The most influential scholar associated with this efflo-
rescence, if not Therava ̄da scholasticism generally, was Bha-
dantacariya Buddhaghosa. Probably a native of northern
India, Buddhaghosa traveled to Sri Lanka in order to trans-
late the Sinhala commentarial tradition, preserved by the
Maha ̄viha ̄rava ̄sins, into Pali, which by this time was recog-
nized as the lingua franca of the international Therava ̄da
community. Buddhaghosa’s industriousness during his resi-
dence at the Maha ̄viha ̄ra produced a rich and extensive cor-
pus of Pali commentarial literature that became a fundamen-
tal resource for subsequent scholarship and practice
throughout the Therava ̄da world. In addition, Buddhaghosa
produced a comprehensive meditational guide and doctrinal
summary known as the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purifi-
cation). Rich with historical anecdotes, the Visuddhimagga
remains an authoritative resource for Therava ̄da scholars and
adherents from his own time to the present. Although there
is no corroborating evidence, a Southeast Asian tradition re-
cords that Buddhaghosa traveled to Burma late in his life and
that his influence inaugurated a renascence of Burmese
Therava ̄da.
Two monks from South India, Buddhadatta, a younger
contemporary of Buddhaghosa, and Dhammapa ̄la, his suc-
cessor, also made significant contributions to the new litera-
ture in Pali. And many scholars believe that it was a monk
from the Abhayagiri monastery who composed a manual en-
titled Vimuttimagga (The Path of Liberation), which, while
not as wide-ranging, was nevertheless remarkably parallel to
Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga. Some scholars suggest there
may be a common source for both of these manuals that has
parallels or variations in India as well.
Another movement in Sri Lanka that drew interested
monks from all Therava ̄da nika ̄yas was ascetic in character
and led to the rise of at least two prominent groups. The first
group, known as the Pam:suku ̄ likas (“those who wear robes
made from rags”), began to play an important role during
the seventh century and continued to be noted in historical
records until the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Although
little is known about the group, it is quite possible that at
least some of the Pam:suku ̄ likas were strongly influenced by
Tantric trends that were becoming increasingly prominent
throughout the Buddhist world, including Sri Lanka.
The second group, which attracted many proponents,
especially from among the Maha ̄viha ̄rava ̄sins, first began to
be mentioned in tenth-century records. Referred to as
a ̄raññikas (“forest dwellers”), these monks declined to reside
in the rich monasteries of the capital and established their
own monastic centers in the countryside. They adopted a
more stringent discipline than their urban contemporaries,
and emphasized more rigorous modes of scholarship and
meditation.
Throughout the entire first millennium CE, as Sri Lan-
kan Therava ̄da Buddhism developed its monastic teaching
and modes of practice, it also developed various civilizational
aspects of its orientation. There was often serious and some-
times destructive competition between segments of the mo-
nastic community for royal support in particular and lay sup-
port in general. Serious disagreements among different
Therava ̄da groups concerned various matters such as the pro-
priety of monastic land ownership and wealth, the status and
authority of the king, the appropriateness of various forms
of ritual practice, and the like. But despite the differences,
several general trends emerged. For example, over the course
of the millennium monastic institutions controlled increas-
ing amounts of land and accumulated increasing amounts of
wealth. With regard to royalty, the Therava ̄da notion
of kingship became gradually more exalted until, by the end
of the period, the king was generally portrayed as a bodhisatta
(future Buddha). Various relics of the Buddha, especially the
tooth relic and the alms bowl relic, came to be regarded as
palladia of the kingdom, and also became centers around
which large-scale “national” festivals were celebrated.
THE GREAT REVIVAL AND BEYOND. During the first centu-
ries after the turn of the second millennium CE, the center
of gravity in the Therava ̄da world shifted significantly to the
east. In India, Buddhism, including Therava ̄da Buddhism,
succumbed almost completely to the pressures exerted by
Hinduism and Islam. But in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thai-
land, Therava ̄da gained new vitality and spread to new areas.
Establishing centers in the Mekong Valley, the Therava ̄dins
attained preeminence by the mid-fourteenth century both
among the Khmer (Cambodians) and the Lao.
At the beginning of the period Therava ̄da fortunes were
at a low ebb. In Sri Lanka, the Therava ̄da sangha had suffered
serious setbacks as a result of Co ̄
̄la invasions from South
India and the collapse of the hydraulic civilization of north-
ern Sri Lanka. In Southeast Asia, the Pyu-Burmese and Mon
civilizations in which the Therava ̄dins had played a major
role had lost much of their vitality. During this period, the
kingdom of Pagan seemed to be more oriented toward Hin-
duism and Sanskritic forms of Buddhism than toward
Therava ̄da. And with hegemony over most of what is now
Thailand, the powerful and expansive Khmer court at Ang-
kor was strongly oriented toward Hinduism and Maha ̄ya ̄na
Buddhism.
Accounts of the beginnings of the Therava ̄da resurgence
that occurred in the latter half of the eleventh century vary
according to the tradition that has preserved them. However,
one primary fact stands clear both in Sri Lanka and in
Burma: Therava ̄da became the favored tradition at the major
centers of political power. In Sri Lanka this occurred after
the explusion of the Co ̄
̄la invaders and the restoration of
Therava ̄da-oriented Sinhala royalty by Vijayaba ̄hu I. In
Burma, it occurred through the conquest of the Mon by
King Aniruddha of Pagan, his introduction of Mon
Therava ̄da monks and their traditions to Pagan, and the sub-
sequent recognition in Pagan of the preeminence of the
Therava ̄da sangha.
Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, the revitalized Therava ̄da tra-
dition was given an important new direction in the twelfth9148 THERAVA ̄DA