English
At the first Council held immediately after the Lord's Parinibbana by 500 Arahats lieaded by The Venerable Maha- kassapa Thera, Upali Thera and Ananda Thera, the Three Pitakas in the Pali language, were duly recited and rehearsed. In like manner these were recited and rehearsed at the twa subsequent Councils held 100 years and 2 0 years respectively after the Parinibbana under the leadership of Venerable Yasa and Moggaliputta Tissa Theras. Not long after the third Council which was held in the reign of Dhammasoka, his son The N'enerable Mahinda Maha Thera brought into Ceylon The Pali Commentaries. Upon the admission of the Sinhalese Bhikkhus to the Buddhist Order, Arittha Thera and others of the Sinhalese race translated the Pali Commentaries into the Sinhalese language and had them all committed to memory. Later, at Alulena, at present known as Aluvihara in the Matale district 500 Arahats under the auspices of the great K^ing Vatta Gamini Abhaya, held a convocation and committed the Three Pitakas and the Commentaries to writing. As time went on, there came to exist several Sinhalese Commen- taries called Mahapaccariya Atthakatha so named because it was composed inside a large raft, Kurundi Atthakatha by reason of Its having been composed in a place called Kurundivelli, and Maha Atthakatha following the fact that the copy was made at the Maha \^ihara. There was also a Commentary written in the Andra language known as Andatthakatha. In course of time The Bhikkhus in India formed themselves into seventeen Nikayas or factions. As a result the original Pali Commentaries which had come down from mouth to mouth got mixed up with the different views held by these different factions. In consequence thereof, as well as by reason of the non-existence of the texts in writing and also through diverse other causes, The Holy Text fell into decline in India. At the same time, however, it flourished in Ceylon where The Maha Vihara Bhikkus — the pupillary descendants of The Venerable Mahinda Maha Thera— remained orthodox. Amongst them the Three Pitakas with their Smhalese Commen- taries were also available in book form. There were also learned preceptors amongst them highly competent to render correct exposition of the doctrine and to make a clean sweep of the heresies introduced by the Bhikkhus of Dcnanakha and Bhagirinakha sects and by those who held the heretical views known as Vaitulyavada, X'ajiriyavada and Ratnakuravada. At this period The Venerable Buddhaghosa Maha Thera, a Brahmul born in Northern India, studied the Dhamma and established his competence among his country folk. Later he travelled to Ceylon, and under the guidance of the preceptor Venerable Sanghapala Thera, he studied the Three Pitakas in accordance with the instructions of The Maha X'lhara fraternity, and under the guidance of the preceptor \'enerable Buddhamitta Thera, he studied the Sinhalese Commentaries, The Maha Atthakatha Mahapaccariya. Atrhakatha and Kurundiya Attha- katha Then he expressed the object of his visit to Ceylon, namely, to translate the Sinhalese Commentaries into Pali. Thereupon the Sinhalese preceptors, who were versed in the three Pitakas and were also able to recite the same Irom memory, desired to test the fitness of The N'enerable Buddha- ghosa, and requested him to write a commentary on a single stanza which occurs in the Devata-Sanyuttaka of the Sanyutta Nikaya, namely : — Sile patitthaya naro sapanno Cittaii pafifianca bhavayaii Atapi nipako bhikkhu So imafi vijatayejatafi 3 The man discreet, en virtue planted firm, In intellect and intuition trained. The brother ardent and discriminant , *Tis he may from this tangle disembroil. In response to this invitation, Buddhaghosa compiled The Visuddhi Magga with material picked up by careful research into the entire region of the Three Pitakas. This able exposition of the Dhamma provided in itself ample testimony as to his fitness and ability for the task. Therefore the great Theras of Ceylon granted him permission to translate the Sinhalese Commentaries into Pali. The trust reposed in The Venerable Buddhaghosa was only honoured by him by faithfully following the rules