English
he expelled the bhikkhus dwelling in Abhayagiri to across the sea, and relying on the bhikkhus dwelling in the Mahāvihāra, he purified the Dispensation. And even after that, during the time of a king named Mahāsena, who was the son of King Goṭṭhābhaya, a bhikkhu named Saṅghamitta, among the bhikkhus dwelling in Abhayagiri, became the chief teacher of the king, and having consulted with King Mahāsena, he began to destroy the Mahāvihāra monastery, which was the dwelling place of the Arahants like Mahā Mahinda Thera and others. At that time, nine In the Great Monastery, there were monks who were mindful. Alas, the dwelling place of the great, powerful elders, shameless monks destroyed, like crows destroying the dwelling place of golden geese. And among the monks dwelling in Jetavana, a monk named Tissa, conspiring with that king, removed the boundary of the Great Monastery. But because of their lack of skill, the act of removing the boundary was not accomplished. Alas, the deed of the immoral, wicked ones is astonishing, just as a monkey, a tree-dweller, tears a valuable Kasi cloth, even so, the one who tears was very far from the thing to be torn. And here it is said, – As a wicked monkey, with little value, a Kasi cloth; A very valuable one, torn and untorn, he cuts with great effort. So a wicked speaker of unrighteousness, the pure assembly of speakers of righteousness; He tore with great effort, alas, how astonishing this is. Far, at a distance were, the destroyers from the things to be destroyed; From the earth to the highest heaven, alas, not knowing the deed. Thus, due to the strength of the unrighteous speakers, the assembly of righteous speakers declined. Just as golden geese cannot stand naturally due to the wing-wind of a vulture, even so, due to the strength of the unrighteous speakers, the righteous speakers declined. Like a golden deer in a tiger forest, they hid and grazed, they did not get the opportunity to practice the Dhamma as they wished. After the establishment of the Dispensation in Sri Lanka, two thousand four hundred and seventy-two years, and after the Parinibbana of the Perfectly Enlightened One, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven years, a king named Mahārāja ruled. That king, led by the elder Kassapa who dwelt in Ñadumbaragiri, and the monks dwelling in the Great Monastery, relying on that king, purified the blemish in the Dispensation, just as a goldsmith purifies gold. Others, from the assembly of Great Monastery dwellers, who were unrighteous speakers, were expelled and purified. And that King Mahārāja, in our country of Maramma, Arimaddana In the city, a king named Narapaticaññisūna ruled at the same time as the king. This should be understood. After that, relying on King Vijayabāhu and King Parakkamabāhu, the bhikkhus dwelling in the Mahāvihāra purified the Dispensation. All those who held wrong views were expelled, and only the community of Mahāvihāra dwellers was established, just as the moon, freed from the defilements of clouds and dirt, shines. King Sirisaṅghabodhi, King Vohārikatissa, and King Goṭṭhābhaya— these kings, though they purified the Dispensation, it was not completely purified, due to the non-expulsion of the communities holding wrong views. It was only during the time of King Sirisaṅghabodhi, the great King Vijayabāhu, and King Parakkamabāhu that the Dispensation was completely purified by the expulsion of all those holding wrong views. At that time, those holding wrong views could not even raise their heads, just like an owl at dawn. Later on, after a long time had passed, due to the fear of those of wrong views and foreign invaders, the Dispensation in Laṅkādvīpa declined, and there was no bhikkhu community sufficient even for a quorum. During the time of King Mahāvijayabāhu, the Saṅgha was brought from the Ramañña country, and the Dispensation was re-established. After that, during the time of a king named Vimaladhammasūriya, the Saṅgha was brought from the Rakkhāpura country, and the Dispensation was re-established. After that, during the time of a king named Vimala, the Saṅgha was brought from that same place, and the Dispensation was re-established. After that, during the time of a king named Kittissirirājasīha, the Saṅgha was brought from the Syāma country, and the same was done. This is the story of the decline of the Dispensation in the island of Sihala. After that, when nineteen hundred and eight years had passed in the teaching of the Victor, during the time of a king named Buddhadāsa, a certain Dhamma preacher elder, excluding the Vinaya Piṭaka and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, translated the remaining Suttanta Piṭaka into the Sihala language, compiled it, and preserved it. This matter is mentioned in the Cūḷavaṃsa. That King Buddhadāsa, it is said, His eighty sons were named after the eighty great disciples. Among those sons, one prince named Upatissa, named after the elder Sāriputta, when his father