Christianity, Buddhism and Common Morality

Panadura Vadaya Part 11 (Contd.)

Dr D. Chandraratna

Initially the Sinhalese were not actively opposed to missionary work because as far as morality was concerned they saw a bright side in co-existence. The Christian missionaries were a bit perplexed as to the sangfroid manner in which ordinary Buddhists perceived Christianity. For them both were similar in terms of morals. Respect or allegiance to both religions was not an issue of such importance to them. Buddhism has always been a syncretic system whereby alien elements were absorbed without much acrimony.

Allegiance shown to one was not necessarily a rejection of the other. Similarities in the two belief systems were also appreciated. Even Rev Gogerly of the Wesleyan faith was not puzzled by it; he in fact saw similarities between the two religions, in sacrifices made by Jesus similar to Gautama Buddha in his various sansaric births. While Missionaries took opposite stances, the adherents saw the benevolence, reverence, virtue and goodness in both systems as beneficial to mankind.

Buddhist monks saw the missionaries as similar religious virtuosi as themselves who preached to the uninstructed. Given the colonial inferiority felt by the bhikkus some were very happy to entertain and court friendships with the Europeans preachers. Turnour, the Government Agent of Central Province wrote, ‘Nothing can exceed the good taste and tact evinced by Buddhistical church in Ceylon with Europeans, as long as they are treated with the courtesy, that is due to them’.

Two monks in particular, Karathota Dhammananda and Bovala Dhammananda, gave their assistance in translating Christian scriptures without hesitation. Missions have recorded instances of ‘banamaduwa’ given to the missionary preachers but bhikkus were perplexed when church premises were refused rather indignantly. Hardy wrote that there were many occasions that he sought night shelter in a pansala and even temporary shelter from the heat of the day sometimes. There were many occasions, Murdoch noted in his diary, when he was fed from the alms bowl and given tobacco or some other ‘luxury’ to express their satisfaction at his visit.

Signs of Strain between Christians and Buddhists

In and around the 1850’s the Buddhist reaction to Christianity changed. The long periods of State neglect, indifference, and even hurt endured by the monkhood and the laity wore them down. The attacks by the missionaries were considered distasteful and even unjust. To label Buddhist traditional practices as ‘horrifying’, ‘abominable’ ‘evil and wicked’ were pretentious in the extreme. It even provoked Governor Horton to write to the head of the Wesleyan Mission Benjamin Clough to desist from such derogatory comments and even ordered to withdraw a tract because public disaffection to the coloniser can lead to serious consequences as was happening in India at the time. In 1852 Governor Anderson also wrote to the Colombo Archdeacon to ‘not repeat language so violent and offensive as calculated to excite and exasperate the whole Buddhist population’. These showed the nervousness of the administrators, conscious of their continued indifference and neglect to the demands made by the Buddhist for over half a century of British colonialism.

Ironically the printing press, which was the weapon that the missionaries used firstly to castigate Buddhism as profane and evil began to be used by the Buddhists in their counterattack. Being skilled in Sinhalese the monks commanded a hefty advantage over the adversary. The missionaries in turn had to be acutely proficient to rebut the Buddhist scholars. Two missionaries of the Wesleyan church, Reverend Gogerly and Spence Hardy, began reading Sinhalese Buddhist literature and Pali sources unabashedly under the tutelage of Buddhist monks in order to put their knowledge into practical use.

A Sinhalese treatise by the name Kristiani Prajnapthi was re-published by Gogerly in 1853 to refute the Buddhist doctrine and establish the Christian ‘truth’. The title of Part 1 was ‘Buddhism is not a True Religion’. Gogerly’s protégé, David de Silva, followed Gogerly in writing shorter tracts with more punch in a style to excite the average reader. The anti Buddhist material coming from Baddegama mission catapulted Galle and Matara into becoming Buddhist fortresses due to the sagacity and popularity of monks in the lineage starting from Mulkirigala. While the Buddhist press questioned the existence of an eternal god, eternal soul, divine creation and original sin the Christians railed the Hindu- Buddhist cosmology, popular cults and exorcist practices existent in popular Buddhism.

