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Buddhism: Sri Lanka
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Buddhism has gained popular attention, and perhaps popularity, by becoming political, especially in South Asia. In India, a neo-Buddhist movement that presents Buddhism as a social gospel has led a protest against the caste system (Ling 1980). In Burma and Sri Lanka, Buddhism was an aspect of nationalist movements for independence (Smith 1965, Houtart 1980). During the 1980s, many monks were actively involved in politicking and even political violence in Sri Lanka (Tambiah 1993).
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Over the centuries Buddhism has split into several schools and sects. Monastic practice, therefore, varies widely throughout the Far East. While celibacy has been a normal requirement of the Buddhist clergy (all of whom are monks), many of the clergy in pre-20th century Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Japan married.
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Buddhism was brought to Ceylon (Shri Lanka) in 250 B.C.E. by Mahinda and Sanghamitta, children of King Ashoka. This marked the first time for Buddhism to spread outside India. In the 3rd century C.E., Buddhism then came to: Burma (Myanmar) during the reign of the King Ashoka; Cambodia; China in the 2nd or 3rd century C.E.; and Indonesia in the 3rd century C.E. From the 4th through the 8th century C.E.: Buddhism came to: Korea from China in the 4th century C.E.; to Japan from Korea in 522 C.E.; to Thailand from Burma in the 6th century C.E.; and to Tibet in early 8th century C.E.
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A number of avowedly Hindu monastic communities have grown up over time and adopted some of the characteristics associated with early Buddhism and Jainism, while remaining dedicated to the Hindu philosophical traditions. One of the oldest and most respected of the Hindu orders traces its origin to the teacher Shankara (788-820), believed by many devotees to have lived hundreds of years earlier. Shankara's philosophy is a primary source of Vedanta, or the "End of the Veda," the final commentary on revealed truth, which is one of the most influential trends in modern Hinduism. His interpretation of the Upanishads portrays brahman as absolutely one and without qualities. The phenomenal world is illusion (maya ), which the embodied soul must transcend in order to achieve oneness with brahman . As a wandering monk, Shankara traveled throughout India, combating Buddhist atheism and founding five seats of learning at Badrinath (Uttar Pradesh), Dwaraka (Gujarat), Puri (Orissa), Sringeri (Karnataka), and Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu). In the 1990s, those seats are still held by successors to Shankara's philosophy (Shankara Acharyas), who head an order of orange-clad monks that is highly respected by the Hindu community throughout India.
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Buddhism spread from India across to Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Java, and Burma; but the basic teachings of Buddha remain the same. Great architectural monuments and temples have been built in honor of Buddha. But this Buddhism seemed severe.
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