Timeline of Theravada Buddhism

Major Events in Theravada Buddhism
383 B.C.E. • The Second Council convenes in Vesali to discuss controversial points of Vinaya. The first schism of the Sangha occurs, in which the Mahasanghika school parts ways with the traditionalist Sthaviravadins. At issue is the Mahasanghika's reluctance to accept the Suttas and the Vinaya as the final authority on the Buddha's teachings. This schism marks the first beginnings of what would later evolve into Mahayana Buddhism.
250 B.C.E. • Third Council is convened by King Asoka at Pataliputra (India). Disputes on points of doctrine lead to further schisms, spawning the Sarvastivadin and Vibhajjavadin sects. The Abhidhamma Pitaka is recited at the Council, along with additional sections of the Khuddaka Nikaya. • The modern Pali Tipitaka is now essentially completed.
247 B.C.E.

• King Asoka sends his son, Ven. Mahinda, on a mission to bring Buddhism to Sri Lanka. King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka is converted.
240 B.C.E.

• Ven. Mahinda establishes the Mahavihara (Great Monastery) of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The Vibhajjavadin community living there becomes known as the Theravadins. • Mahinda's sister, Ven. Sanghamitta, arrives in Sri Lanka with a cutting from the original Bodhi tree, and establishes the bhikkhuni-sangha (nuns) in Sri Lanka.
100 C.E.

• Famine and schisms in Sri Lanka point out the need for a written record of the Tipitaka to preserve the Buddhist religion. • King Vattagamani convenes a Fourth Council, in which 500 reciters and scribes from the Mahavihara write down the Pali Tipitaka for the first time, on palm leaves. Theravada Buddhism first appears in Burma and Central Thailand.
200 C.E. • Buddhist monastic university at Nalanda, India flourishes; remains a world centre of Buddhist study for over 1,000 years.
425 C.E.

• Ven. Buddhaghosa collates the various Sinhalese commentaries on the Canon - drawing primarily on the Maha Atthakatha (Great Commentary) preserved at the Mahavihara, and translates his work into Pali. This makes Sinhalese Buddhist scholarship available to the entire Theravadin world. As a cornerstone to his work, Buddhaghosa composes the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purity) which eventually becomes the classic Sri Lankan textbook on the Buddha's teachings.

• Dhammapala composes commentaries on parts of the Canon missed by Buddhaghosa (such as the Udana, Itivuttaka, Theragatha, and Therigatha), along with extensive sub-commentaries on Buddhaghosa's work.
1050 • The bhikkhu and bhikkhuni communities at Anuradhapura die out following invasions from South India.
1070

• Bhikkhus from Pagan arrive in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka to reinstate the Theravada ordination line in Sri Lanka.
1164

• Polonnaruwa destroyed by foreign invasion. With the guidance of two monks from a forest branch of the Mahavihara sect - Ven. Mahakassapa and Ven. Sariputta. • King Parakramabahu reunites all bhikkhus in Sri Lanka into the Mahavihara sect.
1236 • Bhikkhus from Kañcipuram, India, arrive in Sri Lanka to revive the Theravada ordination line.
1279 • Last inscriptional evidence of a Theravada Bhikkhuni nunnery (in Burma).
1287 • Pagan (Burma) looted by Mongol invaders; its decline begins.
13th cen. • A forest-based Sri Lankan ordination line arrives in Burma and Thailand. • Theravada spreads to Laos.
• Thai Theravada monasteries first appear in Cambodia shortly before the Thais win their independence from the Khmers.
1753 • King Kirti Sri Rajasinha obtains bhikkhus from the Thai court to reinstate the bhikkhu ordination line, which had died out in Sri Lanka. This is the origin of the Siam Nikaya.
1777 • King Rama I, founder of the current dynasty in Thailand, obtains copies of the Tipitaka from Sri Lanka and sponsors a Council to standardize the Thai version of the Tipitaka, copies of which are then donated to temples throughout the country.
1803 • Sri Lankans ordained in the Burmese city of Amarapura found the Amarapura Nikaya in Sri Lanka to supplement the Siam Nikaya, which admitted only brahmins from the Up Country highlands around Kandy.
1828 • Thailand's Prince Mongkut (later King Rama IV) founds the Dhammayut Sect.
1862