The press belonging to Christian Mission in Kotte came into the hands of the ‘unknown’ Buddhists which was used in opposition to Christianity, and their numerous publications were condemned by the opponents as sheer blasphemy. Another press came up in Galle under Bulathgama Sumana in 1862 that was financed by the Siamese King Mongkut and a Kandyan Chief from Uva. Galle publications were directed by Hikkaduwe Sumangala a respected scholar, then in his 30’s who demonstrated his skills in the Adhikamasa and Sav Sath Dam controversies. Mohotivatte Gunananda, five years Hikkaduwe’s senior, a relatively unknown monk soon arrived on the scene to became the leading champion of the Christian Buddhist confrontation.

Mohottivatte

popularly known as Migettuvatte Gunananda, though born in the Southern province lived at Deepaduththaramaya in Kotahena, a temple founded by his uncle and teacher Sinigama Dhirakkandha. His experience in Colombo where monks were made unwelcome in the Colombo suburbs had a hardened attitude towards the Christian missionaries. His verbal skill, language fluency, dexterity as a preacher with zeal far exceeded that of his adversaries. His organization called Sasanabhivurdhi Dayaka Dharma Sangamaya happened to be the once unknown new owner of the Church Missionary Press.

Migettuvatte

published a reply to Gogerly’s Kristiani Prajnapthi in the new Press in Durlabha Vinodiniya which was a monthly periodical which triggered a rival periodical by Gogerly, Sudharma Prakaranaya. These periodicals sometimes did not survive for long and a spate of such magazines arrived in quick succession. The Kristiani Vada Mardanaya 1862, Samyak Dharshanaya by Migettuwatte, and Bauddha Vaksharaya and Sumathi Sangrahaya, Labdhi Tulawa by Hikkaduwe from the Galle Lamkopakara Press to which the Wesleyans replied with Bauddha Vakya Khandanaya and Satya Dvajaya as a counter publication.

As the publications proliferated the topics widened and the scholastic nature improved, Gogerly, anointed ‘as the first Pali scholar known, resplendent as a preacher shone’ (Spence Hardy) died soon after and he was replaced by Hardy himself who had returned to the island after a lapse of 15 years. Hardy’s tenure was short and eventually the Baddegama Wesleyan Mission passed over to Gogerly’s pupil, David de Silva, who became the principal adversary of Migettuvatte in the years to come. The British missionaries who were adept at public debate and dialogue were keen on public discussion of religious subjects but the response so far from the Buddhist monks remained lukewarm.

Public debates:

The end of an outwardly friendly relationship

The Buddhist monks, at first were not eager to enter into public debate with the Europeans but when the Missionaries exceeded their limits by frequenting the temples on popular festival days and addressing their dayaka community the monks were naturally irritated. Intrusions by missionaries with pamphlets prepared well in advance to discourage the Buddhist public became far too frequent.

The first encounter with the missionaries took place at Baddegama on November 21, 1864 when a few missionaries from the nearby church mission challenged the monks in the temple in their own premises, which was accepted by the irritated monks and fixed the debate for February 8, 1865. On that appointed day the missionaries were no less surprised by the enormous crowd of around 2,000 well organized by Bulathgama. Led by Hikkaduwe there were present the ablest monks from the Galle precincts.

The supporters of Christian missionaries present numbered around 60 to 70. The show of strength was hard to comprehend to the missionaries. It was not really in the debating format but an exchange of letters on questions and answers, which were published later. Another similar exchange was held at Varagoda, Kelaniya in the same format followed by a real public debate at Udanvita in 1866. A proper ‘debate’ was held at Gampola, for the first time, in January 1871.

