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Item The influence of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Shan (Tai)(International Conference on Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, 2018 Department of Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Rev. AgganyanaMahāyāna Buddhism is one of the two dominant sects' of Buddhism. Sometimes, it is called Northern tradition, as it is mobilized in Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Historically, Mahāyāna Buddhism was introduced to Chana in the first century A.D. In the earlier of seventh century A.D, as the consequences of Chinese influences, some parts of Shan State were converted to Mahāyāna Buddhism. In addition, Shan historical recorded, the flourishing of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Shan was beginning from seventh century A.D, to tenth century A.D. However, some scholars argued that the Theravada Buddhism was first in traduced to Shan. Traditionally, it is belief that Theravada Buddhism was introduced to lower Myanmar to Mon State (Suvaṇṇahūmi) and was brought to Pagan lower Myanmar by King Anawratha at the eleventh century A.D. Geologically, at that time Shan was dominant the basin of the upper Myanmar up to Dali, Yunna, where present in China. According to Burmese’s historical record, the influence of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Pagan was ended by the reign of King Anaratha, as he introduced new Theravada tradition from Mon State. It made sense to prove that Mahāyāna Buddhism was firstly influence in Shan and even some part of lower Myanmar. Evidence was Sanskrit inscription which found in Rakhine State. The purpose of this paper, the researcher attempts to prove that the influence of Northern Buddhism was earlier then Theravada tradition with refer to history, archaeology, and traditional belief. The research problem is to point out the reasons of why Mahāyāna Buddhism could not exist longer, and non-remaining of Mahāyāna texts in Shan. In the end, this research paper will be concluded that Mahāyāna Buddhism was influence in Shan from China and end in the tenth century A.D. up to presentItem The Trikāya Concept as a Primary Aspiration of Mahāyāna(International Conference on Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, 2018 Department of Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Ven. Dhammadinna, G.Mahāyāna as a great vehicle is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practices. Mahāyāna is the larger of two major tradition of Buddhism existing today, the being Theravāda. The Mahāyāna Buddhism can be found in China, Tibet, Japan and Korea etc… not only in the East but also in the West as its practical teachings. According to main teachings of Mahāyāna aspirations, they obviously believe the Buddha was fulfilled with the three bodies. It is called as the concept of “Trikāya”(Trinity). It views that the Buddha manifests in three different bodies Dharmakāya (truth body), Sambhogakāya (bliss body) and Nirmānakāya (emanation body). This Trikāya concept was developed with the demise of the Sākyamuni Buddha until about the 4th century CE. Nirmānakāya means the transformation body of the Buddha. However, the Buddha also has Sambhogakāya and Nirmānakāya forms as well. It is revealed that the Buddha primordially enlightened in the form of Dharmakāya, but He manifests in various Nirmānakāya forms-not necessarily as a “Buddha” to teach the way to enlightenment. However, Mahāyāna Buddhism has been influenced from the Theravāda Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Some scholars emphasized that Trikāya concept developed with various kinds of reasons and facts. The main objective of this paper is to suggest how the Trikāya concept was developed. It is emphasized to us the Primary Buddhist and secondary sourcesItem A balanced study on Mahāyāna Bodhisattva concept and Theravāda Bodhisattva concept(International Conference on Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, 2018 Department of Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Wijethilaka, M.A.I.U.Mahāyāna tradition can be considered a philosophical tradition of Buddhist doctrine. It is believed that the Mahāyāna tradition evolved from the fourth dhamma Sangāyanā in the era of king Kaniṣka. However, many doubts remain on the origin, history and evolution of Mahāyāna tradition. It became a conspicuous doctrine in India in the beginning of 1st millennium and it spread to several Eastern countries. Mahayana means the ‘big vehicle’ for liberation. Its opposite term is ‘Hīnayāna’ literally meaning the ‘small vehicle’. The Chinese explorer Ithsing (A.C. 625-713) defines these terms thus: “Mahāyāna is used as an adjective to denote the ones who worship hermits and study Mahāyāna suttas whereas Hīnayana is used as an adjective to denote ones who do not worship and study. In other words, Mahāyāna doctrine has its own religious texts which differ from Hīnayana Tripiaka and it worships pantheons who are inferior to Bodhisattvas