The Asokan Missions
(Extended Mahāvaṁsa XII-XIV)
edited by
G. P. Malalasekera
(1937 / 2481)
translated by
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
(March, 2012 / 2556)
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mp3
Html Table of Contents
XII. Faith in Various Districts
The Asokan Missions
(Extended Mahāvaṁsa XII-XIV)
edited by
G. P. Malalasekera
(1937 / 2481)
translated by
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
(March, 2012 / 2556)
eBooks
mp3
Html Table of Contents
XII. Faith in Various Districts
Introduction
Texts
Extended Mahāvaṁsa, Chapters XII-XIV, edited by G. P. Malalasekera, Colombo 1937. Reprinted by the Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1988. The text is reprinted here through the kind permission of PTS.
for the variants: Mahāvaṁsa, Chapters XII-XIV, edited by W. Geiger 1908. Reprinted by the Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1958.
The manuscripts that the text is based on are all written in Cambodian script, and for that reason it is sometimes known as the Cambodian Mahāvaṁsa. However just because the manuscripts are in that script cannot be taken as evidence of its provenance without further indication, which appears to be lacking.
The manuscripts that the text is based on are all written in, or copied from, texts written in Cambodian script, and for that reason it is sometimes known as the Cambodian Mahāvaṁsa. However just because the manuscripts are in that script cannot be taken as evidence of its provenance without further indication, which appears to be lacking.
The text has extended the first section That is, the first thirty-seven chapters, which is the original rescension of the text, written by Mahānāma in the 5th century of the Christian era.01 of the more usual Mahāvaṁsa in two ways: through addition and through rewriting, adding in further information, some of which, is at least prima facie, of some importance, though we have no way of ascertaining its authenticity, as we cannot even determine the date of the text, beyond it being after Mahānāma's text. Malalasekera, on good grounds, dates it to the 9th-10th centuries: after Mahāvaṁsa and its Ṭīkā, and before the continuation to the text was made in the 12th century by Dhammakitti.02
In the section we are concerned with here the additions are mainly one or two line insertions that clarify, or give additional information, needed for understanding the text. Malalasekera has made a very good comparison of the text with Mhv and its Ṭīkā (which he also edited) in the informative Introduction to his edition.03 The rewrites are generally also expansions, although occasionally they just rewrite one line or one verse with another, which the author thought clarified some point or other. 14.26b is an instance of this.04
In my impression this is, for the most part, done in a quite seamless way, and I think if we only had the Extended version, it would probably pass as the work of one author, except in a small number of places where there are grammatical or organisational problems of one sort or another. See 13.26b-28a, where an absolutive sub-clause is left hanging without a finite verb to complete it; and the note to 13.9a where a section appears to be out of place, but it is so in both versions.05
According to the editor Edition, p. xl.06 the work has drawn upon the Mahāvaṁsa Ṭīkā (Mahāvaṁsa-Līnattha), the Buddhavaṁsa and possibly its Commentary, Thūpavaṁsa, Mahābodhivaṁsa, Vinaya Mahāvagga, Jātakaṭṭhakathā and the Samantapāsādika for the extra material. As far as I can see it does not, however, make any direct quotes from these works, and it is still unclear whether the author had other sources available, including all importantly the Sinhala Commentaries.
Translation
As far as I know the translation presented here is the first translation into English of any section from the Extended version of the Mahāvaṁsa. In preparing the text and translation I have made two versions.
The first gives line by line the Text and the Translation. In this edition additions are marked as such, and replacements are distinguished in colour and are followed by the original text for comparative purposes. The English Only version, however, dispenses with these comparisons and simply presents a rewritten and more fluent translation of the Extended Text.
Places and People
The text concerned is mainly of importance for the information it gives on the spread of Buddhism in the early period of the Dispensation. It provides that information not only as to where the religion spread, but also, and perhaps equally important, as to how it spread.