• Forest monks headed by Ven. Paññananda go to Burma for reordination, returning to Sri Lanka the following year to found the Ramañña Nikaya. • First translation of the Dhammapada into a Western language (German).
1868

• Fifth Council is held at Mandalay, Burma; Pali Canon is inscribed on 729 marble slabs.
1873 • Ven. Mohottivatte Gunananda defeats Christian missionaries in a public debate, sparking a nationwide revival of Sri Lankan pride in its Buddhist traditions.
1879 • Sir Edwin Arnold publishes his epic narrative poem Light of Asia, stimulating popular Western interest in Buddhism.
1880 • Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, founders of the Theosophical Society, arrive in Sri Lanka from the USA, embrace Buddhism, and begin a campaign to restore Buddhism on the island by encouraging the establishment of Buddhist schools.
1881 • Pali Text Society is founded in England by T.W. Rhys Davids; most of the Tipitaka is published in roman script and, over the next 100 years, in English translation.
1891 • Maha Bodhi Society founded in India by the Sri Lankan lay follower Anagarika Dharmapala, in an effort to reintroduce Buddhism to India.
1899 • First Western Theravada monk (Gordon Douglas) ordains, in Burma.
1900

• Ven. Ajahn Mun and Ven. Ajahn Sao revive the forest meditation tradition in Thailand.
1902

• King Rama V of Thailand institutes a Sangha Act that formally marks the beginnings of the Mahanikaya and Dhammayut sects. Sangha government, which up to that time had been in the hands of a lay official appointed by the king, is handed over to the bhikkhus themselves.
1949 • Mahasi Sayadaw becomes head teacher at a government sponsored Vipassana meditation centre in Rangoon, Burma.
1954 • Burmese government sponsors a Sixth Council in Rangoon.
1956

• Buddha Jayanti Year, commemorating 2,500 years of Buddhism.
1958

• Ven. Nyanaponika Thera establishes the Buddhist Publication Society in Sri Lanka to publish English-language books on Theravada Buddhism. • Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is founded in Sri Lanka to bring Buddhist ideals to bear in solving pressing social problems. • Two Germans ordain at the Royal Thai Embassy in London, becoming the first to take full Theravada ordination in the West.
1970's • Refugees from war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos settle in North America, Australia and Europe, establishing many Buddhist communities in the West. • Ven. Taungpulu Sayadaw and Dr. Rina Sircar, from Burma, establish the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Monastery in Northern California, USA. • Ven. Ajahn Chah establishes Wat Pah Nanachat, a forest monastery in Thailand for training Western monks. • Insight Meditation Society, a lay meditation center, is founded in Massachusetts, USA. • Ven. Ajahn Chah travels to England to establish a small community of monks at the Hamsptead Vihara, which later moves to Sussex, England, now known as Chithurst Forest Monastery.
1980's • Lay meditation centers grow in popularity in North America, Australia and Europe. • First Theravada forest monastery in the USA (Bhavana Society) is established in West Virginia. • Amaravati Buddhist Monastery established in England by Ven. Ajahn Sumedho.
1990's

• Continued western expansion of the Theravada Sangha: monasteries from the Thai forest traditions established in California, USA (Metta Forest Monastery, founded by Ven. Ajaan Suwat; Abhayagiri Monastery, founded by Ven. Ajahns Amaro and Pasanno). • Buddhism meets cyberspace: Buddhist computer networks (BuddhaNet) emerge. • Several editions of the Pali Tipitaka become available online.