of the Maha X^ihara Fraternity, and accurately converting into the Pali language the Sinhalese Commentaries of tlie three Pitakas with the exception of a of The Kuddhaka Nikaya. The Commentary called the Samantapasadika in the \^inaya Piraka was compiled according to the author V^enerable Buddha- ghosa, upon the invitation of the X'encrable Buddhasiri Thero, while residing at the great mansion Mahapaya, built and placed at the disposal of The Venerable Buddhaghosa by one Mahani- gama Swami, a Sinhalese Chief, within the great college associated by the Bhikkhus of the highest and purest discipline, situated to the south of Sri Maha Bodhi Vihara in Mahamegha Park at Anuradhapura, in the twentieth year of the reign of King Siriniwasa of Ceylon. Of the rest of the translations two appear to liave been written by him while in residence in the same monastery. Upon the invitation of a X'enerable Thera called Culla Buddhaghosa he wrote the Commentaries Atthasalini, Samm5havinodani and Pancappakarana Atthakatha on the Abhidamma Pitaka. X^arious other Theras of eminence were instrumental in getting The Venerable Buddhaghosa to write the Commentaries Sumangala-\^ilasani on the Digha Nikaya, Papanchasudani on The Majjhima Nikaya, Manoratha- purani on The Angurtara Nikaya, Saratthapakasini on Sanyutta Nikaya, Dhammapadarrhakatha on The Dhammapada, Jatakattha- katha on the Jataka series and Kankha Vitarani on the Ubhaya- Patimokha. The Maha Thera X'enerable Ananda of the Maha \'ihara who was versed in the Three Pitakas and their Commentaries compiled a sub-commentary by the name Mfilatika for all the Commentaries of The Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Wnerable Dhammapala Thera, a commentator who lived in Badaratirtha Vihara in Nagapattana now known as Nagapatam, came over to Ceylon and compiled Commentaries on the books of The Khuddaka Nikaya not commented on by The Venerable Buddha- ghosa and this Venerable Dhammapala Thera also wrote an Anutika (A sub-commentary) on the aforesaid Mulatika. One more sub-commentary by the name Madhu Saratthadipani or Madhunka on the same Mulatika was compiled by The Venerable Ananda Thera of Maharama in the city of Hansavvati in the Ramanna country. A Pali glossary was also written for the same book by one Venerable Nanakithi Thera who lived in a X'ihara known as Panasarama in the same country. A Burmese paraphrase was added by a Burmese Thera. Several other Theras also wrote glossaries and explanatory annotations for the same book. During the Sitawaka period, the line of The Maha X'lhara Fraternity having come to extinction, the apprehension of even the accurate meaning of certain words gradually declined, less to say anything of the study of the many commentaries. By reason of there being no Sinhalese work on the subject, The Sammohavinddani, the Commentary on the X'ibhangappa- karana, the second book of Abhidhamma Pitaka got out of reach of the beginners. Similarly works of the sort of Mulatika too fell into disuse. CONTEMPLATION OF THE ABHIDHAMMA PITAKA. Our Lord, the Omniscient, The Exalted Master, in the fourth week after attaining Enlightenment began to contemplate and review The Dhamma he had realized, being seated in the golden dwelling, placed at his disposal by the Devas by their Iddhi powers. When The Lord began to review The Abhidhamma Pitaka, it was not till he delved into the depths of the mcst subtle and abstruse Dhamma in the Maha Patthana which deals with the twenty four causal circumstances or relations that invariably take place in any phenomenon or event or thing, that he experienced pleasurable interest amounting to rapture. The psychological pleasure and happy feelings were so great 5 that, as a result of the brilliant and sparkling condition of the blood associated with the heart-base, which occured in the consciousness accompanied by joy and connected with know- ledge, that the six-coloured rays emanated from the body downwards penetrating the earth, water and air and upwards as far as the sphere of neither Perception nor No Perception and in the other eight directions endlessly as the four great essentials constitute the elements of the world.