Category Archives: Janbudveepaya (Part I)

Gautama Buddha was born in Hela Bima

Ancient Hela Diva, as explained by Aaataanaata Sutta and Maha Samaya Sutta

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If Aaataanaata Sutta and Maha Samaya Sutta in Deeganikaya in Tripitaka, a sermon by Buddha himself, are carefully studied, true & accurate more information about Siw Hela[1] named as Janbudveepa where Gautama Buddha resided and preached his Dhamma, can be discovered. Buddhists can read both these sermons in the pirith potha[2]. And also they can listen to Aaataanaata Sutta every day from the radio. Though these Suttas are heard on daily basis, accurate information about the history mentioned in Magadhi terms, are not explained by any one up to now. Today has become the practice of learnt Bhikkus also of hiding the real meaning of this Sutta claiming that Sutta is meant for chasing out the demons and the spirits.

 In order to get a clear picture over our history of Hela Diva, it is necessary to analyze the special historical factors highlighted in both these Suttas found in the pirith potha which is available at every house and listened to the chanting of the Sutta everyone on daily basis. It’s a great mistake to think that these Suttas contain information about a group of some invisible powerful spirits such as demons & Buthas [3] who are weird, miraculous and very extraordinary. Aataanaata Sutta is nothing but a Sutta which is rich in true information and gives a very clear picture about the history of Heladive of Buddha’s time.

 Here, it is not expecting to re-write the entire Aataanati Sutta again which is written in Maagadhi language in Tripitaka, but only certain important parts will be analyzed in details.

 “ Evan me suthan ekan samayan bhagavaa
raajagahe viharathi gijjakoota pabbathe
athako chaththaaro mahaaraajaa
mahathiyaacha Yakkha senaaya
mahathiyaacha gandhabba senaaya
mahathiyaacha Naaga senaaya
mahathiyaacha kumbhanda senaaya”

One day when the Enlightened One, Gautama Buddha, resides in the monastery in rock called Gijjakoota which is situated closer to the city of Rajagaha, four great kings of the Yakkha tribe mentioned here, came to see the Buddha with their full armies. They had come to see the Buddha for a special discussion, to say something special to the Buddha.

When a ruler of a kingdom or a king goes to an area out of his kingdom for a special matter of this nature, it was the custom in the ancient time to going there with his full armies.

Gijjakoota, the monastery of the rock, the city of Rajagaha where Buddha was living that time and also the kingdom of Yakkha, all these were situated in one country, the island. It is very preciously mentioned in this Sutta. But they were in two different administrative areas. The names of the four kings found in the Sutta such as the king of Kuwera called “Wessawana”, the king of Gandharwa called Dhatharattha, the king of the Naaga tribe called Viroopakkha and the king of Kumbandha called Viroolha are human beings. All in the armies came with these kings are also human beings. They are human beings of each tribe and not the invisible, unknown and extraordinary spirits.

The kings of the four tribes and also the armies came with them were human being who lived in different kingdoms situated in different regions in this Hela Diva in the ancient time.

In the ancient times, Hela Diva was divided in to four different parts, namely, Yakkha Hela, Naaga Hela, Kumbhanda Hela and Gaandharwa Hela. In addition to this there were sixteen Sakyan Janapadas in Janbudveepa which came under Deva Hela. The city of Rajagaha mentioned here was in the Sakyan state called Maghada in Dewa Hela.

In that night, four kings of the Yakkha tribe came to see the Buddha with bright lamps in hand. Like you and me, all of them were human beings. They are our great great grand fathers.  They were human beings of a particular tribe lived in our own country in the past.

In the past Thun Helaya[4] had three parts namely Deva Hela, Yakkha Hela and Naaga Hela. Yakkha, Kumbandha and Gaandharwa were the three Yakkha tribal groups lived in Yakkha Hela. They had their own kings.  There was one main leader, one main ruler for the four tribes called Yakkha, Naaga, Kumbandha and Gaandharwa. That was the great king, King Kuwera called Wesamuni reigned from the city called Aataanaata. The center of administration and the house of the state of Yakkha Hela were situated in the city of Aaataanaata. It was situated closer to Vilachchiya in Anuradhapura.

In the city of Aataanaataa, at this house of the state which is common to all these four kings of Yakkha Hela mentioned in this Sutta, all the kings and the rulers resolved a commandment called Aataanaataa enactment. These four great kings who made up this commandment came to the city of Rajagaha that night to see Gautama Buddha and informed the Buddha about their commandment, the content of this commandment, how they expect to execute it and the names of forty leaders of the four Yakkha tribes who were empowered to execute this law etc.

 King Wesamuni broadly explained the reason for the declaration of the commandment called Aataanaataa to the Buddha.

 Following Maghadi  words explain it,

 1. Saththihi bhanthe ulaaraa Yakkhaa bhagavatho appasannaa
     Santhihi bhanthe ulaaraa Yakkhaa bhagavatho pasannaa

 2. Saththihi bhanthe majkhadima Yakkhaa bhagavatho appasannaa
Santhihi bhanthe majkhadima Yakkhaa bhagavatho pasannaa

3. Saththihi bhanthe neechaa Yakkhaa bhagavatho appasannaa
Santhihi bhanthe neechaa Yakkhaa bhagavatho pasannaa
Yebhuyeyna kho pana bhanthe Yakkha
appasnnaa yecha baghavatho
than kissa hethu
bhagavaahi bhanthe paanaathipaathaa veramaniyaa Dhamman desethi
adinnaadaanaa veramaniyaa Dhamman desethi
kaamwsu michchaachaaraa veramaniyaa Dhamman desethi
musaavaadaa veramaniyaa Dhamman desethi
suraameraya majjipamaa datthaanaa veramaniyaa Dhamman desethi
Yakkhaa  appatvirathaa yecha
paanaathipaathaa, appatvirathaa, adinnaadaanaa appatvirathaa
appatvirathaa kaamwsu michchaachaaraa
appatvirathaa musaavaadaa
appatvirathaa suraameraya majjipamaa datthaanaa
“ the san than hothi appiyan amanaapan”

 King Wesamuni spoke to Gautama Buddha. Thus,

 “Oh, most venerable Sir, some powerful Yakkhas who live among our subjects in the Yakkaha tribe respect the Buddha and his disciples with pleasant mind and thoughts, pay their homage to them. But some are not so, they act in a manner of disturbing the disciples of Buddha with unpleasant mind and thoughts.

Some of our own people with middle powers in the Yakkha tribe respect and treat the Buddha and his disciples with pleasant mind and thoughts. But some people of Yakkha with middle powers act in an unpleasant manner towards the Buddha and his disciples. It is a disturbance to the disciples of the Buddha.

Further, some low and inferior people in the Yakkha tribe also treat the Buddha and his disciples with honor and pleasant manner. But some low and inferior people of Yakkha tribe do not act in that manner.

There is a special reason for some of them to be interested in Buddha and some of them to be unpleasant in Buddha.

Most venerable Sir, your disciples always preach the good about Pancha Seela. They advice the people to follow Panch Seela. Your disciples preach our people not to harm animal life, not to steal from others and not to take intoxicating drinks.

But, most venerable Sir, a majority in our tribal community goes for hunting, harms animal life, goes for fishing and do it as a live hood. They are not worried about cultivating grains. They are not a group of people who work in the paddy fields with the plough, manage waters and do animal husbandry for living. They steal. Some of them are extremely vicious and may go to the extent of killing humans and eating their flesh. They take intoxicating drinks. The people of this nature are not interested in Buddha Dhamma preached by your disciples. They cannot follow that Dhamma. Some people in our Yakkha tribe have inhumane qualities. They have the qualities which cannot be expected from human beings. Hence, most venerable Sir, people of our Yakkha tribe having this kind of low qualities cannot be controlled by the Dhamma preached by you or your disciples. The way of Dhamma does not suit for them. They cannot understand the Dhamma.

In our king’s court situated in Yakka Hela in the city of Aataanaataa, we discussed all these things in details and we resolved the following enactment in the king’s court.  Most venerable Sir, we came here in this manner to inform you the things we resolved. The great King Wesamuni requested in humbly manner from The Enlightened One to spread out this information to his disciplines and ask them to act accordingly.

 “This is the enactment, the commandment of Aataanaataa”. King Wesamuni further informed the Buddha that, in order to execute this commandment, he would appoint forty regional Yakkha leaders as administrative officers who respect the disciples of the Buddha, who are interested in them and who know Dhamma. These forty administrative leaders in the Yakkha tribe will safe guard the boundary lines in the Deva Hela & Yakkha Hela, especially, places like Aranya Senasanas, caves, jungles, huge trees & tree-shelters where the disciples of the Buddha practice mediation & the code of Dhamma. They are given the required administrative authorities of the king to chase out the evil people in the Yakkha tribe who kill men and eat flesh, also to secure the required safety of the disciples of the Buddha. The very moment that any complaint goes to these regional leaders, they will act immediately, punish the offenders and safe guard the disciples of the Buddha. If there is any trouble or inconvenience, please inform them with a louder call.”

With regards to these facts there is a fable also in the Aataanaataa Sutta.

“ Seiyathaapi maarisa ranno maagassa
Vijithe chooraa, the newa ranno
Maagadhassa aadiyanthi na ranno maagadassa
purisakaanan aadiyanthi,the kho the maarisa
mahaa choraa, ranno maagadassa
awaruddha nama vuchchanthi
ewa mewa kho maarisa santhihi
amanussa chandaa rundaa rabhasaa
the newa mahaaraajaanan aadiyanthi”

King Wesamuni  also informs Buddha that “ Me, the great ruler of the Yakkha Hela, irrespective of the status, powers, relationships or any other reasons would punish all the members of Yakkha tribe within our territory who do unwholesome acts, unfair things, steal and disturb the disciples of the Buddha of Yakkha in the same way how the great king of Maghada, where the city of Rajagaha also coming under, excessively punishes the robbers, the great robbers & the bandits irrespective of their status, ranks or any other reasons.

Here, King Wesamuni takes the great king in Maghda as an example, as a fable. Maghada, ruled by a Sakyan king of Maghada, was one of the sixteen states in the Deva Hela of which city of Rajagaha was the capital city. The meaning of this is that the kingdom of Maghada was situated near the border of Yakkha Hela.

