Post 21/?
Follows on from previous post.
(Contents swapped with next post)
As for any remnants of the TN Mahayanist cults, surely we must look for them in SL? It is well-known to all - perhaps because the SL Bauddha Sangha has made it a point to remind everyone - that 'twas Jainism that kicked Buddhism from TN into SL: so there must have been "a great many" Mahayana Buddhists making the exodus, no? I mean, Vijayavenugopal did allege Mahayana Buddhism was oh-so-popular in TN. AND we know there was an exodus, courtesy of fellow Shramanist religion Jainism.
But whether there were many Mahayana Buddhists in TN or not is not important to the consequences however: These Mahayanist refugees (plus the Mahayanists already in SL) were ... "absorbed" by Theravada, and the SL Mahayana Buddhist sites were too (<- merely repeating how modern SL Theravada Buddhists have carefully worded the matter). And SL history has been rewritten to make it look like a pure Theravadin nation from beginning to present (well, except that the ancient continued presence of SL Tamil Hindus contradicts this SL Buddhist narration; but you know, Theravadins come up with new Bauddhifying stories and takeovers of Hindu temples to gradually compensate).
Despite modern SL Theravadin rewriting of the history of Buddhisms in SL, I suspect Theravada was not quite so tolerant of Mahayana Buddhism: it was considered a heresy (e.g. even in the early period of Buddhism in India, the Sthavira Buddhists and IIRC Mahayana Buddhists were trying to convert each other out of each others' "heretical" thinking), so maybe Mahayana idols of the various Mahayana Buddhist deities in SL got sadly crushed by Theravada or demoted into Theravada entities? Or did they simply get masked with purer (less syncretistic forms of) Buddhism? I don't hear of several of most of the Mahayana Buddhist deities being consciously/knowingly worshipped by Sri Lankan Buddhists, let alone using Mahayana scriptures. In contrast, in the once-Hindu temple sites commandeered by Buddhism in SL many of the Gods are still recognisably-Hindu (and their Vedic Hindu names still kept by the Buddhists who took it over in some cases, but perhaps not for long; though Buddhism has been evolving Bauddhifying fictions about these Hindu Gods and the Hindu origins of their sites, of course, like at Kadirgamam etc).
Like Theravada's gradual takeover/replacement of Hindu religion in SL, I speculate (and I may actually turn out to be right) an early - and possibly even difficult - period of replacement by Theravada of the Mahayana Buddhist influx into SL and native SL Mahayana. A definite Tamil presence was to have existed among the "Sinhalese" Buddhists since an early time, after all (or so SL Buddhists occasionally admit), not just more recent Tamil converts from Hindoo heathenism.
This next does give some hints:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara
Poor Mahayana religion in SL: to have been replaced by Theravada religion altogether so that barely-remembered traces of their Mahayana past there remains. Where are all the Bauddhified "Hindus" who regularly wax eloquent on a back-projected imaginary Buddhist past of Hindus' ancestry and their temples in India (especially certain southern states)?
And must also evince some surprise that India's neo-Buddhists and dravoodianists - writing on and on about "poor, superior, persecuted-to-extinction" Mahayanism in India* - haven't transported themselves into the Theravada heartland of SL to try and revive Mahayanism in the southern Indic Buddhist heartland.
(* But they never write about Mahayanism in SL, for some reason. That's because the baiters are not really Mahayanists and don't care other than to use their history-rewriting to bait Hindus with, and to pretend that Mahayanism was the origin of bhakti and to further spin their usual rumours that Mahayana's idols/temples "must have" been taken over by Hindus, etc. In fact, SL's Theravadin Sangha and even lay Buddhists had - maybe still - been trying that tactic too, in order to claim that TN in India should "re-convert" to Buddhism, even if it's only to the 'heretic Mahayana' brand. Nice try.)
Follows on from previous post.
(Contents swapped with next post)
As for any remnants of the TN Mahayanist cults, surely we must look for them in SL? It is well-known to all - perhaps because the SL Bauddha Sangha has made it a point to remind everyone - that 'twas Jainism that kicked Buddhism from TN into SL: so there must have been "a great many" Mahayana Buddhists making the exodus, no? I mean, Vijayavenugopal did allege Mahayana Buddhism was oh-so-popular in TN. AND we know there was an exodus, courtesy of fellow Shramanist religion Jainism.
