Buddhist institutional survival depended on an interdependence between clergy and state.

Evidence

Buddhism, as traditionally practiced, was dependent on largesse from the state or lay persons to survive. It therefore thrived among generous benefactors from the royalty or rich individuals in society. In Sri Lanka too an interdependent relationship took hold between the Buddhist clergy and those governing the state: the sangha supported and thereby provided legitimacy to rulers, and the rulers promoted Buddhist doctrine by providing steady subvention to the sangha. This at times led each party to use and abuse the other, but it was an arrangement that, in the main, enabled Buddhism in Sri Lanka to survive and flourish. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 100

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the structural baseline of sangha-state symbiosis — the substrate political Buddhism builds on — which is prerequisite for understanding later manufactured solidarity.
• XREF: connects to: Medieval legitimate power depended on the mutual dependence of pope and emperor. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1526; The very forces that built Ceylonese secularism also cultivated Buddhist communalism.; Buddhism’s doctrine-dependent-on-patronage structure justifies its state favoritism — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 148 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval legitimate power depended on the mutual dependence of pope and emperor. #corroborates (0.78) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1526