When the time that the great King Wesamuni presented the Aaataanaataa enactment to the Buddha, he had clearly explained certain things such as information of other three kings who came with him, respective areas that they ruled, the directions of areas ruled by each king, citizens of these kings and their way of life etc. This information is broadly explained from seventh stanza to the 31 stanza in the Aataanaataa Sutta. This explains the kingdoms of Yakkha existed in Hela Diva in the ancient time and also the directions of each kingdom. There is another Sutta in the Tripitaka which gives a lot of clear information about this. That is the Mahaasamaya Sutta. Following the clear explanations of these two Suttas, it is better to draw up a map on the ancient Hela Diva and explain this matter.(see the no 1 map of Lanka).

According to the explanation given that day by the King Wesamuni, Siw Helas in the ancient Lanka are as follows.

1. Gandarva Hela 

 King of Gaandarva called King Dhatharatta ruled Gaandarva Hela and it was situated bordering to the sea on the east direction of the city of Rajagaha. This kingdom wakes up with the sun rise in the north, situated in the purimaa direction (east direction), and was dwelled by the people of Gaandarva tribe. Fairly a large area came under Gaandarva Hela, stretching from the Thoppigala jungle to Batticaloa & Ampara districts, as the names given in today’s context. This Yakkha Hela dwelled by the Gaandharva tribe was situated on the east direction of Gijjakoota parvatha, where Buddha resided. Thoppigala was the capital city of Yakkha Hela.

 2. Kumbhaanda Hela

This kingdom, the dwelling place of Kumbhaanda tribe, was situated to the south of the city of Rajagaha and ruled by King Viroolha. Here, people eat raw flesh & fish, are extremely barbarians who would skin off humans and eat their flesh, kill animals for living, steal from others and take intoxicating drinks and consist of dangerous robbers and bandits. Their qualities are not of human beings. So they behave as demons.

Some parts in the districts such as Colombo, Kaluthara, Rathnapura & Galle, a large forestry area including today’s Sinharaaja forest were coming under Kumbhanda Hela.

3. Naaga Hela

 An area adjoining the great sea, situated on the west direction (pachchima disaa) to the city of Rajagaha was Naaga Hela and ruled by King Viroopakkha. Their livelihood was fishing. Some people in the Naaga tribe were in to trading in the sea as well. Villages and cities in the western coastal areas from Kalpitiya to Galle, as they are named today, were mainly coming under the Naaga Hela. A place in between Kelaniya & Negambo was the capital city and King Viroopakkha ruled his country from there. There had been many regional kings of this kingdom of Naaga, the Tripitaka says. All the villages such as Naagadeepa, Nainathiew and Nainamadama, as we call them today, were coming under Naaga Hela. Even in some interior parts, there had been some small kingdoms ruled by kings of Naaga tribe. Betel[5] was grown in Naagadeepa.

All the kings such as Choolodara, Mahaaudara, Maniakkhitha and Muchalinda ruled the different places where people of Naaga tribe lived.

4. Yakkha Hela

The great King Wessawana was the ruler of Yakkha Hela. This great King of Yakkha tribe was the chief leader of all other tribal kings as well. Hence, the great King Wessawana was the king for all four tribal communities in the whole island, namely, Yakkha, Naaga, Kumbhaanda and Gaandarva. The city of Aataanaataa was his centre of administration. Aalakamandawa (later Lankaapura) was a main city where the great King Wessavana had his royal palace. The people of this country of Yakkha were a group who did hunting, eating flesh and fish. As it was mentioned by the King Wesamuni, people in his county did not cultivate paddy. They did not use the plough and cultivate paddy fields. They ate yams, different leaves and grains gathered from the jungle. Mannar in Poonarin in Jaffna, districts like Anuradhapura, Putthlam & Kurunegala and also some parts in the Kandy & Matale districts came under Yakkha Hela and of which, in the ancient times, Aalakamandawa & Aataanaataa were the two main capital cities. (See the map). In the past, all the places up to Alawwa in Kurunegala district were coming under Yakkha Hela.  Demon Alaw [6](Aalaw Yaka) was subjugated by Buddha in this place called Alawwa, as we call it now. In the past this place too came under the reign of the great King Wesamuni. Uthuruku Divaina was another name given for this Yakkha Hela. The city Aalakamandaa was in the place called Mahavilachchiya or Vilachchiya today. In the past, the city of Aalakamanda was situated around a large natural water reservoir. Later, the history says that King Vijaya came to Lanka, with the support given by Kuveni, killed 80 princes of the Yakkha tribe and conquered the Yakkha Hela. What he captured was city of Aalakamandaa. It was popular, that day, as Lankaapura[7] as well. This city got this name, Lankaapura, purely because of its beauty.

The King Wessavana brought it to the notice of Gautama Buddha that he had appointed forty regional leaders of the Yakkha tribe who are capable enough to safe guard the boundaries of the Yakkha Hela, also have the utmost faith & respect towards the disciple of the Buddha and would act accordingly. Names of these forty leaders are also found in the Aataanaataa Sutta.

That day King Wessawana informed Gautama Buddha that he appointed these regional leaders of Yakkha, namely, Indra, Soma,Waruna, Bhaaradwaja, Pajaapathi, Chandano, Kaama Settho, Kinnugandu, Nigandu, Panaado, Opamanno, Dewasuthoo, Maathali, Chiththaseno, Gandhabbanalo, Raajaajanosabho, Sathaagiro, Hemawatho, Punnako, Karathiyo, Gullo, Seewako, Muchalindo, Wessamiththo, Yugandharo, Gopaalo, Suppagodho, Hirineththi, Mandiyo, Panchaalachancho, Aalawako, Pajjunno, Sumano, Sumukho, Dadhimuko, Manimaanicharo, Deegho, Atho, Serissako to safe guard the boundaries, to stick on and to execute the enactment of Aataanaataa.

Buddha carefully listened to all these and accepted the facts presented by King Wessavana. Later, Buddha assembled all his four types of disciples, namely, Bhikkhu, Bhikkhuni, Upasaka & Upasika [8], preached about this enactment of Aataanaata, methodology of it and all the names of the Yakkha leaders appointed to safe guard it. Because of this, the Aataanaata commandment consented at by King Wessavana at his court, later became a commandment of Buddha too.

Today, this is the reason for Aataanaataa Sutta to be appeared twice in the Pirith Potha and in Tripitaka as well, the command of the king and the commandment of the Buddha.

The Aataanaata Sutta in this nature was preached to people. Its content is about people. All those tribal people lived in this Hela Diva. Gautama Buddha too lived in this Deva Hela.

Now, Gijjakoota Parvatha[9] and the city of Rajagaha, mentioned in Aataanaataa Sutta, where the Buddha lived can be discovered from this Hela Diva itself.

The area stands like a circle of great rocks, namely, Rajagala, Nilgala, Buddhangala & Nuwaragala in the districts like Ampara, Badulla and Monaragala in today’s context, came under the kingdom of Maghada. Gijjakoota Parvatha too was situated in the same location of Veluvanaaraamaya which is closer to city of Rajagaha. This was situated to a place closer to the capital city of the kingdom of Maghada. Earlier, a large area like Uhana, Bakkiella, Gonaagalla, Mahaoya & Padhiyathalaawa in Ampara district today, Bibila, Maddagama to Badulla, Meegahakiwla & Mahiyanganaya and Maddagama to Akkarapaththuwa came under kingdom of Maghada. All the paddy fields which are cultivated today with the waters of Galoya reservoir too came under this same kingdom. In Gautama Buddha’s time King Bimbisaara was the emperor in Maghada. Later King Ajaasaththa came in to power. Hela Magadhi was the language used here. All of these kings found in Tripitaka reigned in this Hela Diva. In any book, paper or document written in India, names of these kings cannot be found.

Same as here, even in Maha Samaya Sutta, a very clear description on four Yakkha kingdoms, is given.

Until Buddhism was introduced to the capital city of Yakkha Hela in Anuradapura (to Lankapuar) by Arahant Mahinda Thero, the kingdom of Anuradhapura was such that the state leader and the people had the habit of going on hunting and killing animals in the wild. Arahant Mahinda Thero introduced Buddhism to King Dewana Paa Thissa who was the leader of Lankaapura (Anuradapuar) by that time. Arahant Mahinda Thero met King Tissa in a Poson Poya[10] day. The Mahavamsa says that even in the Poson Poya day forty thousand people had gone for hunting with their king to the wild. It is clear then Arahant Mahinda Thero introduced Buddhism to the people in Yakkha tribe in Anuradapura and not to the Sakyan people in the Deva Hela. Venerable Mahinda Thero brought the Buddhukeli Commentaries and Buddha Dhamma to Lankaapura (Anuradhapura then) from Janbudveepa. This is stated in Mahavamsa as Jambudveepaa Idhaagatha Lankapura. This note is preciously correct. It was the sixteen Sakyan states, including city of Sawath & city of Rajagaha, in Deva Hela was popular as true and real Janbudveepa where Buddha was born. It is very clear that Arahant Mahinda Thero came to Janbudveepa (the city of Rajagaha in Hela Diva) in search of supermandane Buddha Dhamma, learnt Buddha Dhamma & Hela language there, attended to the Arahantship, first introduced Buddha Dhamma and later Buddhism to non-Buddhist kingdom in Anuradapura. Arahant Mahinda Thero came to Janbudveepa and learnt Buddha Dhamma in the city of Rajagaha. That was Rajagala in Ampara. The history says that after the cremation of Arahant Mahinda Thero, the deposit of his ashes had been discovered from this place. Because of this, what is mentioned in Mahavamsa, “ jajbuddeepaa idhaa gathaa Lankapura”, is true. When the time Mahavamsa was written in Hela, Janbudveepa was in Rajagala in Ampara. Lankapura was Mahavilachchi near Anuradapura. According to this, Bhikkuni Sangamiththa brought in the right branch of the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi from Janbudveepa to Anuradhapura.  That is also true. Hirivadunna now was a place in Janbudveepa in the past. A branch of the Bo tree was taken from there to Anuradhapura in a boat.