Copy from www.buddhanet.net

Timline the last 100 years

Timeline - The last 100 years
To track the historical development of Theravada and the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni sangha, a time line for the last 100 years is presented below:

1899
First Western Theravada monk (Gordon Douglas) ordains, in Myanmar.
c.1900
Ven. Ajahn Mun and Ven. Ajahn Sao revive the forest meditation tradition in Thailand.
1904
Ven. Nyanatiloka ordains in Sri Lanka. He later establishes the Island Hermitage, the earliest bhikkhu training monastery for western monks.
1908
Ven Ananda Metteya (Allan Bennet) leads Buddhist mission to UK
1940
The first Vietnamese Theravada temple, Buu Quang Temple (Ratana Ramsyarama), is established in Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon ). The abbot, Ven. Bhikkhu Ho Tong (Vansarakkhita), had been ordained in Cambodia by Ven. Bhikkhu Chuon Nath, the Cambodian Sangharaja.
The Nepalese Ven Amritananda ordained as bhikkhu in Colombo.
1943
First vihara in modern Nepalese history established on Swayambhu Hill by Ven. Dhammaloka Thera.
1947
Mahasi Sayadaw becomes head teacher at a government-sponsored meditation center in Yangon, Myanmar.
1951
Sister Dhammadinna, an American nun ordained in Sri Lanka, comes to Australia and conducts first Vesak ceremony in that country.
The Ven K Sri Dhammananda arrives in Malaysia from Sri Lanka.
1954
Myanmar government sponsors a Sixth Council in Yangon.
First Indonesian bhikkhu in 500 years ordained in Myanmar as Ven Jinarakkhita.
London Buddhist Vihara opened by Sri Lankan bhikkhus.
1956
William Purfurst of England ordains as Ven. Kapilavuddho in Thailand.
In India, Ambedkar leads a mass-conversion of hundreds of thousands of the Dalit caste into Buddhism.
1957
Mission from Myanmar arrives in vihara in Moji, Japan.
Sri Lankan monks set up the Berlin Buddhist Vihara in Germany.
1958
The German Ven. Nyanaponika Thera establishes the Buddhist Publication Society in Sri Lanka to publish English-language books on Theravada Buddhism.
Two Germans ordain at the Royal Thai Embassy in London, becoming the first to take full Theravada ordination in the West.
1959
First Indonesians Vens. Jinaputta and Jinapiya ordained on Indonesian soil.
1965
Washington (D.C.) Buddhist Vihara founded -- first Theravada monastic community in the USA.
1966
Thais establish Wat Buddhapadipa in the UK.
1970
All-India Bhikkhu Sangha formed under Ven Jagdish Kashyap.
1973
Sri Lankans establish Australia's first Theravada vihara in New South Wales.
1975
Ajahn Chah establishes Wat Pah Nanachat, a forest monastery in Thailand for training Western monks.
Wat Buddharangsee established in Sydney, Australia by Ven. Bhikkhu Khantipalo (English) and 3 Thai monks.
1976
Sangha Theravada Indonesia constituted.
1977
Ajahn Chah travels to England with the American Ven. Sumedho and the British Ven. Khemadhammo to lead a small community of monks at the Hamsptead Vihara,
1979
Wat Pah Cittaviveka (Chithurst Forest Monastery) established by Ajahn Sumedho in Sussex, England.
1981
Aruna Ratanagiri established in North England by Ajahn Sumedho.
Ven. Taungpulu Sayadaw and Dr. Rina Sircar, from Myanmar, establish the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Monastery in Northern California, USA.
1982
First Theravada forest monastery in the USA (Bhavana Society) established in West Virginia by Ven. H. Gunaratana.
1984
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery established in England by Ajahn Sumedho.
Bodhinyana Monastery established in Western Australia by Vens. Jagaro and Brahmavamso, disciples of Ajahn Chah.
1985
Ajahn Khemadhammo establishes Forest Hermitage, Warwick, United Kingdom.
The Canadian Ajahn Viradhammo arrives in New Zealand from the UK to establish Bodhiyanarama Vihara..
1988
The Canadian Ven Tiradhammo establishes Dhammapala Buddhistisches Kloster in Switzerland.
1989
The German nun Ayya Khema establishes Buddha-Haus in Germany.
1990
The Italian Ven. Thanavaro establishes Santacittarama in Italy.
1993
The American Ajahn Thanissaro establishes Metta Forest Monastery in southern California.
1994
The Canadian Bhikkhu Sona and German Ven Piyadhammo establish Birken Forest Monastery, the first forest monastery in Canada.
1995
Ven Punnadhammo of Canada and other monks establish Arrow River Community Centre in Thunder Bay as a vihara.
Stockholm Budhist Vihara established as a permanent centre in Jakobsberg, Sweden as the 1st vihara in Scandinavia by Sri Lankans.
1996
Abhayagiri Forest Monastery established in California by the British Ajahn Amaro.
Theravada bhikkhuni sangha revived after a lapse of about 980 years with the ordination of 11 women in Sarnath.
1998
Bhikkhuni sangha revived in Sri Lanka with ordination of 23 women in Dambulla.
1999
Dhammasara Nuns Monastery, the largest Theravada nuns monastery outside Asia established near Perth,with the Australian abbess Ajahn Vayama (siladhara).
First Theravada vihara established in Mexico by the Burmese U Silananda and the Argentinean U Nandisena.
2001
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, a training center for monks in the forest tradition opens in Malaysia, under Ven Aggacitta.
2002
The British Ajahn Kalyano establishes Buddhabodhivana Monastery near Melbourne, Australia.
First woman ordained in Thailand as Samaneri Dhammarakkhita.
2003
First ordination of Canadian bhikkhus (Vens. Nanada and Pavaro) by Canadian monks in Canada, at Birken forest monastery.
2005
First bhikkhuni vihara in the USA, founded by bhikkhunis Tathaaloka and Sucinta.

