The purpose of this research is to examine the history of Theravada Buddhism, in particularly the Sangha or monastic order, in India and Ceylon. The plan of the research will be to set forth the cultural context and general outline of belief contained in Theravada Buddhism, and then to discuss how the concept and structure of the Buddhist Sangha appears to have defined the development of the sect in these countries.
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 observances (mainly funerals) could be the focus of devotional practice and the acquisition of merit, aimed at elimination of suffering as a fate.
Gombrich notes that devotional practice in Buddhism is individual, not congregational. That is why the role of the sangha in the development of Buddhism may seem incongruous. However, Gombrich adds that ritual observances are usually conducted in the environment of the sangha. The theory appears to be that active enga...