But whether there were many Mahayana Buddhists in TN or not is not important to the consequences however: These Mahayanist refugees (plus the Mahayanists already in SL) were ... "absorbed" by Theravada, and the SL Mahayana Buddhist sites were too (<- merely repeating how modern SL Theravada Buddhists have carefully worded the matter). And SL history has been rewritten to make it look like a pure Theravadin nation from beginning to present (well, except that the ancient continued presence of SL Tamil Hindus contradicts this SL Buddhist narration; but you know, Theravadins come up with new Bauddhifying stories and takeovers of Hindu temples to gradually compensate).
Despite modern SL Theravadin rewriting of the history of Buddhisms in SL, I suspect Theravada was not quite so tolerant of Mahayana Buddhism: it was considered a heresy (e.g. even in the early period of Buddhism in India, the Sthavira Buddhists and IIRC Mahayana Buddhists were trying to convert each other out of each others' "heretical" thinking), so maybe Mahayana idols of the various Mahayana Buddhist deities in SL got sadly crushed by Theravada or demoted into Theravada entities? Or did they simply get masked with purer (less syncretistic forms of) Buddhism? I don't hear of several of most of the Mahayana Buddhist deities being consciously/knowingly worshipped by Sri Lankan Buddhists, let alone using Mahayana scriptures. In contrast, in the once-Hindu temple sites commandeered by Buddhism in SL many of the Gods are still recognisably-Hindu (and their Vedic Hindu names still kept by the Buddhists who took it over in some cases, but perhaps not for long; though Buddhism has been evolving Bauddhifying fictions about these Hindu Gods and the Hindu origins of their sites, of course, like at Kadirgamam etc).
Like Theravada's gradual takeover/replacement of Hindu religion in SL, I speculate (and I may actually turn out to be right) an early - and possibly even difficult - period of replacement by Theravada of the Mahayana Buddhist influx into SL and native SL Mahayana. A definite Tamil presence was to have existed among the "Sinhalese" Buddhists since an early time, after all (or so SL Buddhists occasionally admit), not just more recent Tamil converts from Hindoo heathenism.
This next does give some hints:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara
Quote:TheravÃÂda AccountSo SL Theravadins are trying to forcefit Mahayana into Theravada - using inculturation on Avalokiteshwara with Maitreya. Just desserts for Mahayana having tried to inculturate on Shiva with Avalokiteshwara. I'm sure concerned Buddhists (Mahayana) can tell the difference between Avalokiteshwara and Maitreya. In any case, Hindus can certainly tell the difference between the Avalokiteshwara concoction and the original (and real) Shiva.
Veneration of Avalokiteà âºvara Bodhisattva has continued to the present day in Sri Lanka, where he is called NÃÂtha.[18] In more recent times, some western-educated TheravÃÂdins have attempted to identify NÃÂtha with Maitreya Bodhisattva. However, traditions and basic iconography, including an image of AmitÃÂbha Buddha on the front of the crown, identify NÃÂtha as Avalokiteà âºvara.[19] Andrew Skilton writes:[20]
Quote:... It is clear from sculptural evidence alone that the MahÃÂyÃÂna was fairly widespread throughout [Sri Lanka], although the modern account of the history of Buddhism on the island presents an unbroken and pure lineage of TheravÃÂda. (One can only assume that similar trends were transmitted to other parts of Southeast Asia with Sri Lankan ordination lineages.) Relics of an extensive cult of Avalokiteà âºvara can be seen in the present-day figure of NÃÂtha.
Poor Mahayana religion in SL: to have been replaced by Theravada religion altogether so that barely-remembered traces of their Mahayana past there remains. Where are all the Bauddhified "Hindus" who regularly wax eloquent on a back-projected imaginary Buddhist past of Hindus' ancestry and their temples in India (especially certain southern states)?
And must also evince some surprise that India's neo-Buddhists and dravoodianists - writing on and on about "poor, superior, persecuted-to-extinction" Mahayanism in India* - haven't transported themselves into the Theravada heartland of SL to try and revive Mahayanism in the southern Indic Buddhist heartland.
(* But they never write about Mahayanism in SL, for some reason. That's because the baiters are not really Mahayanists and don't care other than to use their history-rewriting to bait Hindus with, and to pretend that Mahayanism was the origin of bhakti and to further spin their usual rumours that Mahayana's idols/temples "must have" been taken over by Hindus, etc. In fact, SL's Theravadin Sangha and even lay Buddhists had - maybe still - been trying that tactic too, in order to claim that TN in India should "re-convert" to Buddhism, even if it's only to the 'heretic Mahayana' brand. Nice try.)