C0py from http://www.parami.org/duta/duta.htm

Buddhist Nuns in Burma Dr. Friedgard Lottermoser

Friedgard Lottermoser was born in Berlin in 1942 and spent her childhood in what was then known as East Germany. She moved to West Germany when she was ten and spent three years in Burma, where her stepfather worked for a German firm. In 1965, she received a B.A. in Pali from the University of Rangoon, then earned an M.A. in Pali at the University of Mandalay. While in Burma, she studied Vinaya with the bhikkhu (fully-ordained monk) scholar Sayadaw Shin Janakabhivamsa and meditation with the well-known lay teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin. From 1973 on, she helped organize the first meditation courses of the U Ba Khin tradition to be held in Europe and has been actively involved in establishing several Buddhist centers there. In 1979 she received a Ph.D. for her work in Pali and has been working on a critical Pali dictionary since then. Dr. Lottermoser attended the International Conference on Buddhist Nuns in Bodhgaya in 1987 and serves as a member of the Sakyadhita Vinaya Research Committee.

According to a legend in the Burmese historical chronicles, the Burmese race arose from the union of a Sakyan prince, a fugitive related to the Buddha, and the daughter of a local chieftain in the city of Tagaung in Upper Burma. This is fixed in the memories of the people with the proverb, "The beginning of the Burmese people is from Tagaung." Quite certainly Theravada Buddhism has been a nation-building element in Burma. The majority of the inhabitants of the modern nation, the Socialist People's Republic of the Myanmar, define themselves as Burmese Buddhists. This statement is not merely a religious definition, but has a full range of social and juridical implications.

Burma presently has a population of approximately thirty million with an overwhelming majority (75%) of Theravada Buddhists. Only Thailand has a higher percentage (95%) since it never came under colonial rule. The Sangha census held in 1980 show 300,000 males wearing the Buddhist robes of a monk (bhikkhu) or a novice (samanera), and approximately 30,000 females in robes, that is, Buddhist nuns referred to as sila-rhan (pronounced thila-shin, meaning "owners of virtue"). If these figures are correct, and we have every reason to assume that they are, there would be ten males and one female wearing the robe in the Buddhist religious orders out of every thousand nationals in modern Burma.

What is the status of the "Buddhist nuns?" Social rights for women are traditionally at a fairly high level in Burma. Women usually handle the family finances and are trained to do so when quite young. There is, however, that little extra "male superiority," referred to as "bhun" (bhaga in Pali, meaning glory or power), which is supposed to be stronger in men than in women How does this reflect on the status of Buddhist nuns in Burma today?