and equal to Indian gods.” This definition leads to a clear conclusion. The concept of Bodhisattva has been prioritized in Mahayana tradition. Bodhisattva means the person who extracts wisdom. Even though Bodhisattva has not attained enlightenment, it is considered that Bodhisattva has adhered the path to be Lord Buddha. In contrast to this, Theravada tradition considers Bodhisattva as an immature stage Lord Buddha. According to Mahayana tradition, ordinary people can attempt and should become Bodhisattva. Tripiaka written in Pali highlights the concept of Bodhisattva prior to Mahayana tradition. In analyzing the sources, the concept of Bodhisattva scan be categorized into three types. They are simple Bodhisattva characters, bodhisattva characters romanticized by mysticism and Bodhisattva dhamma. The Bodhisattva characters have been signified in several names in Tripiaka literature. Mahāyāna tradition highly appreciates the concept of Bodhisattva and provides various interpretations to the concept. The study aims to analyze the concept of Bodhisattva in relation to the sources of these two traditionsItem The Miracles in the Biography of the Buddha found in Mahāyāna Sūtra Literature: a Comparative Study Based on Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and Theravada Teachings(International Conference on Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, 2018 Department of Sanskrit and Eastern Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Ven. Dhammanisanthi, E.; Ven. Sumanatissa, P.The Theravada teachings about the Buddha are totally different to that of the Mahayana teachings. There are different descriptions about the hyper humanistic qualities, miracles and eternity of the Buddha. The present study is based on Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and it aims to identify the wonders observed in the biography of Buddha. Textual and book analysis have been utilized as the methodology. The main objective is to examine the miracles of the Buddha depicted in Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra and to conduct a comparative analysis related to Theravada teachings. The sutta consists of 27 chapters and there are complimentary descriptions related to the appearance, characteristics, diplomacy, purity and super human qualities and the graceful life of the Buddha. The demise of the Buddha accepted in Theravada was justified as a result of his diplomatic ability. The Sutta acclaims the body of the Buddha as consisting of saintly characteristics other than the 32 great characteristics commended in Theravada. Both the paternal concept of the world and Dharmavarśā concepts have been emphasized here. The Theravada teachings depict Buddha as a person who obtained humanity to realize the truth and introduce the great concept of cause and effect to the world. Moreover, Theravada tradition accepts three stages of enlightenments and expects noble results. Therefore, the Theravada teachings bases even the biography of the Buddha on the concept of cause and effect. The wisdom of Buddha is the key among Mahayana teachings and shows that eternal liberation cannot be gained from any other method other than the wisdom of Buddha. Saddharmapuṇdarīka Sūtra praises the biography of the Buddha in exaggeration, as its main aim is to increase the faith of the devotees and to attract them towards the wisdom of the Buddha.Item The Position of the Mulamadhyamaka-karika in Mahāyāna Literature.(International Conference on Sanskrit Studies, 2017 Department of Sanskrit, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Weganthale Dhammaratana thero; Asela, A.A.D.The Root Verses on the Wisdom of the Middle Way — The most famous and important treatise on Madhyamika philosophy, composed by the great master Nagarjuna. It is included among the so-called "thirteen great texts", which undoubtedly would be one of the most highly regarded literature among Indian Buddhist texts, not only by historical context, but as a "single text" of Buddhist philosophical literature among modern Buddhist literature and its core curriculum "Empty" or "Nonempty", No "self" or any "nonself" the Buddha doctrine has been emphasis throughout Madhyamika text.It is said about 2nd Century AD Madhyamika philosophy born in India and then on 3rd Century AD it has brought to the China and translated its main texts to the local dialects and this would have immensely affected to publicize the Madhyamika philosophy in China. Then when the Buddhist philosophy systematically vanished in India, by 8th Century AD Madhyamika philosophy brought into Tibet and subsequently found their way into the region with translations and new canonical transcripts and there can be seen two main differences with the Nagarjuna's Madhyamika and Tibetan Mahāyāna Scripts and Madhyamika based on the philosophy of Patichcha Samuppada and the Tibetan Mahāyāna Scripts based on philosophy of "Impermanence" and there cannot be seen any Mahāyāna philosophy of any of the Nagarjuna's literature and mostly those has rooted to the original Tripitakas ideology and mainly the Kaccayanagotta Sutta.This could be seen not only the philosophy of Kaccayanagotta Sutta, this could describe as a major philosophical work done with influence of majorly other Suttas, mainly Sutta Nipata Atthakavagga Suttas.This work has been done by referring the Mulamadhyamaka-karika, Pali Tripitakas to prove that Mulamadhyamaka would not have any rooting to the Mahāyāna philosophical literature.Item An Analysis on the Teachings of Mahāyāna and Theravāda Bhikkus about the Emptiness.