6) Have you learned anything from your friends from abroad that you would like to change in Sri Lanka? Yes No Don’t know If yes: What is it you would like to change in Sri Lanka?

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Please answer the next 6 questions only if you are non-Sri Lankan! 7) Why did you decide to study in a foreign country? 8) Why did you choose Sri Lanka to study? 9) How did you get to know about the possibility to study in this institute? 10) Do you feel the Buddhism of your country is influencing Sri Lankan Buddhism? No very little some influence strong influence 11) Do you feel Sri Lankan Buddhism is influencing the Buddhism of your country? No very little some influence strong influence 12) Is there anything you have learned/experienced in Sri Lanka you would like to change in your country when you go back? Yes No

If yes:

What is it you would like to change in your country? Demographic data: To complete the questionnaire I would like to ask you some demographic information about yourself. As I said above I will not show the papers to anybody. So you don’t need to be worried that maybe your private views might get known by the wrong person. 1) Where do you come from? (country)

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2) Are you female or male? Female Male 3) How old are you? 4) How long have you been in Sri Lanka? 5) Are you a nun/monk or a layperson? Nun/Monk Layperson

If Nun/Monk:

a) Do you have higher ordination? Yes No

b) Do you belong to the Mahayana or Theravada order? Mahayana Theravada other

c) How long have you been a Nun/Monk?

Thank you very much for your help!!!!!!

If you would like to receive a copy of the reseach paper I am going to write (will be finished about January 2003), you can write your E-Mail address here, or on an extra piece of paper and I will send you an attachment of the paper as soon as I will have finished! E-Mail: