RASSL lecture: Emergence of Bhikkhuni Sasana in ancient Lanka

The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) public lecture on “The Emergence of Bhikkhuni Sasana (Order) and its Vicissitudes in Ancient Sri Lanka” by Dr. Malini Dias, Vice President, Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka and former Deputy Commissioner of Archaeology will be at 5 p.m. tomorrow, ( November 25) at the Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium, No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 7.

Accounts given in the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa on the propagation of Buddhism in the 3rd century BCE in the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa in Sri Lanka by Mahinda Thera are corroborated by the early Sinhala-Brahmi cave inscriptions. The Thera summoned his younger sister, Theri Sanghamitta to inaugurate the Bhikkhuni Sasana in the island and she arrived with the southern branch of the sacred Bodhi Tree from Buddha Gaya in Jambudipa (India) on Unduvap (December) full moon day to be received by the monarch with pomp and pageantry.

The Bhikkhuni Sasana, (Order of the Buddhist Nuns) was thus established by Theri Sanghamitta in the island. The Bhikkhunis are referred to by the term Shamani in the inscriptions. Some Bhikkhuniaramas (monasteries) were built by the kings near the hospitals and the Bhikkhunis served in these hospitals in advisory and nursing capacities as mentioned in the inscriptions of the later periods.

According to the Chinese records in the 5th century CE the Sri Lankan Bhikkhunis headed by Bhikkhuni Devasara are said to have bestowed higher ordination to the Bhikkhunis in China. During the period of strife at the end of the 10th century, caused by the Chola invasion, the Bhikkhuni Sasana disappeared from Sri Lanka.