 Janbudveepa means the island where Buddha was born and all the future Buddhas will be born. In Aataanaataa Sutta, King Wesamuni explains to Gautama Buddha that four Buddhas in the past had been born here in Janbudveepa and the ancestors in King Wesamuni’s family had an unbroken custom of paying homage to all those Buddhas. Its proved that this Hela Diva which is popular as Janbudveepa has the universal energies which had help for the supreme Enlightenment of all the Buddhas in the past and will help all the Buddhas in the future too.

Ancient Siwhela

Main Janbudveepa States

[1] Four Hela.

[2] Pirith is the Sinhala word for paritta (in Pali), which means protection. “It protects one from all directions”, is the traditional definition. This is the recitation or chanting of the words of the Buddha. Pirith potha is the book which contains pirith.

[3] Ghosts, spirits. According to Buddha they are different creatures living under extremely poor conditions such as limitation of food & drinks, clothing , shelter etc. They get in to worlds of this nature due to the evil acts performed by them in their past lives. To overcome this situation, they expect humans, probably their own past relations who are human beings now, to do meritorious acts and pass the merits on them.

[4] Thun Helaya( Three Helas)  is another name for Lanka.

[5] Betel or Bulath – is the leaf of a vine belonging to the Piperaceae family. It is valued both as a mild stimulant and for its medicinal properties. Betel leaf is mostly consumed in Asia with or without tobacco, in an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation with adverse health effects. Betel leaves are used in many occasions in Sri Lankan culture and people believe that they got Betel from Naa Lova, the world of Naa or Naga.

[6] The word demon was used here as in its general use. Demons in English language are spirits, but not Yakkhas and can not be used in place of the tribal group of Yakkhas found in Lanka. Presently in the common use word Yakkha is replaced with demon which is totally wrong.

[7]Lanka – beautiful, attractive. Pura – the city.

[8]Bhikkhu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. Bhikkhuni is a female Buddhist monastic. Upasaka is a male lay Buddhist. Upasika is female lay Buddhist.

[9] The rock called Gijjakoota.

[10] The full moon poya day in June. Buddhists consider this day as the day that Arahant Mahinda came to Sri Lanka from India and introduced Buddhism to them. They commemorate this day with religious activities.

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Ashoka the great and the kingdom of Buddha built by him

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Everyone knows the true story of the eminent ruler in the Indian history, the emperor, the great King Ashoka, building his kingdom of righteousness in the regions which came under his custody, after nearly 280 years of the parinirvana of Gautama Buddha. Another true story hidden in this story is covered by the sands of time. In proving this, we can also use a lot of information of the book written on the Indian history in Ashoka’s time by Professor A L Basham[1] This book was published in English language. Later it was translated in to Sinhala language too. Some details in the original English book have been missed out in the Sinhala translation. It seems that, otherwise, the opinions of the translators too are taken in to the book.

The emperor Ashoka came in to the throne in India by conquering the Greeks. First, the great king Ashoka conquered the East India, West India and then North India, finally he turned towards the South Indian region. Final and the bloodiest battles planned by him was the Kalinga war. The slain was in thousands, a similar number of people were taken in to the prisons and finally he was able to stretch his reign up to river Kaveri.

He heard and knew about the rich culture prevailed in Hela Diva and his armies were sent from Kalinga to conquer Hela Diva. Though he sent the armies several times to Hela Diva, they could not even reach Hela Diva.

By this time, Buddha Dhamma was well established in many parts of Hela Diva, Bhikkus could be seen frequently even in South India. Buddha Dhamma was extended up to river Kaveri in South India. Asoka the Great was able to know about Buddhist Bhikkus and also about principles of non-violence found in Buddha Dhamma. After the battle in Kalinga, King Ashoka was exhausted and then a special incident happened and that brought him a great mental relief and total change in his life. That is to see the Bhikkus and to know about the principles of non-violence found in Buddha Dhamma. The emperor, by this time, was able to know certain things about Hela Diva and Buddha Dhamma from the Bhikkus themselves.

All the attempts he made to conquer Hela Diva using his armies were not successful. “I could conquer this big land, Barath Desha, but not this very small land, what is the strength behind that?”, King Ashoka asked from the Bhikkus.

The Bhikkus replied, “Oh great king, Janbudveepa is that island. It is a land of Buddha. It is Dhamma prevails in that land. The land of Buddha cannot be conquered by the strength of the military force. And it is then better to give up the idea of conquering Hela Diva by war”. The King Ashoka kept aside the idea of a war against the island totally and came out with a new thought. That new thought was to building a model kingdom of Buddha, a kingdom of Dhamma within his own land. With this idea, he ended up ruling his kingdom by war and started to run the kingdom by the righteousness. Chandashoka – Ashoka the fierce, became Dharmashoka – Ashoka of Dhamma.

Ashoka the Great then sent nine Purohithas[2] to Hela Diva and they studied and reported to him on things such as what is kingdom of Buddha? What is Janbudveepa?, What are the special places and rituals & customs of the island?. They were further ordered to find out all the relevant facts and information about the kingdom of Buddha and Janbudveepa (This is very clearly stated in the Mahavamsa).

This helped the King Ashoka to find all the relevant information about Hela Diva, Janbudveepa, kingdom of Buddha and Buddha Dhamma from his Purohithas. After finding out all the relevant information, the great King Ashoka got a very strange idea to build an artificial kingdom of Buddha across his Indian empire. Following this idea, in India too, he started building the models of the Viharas[3], monasteries, cities, all other religious places found in Janabudveepa in Hela Diva. Within a period of three years, his commands came in to actions by building eighty four thousand dagabas, temples & monasteries across the entire Indian empire and, not only that, some of these were named following their original names found in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva. In addition to this, following the names of the sixteen janapadas[4] in Janbudveepa, he used those identical names for the janapadas built in India as well. He built special monuments to commemorate the birth place of Gautama Buddha, the place of his Enlightenment, the place where he had his first sermon and the place where he entered in to his parinirvana. Likewise, he also built very special places found in Heladeepa such as Devram Vihara Jethavanarama[5] Vihara, Veluwana Vihara in the city of Rajagaha. That was not the end, Ashoka the Great appointed ministers of Dhamma for the service of these monasteries and made arrangements to bring down Bhikkus from Heladeepa.

And also the King Ashoka announced that the people in all the religious sectors in India can come and reside in those model temples and monasteries. Replacing the supreme Buddha Dhamma prevailed all these times in Hela Diva, the great King Ashoka could establish ‘Buddhisam’, which was a combination of good principles in religions found in the ancient India, principles of Pancha Seela, [6] and some special features & certain worldly non-violence principles found in the Buddha Dhamma in Hela Diva. The King Ashoka spread out this new religion in his vast empire and sent out the missionaries to propaganda the new religion in all the neighboring countries of India. He made arrangements for the third Dhamma Sangayana[7] also and got this ‘Buddhism’ well established in his empire. During his life time he could spread out Buddhism to many countries in the east. The ultimate result of this action was that, the supramandane Dhamma of Gautama Buddha of which Nirvana was the main objective, after 300 years of time, came under the influence of religious concepts and started to spread out as Buddhism.

The history says that there had been more than twenty to thirty thousand Arahants who had followed the supreme teachings of the Buddha in one part of Deva Hela (Janbudveepa where Buddha was born) even at the time that Ashoka the Great established a kingdom of Buddha, kingdom of Dhamma in India and made Buddhism the religion of the country. In this period too, the supermandane Buddha Dhamma was existed in one part of Janbudveepa in Hela Diva and in another there lived a tribal community who did not have any belief in any religion. That is the Yakka Hela. Those days in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva, in Buddha’s time too, most of the people in the tribal communities like Yakka, Naaga, Kumbanda and Ghandharva lived in this part in Hela Diva did not accept the teachings of the Buddha at all. Later, the Indian King Vijaya killed the leaders of the Yakkha community and became the ruler of Yakkha Hela, general citizens and the other kings who came after Vijaya did not have any interest in following Buddha Dhamma. What Arahant Mahinda Thero and the great King Ashoka did was introducing the Buddhism to the king of the Yakkha Hela and to the people of the Yakkha Hela who did not follow even Pacha Seela. Hence its clearly stated in the history that even when the time Arahant Mahinda Thero and the great King Ashoka introduced Buddhism to the kingdom of Anuradhapura, there had been thousands of Arahants in many parts in Deva Hela in this very country. It should be highlighted that the most venerable Arahant Mahinda Thero who is considered as the one who introduced Buddhism to Lanka and also his sister Sanghamiththaa had come to the areas such as the city of Savath, city of Rajagaha where the real teachings of the Buddha were practiced, had learnt the Buddha Dhamma from the great Aranhaths and attended to the supermandane status. Venerable Arahant Mahinda Thero learnt Hela language and Maaghadi language in this Deva Hela, not from anywhere else.

Even at the time that venerable Mahinda Thero and princess Sanghamiththaa came to Lanka from India, Shakyan princes had ruled many Shakyan cities situated in the east, Central and Southern directions in Hela Diva. King Kawanthissa, King Mahasena & King Abhaya and also many other known & un-known kings had ruled the cities like Thissamaharama, Sithulpawwa, city of Rajagaha, city of Devdaha & Kimbulwathpura situated in Janbudveepa in this Hela Diva itself. With the introduction of Buddhism to the kingdom of Anuradhapura (Lankapura), the culture of hunting animals practiced in Anuradhapura for all these times got changed. Gradually, a culture of cultivating paddy fields came into existence. The history says that when the time Buddhism was introduced to Anuradhapura by Arahant Mahinda Thero, even in the full moon Poya Day [8]the ruler of Anuradhapura had gone on hunting with his fellow men.[9]  The influence of the group of intellectual men of eighteen castes who came to Anuradahpua from India would have been a strong reason to change this culture from animal hunting in to the cultivation of paddy. Due to the influence of this group, reign of Yakka in Anuradhapura came to an end, the reign of Hela Diva got totally changed and not only the reign of Yakkaha Hela, even the Deva Hela, gradually came under the control of Anuradhapura.

