Sri Lanka's Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites - Tooth Temple & Bo-Tree
Temple od the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy
Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country in the first plaace. So not surprisingly most religious places are Buddhist monasteries, and also most of the pilgrimage sites are Buddhist. There are two Buddhist places of worship that surpass all the others in reputation. Both of them are not monasteries.
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
The most significant Buddhist sanctuary is the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. The sacred tooth, a canine of the historical Buddha that survived his cremation intact, has become the national palladium of Sri Lanka. Since the Middle Ages, the possession of this relic, which was brought to the island in the early 5th centrury AD, has been the determining who is the rightful king. Tooth temples usually were closer associated to the royal palace than to the monasteries, although monks have been in charge of the cult, of course. The town that was the abode of the Sacred Tooth was considered the capital, except from periods when the Tooth Relic was kept in hiding to protect in from foreing invaders or was transferred in a procession from such a hideout to the Tooth Temple. After Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, Gampola, Kotte, Sitavaka, and Kandy got Tooth Temples and thereby became capitals of the island. The Sacred Tooth has not only national significance, it has a strong appeal to Buddhists from all around the world, particular to Theravada Buddhists from Southeast Asia, but also to Mahayana Buddhists from East Asia.
Bo-Tree of Anuradhapura
Even earlier than the Sacred Tooth is the veneration of the Sacred Bodhi Tree. The Bo-Tree of Anuradhapura is the oldest surviving sample of the original tree under which the Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment, because the tree in Bodhgaya in India died and another saplings at the original site in Bodghgaya was destroyed by Muslim invaders. The tree that is now growing at the Temple in Bodhgaya, the most sacred place of Buddhism, is actually a sapling of the Anuradhapura Tree replanted in India in the 19th century. Like the Sacred Tooth in Kandy, the Sacred Tree in Anuradhapura is of international reputation. Both together are the reason why Sri Lanka is regarded the second most important pilgrimage destination, second only to the Buddhist Circuit in Bihar and Uttharakand in northern India, at least by Theravada Buddhists. Also Japanese Buddhists hold both places in high esteem. Only for Tibetan Buddhists, the holy sites in Sri Lanka are of less significance.
Buddha-visited Places - Solosmasthanas
Apart from the Tooth Temple and the Bo-Tree there are further Buddhist places of pilgrimage sites in Sri Lanka. The other major places of worship are Buddha-visited sites. According to the national Sinhalese chronicles, the Buddha visited the island three times to prepare it as the safe haven of his teachings. The chronicles mention seven places he visited in person, namely Mahiyangana, where he delivered his first sermon during his first visit and converted the demons inhabiting the island to guardian deities of his religion, Nagadipa on Nainativu Island near Jaffna, where conciliated a quarrel between two rivaling princes during his second visit, and five further places he attended during his first visit accompanied by a large number of monks. The sites of the third visit are Kelaniya near Colombo, where the Buddha sat on the throne, the cave of Divaguhawa, where the Buddha and his companions rested when visiting Siri Pada, the mountain on top of which the Buddha left his footprint, Dighavapi in the east of the island, and Anuradhapura, where the Buddha meditated. Of these, Siri Pada is by far the most important pilgrimage site. Later on, the list of Buddha-visited site became fixed as 16 places, the so-called Solosmasthanas. Apart from the places mentioned in the ancient chronicles, also Muthiyangana in Badulla as well as Kataragama and Tissamaharama in the south are counted among the Buddha-visited sites. And Anuradhapura is not only one site in the list of Solosmasthanas, but counted manifold, each Buddha-visited place in Anuradhapura is listed separately. One of them is the place where the sapling of the Bo Tree was planted two centuries later on.
Further Buddhist Relic Shrines
Besides the Tooth Temple and the 16 Buddha-visited sites, some more ancient and also modern places of pilgrimage are noteworthy, viz. places of further relics, most importantly Seruwawila, which is said to contain relics of all four previous Buddhas of our aeon, Thiriyai in Trincomalee District, where the first relic, a hair of the Buddha he gave to his first lay disciples soon after his enligthenment, is believed to be enshrined, and Somawathi Stupa, sometimes considered to safeguard another tooth relic of the Buddha. Dambulla is of significance, too, just because of its magnifence.
Places of Buddhist Saints - Abodes of Arahats
Other holy sites are places where Arahats lived, monks that attained enlightenment in ancient times. By far the most important Buddhist place of worship in this regard is Mihintale, where Arahat Mahinda from India introduced Buddhism to the island nation. The abode of Maliyadeva in Arankale is another example, attracting Buddhist also from East Asia.
Newly established International Places of Buddhist Worship
There are also modern Buddhist Temples that have developed into highly attractive pilgrimage sites, though they were established only after Sri Lanka regained independence from British colonial rule. Most of them also serve as centers of scholorship or education or meditation. Nelligala situated on a hilltop near Kandy is the most obvious example.
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