As for where, the Missions seem to have gone out in all directions: taking Asoka's capital Pātaḷiputta as the centre of the radius, we can see that the Missions went to the North, to Kasmīra-Gandhāra Seemingly treated as one country or district, see the note to v. 3 below.07 and to the Himālayan regions; in the West to the Ionian districts, Probably around modern-day Pakistan, following the Greek armies had of Alexandria, during his push to the East.08 Aparantikā and Mahāraṭṭha; further South to Vanavāsī and Mahisamaṇḍala, and on to Sri Laṅkā. And in the East, if indeed that is where it is, to Suvaṇṇabhūmi. The location of which is very disputed, and there is no clear answer to where it was. Some believe it was lower Burma, others Central Thailand and still others in India itself. On another occasion the name refers to a site in Sumatra.09
In the text below v. 12.7 includes the important information, that besides the monks who were named as the missionaries, there were also other monks accompanying them. We may infer as much, as they would be needed for the ordinations that were given, but some have argued that there were already monks present in the areas visited. See Prapod Assavariruhlakarn: The Ascendency of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, p. 61 (Silkworm Books, Bangkok, 2010).10 Although that is not impossible, given the addition here it would also not be necessary either, and it seems to me that the monks would not have travelled alone on such important missions, but in company of other monks, even when they are only named in the case of Mahinda's mission, which is, in any case, dealt with in much more detail.
We can compare for this v. 6, which simply says: “He It refers to the Elder Moggalitissa, who directed the Missions.11 sent the Elder Majjhima to the Himālayan districts.” But later when we come to v. 45-47 the text itself states that at least four other Elders accompanied him, and that between them they converted five countries.
Methods of Conversion
As to how the Missions went about their work, that also is very interesting. Gathering the evidence here we can see that it was not simply a didactic exercise, it many places the monks had first to prove that their powers were superior to the local dieties – Nāgas, Yakkhas and the like – which they encountered in the border countries.
One of the most dramatic accounts is the first one given in detail of Majjhantika in Kasmīra-Gandhāra, who overcame the Nāga King Āravāla and his companions, established them in the Refuges and Precepts and gave them good advice on proper behaviour before giving any formal Dhamma teaching to the populace.
A similar story is told of the two Elders Soṇa and Uttara, who were sent to Suvaṇṇabhūmi, and defeated a demoness who was eating all the children born in the King's palace. One of the Elders created with his psychic powers a larger army of demons and chased the original group out. Again this is before any formal teaching took place.
In other cases a display of supernatural powers certainly is said to have helped: Rakkhita stood in the sky to do his preaching in Vanavāsī. Mahinda was able, through his psychic powers, to hide – and later reveal – his companions, and also showed his powers by speaking the King's name before it was given. This at least seems to be the purport of this obscure passage.12 Even the novice Sumana who accompanied them on the Mission made his voice heard over the whole Island, announcing the time for the teaching.
Not that the teaching was unimportant, indeed in some cases it appears to have been all that was needed: Mahādeva in Mahisamaṇḍala, Dhammarakkhita in Aparantikā, Mahādhammarakkhita in Mahāraṭṭha, Mahārakkhita amongst the Ionians and Majjhima and his companions in the Himālaya had no other recourse but the teaching, at least in the way it is recorded here. It is interesting to note that the most popular teachings were either similes or stories of Heaven and Hell. 13
The Results
In all cases, however, eventually it was the teaching that brought about the conversions, and with them numbers of ordinations, and thereby the final establishment of the Dispensation in the country. And here there is another important thing to note: although in some cases it is only stated that ordinations took place, in others it specifies how many were male and how many female, and the latter were occasionally in the majority, as in Aparantikā. See v. 40 below.14
In Suvaṇṇabhūmi also one and a half thousand women are said to have gone forth; and famously in Sri Laṅkā Mahinda had to send back to the home country and get his sister Saṅghamittā to come to give Bhikkhuni ordination to Queen Anulā and one thousand of the palace women. I hope this part of the story will be told in another translation later. 15
One more important thing to notice is the record of the attainments: eighty thousand in Kasmīra-Gandhāra, forty thousand in Mahisamaṇḍala, sixty thousand in Vanavāsī, thirty-seven thousand in Aparantikā, eighty-four thousand in Mahāraṭṭha, one hundred and seventy thousand amongst the Ionians, eight-hundred million in the Himālaya, sixty thousand in Suvaṇṇabhūmi and but a thousand in Laṅkā.
Evidently these figures cannot be taken literally, but they surely do reflect a rememberance about the Missions, as they are said to have occured in every district reported.
What we have here then is perhaps not so much an accurate, newpaper-like report of the Missions, which is something we have no right to expect anyway. But certainly we can understand that, for the compilers, these reports of overcoming local dieties, the displays of magical powers and attainments were at least as an important part of the Missions' successes, as the teaching of the Dhamma, the large-scale conversions and ordinations were, and were probably regarded as no more exceptional than them either.
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
March 2012