From the tenth year till the end of the reign, Ashoka the Great ruled his country based on the concepts of kingdom of righteousness. It is very visible that the King Asoka did not want to believe in Nirvana administered by Gautama Buddha in the supermandane Dhamma and he never wanted to follow the path of Dhamma. He never gave up what he believed so far, which is also the belief of the mass in India, Hinduism based on the concepts of gods. Professor Basham clearly mentions that the king frequently went on pilgrimages and that is to the religious places of Hindu Brahmins.  Also it can be very clearly seen that any Ashoka inscriptions do not contain any note of supermandane Buddha Dhamma, but they carried frequent notes on religious concepts and divine prayers & rituals. Because of this, it’s a fact that Ashoka The Great formed a kingdom of Buddha, a kingdom of Dhamma & also a model of Janbudveepa in India only as a righteous mean of securing the power and the stability of his vast empire won by the wars and also to establish a reign of Dhamma which will then not bring any further killings in the country. He had no any knowledge and any confidence on Nirvana.

Buddha Dhamma very strongly helped the King Ashoka to end up all animal sacrifices, slaughtering of innocent animals, numerous rituals date back to thousand years practiced by the Indian religions such as Vedha, Shiva and Jainism and also to spread out the non-violence among his citizens.

Buddha Dhamma which was formed by a concept of King Ashoka, spread out in India and also in all neighboring countries for a short period of time, at least. This Buddhism came to Anuradhapura also, which was a part of the kingdom of the Yakkha tribe in Hela Diva. The next transformation was that the supermandane Buddha Dhamma prevailed for years in Deva Hela – Janbudveepa – in Ruhuna, which helped the people to attend to Nirvana, came to an end gradually. Finally, only its new form, the Buddhism, became popular across Hela Diva. The supermandane Buddha Dhamma of which the main aim is to direct people to Nirvana was not popular among the ordinary people. It is not an interesting religious concept to the ordinary men and women. According to supermandane Buddha Dhamma there isn’t a thing called happiness, Sukkha. It is just an illusion. We experience Dhukka[10], suffering, only because we go behind happiness, Sukkha. But according to the King Ashoka’s Buddhism formed with the conjunction of concepts of gods, worldly religious concepts which aspire Nirvana only after enjoying pleasure in divine worlds & in the human world came in to being[11]. The Buddhism was transformed in to a worldly religion of the ordinary mass which praised the values of all the meritorious acts, ordinary rituals aiming at the happiness in this world & in other divine worlds, and was popular among kings and the businessmen also. Because of this, in later years, a particular religious Buddhist group came in to being in this Hela Diva who works only for the worldly pleasures leaving the prime aim of supreme Buddha Dhamma, Nirvana. This is the transformation experienced in the ancient times in Anuradhapura.

In this manner, nearly after 1000 years of parinibbana of Buddha, the supreme Dhamma which purely aimed at Nirvana, taught by Gautama Buddha by rejecting nearly sixty religious beliefs existed in the Deva Hela in Janbudveep, vanished forever from Hela Diva. People again started to practice religious concepts and Buddha Dhamma was treated as nothing but a belief. It was mixed with religious concepts of gods and now it has passed nearly 1500 years. In the history of Hela Diva, Buddhism was accepted as the religion of the kingdom in many eras. By this way, the sublime path taught by Gautama Buddha for Nirvana, got disappeared. That is nature of the Darmatha.

There were mainly sixteen Sakyan states in Deva Hela known as Janbudveepa and it is the birth place of the Buddha. The supreme Buddha Dhamma was in practice in most of these cities in Heladiva even in the reign of King Ashoka. There were great Arahants as well as other noble ones who had attended in to certain stages in the path of Nirvana. The supreme Buddha Dhamma was embraced by the many. Even the members of the royal families in Hela Diva, discarded the wars, sacrificed all the royal comforts for the happiness in Dhamma, wanted to experience the renunciation of lay life and, gradually, as a result of this, the throne got fully affected. Generations of kings, queens and their descendants got extinct. Many parts of the country came under the control of the new kingdom in Anuradhapura. Sometimes later, the King Dhuttugamunu from a kingdom in Deva Hela conquered the kingdom of Anuradhapura too, became the very first king to rule the entire Hela Diva under one flag. According to the history of Hela Diva known to us, the great King Dhuttugamunu from Ruhuna was the very first king ruled all four parts of Hela Diva under one throne.

Even at the time King Dhuttugamunu came in to the throne, supermandane Buddha Dhamma was still prevailed in some kingdoms in Ruhuna in Deva Hela. But sooner after he came in to the throne, he too was not escaped from the Indian influences and did his best for the success of Buddhisam. Hence, this great land in Ruhuna, a heritage, the place blessed by nature which helped for the great Enlightenment of Gautama Buddha and also all other Buddhas in the past, was gradually covered by the thick jungles. Later, there wasn’t even one single human to be seen and it turned completely in to a great jungle. Devram Vehera, city of Rajagaha & all other sacred places in Janbudveepa built in the past were covered by the dense forests, even the names of them were forgotten and disappeared from people’s mind.

Although dagabas & monasteries built in Deva Hela were covered by the forest and forgotten in time, the model kingdom of Buddha built in India by the great King Ashoka was not destroyed so soon. Religious places found in that model kingdom of Buddha, later, were considered by the Hindus as their religious places too. It is possible that many Indian and Lankan authors who wrote books in the kingdom of Anuradapura knew about the model kingdom of Buddha built in India, but did not know about the locations and the very original buildings made in Buddha’s time in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva. Because of this very reason, all the authors from the time of Anuradhapura up to date, considered, and they meant it too, the ruins in the secondly built model kingdom of Buddha by King Ashoka as Janbudveepa, but not the ruins of the very original kingdom of Buddha in Hela Diva. These ruins in Hela Diva were not destroyed due to the effect of Darmatha and anyone can see them even today.

In Buddha’s time, the name Janbudveepa was used for Deva Hela as it gave the meaning that ‘the island where Buddha was born’ and later the authors and commentary writers of this country believed in that, based on assumptions, it was the name given to India. They mentioned that in their books as well. Now, this is the time to change this wrong interpretation about Janbudveepa and disclose the real truth to the world. From the past up to date many people made certain attempts to reveal the truth about this matter, but all of them had failed to do so. It is purely because of the fact that even today many people strongly believe that Buddhism and Buddha Dhamma are the same. Actually speaking they do not know Buddha Dhamma.

When it is started to preach the re-appeared supermandane Buddha Dhamma with the aim of guiding the world to achieve Nirvana, misleading ideas & wrong interpretations which were prevailed for all this times on ‘Janbudveepa’ & its history will be disappeared. Now it is the real time for the truth to come in to being.It can actually be considered as a yuga mehewara, fulfilling a great task for the betterment of all the beings.

Ashoka the Great built a model kingdom of Buddha[12] in his empire, he was genuine and did not have any idea to mislead anyone. King Ashoka never expected the world to believe that Buddha was born in India. King Ashoka installed all his inscriptions only as a mean to commemorate those places. He merely wanted to set up a mechanism by which he will be able to keep away any future wars and rule his vast empire, conquered by war, with peace and harmony until his death. He was successful. But the authors in Lanka, later, presented this idea to the world in a false way. This change, defacement was not done in India.

In building these significant places of Janbudveepa in India, Ashoka the Great had not considered even the distances among the said places. He just wanted to build these places across his empire. If he had wished to mislead the people, he could have considered the actual distances as well.

The actual distance from the palace of Suddhodhana in the city of Kimbulwath to the city of Dewdaha, prince Siddaththa’s birth place, in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva was nearly 40 – 50 km. In today’s context it is from Dimbulagala to a place in Kundasale, Theldeniya. But the distance from the place identified first as the city of Kapilawasthu in India to Lumbini in Nepal is nearly 3000 Kms (later this distance was considered seriously by the present scholars and another new place had been identified and declared as the city of Kapilavasthu). It is very impossible to come to the assumption that especially in a period where advanced transportations were not common, a pregnant mother who expects her delivery at any time had decided to go such a long distance to see her parents for her gab perahera. gab perahera was a custom practiced in Lanka in the past as well as to the present day. Customs of this nature cannot be seen in India. gab perahara is the visit made by a pregnant woman to her parents who expects her delivery in the very near future[13].

Likewise, the distance between the place identified as Buddhagaya today in India, and the place identified as Isipathana where Buddha delivered his first sermon is nearly 450 Kms.

The distance of the walk that Gautama Buddha made in search of five ascetics from Hirivadunna in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva, where Sri Maha Bodhi[14] still stands legendry, to the real Isipathana (today this place is called Isinbassagala[15] in Madavachchiya) in Kaseerata[16] is nearly 60 Kms. In the ancient times, Gautama Buddha spent nearly 3 days to cover this distance. If he had walked a distance of 450 Kms, then it would have been taken 20 days. But, what is known is that the Gautama Buddha realized The Enlightenment in Wesak Poya Day[17] , spent seven[18] weeks there and at the end of the eighth week, in one Esala Poya[19], had preached Dhamma to the five ascetics at Isipathana. It is necessary to look in to these matters not by the logical approach but by the perspective of Dhamma.

The distances from city of Visala to Kusinara and city of Rajagaha to city of Visala in Janbudveepa in the ancient Hela Diva, and the distances of the these places marked in India today are beyond someone’s imaginations. To get a true picture one can compare these facts as well. All the ones who go and had already gone on pilgrimages in India had experienced this. (These places too are described in a chapter to come).

The model kingdom of Buddha built by King Ashoka in India and the foundations of the buildings of the first kingdom of Buddha built 300 years ago in Janbudveepa, here in Hela Diva, are still existing. Someone who compares these ruins would see the following differences and that will be an aid for the realization of the truth.