Daw Mi Mi Khaing, a well-known woman author of Burma, wrote a book called The World of Burmese Women which contains a chapter on "Women in Religion." I have compared it with my personal observations made in Burma during the last twenty-five years, particularly from 1965 to 1970, when I lived in various Buddhist monastic establishments in Upper Burma.

When discussing the status of Buddhist nuns at an international level, we find ourselves confronted with a profusion of terms in many languages, a veritable "Babylonian tower of confusion." It is important to clarify this jungle of terms to find out what Buddhist women in religious robes actually are in the different countries where Buddhism is practiced today. The present nuns of Burma are not regarded as full female equivalents of the monks. They are not bhikkhunis. The name for the Buddhist nuns is sila-rhan (owner of good moral conduct), may- sila (Miss Virtue), or bhva-sila (granny virtue). However, "rhan" is also the normal term of address for male novices (Pali: samanera, Burmese: kui-ran). Even the word "rhan-pru" (make a "rhan") refers to the pabbajja (leaving the household life) of male novices.

It is a traditional cultural requirement for every male Burmese Buddhist to become a novice in childhood for some time and a monk in adulthood. There is even a saying, "You must become a monk, before you can become a man." Such a cultural requirement does not exist for women. The shaven head is a fairly strong cultural barrier, in fact, since almost every adult laywoman takes great pride in her long hair (as did the men until the British conquest of Mandalay). But now, with modern short hair styles becoming fashionable for young ladies, this obstacle to wearing the Buddhist robes is somewhat diminished. I have heard that the temporary wearing of the robe, so common for men in Burma, is now more frequently practiced by young women during long vacations.

The present nuns in Burma had a great period of revival and prosperity during the sasana reforms sponsored by King Mindon, who built the royal city of Mandalay and held the Fifth Buddhist Council there in the second half of the nineteeth century. The most prominent nuns at that time were Saya Kin and May Nat Pe, two orphans of war from Manipur (now India) who reached Burma in early childhood and were adopted by a royal minister. At Sagain and Mingun in Upper Burma, just across the river from Mandalay, on the banks of the Irrawaddy, there are hundreds of nunneries even today - a veritable "kingdom of nuns."
Historical Background of the Buddhist Nuns of Burma
The history of Southeast Asia is still a field wide-open to investigation in many respects. Some recently established facts may not yet have become common knowledge. According to research done by Luce and Than Tun, there is inscriptional evidence to show that there were bhikkhunis as well as bhikkhus in Pagan. Daw Mi Mi Khaign says that one bhikkhuni (rahan-ma, or female monk) was even a bishop! These reports were confirmed in a conversation I had in 1986 with a woman scholar, Daw Tin Tin Myint, who is head of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Rangoon.
When Did the Bhikkhunis Come to Burma?
Pali tradition states (in the Samantapasadika 69.10, translated by N.A. Jayawickrama, p.61) that Emperor Asoka sent the monks Sona and Uttara to Suvannabhumi and that they established the Buddhadhamma there. On that occasion, 3500 noble men and 1500 women entered the Buddhist order. Suvannabhumi has been identified with Lower Burma. The city of Thaton has been identified with Sudhammanagara, the capital of a Mon kingdom of that time.

From archaeological remains, including stone inscriptions in Pali found in Lower Burma, we know that the Pyu people living there before the Burmese arrived were Theravada Buddhists. There is Chinese evidence to the effect that both boys and girls of the Pyu were educated in Buddhist monasteries and that "they left at the age of twenty, if they did not feel inclined to the religious mode of living on a life-long basis." This statement is very significant. Twenty years (after conception) is the age required for higher ordination according to the Vinaya. Bhikkhuni ordination may therefore have been available to Pyu girls. The monastic system of education applied to both boys and girls equally and may have resembled the system found in villages of Upper Burma even today. The Bhikkhuni Order may have been introduced into the Pyu kingdoms of Lower Burma from South India along with other features of Theravada Buddhism.

