History of Theravada Buddhism

In order to see how the Sangha provided the frame of development for Theravada Buddhism in India, it is useful to look at the principal features of Buddhist devotion. These features, as Gombrich suggests, constitute an attitude toward the concept of devotion, and this in turn implies the manner in which Theravada sects arose throughout India and Ceylon. Of key importance is the phenomenon of the Buddha, along with righteousness (dhamma) and the monastic order (sangha) as objects of faith and devotion, or at any rate an object of emotional association. This is consistent with a conception of Buddhism as a way of life distinguished by careful and disciplined activity built around a life of concentration and meditation that would be typical of the life of a monk. Gombrich adds that accounts of "the Buddha's former births and a multiplicity of births" (p. 120) also provided material for devotion in Theravada tradition, which is to say exemplars for devotees seeking moral perfection. This was also the case for relics and their repositories, which along with ritual obs

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r that what could be called aspects of the objects of devotion dominate Theravada Buddhism. It is in this context that ideal action, exemplified by stories of self-denial and compassion among the Buddha and other buddhas, achieves resonance. Ritual occasions, including but not limited to funeral rituals, have the effect of anchoring the sangha as an object of devotion on one hand, or integrating Buddhism with the more general life of the culture on the other. Swearer's description of the reciprocity between the laity observant and reverent vis-a-vis the image of the Buddha and the sangha who bestow blessings on them (p. 13) is indicative of this dynamic. Other latent effects in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) include a tendency for community support of the sangha, the sangha's role in Buddhist teaching, and the whole range of activities initiated by the laity or by the sangha involving salvation or the attribution of merit to decrease suffering. As a practical matter, says Swearer, this results in some overlapping of Buddhist and Hindu thought; he cites stories of imputing powers to "merit-making rituals," despite specific Buddhist injunctions against magic (but consistent with the polytheistic environment of both Buddhism and Hinduism) (Swea
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