  1. When one looks in to the available extraordinary ruins of different buildings and monasteries built by the kings, the Counts, businessmen & rich people who lived in Buddha’s time in Janbudveepa in Hela Diva, he would notice that the foundations of all these buildings are made by solid rock or seasoned rock slates. And also would notice that all those slates are made using very advanced technology. People who lived in Hela Diva in the ancient times had used seasoned rocks and this is something similar to making granite using rocks in the present day. The rock slates & foundations of the ancient buildings available even up to this date in areas like Ritigala, Hiriwadunna, Buddangala in Ampara, Rajagala, Nilagala, Thiriyaaya and also in Budugala in Balangoda, areas in Kurugala, Sithulpawwa, Thissamaharamaya, Maligavila, Kudumbigala, Muhudu Maha Viharaya, Kottiyaram Nuwara situated to the southern direction of Seruwawila and Kataram Pura. Because of this one can imagine the development of this technology of using rocks in the ancient times. But only the bricks & tiles had been used for the buildings of model kingdom of Buddha built by King Ashoka in India. In Buddha’s time, before the period of Anuradhapura, bricks had not been used in Hela Diva.
  2. It can very clearly be seen all the available ruins of all most all the buildings built in India by the great King Ashoka, characteristics and the influence of Hindu culture, Hindu architecture or Greek architecture can be seen very clearly. But the technology and characteristics of the foundations of all the buildings in Buddha’s period in Hela Diva are peculiar to us, cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. The architectural ruins found in Ritigla only will prove this. What we call Ritigala today are the ruins of Devram Vehere built by the rich merchant, Sudhaththa (Anepidu) with his money. It is the Jethavana Vihara where Gautama Buddha resided nearly twenty years. Hence, all the dagabas & monasteries offered to Buddha & the Sanga[20] by the kings, the Counts and wealthy merchants who lived in solos maha janapadas in Dewa Hela which were known as Janbudveepa were not made by using bricks. Also they were not possessed of any characteristics of Hindu or Greek cultural. But, most of the buildings and monasteries built later, in the Anuradhapura period and thereafter, were influenced by the Hindu and Greek architecture and they were made by using bricks. That is the era after the influence of India.
  3. Sculpturing, worshipping the statues and making of statues could not be seen in Buddha’s period in Janbudveepa, in ancient Hela Diva. Sculpturing and worshipping the statues came in to practice by an influence of Greek. Sculpturing and making of altars were started in Lanka after the Anuradhapura period by the activities of the craftsmen of eighteen castes who came from India. None of these were found in the supremandane Buddha Dhamma. All these can be seen in Buddhism and Buddhist culture. The people in the ancient Hela Diva paid their homage only to the secret footprint of the Buddha and to the Asathu Bo tree.
  4. It is necessary to place a note here on the amazing technology of seasoning rocks used for different purposes in Janbudveepa in ancient Hela Diva. This had been a well advanced technology. Technologies where stonemasons first break-up huge rocks, cutting out the slates from them were not seen here. And it can also be seen that these rocky slates were used only for the constructions of buildings which had religious values. The juice, extracted from three types of herbs taken from the jungle and grinded on a particular proportion, was mixed with another juice extracted from three fruits taken again from the jungle and this was finally used to season the rocks. This mixture was used to split the rock, to smoothen it like soft clay and then to be used for molding for any structure and finally to make slates in different shapes was an advanced methodology adopted in the past. It should be mentioned here that even the Rishis[21] in India of that day did not know about this advanced methodology.

If not for this advanced technology practiced in Buddha’s time in Hela Diva, it would have easily been taken more than one thousand years to make hundreds of thousands of soft rock slates which are spread out in 58 special locations today in a large area of 1000 acres in Ritigala. In the past, all these had been made within a period of one or two years. Today all these are considered as a work of Vishvakarma[22]. It is nothing but a demonstration of advanced technology used in Janbudveepa in the past.

[1] Professor Arthur Llewellyn Basham (24 May 1914 – 27 January 1986) was a noted historian and ideologist and author of a number of books.

[2] Chief advisers, chief priests to the king.

[3] The vihara is considered as an outstanding type of architectural creation of ancient Lanka. The vihra is also known by synonymous names such as chaithya, stupa, thupa,seya and dagaba.

[4] solos maha janapada, the great sixteen cities or states.

[5] Jethavana Arama. Arama of Jetha, the garden belongs to Jetha. These are well maintained gardens owned by very wealth persons or given for the use of disciples of the Buddha. These gardens are classic examples for the plots of land with utmost serene beauty, ideal for the use of the ones who lead the ascetic life. Lanka is full of these places and without knowing the reason driven to establish them, ‘treasure hunter’ destroy the ruins (specially dagabas and statues of the Buddha and others) found in these places in their attempts in searching ‘valubles’.

[6] The Five Precepts (Pali: pañca-sīlāni) constitute the basic Buddhist code of ethics, undertaken by lay followers of the Buddha in the Theravada as well as in Mahayana traditions. The precepts in both traditions are essentially identical and are commitments to abstain from harming living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication. Undertaking the five precepts is part of both lay Buddhist initiation and regular lay Buddhist devotional practices.

[7] The Council of Dhamma.

[8] Poya or Poya Day is the name given to a Buddhist public holiday in Sri Lanka which occurs every full moon day. The Full moon is important to Buddhists all around the world, who have adopted the Lunar Calendar for their religious observances. Owing to the moon’s fullness of size as well as its effulgence, the full moon day is treated as the most auspicious of the four lunar phases occurring once every lunar month (29.5 days) and thus marked by a holiday. Every full moon day is known as a Poya in Sinhala; this is when a practicing Buddhist visits the Temple for the rituals of worship. There are 12 or 13 Poyas per year. The term poya is derived from the Pali and Sanskrit form uposatha (from upa + vas: to fast) primarily signifying “fast day”. Generally shops and businesses are closed on Poya Days, and the sale of alcohol and meat is forbidden.

[9] Specially in poya days , Buddhists keep themselves away from acts like killing any living being.

[10] The impermanence of life. The interpretation given for this in the common world is ‘suffering’ which is highly misleading, harmful to Buddha Dhamma. Ones who do not have a thorough knowledge in Buddha Dhamma would come under the impression that Buddha taught only about suffering(s) in life. But what the Buddha taught here is that the non- existence of anything forever. This Dhamma suggests that nothing is permanent in this world, everything is subjected to change.

[11] After any type of meritorious deed done by Sinhala Buddhists, for example a particular serman or an alms-giving which is a part of the culture of Sinhala Buddhists, the monk(s) who headed the event will bless ( to transfer merits to the seen and unseen beings) the auduiance that they would experience, in the event of the maturity of the deed they just performed, many lives in the human world and also in the hevenly realms and finally realize the bliss in Nirvana. This is the pathetic consequence of the influence made by popular Buddhisam on the sublime teachings of Buddha. In fact, Nirvana is not something to be postponed and realize later in the future.

[12] Buddha Rajja

[13] Probably this could be her first visit to her parents’ house after her wedding.  Prince Siddhathth’s mother, queen Maayaa too followed this custom.

[14] The sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa) under which The Buddha attended to his enlightenment.

[15] Isin (irsheen or rishis or seers) +bassa (came down from..) +gala (the rock or stretch of rocks) – the rock or the rocky area from where the seers came down …

[16] The kingdom called Kasee.

[17] Buddhists believe that the Buddha realized The Enlightenment in the full moon day in May.

[18] Sath Sathiya. The General\traditional understanding of this is as follows.

First week: Under the bodhi tree – During the first week after Enlightenment, the Buddha sat under the bodhi tree, experiencing the happiness of freedom and peace. Throughout the week, He sat in one posture, experiencing the Bliss of Emancipation (Vimukthi Suva).  Second week: Gazing at the bo tree – In gratitude to the tree that had sheltered Him during His struggle for Buddhahood, the Buddha stood without moving His eyes as He meditated on the bodhi tree (Animisalochana Pooja), thus teaching a great moral lesson to the world. Buddhists who follow this example pay their respects not only to the original bo tree, but also other bo trees. Third week: Golden bridge – The Buddha saw through His mind’s eye that the gods were not sure whether He had attained Enlightenment, as the Buddha had not given up His temporary residence at the bo tree. To clear their doubts, He created, by His psychic powers, a golden bridge in the air, and walked up and down it for a whole week. Fourth week: In the jewelled chamber – The Buddha created a beautiful jewelled chamber (ratanaghara) and sitting inside it, meditated on what was later known as the ‘Detailed Teaching’ (Abhidhamma). His mind and body were so purified that rays of six colours came out of His body – blue, yellow, red, white, orange and a mixture of these five. Each colour represented one noble quality of the Buddha: yellow for holiness, white for purity, blue for confidence, red for wisdom and orange for defeat of desire. The mixed colour represented all these noble qualities. Today these six colours make up the Buddhist flag. Fifth week: With a Brahmana and three girls – While meditating under the Ajapala banyan tree, the Buddha replied to a Brahmana, who came to see Him, that one becomes a perfect Brahmana by one’s deeds and not by birth. Three charming girls called Tanha, Rati and Raga (the daughters of Mara) came to disturb His meditation. They danced around the Buddha and tried to distract Him, but soon got tired and left Him alone. Sixth week: Under the muchalinda tree – The Buddha started meditating under a muchalinda tree. It began to rain heavily and the huge Muchalinda Nagaraja (cobra king) came out and coiled his body seven times around the Buddha to keep Him warm and placed his hood over the Buddha’s head to protect Him from the rain. After seven days, the rain stopped and the snake changed into a young man who paid his respects to the Buddha. Seventh week: Under the Rajayatana tree – The Buddha meditated under the Rajayatana banyan tree. Two merchants, Tapassu and Bhalluka, came into His presence and offered the Buddha rice cakes and honey.The Buddha told them some of what He had found in His Enlightenment. These two merchants, by taking refuge in the Buddha and His Dhamma, became the first lay followers in the Buddhist world. There was no Sangha (order of monks and nuns) then. They asked the Buddha for something sacred and the Buddha wiped His head with His right hand and pulled out some hair to give them. These hair relics (Kesa Datu) were brought home and enshrined by the merchants.(Source-‘ Variety’,How the Buddha spent the ‘Sath Sathiya, S\Observer – 2006/05/14).

[19] Esala is the Sinhala name given for the month of July. This is the full moon day in this month.

[20] Sangas or Bhikkus are the members of the Order, non-lay disciples of Buddha, ones who have renounciated the lay life and entered in to path of Nirvana. They are known as Buddhist priests, especially in the western world.

[21] The Sages.

[22] In Hinduism this is the architect of god. But here ‘a work of Vishvakarma’ means that it is great work or a miracle.

