Sangayana for the betterment of the

Buddha Sasana

2015-12-18
Many voices are being heard from many quarters on the need to conduct a
Sangyan for the betterment of the Buddha Ssana. It has been in the
workplan of the government since its inception as well. Good thoughts. And
probably a well-timed move as well.
But there are several concerns that one should take into account before
moving in this direction. There had already been six Buddhist synods in
three different countries India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar -- since the demise
of the Buddha with four main purposes: Protecting the Buddhas original
word; maintaining the authenticity of the Buddhas teachings; keeping the
unblemished practice, extinguishing defilements (greed, hatred and
delusion); realising the highest truth to attain the highest bliss Nibbna
and longevity of the Ssana for the benefit of many. The definition of

Sagti or Sagyan, the Buddhist synod or councils is Sa ekato katv

gyitabb kathetabbti sagti having gathered (all scattered teaching)
as a whole should be recited by the one who is in concord (smaggi). Both
Sagti and Sangyan are in Pali but the former is the most common in
tradition, though the latter is more familiar among the Sinhalese tradition in
the present context.
All six former Sagti or the councils had been to resolve one or the other
challenges faced by the Ssana of that particular period. Learning about
these six noble events would certainly shed light on the necessity, lessons
learnt and way forward for the proposed seventh Sagyan in Sri Lanka.
The first council was held in the Sattapai cave pavilion at Mount Vebhra
near the city of Rajagaha in India, in the same year of the Buddhas death,
due to an uttering of Bikkhu Subaddha. Fearful that the community would
dissolve through uncertainty over the founders teachings, mainly because
of such attitudes of some monks like Subaddha, the Sangha held a council
to preclude that possibility. Maha Kashyapa Thera, one of the Buddhas
chief-disciples, was appointed president of the council and five hundred
selected Arahat monks participated. Functionally, this important event
established authority for the group in the absence of its leader for
thousands of years to come.
The second synod took place just around one hundred years after the
Parinibbana (demise) of the Buddha in the city of Vaisali
(vislmahanuwara) to resolve a dispute over supposedly illicit monastic
behavior, such as accepting gold and silver equal to money of the day.
Imagine, disputes over the discipline of the monks had erupted within a
short period after the demise of the Buddha and this council deliberated
such ten issues of possibly inappropriate monastic behavior including the
use of money. Each point was rejected by the council, the offending
practices were outlawed, and concord reestablished, although significant
disagreements had obviously begun to appear in the still-unified Buddhist
community. It is widely believed that Buddhist sectarianism began shortly
after this council.
King Asoka organized the third council in the city of Pataliputra around 250
BC under the guidance of Moggaliputtatissa Maha Thera with the objective
of establishing the orthodoxy of the Dhamma. It is said that 60,000 ascetics
infiltrated the Sangha Order, polluted the Saasana by their corrupt lives and
heretical views. A thousand monks were assembled to the council, various
viewpoints were considered and either sanctioned or rejected, with the
proponents of rejected views being expelled from the city.

Prior to the fourth synod held in Matale Aluviharaya, a locally recognized

Vinaya synod at Thprmaya, Anurdhapura, Sri lanka. However, the
fourth council was held because of the challenges of maintaining the oral
tradition and the Dhamma was recited and inscribed on Ola leaves. This
was during the regime of Vaagmini Abhaya alias king Valagamb, in 94
BC.
Both the fifth and sixth synods were held in Myanmar, the then Burma. The
fifth council was convened at Mandalay in Myanmar in November 1871 at
the Dhakkhinrma monastery supported by King Mindon. It was held
basically to ensure the presence of entire Tripitaka in the country with no
errors and also to find a long lasting solution in maintaining Ola leaf
inscriptions.
However, the most significant was the sixth council which was held in line
with the 2500 Buddha Jayanthi anniversary. The event held on the full moon
day of Kason (May -June) 1954 in the Mahpsna Guh (great cave),
Kab-Aye, Yangon, had two main objectives -- the purification of the
teaching and the propagation of the Ssana within the country and
internationally. It not only reviewed the canonical Pli Tipiaka but also reexamined the commentaries and sub-commentaries for authenticity.
Several Sri Lankan learned Theras including Most Venerable Balangoda
Ananda Maithriya Maha Thera played a key role in this synod. It was a great
success mainly due to the fact that it initiated a State-Sagha Mahanayaka
Committee comprising all sects (nikya) in the country while recognizing
and uniting nine such Nikyas. It translated some texts into English while
founding two State-Pariyatti-Saasana Universities for standardization
though the country had a good Monastery education. Following the practice
of the third council, there were Buddhist missions to different states of the
country as well as to foreign countries while perpetuating and propagating
the Ssana for moral enhancement of the entire nation.
The proposed seventh Sangyan should be considered within this context,
especially on how to contribute to this process with our existing capacity.
Some leading monks question the necessity to review the entire Tripitaka
and its commentaries (Atuwawa) since there exists an unchallengeable
literature, mainly with Buddha Jayanthi literature both in Sri Lanka and
Myanmar. The issue is the practice of these teachings, mainly the Vinaya
(discipline) aspect due to various interpretations and offending practices.
Thus, as it happened during the second and third synods, this proposed
Sangyan should target a massive clean-up of its practitioners.
Such an exercise should examine -- purely according to Vinaya teaching -whether the monks could enter into governance by directly contesting

elections, get engaged in state sector (or even private sector) jobs and
draw monthly salaries, mobilize masses against another ethnic community
and provoke them to violence, the list could continue.
But the challenge would be securing necessary learned, knowledgeable and
well-disciplined Buddhist leaders within the clergy not in dozens but in
hundreds in conducting such a massive exercise. The process could
continue for months under a divided-responsibility system, yet knowledge
should be deep, well versed in Theravda Buddhist text and language skills,
mainly Pali should be second to none. Personally I have my own doubts on
this issue of necessary skills unless we look at Myanmar or Thailand. In any
case this will not be a Sri Lankan Sangyan but for the entire Sasana
wherever it exists. However, the necessity is mainly here, especially for the
massive clean-up through a robust review of Dhamma and Vinaya based on
pure order and teaching which has to be re-established within this
Dharmadveepa.
This exercise should also take the lead from the sixth council in Myanmar
and embark on the digitalization of Theravda-Tripiaka with commentary
and relevant texts as it requires a Nano space today, we can re-elaborate
and expand all the shorten portions in various texts.
Another contemporary issue that needs such high level attention is the
Teravada-Bhikkhuni (the Buddhist-nun tradition) which is impossible to reestablish now. But providing women with proper recognition to learn,
practice and live a spiritual life is not impossible. For example, Dasasl
Maatha in Sri Lanka, Sayalay in Myanmar or such organizations should be
recognized without contradicting their lives with teaching. These practices
should be renamed or re-interpreted. There could be a few other objectives
such as establishing a sound Buddhist academic system in Sri Lanka.
However, we need to define the objective of the proposed Sangyan first
and then outline the agenda and its necessities.
The order of the deliberations is purely based on consensus. If we do not
get into the right way of conducting such a gigantic and sensitive exercise,
it could do more harm than good. Crucial deliberations could be
manipulated, consensus be reached according to hidden agendas and
wrong perceptions would be established and documented. That could be a
disaster to the Buddha Sasana.
Posted by Thavam