gement in religious praxis tends to alleviate the anticipation of suffering (pp. 126-7).
The cultural manifestation of Theravada Buddhism in India and Ceylon owes something to the connection that the sangha has historically had with influential political figures. Gombrich refers to the figure of Asoka, known as a historical king and as a god-king figure of Buddhist legend. It was in the city ruled by Asoka that after the Buddha's death the sangha gathered in a doctrinal council in the third or fourth century BCE. (Various doctrinal councils have led to sectarian splits within Buddha, e.g., that between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism--p. 158). During his reign, Asoka, a warlike king, converted to Buddhism, publicly declaring 'remorse for the sufferings he had caused in the war and [saying] that henceforth he would conquer only by righteousness (dhamma) (Gombrich, p. 129). Asoka's increased devotion led to increased contact with the sangha, resulting in increased emulation of sangha dress and customs by the nobility and in his gradually assuming the role of Defender of the Faith on one hand and the authority over the purity of the sangha on the other. Asoka is credited with "the dispatch of missions which established Buddhism over a far wider area, within the Indian sub-continent and beyond" (p. 134).
Sangha missionary activities extended to Ceylon. Gombrich says that missionaries established a base for ordination of the enlightened by going from court to court in community to community, with one result being that gradually the sangha became a creature of state patronage. This appears to have been especially the case in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Gombrich says that "Thervada Buddhism has dominated the religious and cultural life of the country throughout its recorded history" (p. 138).
In India, royal patronage of the Sangha appears to have been consistent with traditional Hindu caste structure; in other words, Buddhism would have been...