The Famous Panadura Debate

The third of the series and by far the most famous proper debate was held at Panadura from Aug. 26th and 28, 1873, at Panadura in the presence of 5,000-7,000 people on the first day and over 10,000 the second day. The impact of the Baddegama debate had given both missionaries and the Buddhists a jolt and both parties were eager to marshal forces for a fierce contest at Panadura. The spokespersons for the Christians became a ‘painful’ affair to match Migettuvatte, a ‘consummate master of public haranguing’, which was no easy task. David de Silva the student of Rev Gogerly, though learned was a poor orator and F.S Sirimanne, a catechist at the CMS, better orator, assisted by Samuel Perera, a Sinhalese Minister were chosen. The Wesleyan Mission at Baddegama went on a spree just on the eve of the great event attacking the Buddhist monks as less intelligent, having an appearance of great vacancy, verging on imbecility and mental inertness. (Hardy, Eastern Monachism). The missionaries dared the monks to come out in open so that they could be humiliated in public.

The Christian missionaries badly miscalculated the situation. Spence Hardy who led the Christian side did not gauge the Buddhist enthusiasm correctly. The attacks of monks that he had earlier directed galvanized the so-called ‘indifferent laymen to get closer to the monks’. The monks themselves took the challenge seriously devoting time for research and preparation. The monks nuanced in matters such as karma, nirvana, Buddhahood, rebirth, resurrection etc., in their day- to- day preaching were more than prepared to ridicule the essentials of Christianity; Divine Providence, eternal God, creation versus natural evolution.

The missionaries were concentrating on the Hindu- Buddhist cosmology, the weakest link, incompatible with general knowledge of science at the time. But the Christians were equally vulnerable to the same charge in their belief system. When David de Silva sarcastically asked Migettuvatte why the Western explorers failed to find Maha Meru in their exploits, Migettuvatte returned the brickbat asking David de Silva whether any of the explorers found the Garden of Eden. On many other counts the same tactics were used by both parties about the omniscience of God, historicity of recorded events in both doctrines. Being two belief systems it is natural that logic, science and reason cannot assist both on many counts but debates and ridicule have immense emotive appeal to the ordinary person. It is to be expected therefore that when Migettuvatte concluded his words cries of Sadhu Sadhu emanated from the thousands of highly affected followers. It was apparently up to Hikkaduwe and Migettuvatte to beckon the agitated crowd to keep the peace.

Help from Free thinkers

and Theosophists

Around this time there were Europeans, who raised issue with theistic doctrines and free thinkers who cast a fascinating eye at Eastern mysticism in addition to their interest in dead languages such as Pali and Sanskrit. These developments in the West came to the attention of the Sinhala literati. The Sinhala periodical Vibhajjavadaya edited by D.P Wijesinghe published some of their accounts in Sinhala, which caught the eye of the monks. Correspondence and exchange of printed material gave an impetus to the efforts of Buddhist monks to lift their own morale and also the possibility of using the Westerner to demand their due

from the colonizing Europeans. Sinhala Buddhists were yearning for white European assistance to confront the colonizers. The Bishop of Colombo, Reginald Copleston, obviously irritated by the impetus Buddhist monks were receiving from some quarters made his disquiet public. He said to call Sri Lankan monks as ‘brothers of intellect’, by some Europeans animated by an ill judged but insignificant controversy in a sleepy town by the name of Panadura, was damaging Christianity. This doubtless was a reference to Henry Olcott, Founder of the Theosophical Society and Madame Blavatsky whose booklets had been sent to Migettuvatte prior to the Panadura event.

Spence Hardy before leaving Ceylon wrote that, ‘The cross must triumph. The time will come when the vihara will be deserted, the dagoba unhonoured, and the bana unread’. His optimism was short lived and the new Bishop of Colombo conceded upon assuming his duties in 1874, that, ‘there is little doubt that Buddhism is far more vigorous in Ceylon than it was a 150 years ago’.

= This article is written in appreciation of two of my academic friends who have rendered their due to foster scholarship in Sri Lanka.

=Late Kitsiri Malagoda, my contemperory at Peradeniya, and later in our academic circle on Sri Lanka Down Under sadly passed away a few years ago. His seminal work was Buddhism in Sinhalese Society 1750-1900, Cambridge University Press.

= P.V.J Jayasekera’s (Retired Professor of History) Confrontations with Colonialism Vol 1, Vijitha Yapa Publication, which is also used by me in writing this article, is an outstanding contribution to Sri Lankan History and is of immense theoretical depth.