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Real places where universal energy is centralized

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According to Maha PariNibbana Sutta, The Buddha himself addressed Ananada Thero and made a statement as follows.

“ Chaththaari Maani Ananda
Saddhassa kulapuththassa
Dassaneeyaani,sanvejaneeyaani thaanaani
Katamaani chaththaari 

 Iddha Thathaagatho jaathothi Ananada
Saddhassa kulapuththassa
Dassaneeyaani,sanvejaneeyaani thaanaani
Iddha Thathaagatho anuthththaro samma sambodhi

Abhisambuddhothi Ananda
Saddhassa kulapuththassa
Dassaneeyaanan,sanvejaneeyaanan thaanan

 Iddha Thathaagatho anuthththaran Dhammachakkan
Pavaththitanthi Ananda
Saddhassa kulapuththassa
Dassaneeyaanan,sanvejaneeyaanan thaanan

 Iddha Thathaagatho anupaadhisesaaya,nibbhanadhaathuya
Parinibbuthoothi Ananda, sadhassa kulapuththassa                      Dassaneeyaanan,sanvejaneeyaanan thaanan ”

The Gautama Buddha himself had addressed Ananada Thero and said that “Ananada, ones who seek Nibbana, ones who are on the path of Dhamma, Kula Puthras who are devoted & want to be Dassanena Sampanna, ones who want to be satisfied in thoughts and to achieve Samma Ditthi – to attend in to the Sothapaththi[1] stage through the path of Sothapaththi – there are four places to visit & to pay the homage which will undoubtly assist and be assisted for the satisfaction in mind. Those four places are,

  1. The birth place of prince Sidduhath.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=7.289069,80.760788&hl=en&t=h&z=16
  2. The place where Gautama Buddha attended in to his supermandane Enlightenment.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=8.022746,80.735792&hl=en&t=h&z=16
  3. The place where Gautama Buddha preached his very first sermon.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=8.567707,80.481675&hl=en&t=h&z=16
  4. The place where Gautama Buddha attended to his parinibbana.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6.633791,80.875546&hl=en&t=h&z=16

chaththaro_tanani

The devoted Kula Puthra is a special term used for the one who had listened to real Dhamma, directing his life in the correct path of Buddha Dhamma and entered in to the path of Sothapanna. Someone who had misled his life by rigid belief will not be having Saddha, the confidence. Since Buddha himself had preached and praised these four sacred places, it is necessary to discover these four places properly and understand the significance of them. The Buddha Shakthi [2] required to achieve supermundane fruitions (Maga Pala or Marga Pala[3]) in the Supermundane Paths (Maga) is centralized only in the association of these places. In the time that Buddha lived, there were many grate Arahants and these places were not that much important. It is because the devoted Kula Puthras could see the Buddha, listen to his voice, could experience Buddha spirit by themselves. But now a day, in order to get the real universal energy, these places should be correctly identified, visited and paid the due respects.

In order to establish a group of devoted Kula Puthras it is necessary to identify, disclose, preach the sublime Buddha Dhamma to the world. A genuine attempt to identify these places correctly and disclose them to the world would certainly be a great task to the mankind and that will be an aid for these noble ones to achieve the supermundane fruitions & attend in to Nirvana. It should also be mentioned that this truth is revealed in this manner and not having any idea to hurt anyone or to get some benefits enjoyed by them or to get anything else in return. In doing so, it is obvious to experience certain disapprovals. But, one day without being frightened, this whole truth should be disclosed to the world. The fear is a condition springs up in the ordinary mind. Today a majority of people who genuinely follows the sublime Buddha Dhamma is established in this Hela Deepa. This sublime truth is revealed in this manner to show and guide them on the correct path. In doing so, it should also be highlighted here that nothing of any recognition, propaganda, glory or benefits are expected.

A very long period like 1500 years, these four places with sacred Buddha Shakthi were covered and hidden by the effects of Dharmatha itself. It should be mentioned that alone with the disappearance of these places in time, many people lost the noble opportunity of attending in to Nibbana. As a result of the malformation and extinction of sacred Buddha Dhamma, not only these four key places, places like Devram Vihara where Buddha lived for twenty years, the city of Rajagaha, Veluwana Vihara and also many other sacred places which became so sacred due to Buddha’s presence with them, were disappeared in time. With the cessation of the supreme Buddha Dhamma and its new formation as a religious belief, Buddhism, made the devoted Kula Puthras rare and few. Ordinary followers who gave priority for religious beliefs and faiths were common and plenty. As a result, these sacred places were hidden off by the effect of the Dharmatha and in replacing them, some new places, models, came in to being and they got established. That is the nature of the Dharmatha. In a period where there are no any devoted Kulaputhras these sacred places will be disappeared and vanished by the effect of Dharmatha, it’s the nature of Dharmatha.

Disclosing the presence of these places and letting the devoted Kula Puthras to pay their homage to them is equally important as, in realizing Nibbana, it’s preaching the supreme Buddha Dhamma and attending into a Anusasana Praathihaaraya[4] through the preaching of “San”[5]. If someone wishes to achieve the spiritual purification through the true disclose of Patichchasamuppaada Dhamma[6]Dvathaa Dhamma[7],Thipariwatta[8] and Chathuraarya Sachcha Dhamma[9], and to be united with the universal energies released by the previous Buddhas, it’s a must to visit and pay homage to these places. Revealing this true knowledge only would be a great relief to the devoted Kula Puthras who genuinely attempt to experience ‘a fruit’ of the path of Nibbana in this life itself. Even today, these sacred places are well preserved to go and see them. The real intention or the expectation of revealing them is to giving a trouble free opportunity to go and pay the due respects for these places by the ones who are lucky enough to attend to Nirvana.

Due to some powerful Dharmatha, a long period of 1500 years, these sacred places were not known by the world. It should clearly be understood that these places were replaced with different structural models and people used to worship these new places. Since Buddha Shakthi or universal energy is not found in these structural models located outside Janbudveepa, any respective power helping the people to enable their spiritual purification cannot be experienced in these structural models. Hence, throughout the history, the pilgrims who went to these places in search of Buddha Shakthi, universal energy had lost the opportunity of experiencing that energy. Hence I decided to make this disclose now as its time to find all these places correctly and declare their presence to the world. This decision was driven purely by a genuine thought and I do not have any hidden agenda, not intending to get any benefits or to condemning or dishonoring anyone else. This should be considered only as a genuine course done towards the well being of the mankind.

Once its mentioned in a book of the most venerable Professor late Walpola Rahula once mentioned that some Bhikkus lived in Anuradhapura in Anuradhapura period, were not possessed with any spiritual real-understanding, yathaa bootha gnaana darashana, demonstrated by the sacred preachings of Buddha, but just lead an artificial life. This is the time to draw the attention of today’s educated Bhikkus and lay disciples on this statement again who consider Buddha Dhamma just as a faith. The ones in the Order, who lead an artificial life, had gone to its extreme end now and because of that now it’s the real time to reveal this truth.

Modern scientific researches have also proved that,  these places have lowest gravity on the earth.
goce_gravity_field_786map

(source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8767763.stm)

 

[1] ‘stream – entry’ , the lowest of the 8 noble disciples (ariya – puggala).

[2] Virtues of Buddha or the strength of the virtues of the Buddha.

[3] Conveniently known as  Marga-Pala, in Sinhalese.  They are the stream-winner (Sotapanna), Once-Returner (Sakadagami), Non-Returner (Anagami) and the Holy One (Arahant).

[4] Making miracles through Anusasana , the admonitions.

[5] Prounces as in Son.

[6] Doctrine of the Conditional Genesis – The teaching of dependent origination or dependent arising.

[7] The Dhamma which has plus and minus, good and bad.

[8] A doctrine of Self, a doctrine which explains three main trances.

[9] The Four Noble Truths – They comprise the essence of Buddha’s teachings,namely,The truth of suffering, The truth of the cause of suffering, The truth of the end of suffering, and The truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

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The Enlightenment – Janbudveepa and Hela Diva

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The birth of prince Sidhuhath[1], the sacred Enlightenment of Gothma Bosath [2]and the parivirvana[3] of the Buddha were taken place in Janbudveepa. A long period like forty five years, Buddha Dhamma[4] was preached to the people in Janbudveepa. Janbudveepa (Jan+bud+deepa)[5] is a three letter word in Magadhi language [6] which gives the meaning that ‘It is the island where the Buddhas are born’. According to the meaning of this Magadhi term, any particular noble person in this mother earth who aspires to achieve this supermandane status called The Buddhahood[7], he will get that great opportunity only in this Janbudveepa. All the Buddhas attended in to the most supermandane Enlightenment in the past and all the Buddhas who will attend to the most supermandane Enlightenment in the future in this world, will select this sacred island as their birth place. This name Janbudveepa is not a name of a particular place or a country. There is only, not many, place on earth which would be suitable for a birth of a Buddha with the universal energy in its center. There is only one place of this nature where the universal energy stands in its center. That place is called Madya Mandala[8] in Janbudveepa. This great human being, the noble man who aspires to achieve the supreme status called The Enlightenment without any guidance of any teacher but only by self wisdom, should defiantly be born in Janbudveepa and his sacred incident should occur at a particular place, under a particular Bo tree[9] situated in the Madya Mandala where the universal energies are centralized. This sacred Enlightenment itself is a definitive phenomena planned according to Dhamma Niyaama[10].

All the Buddhas from the time of Deepankara Buddha[11] lived in this Badra Kalpa[12], attended to their sacred Enlightenments in this motherland called Janbudveepa. The very meaning of the word suggests that this place is a deepa, an island. It cannot be a sub-continent or a continent. Because, a particular place or a point called Madhya Mandala cannot be marked in a continent or in a sub-continent. The universal energy will not be gathered or centralized in a place which is not a Madhya Mandala.

Hence, according to Dhamma Niyaama it is certain that there is only one single place in this whole world, there is no any other place, where there is a special universal energy which enables a Buddha to attend to his supreme status, The Enlightenment. By fulfilling Samathis Paramithas[13], the Buddha develops the universal energy within himself in a countless periods of this Samsara[14] which then will be united with the universal energy. This universal energy developed by him and the universal energy which had already developed by the previous Buddhas will be together and be centralized in the Madhya Mandala in Jambudveepa. The fulfillment of this process is called ‘Vivarana Ganeema’ in Sinhala language [15].

