Mahāyāna–TantrayānaTraditions and Transition of Monastic Architecture in Ancient Sri Lanka

Abstract

Buddhist monastic architectural traditions in Sri Lanka commenced with the establishment of Buddhism in the third century BCE. Mahinda Thera brought to Sri Lanka not only the Buddhist religion but also a complete Buddhist culture including the technological and constructional methodology of Buddhist monastic architecture. Based on available monastic archaeological remains, previous investigations have confirmed that the architectural tradition distinguished notable developments in the constructional plan, material, and methods employed from the middle part of the first millennia CE. Within the Sri Lankan monastic architectural process, it can be seen that the new models of monastic types known as Pabbata Vihāra, hospital monastic units, and Pañcakāvāsa monastic units were introduced during the said period. Some of them recognized the evolutionary process of monastic architecture depended mostly on the socio-economic and political patronage given to the monastic institutions. Most of them believed that with the influence of Mahāyāna Tantrayāna Buddhism, the Buddhist monastic architecture in Sri Lanka, changed considerably from the sixth century onwards. It is important to state that new developments in Buddhism, Mahāyāna, and Tantrayāna beliefs had incorporated different cult practices, various forms of relic worship, rituals, and ceremonial activities for salvation. These developments encouraged new forms of architectural modals and several modifications were introduced for various ritualistic activities in Buddhism. It is clear that these new ideological factors played a merger role as a joint force that spread throughout the contemporary Buddhist world. However, there are several queries, so far neglected by scholars. What are these new ideological factors, and where these new ideological elements were absorbed into the existing framework of the monastic plans? These are the main queries of this research. The main objective of this study,therefore, is to examine the transitional process of the monastic plan that visibly symbolizes the ideological developments of Buddhism, considering regional developments. Further, I conducted a literature review on monastic plans in ancient Sri Lanka.