(International Conference on Sanskrit Studies, 2017 Department of Sanskrit, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Hiramadagama PannasaraThero."Emptiness" is commonly used to imply there is nothing. Emptiness is shown by zero in mathematics. But in the tradition of philosophy, it is not used for one purpose. It has been given microscopic definitions. In Mahayana Buddhism (especially in mediacy) the word emptiness is used to derrive another meaning which is differentfrom the usual use of emptiness. It is noted in " Mulamadhyamakarika" as it is used to denote paticchasamuppada the bond between the cause and effect moreover in Heenayanabuddhism there is a teaching or an acceptance of emptiness . The word emptiness has been used and it is believed to be the main affection for the above mentioned teaching on emptiness. It can be seen that there is variations on the belief of Theravada bhikkhus among the Mahayanabhikkhus. The deference between these two teaching is created by the deference belief they have on paticchasamuppada. According to Theravada, It is clearly seen that is in paticchasamuppada it is taught some sort of dhamma, doctrine on reason and cause. But the teaching of Mahayana Bikkhus on different than this their belief is that cause and effect is not true or reality in this cause BikkhuNagarjuna's (opinion) belief is that " living being ultimately reject the causeand effect" According to early buddhism when describing universal features, though it says the universe is empty, in visuddhimagga it is accepted thatthere is a personal emptiness or ultimate relief (pudgalanirathmavada) whereas mahayanabikkhus has accepted an emptiness. According to the division of mahayanabhikkhus, they believe thatthere is nothing that can be taken as "Dhathu, Ayathana" but according to "Pudgalanirathmavada" it is not accepted that there is emptiness in "skhanda, Dhathu and Ayathana" as the final division. The word emptiness is actually similar to the word impermanence but according to their teachers opinion many bhikkis traditions gave various definitions on that. It is clearly observed when they have many other words to describe Nirvana the ultimate relief. According to Theravadabhikkhusthwy accept if deser anger and foolishness are rotaly overpowered, it is emptiness and they don't believe in any orherAcvording to above explanation, itis obvious that both Theravada and Mahayana Bhikkhus have different belief on what emptissis. It is also differentiate according to thwirtearchers or the tradition. Thus it can be seem that in common has a worldly meaning and Mahayana teachings it is given two different meanings.Item The concept of Mahāyāna Bodhisattva and altruism in Buddhism(Department of Sanskrit, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, 2016) Ven. Pragnapal SramanIn MahAyAna Buddhism, it has their own an ideal that is Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is the term for anyone who motivated by great compassion, has generated Bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood, for the welfare of other beings. Today’s world have to face countless issues which are, due to the egoistic behavior of human beings, in the western , such egoistic behaviors are classified as psychological egoism, normative egoism, rational egoism, and ethical egoism etc. Buddhist altruist enables not only to helpers to accomplish personal growth, conclusively, self-benefiting altruism that is motived by the enlightened mind and four immeasurable but also western egoism philosophy as effective method to get rid of egoism. In the MahAyAna Buddhism, it asserts that helping other people is the practice of the bodhisattva spirit in modern society. However, the altruistic views of Bodhisattva is unthinkable; it says, in the 3rd chapter of BodhicAryavAtAra of Santideva that, Bodhisattva is like the earth, the elements, and the space itself to support the lives of boundless beings, by providing all that they might need. Here, the present article is an attempt to not only indicate the practicability of bodhisattva spirit, but also inspire civic participants how to encourage social integration that constructs, sustains an inclusive society and how to get rid of the egoism with the help of the 3rd chapter of BodhicarAyvatAra by SAntideva, SinglovAda Sutta of DN, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta of SN, and Attahita parahita Sutta of AN etc. And it explores briefly the significance and contribution of altruistic behavior.