passed away, ruled the kingdom for forty-two years. After that, his younger brother, Prince Mahānāma, ruled for twenty-two years. During the reign of that king, in the 933rd year of the Buddha's era, at the time when sixty-six kings had completed their reigns in Sri Lanka, the elder Buddhaghosa, having gone to Sri Lanka, the commentaries written in the Sinhala language, translated and wrote them in the Māgadha language. That King Mahānāma, in our Myanmar country, in the city of Siripaccaya, ruled at the same time as a king named Savilaññikrovi. However, in the Paritta commentary, it is said that he ruled at the same time as a king named Brūmavi?Thī?. That is not fitting. In Sri Lanka, King Kittissirimegha, in his ninth year, at the time when sixty-two kings had completed their reigns in that very island, in the 830th year of the Buddha's era, Prince Dantakumāra, son-in-law of King Kuhasiva from Kaliṅga city in Jambudīpa, taking Princess Hemamālā, having stolen the Tooth Relic, crossed by ship, and went to Sri Lanka. In the 830th year of the Buddha's era, King Jeṭṭhatissa ruled for nine years. King Buddhadāsa (ruled for) twenty-nine years, King Upalissa for forty-two years, and King Mahānāma for twenty-two years. All these summed up, the Buddha's dispensation amounts to 932 years. And at that time, when it was two years less (than 932), then during King Mahānāma's time, in the 930th year of the dispensation, the elder Buddhaghosa went to the island of Laṅkā. During the time of the King of Amarapura, however, in the message letter sent by the monks of Sri Lanka, it is said that 956 years had passed. Having stayed here, the eight (commentaries) of the elder Buddhaghosa... We will briefly tell of his birth. How? The great elders, having invited, "Who is the person who can translate the Dispensation of the Pāli language, which is written in Sinhalese characters, into the Pāli language?" went to the Tāvatiṃsa heaven, saw the god Ghosa, and together with Sakka, the king of the gods, requested him. They caused him to be reborn in the womb of the brahmin woman Kesī, wife of the brahmin Kesa, in the village of Ghosa, near the Bodhi tree. Because he was born at the time when brahmins were calling out to each other, "Eat, sirs! Drink, sirs!" he was named Ghosa. At the age of seven, he was a master of the three Vedas. Then, while discussing the Vedas with an Arahant, having finished that discussion, he asked about the ultimate truth, the Buddha's teaching, saying, "Wholesome states, unwholesome states, indeterminate states," and so on. At that time, having heard and wishing to learn, he went forth as a monk with that Arahant. Day by day, he recited the Three Piṭakas with sixty thousand words, and committed them to memory. In one month, he became a master of the Three Piṭakas. Then, when he was sitting alone in private, this thought arose in him: "Is my wisdom greater, or that of my preceptor, in the Three Piṭakas taught by the Buddha?" Knowing that reason, his preceptor admonished and advised him. He, filled with spiritual urgency, bowed to ask for forgiveness. His preceptor said, "Friend, go to the island of Sri Lanka and write the Three Piṭakas, which are written in Sinhalese characters, in the Pāli language. If you do so, I will forgive you." Buddhaghosa, having freed his father from wrong view, and having accepted his teacher's words with his head, went by ship to the island of Sri Lanka to write the Three Piṭakas. At that time, while crossing the ocean for three days, the elder Buddhadatta, who was coming by ship from the island of Sri Lanka, met him on the way through the power of the devas. They asked each other the reason and came to know it. Having known it, and b Uddhadatta Thera spoke thus: "I, friend, thought my work of adorning the Buddha's teachings was insignificant, and they did not give me the opportunity to translate and write down the Three Piṭakas. But you, they said, should expound the Three Piṭakas." And saying this, he gave Buddhaghosa Thera a haritaki fruit given by Sakka, the king of devas, an iron stylus, and a whetstone. Thus, as these two theras were conversing with each other, the ship moved away by itself, and they departed. Buddhaghosa Thera, having arrived in Sri Lanka, first saw Saṅghapāla Thera and informed him that he had come to translate the Three Piṭakas into the Māgadha language script. The Sri Lankan bhikkhus then entrusted him with the verse "May bhikkhus be established in virtue," and urged him, "Expound the meaning of this verse by examining the Three Piṭakas." On that very day, starting from the evening, taking the aforementioned verse as the main theme, he composed the Visuddhimagga. Having completed that work, the king of devas, wishing to test the profundity of his knowledge, made that text disappear. Again, the thera composed it. In the same way, the king of devas made it disappear. Again, the thera composed it. Thus, having made him compose it three times, he also revealed