It should be highlighted that this particular magnificent place called Madhya Mandala in Janbudveepa, as we call it in our day-today language, which is the center point of the world with good energies and also the place of refuge for many Buddhas, is situated in the very center of a Dhamma Deepa[16]. Whiles there is a Madhya Mandala in this world with centralized good universal energies, on the other side of the world, there is an ending-point too with bad universal energies in its center. The western world calls this The Bermuda Triangle[17] and it has the bad universal energies in its center. These two places are located in two different extremes. The ones who do the good, the nature will support them and the ones who do the bad will be destroyed by the power of the nature, this is the nature of this phenomena. Hence, it is clear that the universal energy too is two-fold, there are two extremes of it, namely, the good and the bad.

It is no doubt that someone who can preciously understand the meaning of the word ‘Buddha’ in term of Artha, Dharma, Nirukthi and Patibhaaga[18], which has many different meanings and explanations in general context, such as, power[19] or virtues of Buddha, Buddha Dharma, Shakthi or energies of the Buddha, Buddha Gnaana, Buddhanussathi[20], way of Buddha etc, would not face any difficulties in understanding the meaning of “Janbudveepa” as well.

 “The power of the consciousness“ is the only energy source reasoned to create or to originate all the Sankatha, all the Sankara (Sabbe Dhamma) in this world. Every being is in the process of generating this power of consciousness on a continuous basis (punabbavothi). bu+uddha = Buddha means the total eradication of the process of this re-generation, origination (or punabbavothi) of the energy source, namely the power of consciousness. When the process of generating the power of consciousness is totally taken off or eradicated the power of the wisdom will come in to the mind in full. It is the power of wisdom called anuppado. Based on this Dharmatha[21] only, Buddha explained it as “nibbaanan anuppado”.

The meaning of existence or living is the constant origination (or come in to being) of the characteristics of raga, desha, moha[22] in your own mind which are powered by the power of the consciousness. The word bu+uddha means the total eradication of power of Sanbava [23] or the total eradication of the power source (Bhava) or the total eradication of root of the origin of raga, desha and moha. This power of origin will be originated no anywhere else, but only in the mind. Yatha bootha gaana darshana (or the wisdom of seeing things as they are) is the realization that this power of origin should be totally eradicated. The beings who constantly suffer due to the origin of raga, desha and moha can get a real liberation or a constant relief only by the total eradication of these powers which generate these defilements (Bhava). The Noble One who discovers this principle by his own insight and preaches it to the world, will certainly attend to this supreme position in this Janbudveepa itself and will be called Sammaa Sambuddha[24].

Hence, the birth of a Lord Buddha, preaching Dhamma to the people in the world, re-becoming of Buddha Dhamma and operation of the code of Dhamma over & over again, will occur only in an island called Janbudveepa where there is one single Maddha Mandala. The true Darmatha[25] was clearly stated in the Tripitaka[26] literature and Hela Wansa Katha[27] written in the past. Now, the main question remains for us to find the answer is that what was that island named “Janbudveepa” found even before the Anuradhapura period, i.e. in the era of Buddha.

The three lettered name “Janbudveepa” found in the original use in Magadhi Prakrit language[28], later, has been translated in to Sinhala language as Dambadiva, the island of Damba trees[29], by someone with padaparama[30] knowledge driven by the whole ignorance of the knowledge, and still is used with the same wrong interpretations. It has to be firmly mentioned that in India – The Bharath Desha – any place or any part of the Bharath Desha had never ever been used the names such as Janbudveepa or Dambadiva across the whole history and in the whole of Indian history there had never been existed a place by this name. During reign of Anuradhapura, 600 years after Buddha, some writers came from India only started to use the name Janbudveepa in place of India. Bhikku Mahanama who wrote Mahavamsa[31] Pela Commentaries is also an Indian. The very original Mahavamsa was written in Hela language. What Bhikku Mahanama did was translating the Hela Mahavamsa in to Pali language. It can be seen that Bhikku Mahanama had used the name Janbudveepa in several places in Pali Mahavamsa commentaries and it is correct. Bhikku Mahanama also described the word Janbudveepa as the island where Buddha was born. This clearly says that Janbudveepa had commonly been used with the meaning ‘The island where Buddha was born’.

“Janbuddeepaa Idhaa Gathaa” mentioned in Pali Mahavamsa commentaries is true and correct. Those days the name “Janbudveepa” was used for the area where Buddha was born, Deva Hela, which was in another part of this same island called Hela[32].  The book called Lokopakaraya written in the Anuradapura period says that this land of Hela had been divided in to four islands (Deepa), namely, Janbudveepa, Uthuru Kuru Deepa, Apara Goyanaya and Poorva Videha. And also the capital city of Yakkha Hela was named and used as Lankapura (Alakamandava). Even in the story of King Vijaya says that those days Lankapura was the name of the capital city of Yakkha Hela. In the city of Lankapura, with the support of King Vijaya, Kuveni[33] assassinated eighty leaders of the Yakkha clan. Later, this Lankapura kingdom was renamed as Anuradhapura kingdom. The names such as Lankapura and Janbudveepa found in Pali   Mahavamsa commentaries were used with wrong interpretations by some writers and the ones who worked on atuwa, teekaa and tippani [34] in the latter stage. They had no any clear idea or knowledge over the exact use of the word Janbudveepa and they, driven by assumptions, used it as of a place in India. The original Hela Mahavamsa written in the very early part in the Anuradhapura era with genuine details does not exist now. What is available now is just a commentary in Pali which is written for that Hela Mahavamsa. This particular commentary was written 500 years after the original Hela Mahavamsa, meaning, approximately 850 years after The Enlightenment of Buddha. The birth place of the Buddha in Deva Hela (Janbudveepa), by this time, turned in to a place covered by the jungle and had only few Aranya Senasanas[35], Stupas & monasteries with few Bhikkus[36] who still had the firm determination of going along on the path of Dhamma and they led extremely a hard life. In the Anuradhapura era, sublime Buddha Dhamma came to an end and that place was taken by the popular Buddhism. A large group of worldly thinking Bhikkus could be seen in the country. They had very close relationships with the palace, accepted the alms only from the palace and had a luxury life in seven story mansions. They were not interested in following the sublime Buddha Dhamma, but in some beliefs and worldly customs in popular Buddhism which were organized and confirmed in the latter stage. All the things such as the division between Nikayas[37], the conflict between Abayagiri Vihara  and Mahavihara, the division of Bhikkus for and against the throne, the concepts of gods etc are not the characteristics of the sublime Buddha Dhamma, but of the popular Buddhism. This situation became so worse in the Polonnaruwa[38] period. It can be noticed that ordinary Bhikkus completely changed the sacred Buddha Dhamma and they highly praised the religious beliefs based on gods. But the noble Bhikkus resided in the forests and monasteries in the areas like Thissamaharama, Sabaragamuwa & Kegalle, worked for the protection of sublime Buddha Dhamma, followed the Dhamma and gained the results in the supermandane path.

Hence, it is very certain that the name “Jambudveepa” given by the writer of the true story found in the first Hela Mahavamsa, had been changed after 500 years by the commentaries. This gave a wrong interpretation to this name and distorted the entire Hela history.

The biography of the Buddha, Buddha Dhamma, Tripitaka, Dhammapadha, Jaathaka Potha [39]and most of other related literature were also written in this Hela Deepa. That was in Hela language or Maagahi Praakruthi language. Though the books written in Maagadhi language can be found in the period of King Valagamba, books such as Hela Atuwa (Hela Commentaries in Hela language), Kurundi Atuwa (Kurundi Commentaries), Budukali Atuwa (Budukali Commentaries), Maha Atta Katha (Great Atta Katha) & Seehalatta Katha had been used in the Deva Hela, even prior to the Anuradhapura period. The history, Mahavamsa, say that on his way to Anuradhapura from the city of Rajagaha[40] (today it is Rajagala) in Ampara in Hela Diva, great Arahant Mahinda Thero had taken the Budukali Commentaries written in Hela language with him. The city of Rajagaha was the capital city of the kingdom Maghada in Deva Hela. Many books in Maaghadi language too were written in this Hela Diva. Pela Dhamma originally written in Maagahi language was modified later in to Pali language, Pali literature and Pali grammar. This formation of Pali language occurred in the latter part in the Anuradhapura period. In the Polonnaruwa period, Pali commentary books written by Bhikku Buddhagosha were used in plenty by the mass. A language called Pali was not used by any country in any day across the history. It is not a dead language too. It was a modified language. Maghadi Prakrutha (Prakrit) and Pali are not the same language.

In order to take forward from this generation to the others and for the comfort in studying, the supreme Budhha Dhamma preached by Buddha in Maaghadi Prakrit language, was arranged in the form of lines. Buddha Dhamma arranged in a form of lines, later, was popular as Pela Dahama[41]. Later, based on the general meanings, modified interpretations were given for this Pela Dahama and it was called Pali language. All these happened, all these changes happened in this Hela Deepa itself, not anywhere else. A language called Maghadi Prakrit was not used in any place in India any time. In the second half of the Anuradhapura period, many Pali books were taken to India, translated in to Sanskrit and used in India. Also it says that Pali scholars in Lanka had taught the Pali language in Indian universities (Ajantha and Ellora). Some Indians had studied the Pali language in Lanka & in India and the books written in Hela language had been translated in to Pali language. Master Buddhagosha and Bhikku Mahanama who wrote the Vinaya Atuwa (Vinaya Commentaries) were among them. All of them learnt the Pali and Hela language only from the Buddhist Bhikkhus lived in this Hela Deepa. Hence it is clear that Gautama Buddha preached the Buddha Dhamma in Magahadi Language in a region called Deva Hela in this country, in Janbudveepa. Lankapura was the capital city of Yakkha Hela (Uthuru Kuru Deepa).

 


[1] Siddhartha,Siddaththa,Sidduhath,Siduhat – Gautama Buddha’s name as a prince, prior to his Enlightenment.

