Buddhist Meditation and the British Colonial Gaze in Nineteenth Century Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the multiple orientalist expressions that flowed from British pens in nineteenth century Sri Lanka are of use to the scholar of Buddhism, in that they can not only shed light on the growth of Buddhist modernism and the use of the term ‘meditation’ within it, but also on Sri Lankan Buddhist practice on the ground. It first surveys the preconceptions of the British about the concept of ‘meditation’. It then examines the writings of a representative selection of scholar civil servants and Christian missionaries who were resident in Sri Lanka within the century. This data reveal that a vibrant culture of Buddhist devotion and preaching existed throughout the century, together, among the laity, with the practice of ‘meditation’ on objects related to insight into reality. Additionally, it suggests that the jhānas, although hard for westerners to understand, were an important part of Buddhist self-understanding. The paper, therefore, argues that the priority given to vipassanā as the essence of meditation within Buddhist Modernism is a reduction of the diversity within traditional practice and a distortion of the traditionally recognised interrelationship between the jhānas and other forms of mental culture.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Psalm 119 v. 15 can be taken as an example. The King James version of the Bible translates one clause in the verse as: ‘I will meditate on thy precepts’. The contemporary New Revised Standard Version retains this: ‘I will meditate on your precepts’. A contemporary Jewish Study Bible, however, avoids any mention of ‘meditation’, preferring to translate the line as ‘I study Your precepts’ (Berlin and Brettler 1999, 1416).

2. See, for example, an obituary from The Congregational Magazine, 1825, in Bebbington, Dix, and Ruston (2006, 189).

3. Buchanan, F. 1799. ‘On the Religion and Literature of the Burmas.’ Asiatick Researches VI: 136–308; Joinville, J. 1801. ‘On the Religion and Manners of the People of Ceylon.’ Asiatick Researches VII: 307–444; Mahony, Captain, 1801. ‘O Singhala, or Ceylon and the Doctrines of Bhoodha from the Books of the Singhalais.’ Asiatick Researches VII: 32–56.

4. I have examined his representation of Buddhist doctrine elsewhere. Human destiny was fixed by ‘an uncontrollable fatality’. ‘Transmigrations were regulated according to their moral character’ and ‘nirri-wana’ was the Buddhist heaven, which the Sinhala people believed to be annihilation (Harvard 1823, lv, cited in Harris 2006, 28).

5. This may be the twin-pulpit preaching apparently no longer found but discussed by Deegalle (2006).

6. ‘With the exception of females, and those who support Budhuism from interested motives, the generality of the people manifest great indifference to every system of religion; and may at present be considered more inclined to infidelity than to superstition’. The predominance of women among temple attendees has also been noted in contemporary Buddhist practice in Sri Lanka, for example, Crosby (2014, 242).

7. For a detailed account of Spence Hardy’s early work, see Coplans (1980).

8. Kristiyāni Prajñapti, which can loosely be translated as ‘The Evidences and Doctrines of the Christian Religion’ argued for the superiority of Christianity using Buddhist textual evidence. It was instrumental in causing a new phase in Buddhist revivalism in Sri Lanka. See Malagoda (1976, 217–219), Young and Somaratne (1996, 80–102).

9. This can also be seen in his translation of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta, published only after his death, in which he consistently translated forms of passati as ‘meditation’. For example: kathaṃ ca pana, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharati becomes ‘How does he meditate respecting the body?’ (D. ii 291; Bishop 1908 II, 584).

10. For example, Gogerly translated verse 26 as ‘Ignorant and foolish men live in the practice of irreligion, but the wise man guards religion as the most valuable treasure’. Norman’s translation in the Pali Text Society edition is: ‘Fools, stupid people, apply themselves to carelessness; but a wise man guards his carefulness as his best treasure’ (Norman 1997, 4).

11. On the history of the term kammaṭṭhāna, see Skilton’s contribution to this volume.

12. See Blackburn (2001, 107–203), which examines the importance of the sutra sannaya commentary to the rise of the Siyam Nikāya in eighteenth century Sri Lanka and its effect on the whole of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

13. See also the distinction made between ‘meditation’ and the jhāna in the following: ‘In like manner, by the exercise of meditation the breathing is tranquilised, as well as by entering upon the dhyánas’(Spence Hardy (1850) 1989, 296–297).

14. The 10 are: generosity (dāna), morality (sīla), meditation (bhāvanā), giving or transferring merit (patti), rejoicing in another’s merit (pattānumodana), performance of religious obligations and rituals (veyyāvacca), paying homage (apacāyana), preaching (desanā), listening to preaching (suti), right belief (diṭṭhi).

15. For an excellent account of Childers’s motivation for his Pāli research based on his letters to T. W. Rhys Davids, see Gornall 2015.

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Elizabeth J. Harris

Elizabeth J. Harris is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow within the Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, UK. Previous to this she was an Associate Professor at Liverpool Hope University, UK, within the Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies Department, specialising in Buddhist Studies. She is currently President of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies and an International Adviser to the US-based Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies. Her publications include: Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter: Religious, missionary and colonial experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka (Routledge 2006) and Religion, Space and Conflict in Sri Lanka: colonial and postcolonial contexts (Routledge 2018).