A tolerant faction of monks lost to a supremacist faction within Sri Lankan Buddhism.

Evidence

H. L. Seneviratne (1999) has argued that Dharmapala’s agenda comprised both economic and cultural aspects, and that soon after his death in 1933 each was adopted by different groups among the sangha. According to Seneviratne, the monks at the Vidyodaya Pirivena subscribed to the moral-economic teachings, emphasized village development and a crime free society, and overall adopted a more pragmatic and progressive stance designed to foster compassion, tolerance, and polyethnic coexistence. The monks associated with the Vidyalankara Pirivena, however, disregarded the moral-economic imperatives in Dharmapala’s teachings and instead merely emphasized anticolonialism, Sinhalese Buddhist cultural renewal, and Buddhist supremacy. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, the latter won out. The culmination of this victory was the publication of Walpola Rahula’s Bhiksuvage Urumaya. The political bhikkhu was thus born and has had a baneful influence on the sangha and the island’s politics, as discussed below. For Seneviratne, however, Rahula’s political bhikkhu is antithetical to the sort of monks Dharmapala clamored to promote, and the dominance of the Rahulites has only corrupted the sangha and made monks more materialistic. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 118

Categorization

• XREF: The manufactured-vs-primordial framing fits the reader’s research agenda — here two monastic factions filtered the same founder’s legacy differently, showing ideology is constructed, with the supremacist strand winning by historical contingency. — connects to: Extremist Sinhalese parties weaponized Buddhism against Tamil devolution — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 157; Rebel attacks on Buddhist sacred sites hardened Sinhalese enmity; Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology frames dissenters as enemies of the state. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 36 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Extremist Sinhalese parties weaponized Buddhism against Tamil devolution #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 157
• The monks’ political manipulation accelerated nationalist entrenchment and blocked peace #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 156
• Buddhist monks rationalize warfare against separatists as dhamma-justified #expands (0.82) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 152
• Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology frames dissenters as enemies of the state. #expands (0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 36
• Rebel attacks on Buddhist sacred sites hardened Sinhalese enmity #corroborates (0.75)
• Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monkhood is split into three caste-ordered sects with no unified hierarchy. #qualifies (0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 137