[2] Bosath or Bodhisatta” (Pāli language) was used by the Buddha to refer to himself both in his previous lives and as a young man in his current life, prior to his enlightenment, in the period during which he was working towards his own liberation.

[3] parinirvana or parinibbana of Buddha is  the passing away of the Buddha.

[4] The doctrine of the Buddha.

[5] Jan is for birth, bud is for Buddha and deepaya is for the island.

[6] Following note is an extract from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia to explain the understanding of the world about the origination of Magadhi language.

“The Magahi language (Devanagari: मगही; also known as Magadhi, मगधी) is a language spoken in India. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magadhi, from which the latter’s name derives. The ancestral language, Magadhi Prakrit, is believed to be the language spoken by the Buddha, and the language of the ancient kingdom of Magadha. Magadhi is closely related to Bhojpuri and Maithili, and these languages are sometimes referred to as a single language, Bihari. These languages, together with several other related languages, are known as the Bihari languages, which form a sub-group  of the Eastern Zone of Indo-Aryan languages. Magadhi has approximately 18 million speakers.”

[7] The Enlightenment or The Buddhahood.

[8] The center point or the middle zone in Janbudveepa.

[9] The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo, was a large and very old sacred fig tree,Ficus religiosa.Bo is for Bodhi which is the Enlightenment or the wisdom. As Buddha gained The Enlightenment under a fig tree, this  variety of fig tree is called the Bo Tree.

[10] Principles of Dhamma. A natural phenomenon.

[11] A name of a previous Buddha.

[12] A world-period.   An inconceivably long space of time. An eon.

[13] 30 Perfections, the qualities leading to The Buddhahood. These qualities were developed and brought to maturity by the Boddhisatta in his past existences.

[14] Samsara or Sansara. According to Buddha Dhamma all the beings, a human being too, experience a journey of life. This very life will not be the end or the start. It’s a circle. Until one eradicates the reasons to be-come, which is the thirst, he will live, die and come back and die again, so and so forth. This whole process or the journey is called Samsara.

[15]The Buddha in the present will announce or name another one, a Buddha Aspirant – a Boddhisatta, as the next Buddha.

[16] Island of Dhamma or island dedicated for Dhamma.

[17] The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircrafts and surface vessels are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Popular culture has attributed these disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extra terrestrial beings.

[18] Buddha enjoys four types of understanding: understanding of doctrine (Dharma), understanding of meaning (Artha), understanding of grammar (Nirukti) and understanding of eloquence (Pratibhaana).

[19] The word power does not use here as it is known by the western world. It does not mean any strength or miracles. But it approximately means ‘the spiritual strength of Buddha’.

[20] Meditation over the virtues of the Buddha.

[21] Principles of Dhamma. A natural phenomena.

[22] Raaga – The desire to possess, to own, to get ownership, to taste, to enjoy, to crave, to want, to lust, to hold on to forever, The meaning of the word raga cannot be explicit to one word as it has many meanings in relation to the world. Lust is only one segment of Raaga. Remembering the taste os food and wanting to eat the same again falls into the category of Raaga. In a nut shell it is one bond that binds you to the material world.

Dwesha – anger, dissatisfaction, conflict, frustration, hatred are all parts of Dwesha which is the opposite of Raaga. When one cannot possess or own something that one desire or crave dwesha sets in. Also has many forms and should not be explained in one word. for dwesha to begin there must first be an attachement, a desire, lust, want, greed. When these cannot be fulfilled or continued to ones hearts desire then dwesha sets in

Moha- The state that one belives that the the worldly states bring happiness and contentment. That self achievement in studies, having immense wealth, being of a very healthy disposition, doing good things like giving alms and helping the poor, refraining from doing bad things are all things that lead to salvation. Not understanding the proper path to Nibbana or freeing from bondage is the biggest moha.

[23] san (collection or being collected) + bava (origination,birth,come in to being)

[24] Another name for Lord Buddha.

[25] The natural phenomena,the natural order.

[26] ‘The Three Baskets’ is the name for the three main divisions of the Pali Canon: The Basket of Discipline (Vinaya Pitaka), The Basket of Discourses (Sutta Pitaka) and  The Basket of Philosophy (Abhidhamma Pitaka).

[27] Historical records or chronicle written in Hela language. Hela is another name for  Lanka. Lanka is called ‘The land of Hela people or Helayos’. Helayos are the inhabitants of the country prior to King Vijaya, the Indian invader.

[29] A tree bearing fruits.

[30] ‘one for whom the words are the utmost attainment’, Whoever, though having learned much, speaking much, knowing many things by heart, and discoursing much, has not penetrated the truth, such a man is called by that name.

[31] The Great Chronicles.

[32] The island of Hela people. Another name for Lanka.

[33] History says that this is a Yakkha queen; she fell in love with king Vijaya and supported him to kill her relations. She later became the wife of king Vijaya.

[34] atuwa are commentaries, tika and tippani were developed as sub-commentaries for atuwa.

[35] A monastery in the forest.

[36] Bhikkus or Sanga are the members of the Order.

[37] The conflict among the sectors of the Order.

[38]After the collapse of the throne of Anuradhapura, it got shifted to the city of Polonnaruwa.

[39] Jaathaka Potha, Jaathaka Potha Wahanse or Pansiya Panak Jathaka Potha is named in that manner as this book contains    nearly 550 stories of the previous births of Gautama Buddha. Jathaka are ‘the births’. This is a master piece in Sinhalese literature which was written in the 14th century during the reign of King Parakramabahu IV (1302-1326). The book contains full of advisory tales which had gone to the very root of the lives of the Sinhala Buddhists and over thousanad years they had used the book in shaping up, directing their lives on the path of Dhamma. The culture of the Sinhala Buddhists is such that people apply the examples found in the stories of the book on the vicissitudes they face in their day today lives.

[40] The city called Rajagaha.

[41] Dhamma or the doctrine is arranged in the form of lines.

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Preface (Gautama Buddha was born in Hela Bima Part I)

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It has become a must that all of us, as people who are born and live in this Helabima, to read, analyze and understand well the truth mentioned in this book.

 We all, as people is a must not necessary to say that story finds here is an amazing story. It is not something had heard before, a story which is beyond your imaginations. But this is the absolute truth. This is not a created story. Not a statement based on assumptions either. Not an imaginary or an affectation without a proper foundation. This is the absolute truth declared with a very clear mind.

It is guaranteed that you too will get the feeling as if you had seen the Buddha himself, will be overjoyed when you realize that you too are born in this Janbudveepa and reading about it’s true  story which is the only island in this world where all the Buddhas attend to the sacred Enlightenment. That is nothing but the absolute confidence, Saddha. All who follow Dhamma, who are born in a sacred island of this nature, in a Madya Mandala where all the universal energies are centralized and in a time period that the supermundane Buddha Dhamma is disclosed and preached, should read this true story as well.

It’s a fact known by everyone that for a long period of 1500 years in the history, this absolute truth was covered up, Buddha Dhamma had gone through alterations and the path to Nirvana was closed up. It should also be mentioned that a suitable environment with all the aspects is formed now in which the truth can be revealed again, supermundane Buddha Dhamma can be preached to the ones who are blessed in the world and path to Nirvana can be opened up. The absolute truth can never be forcefully pressed up and kept forever by the lie, the falsehood, hypothesis, the norms and standards. According to the cause and effect, Dharma Niyama, the absolute truth will be disclosed by someone in the real time.

And we should realize that a group who do not accept even the absolute truth is also live with us. Once who have gone in to visionary extreme ends due to raga, dosa and moha will never be able to see the truth. The truth is not something pleased by them. We have to be compassionate towards them too.

The ones in that nature who read and listen to this story would violate and go against the limits of their patience. That is also a Darmatha. These things happened even in the times of the Buddha. We should not hate them. It is not necessary to be angry with them. It should be our genuine thoughts that one day they too should realize the truth.

When this absolute truth is disclosed, it may be something not relevant for many people who have become the extremists in gains & enjoyment, intoxicated in education & intellectual properties, who are strong in positions & designations. Sometimes they will constantly attempt to change the truth to the false. In displaying their powers, they may attempt to use their money to ‘buy’ the media. They would go against the absolute truth, they would go against Gautama Buddha. They commit aryopavada, we should realize that also.

Everybody is aware that this eon we live in is very close to an elimination of a Kalpa. The elimination of concepts is one of the key things to be destroyed in the elimination of this Kalpa. In this process it is certain that many mythical religious concepts which are highly praised and prevailed in the society also will be eliminated. In the past, along with The Enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, elimination of the concepts too was occurred. The disappearance of sixty two religious beliefs was occurred along with the appearance of Buddha Dhamma. As it happened in the history, this definitive incident would happen in the future as well, again and again.  It’s a return. The elimination of the mythical religious concepts in the elimination of this Kalpa in 2012 is something which cannot be stopped by any one or any modern science. The absolute truth is revealed in this manner as its time for the intelligent people to focus on themselves and need to realize the objective truth by giving up the religious concepts and need to step on to the pathway of sublime Buddha Dhamma. In order to open up the pathway to Dhamma, ones who do the unwholesome are destroyed by the effect of the Darmatha itself and now it is in progress.  Hence it’s time now for the exremistic concepts to be destroyed and the truth to be shined up in the world.

By revealing the truth based on the information in this book, It is not expected, in any way to hurt or condemn any one and to make any inconvenience or unjust to anyone. And also by revealing this truth, it’s not expected any personal gains, any publicity, any praise or any name or flame. Writing a book and earning money is also not expected here. This is nothing but a definitive task fulfilling for the betterment of the world.

This Hela Diva is the kingdom of Buddha. It is the island of the Dhamma, the virtues. Now, all the necessaries such as a total purification and a taking off all the hindrances & limitations, required for that kingdom of Buddha, the island of Dhamma, and also the island to be the world center for Dhamma again, are in progress.  When all these things come in to being and disclose with the effect of the truth and the power of Darmatha, ones who genuinely want to walk on the path of Dhamma will be able to achieve the freedom of Nirvana.

Meewanapalane Siri Dhammalankara Thero
Parama Nibbana Dharmayathanaya
Athukoralawaththa
Watareka
Padukka
2009.06.07 

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