Prof. Mendis reveals ancient Buddhist and Sinhala connections between Sri Lanka and Chinese-built Co

Distinguished visiting Professor Patrick Mendis told the international audience of scholars that his ‘birthplace of Polonnaruwa’ had enjoyed a long history of Buddhist, diplomatic and commercial relations between the Sri Lankan Kingdoms and the successive Chinese Dynasties from Xian to Nanjing and beyond.

Throughout the dynasties of King Parakramabahu the Great in the Polonnaruwa Kingdom and the Yapahuwa, Dambadeniya and Kotte Kingdoms, mutual bilateral trade relations existed with the Middle Kingdom of China. During the Polonnaruwa period, for example, Sri Lanka exported rice to China and imported silk and ceramic products. Ironically, the post-colonial Sri Lanka had to import rice from China in the exchange of natural rubber under the Sino-Sri Lanka Rice-Rubber Agreement, explained the Harvard scholar.

Professor Mendis is a Chinese-trained sinologist and a Confucian scholar at the China National Confucius Research Institute in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. He is currently serving as an Associated-in-Research of the world-renowned Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University in the United States as well as a distinguished visiting professor of Asian-Pacific affairs at the Shandong University in Jinan, China. A senior fellow and academic advisor to the Pangoal Institution in Beijing, Professor Mendis has lectured at over 25 Chinese universities in Beijing, Hefei, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and several others.

The International Confucianism Forum, which was held at the Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo, was sponsored by the International Confucian Association (ICA) in Beijing and the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka. Karu Jayasuriya, the speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, was the chief guest. Professor Mendis is an appointed member of the ICA by its President Teng Wengsheng, who welcomed more than 100 delegates from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and other countries.

Speaking on the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Sri Lanka, Professor Mendis said, “The rising Colombo Lotus Tower in the Beira Lake is the modern manifestation of the earliest and continued Sino-Lanka dialogue between the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism of the Abayagiri and Mahavihara traditions in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms and the visiting Chinese Buddhist pilgrims during the imperial Jin, Song,Tang, Ming, Qing, and other dynasties of China.” The BRI has combined the legacy of the ancient Silk Road of the Cosmopolitan China in the Tang Dynasty and the advancement of maritime technology in the Ming Dynasty that was illustrated by Admiral Zheng He, who visited to Sri Lanka.

10 centuries before the Ming envoy, the famous Chinese pilgrim Venerable Fa-Hsien arrived in Sri Lanka to learn more about the Pali Tripitaka and Buddhist discourses in the 5th century, Mendis explained. The Chinese emperors and frequent travelers since the Han Dynasty maintained cordial and friendly relations with what Fa-Hsien called the ‘Buddhist Kingdom of Lion’, the Harvard sinologist told the august gathering.

Even the centuries before the Han Dynasty, the ancient Chinese knew the reputation of the island as the most important sanctuary and centre of Buddhist learning during the ancient time for what Fa-Hsien later described as ‘Dharmadeepa’, a splendid island of Buddhist teachings.

While the Buddhist Kingdom has long been associated with the symbol of lion from the Kingdom of Vijaya, the Middle Kingdom of China has widely been known as the land of dragon before the Han Dynasty. Buddhism was the bonding of millennia-old association between lion and dragon, making them inseparable partners in spiritual development, said Mendis.

The evolving Sino-Lanka history is critically important for a deeper understanding of the Colombo Lotus Tower, the professor explained. Above all, the most significant is the threefold Lotus Sutra. It consists of the Samanthabhadra Meditation Sutra, which was translated into Chinese by Venerable Dharmaraksa of Dunhuang during the Western Jin dynasty (275-316 AD). The Lotus Sutra and the Vimuttimagga Sutra in the Mahayana traditions had played a transformative role in the development of Chinese Buddhism.

The sacred Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) mountain in Sri Lanka and the holly mountain of Emei in China have been sharing the God Saman as patron in reverence of the Samanthabadra Sutra for Universal Virtues, explained Professor Mendis. He then concluded that the Colombo Lotus Tower is associated with the threefold Lotus Sutra to signify the heritage of Sino-Lanka Buddhist discourse.

Award-winning American diplomat and a military professor in the NATO and Pacific Commands, Dr. Mendis is the author of ‘Peaceful War: How the Chinese Dream and American Destiny Create a Pacific New World Order’ (also translated into Chinese). He serves as a Commissioner of the US National Commission for UNESCO, an appointment by the Obama White House.