Sri Lanka has been a Buddhist country since Buddhism was introduced in the third century BC by Mahingzha, the son of King Ashoka of India, and Sri Lanka has long been the academic center of Buddhism.
Sri Lankan Buddhist statues from the 5th century AD to the present
One of the most important figures in the history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is from China, namely the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Fa Xian. Originally surnamed Gong, Fa Xian was born in Pingyang Commandery (平陽郡, in modern Linfen, Shanxi), and witnessed the replacement of Later Zhao, Ran Wei, Former Yan, and Former Qin forces in his early years. He had three older brothers, all of whom died in childhood, and his parents feared that he would die too, and when he was only about three years old, they took him to shami.
Dharma
At the age of 60, He Xian set out from China to India to collect Buddhist scriptures, and on the way, lived in Sri Lanka for 2 years, although he did not achieve the treatment of the later Generation Xuanzang in India (Xuanzang traveled west to India, and the King of Jiezhi invited him to participate in the unsheltered assembly of thousands of people, winning all the Indian Mahayana masters and Hindus who came to challenge him, and was admired by the Indian religious circles), or the kind of treatment that Lin Zengbing had in Japan (Lin Zengbing, also known as Yinyuan Longqi, after crossing japan in the east, Emperor Hou Shuiwei worshipped him as a teacher and believed in Buddhism), But this Dharma Manifest is also highly revered in Sri Lanka.
Faxian later returned to China by sea ship, and after landing on the Shandong Peninsula, he went to Jiankang in the Southern Dynasty Liu Song Dynasty the following year, where he lived for five years in the Buddhist temple of Jiankang, and then came to Jingzhou, where he died at the age of eighty-six and eighty-two.
The Fa Xian westbound route
He was living on Mount Foot, and there was a cave on the way to Mount Foot, which is said to have lived for a time, and now this cave is called The Cave of Fa Xian. It is also a famous historical attraction in Sri Lanka today.
Today sri Lanka's Dharma Cave
In addition to the Fa Xian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the number of Chinese monks who later came to Sri Lanka was innumerable. Taking the Tang Dynasty as an example, the monks who visited Sri Lanka in the Tang Dynasty included Yilang master of Chengdu yilang in Yizhou, mingyuan monk of Qingcheng in Yizhou, Lingyun of Xiangyang Zen master, master Jiaochong in Jiaozhou, master Hui Yan, zen master Wuxing in Jingzhou Jiangling, and Zen master of Aizhou Mahayana lamp. At the official level, in 428, 670, and 750 the Government of the Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) sent ambassadors to pay tribute to China.
As a navigator in the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Dayuan, a Jiangxi man, traveled through Hainan Island, Champa, Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Burma, India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Morocco, then returned to Egypt, went out of the Red Sea to Somalia, Mozambique, and finally returned to quanzhou Port.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He went to the West, and Chinese had contact and collision with local forces in Sri Lanka. In the seventh year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He went to the West for the third time, and the emperor ordered the eunuch Zheng He and other eunuchs to hold the edict of gold and silver offerings to the Ceylon Mountain Temple to give alms, and to establish the "Monument to the Buddhist Temple of The Ceylon Mountain". The monument is now in the Colombo Museum.
Zheng He's RoadMap to the West
When Zheng He visited the Ceylon Mountain Kingdom (the Sri Lankan regime in the Ming Dynasty), the King of Ceylon Hill, Ariel Kunel, "was disrespectful and plotted to kill the boat master", and was detected by Zheng He and left ceylon Hill for other countries. On the return trip to visit the Ceylon Mountain Kingdom again, Ariel Khunel lured Zheng He to the middle of the country, sent 50,000 troops to besiege Zheng He's fleet, and cut down wood to block Zheng He's return route. Zheng He took advantage of the thieves' nest and the emptiness in the country, led his entourage of 2,000 officers and soldiers, took a small road and unexpectedly raided the royal city of Ariel Ku Nair, broke through the city, and captured Ariel Ku Nair and his family. On June 16, 1411 , yongle 9th year ( July 6 , 1411 ) returned to China to offer sacrifices to Ariel and the Yongle Emperor , and the courtiers slaughtered in unison , and the Yongle Emperor took pity on Ariel Kunell for ignorance , released Ariel and his wife , gave them food and clothing , and ordered the Ministry of Ceremonies to consult and choose the sage of his country as king. The sages sent Naiye, sent envoys to lead, crowned him king of ceylon, and repatriated Ariel.
Zheng He in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has a long history of Buddhism. However, it also experienced decline during the war, and Sri Lankan Buddhism almost disappeared like Indian Buddhism. In particular, after being invaded by Europeans after the sixteenth century, Buddhism was almost cut off. During the reign and occupation of Sri Lanka by the Dutch (1658-1796) and the British (1796-1947), Christian priests from Western Europe were once spread throughout the island, and while promoting Christianity, they attacked Buddhism, many temples were destroyed, and monks were forced to convert. At one time, this island became a Christian island.
But Buddhism was revived in the nineteenth century with the help of native nationalists, and a Sri Lankan monk, Dharmapora, went on to establish the Mahabodhi Society in India, excavating and protecting Buddhist relics, editing Buddhist texts, publishing publications, promoting Buddhism at home and abroad, and establishing branches, making the activities of the Mahabodhi Society a broad Buddhist revival movement. In 1945, after Sri Lanka's independence from Britain, the government regarded the revival of Buddhism as an important part of the restoration of national culture, established various Buddhist societies of a secular nature, and founded Buddhist teaching.
Today, 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, essentially restoring the ancient religious environment, most of them following the Theravada tradition. Its nationalism is tied to Buddhism, and there are even militarized organizations such as the Buddhist Forces.
Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall
The problems that have erupted in Sri Lanka are precisely a mirror
It mirrors the bankruptcy of some "Bible" in the West
One is the popular election of the whole people, the democratic freedom advocated by the West
Professor Qiang Shigong put forward a point of view in the article "Freedom, Democracy and the Death of Socrates": Where is the boundary between freedom and democracy? Who is eligible to participate in democratic life? Is the result of democracy correct?
In Sri Lanka today, for example, the people are misled by populism and elect their own president. As a result, the national livelihood collapsed, and the president could resign and run. But where does a country's people go?
To give another example, suppose 10 people are stranded on a desert island without eating or drinking, and the democratic vote eats one of them to feed the other 9, who can accept such a democracy and who cannot? The point is, is this the right result?
This raises the question of how the boundaries of popular elections are controlled and how much discernment the voters who participate in the elections have.
If there are no boundaries, voters have low levels of education. Then it is only a matter of time before such a popular election will mess up a country.
The other is the supremacy of consumerism and the enjoyment of the present
The most typical is credit consumption, eating grain, entertainment first
Not to mention Sri Lanka, the United States also suffered losses in the past few years.
During the covid-19 pandemic, work stoppages, 0 yuan purchases, and impacts on Congress were all things that happened not long ago.
So, when disasters and accidents come, do everyone need food and drink, water and electricity, logistics, or variety shows?
Why the mainland must guarantee the red line of arable land and industrial production is also based on such reasons.
The foundation of industry and agriculture in the United States is thick, and it has survived the crisis of work stoppage and production stoppage
However, Sri Lanka itself has no industrial and agricultural base and basically relies on tourism to maintain its finances
In the event of a disaster, today's results are also to be expected
After all, there have been countless similar events in history
The Qin people do not have time to mourn for themselves and the posterity mourns, and the posterity mourns without learning, and also makes the posterity mourn the posterity!