It is not quite clear how the bhikkhunis disappeared from Burma. Pagan was sacked by the Mongol emperor of China in 1298 A.D. After this, Burma was in a state of political unrest, split up under different rulers for several centuries. Some of these were antagonistic to Buddhism. The present area of the Socialist People's Republic of Myanmar is defined by the conquests of the Konbaung dynasty (1751-1885 A.D.) which was replaced by British colonial rule after three successive wars fought in 1824, 1852, and 1885, respectively.

The order of monks managed to survive all these trials, but not the order of bhikkhunis. To restore the order of bhikkhunis, a sasana reform would be required. An effort in this direction has already been made by the Burmese government in the early 1980s. Identity cards have been issued to all citizens in robes, both male and female. Monks who do not conform to the Dhamma and the Vinaya have been made to leave the order. Two Sangha universities are now being set up, in Mandalay and Rangoon, where modern subjects are being taught to monks in addition to the traditional Pali Buddhist scholarship. It would be a very laudable development if these efforts could also be extended to the Buddhist nuns. After all, half the Buddhists of Burma are women, and the opportunity to practice their religion is an important feature of their lives.

In my inquiries, I have come across several unsuccessful attemps to re-introduce bhikkhuni ordination into Burma. There was one attempt in the 1930s, by a very learned monk named Shin Adicca. There was apparently another effort by the teacher of the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw, an elder named Jetavana Sayadaw, who wrote a book in Pali in the 1950s, entitled Milindapanha- atthakatha, in which he advocated the ordination of bhikkhunis (by bhikkhus). And in 1970, there was an application to the Burmese government to re-introduce the "Bhikkhuni Sasana," with copies sent to twenty leading monks in Burma. This application was made by my own Dhamma teacher, a Burmese woman of the Sayagyi U Ba Khin tradition, who has been a keen meditator for 33 years. As a laywoman, she has studied Pali in all aspects, including fifteen years' study of Vinaya, in a famous monastic university in Upper Burma.

I firmly believe that it is our duty as Buddhist women of the present age, when the sasana is undergoing worldwide revival and is spreading to many countries where it was not known before, to try our level best to make the sasana bright, shining, and complete. The sasana is incomplete if higher ordination into religious orders is not available to women, since this opportunity was originally granted by Lord Buddha. Buddha himself said to Mara that his teaching is well-establish only if all the four groups of disciples are complete: bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, upasakas, and upasikas. There is a prophecy that the sasana will last for 5000 years and that there will be a revival after 2500 years. This means in the twentieth century, our own time - now! In fact, the growing interest in Buddhism at an international level seems to bear out this prediction.

As the Buddhadhamma is being re-introduced into India, as it becomes newly established in many Western countries, the different schools of Buddhism meet and come into close contact with each other. They develop an attitude of cooperation and dicover their common ground. It becomes increasingly obvious that the basic tenets of Lord Buddha have to be emphasized to make the Buddhadhamma strong in the modern world. This includes the bhikkhuni ordination for women. As in most other spiritual movements, women around the world have taken a very strong interest in Buddhism. About two-thirds of the meditators in the West are women. It is our duty as Buddhist women to make an effort to establish the sasana in its full completeness.

May all beings be happy! May the women of the world make a special effort for progress on the path of sila, samadhi, and panna - virtue, mental calm, and insight. May peace prevail in the world.

Editor's Notes

1. Published by Zed Books, London, 1984.
2. Sasana refers to the teachings of the Buddha, the practice of the teachings, and the fruits of the practice.
3. Bhikkhu refers to a fully ordained monk, bhikkhuni to a fully ordained nun, upasaka to a Buddhist layman, and upasika to a Buddhist laywoman. The precepts of the upasaka and upasika are the same, five in number: to refrain from taking life (killing), to refrain from taking what is not given (stealing), to refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery and so on), to refrain from telling lies (especially about one's spiritual attainments), and to refrain from taking intoxicants. The precepts of the bhikkhu and bhikkhuni include these and more.

From: Sakyadhita Newsletter, Summer 1991, vol.2, no.2

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Sukhi attanan pariharantu