Saddharmarathnakaraya

The ''Saddharmarathnakaraya'', pi, italic=yes, Saddhammarathnákara and si, සද්ධර්මරත්නාකරය is a historical ''Sinhala Buddhist'' religious text compendium and was compiled as an explanation to a pi, italic=yes, páli anthology by Dhammadinnáchárya Vimalakiththi, who was well known as a talented pupil of Dharmakeerthi Sangharája at the Monastery of ''Palábaddala'' while Parakramabahu VI of Kotte was ruling the Kingdom of Kotte in the 15th century.

The name ''Saddharmarathnakaraya'' is a compound formed of ''Sadt'' (Noble), ''Dharma'' (Teachings of the Buddha), ''Rathna'' (Gems) and ''Ákara'' (Lode). Hence, it simply means that ''The lode of gems-like noble Dharma.''

Affected base of era

The era in which King Parákramabáhu VI (1412–1467)—who was the last native sovereign to unify all of Sri Lanka under one rule—was ruling the Kingdom of Kotte is well known as the golden era of Sinhala poetry. The great poetry collections such as ''Kavyashekaraya'', ''Panchikapradipikawa'' of ''Sri Rahula'', ''Guththila Kavyaya'' of ''Weththewe'', ''Budugunalankaraya'', ''Loweda Sangarawa'' of ''Vidagama Maithriya'', ''Elushilo shathakaya'', and the five ''Sandesha Kavyayas'' (messenger poetry) viz. ''Parevi Sandeshaya'', ''Selalihini Sandeshaya'', ''Gira Sandeshaya'', ''Hansa Sandeshaya'', and ''Kokila sandeshaya'' were compiled in this era. ''Saddharmarathnakaraya'' is the only work created fully in the Kotte era. It is considered the last link in a chain of great literary work, including ''Amawathura'', ''Buthsarana'', Saddharmarathnawaliya'', ''Pujawaliya'', and ''Saddharmalankaraya''.

It is believed that this book had been used as a reference for ''Sri saddharmawawada sangrahaya'', ''Sarartha Sangrahaya'' of the '' Mahanuwara'' era.

Structure

It consists of eight (08) ''Sangraha Kathá'', pi, සංග්රහ කථා - compendiums of controversy and twenty eight (28) more points of controversy as follow.
* ''Prakeernaka Sangraha Katha'' pi, ප්රකීර්ණක සංග්රහ කථා - Controversy of auxiliary compendiums.
* ''Abhinihara Sangraha Katha'' pi, අභිනිහාර "" - Controversy of non-exterminated compendiums.
* ''Dashaparamartha Paramitha Sangraha Katha'' pi, දශපරමාර්ථ පාරමිතා "" - Controversy of deci-ultimate realistic perfections of compendiums.
* ''Abhinishkramana Sangraha Katha'' pi, අභිනිෂ්ක්රමණ "" - Controversy of renunciation compendiums.
* ''Maithriya Sangraha Katha'' pi, මෛත්රිය "" - Controversy of loving-kindness compendiums.
* ''Buddhadbhutha Kriya Sangraha Katha'' pi, බුද්ධාද්භුත ක්රියා "" - Controversy of compendiums about miraculous performance and super-humanity of Buddha.
* ''Milindu Raja Katha'' pi, මිලිඳු රාජ කථා - Controversy of King Milinda.
* ''Sthavira Katha'' pi, ස්ථවිර කථා - Controversy of Bhikkus
* ''Panchananthardhana Katha'' pi, පංචානන්තර්ධාන කථා - Controversy of the disappearances of the five Dharmas.
* ''Chakravarti Vibhawana Katha'' pi, චක්රවර්ති විභාවන කථා - Controversy of appearing of King Chakravarti and his treasures in eight.
* ''Dharmadbhutha Katha'' pi, ධර්මාද්භුත කථා - Controversy of miraculous superiority of Dharma.
* ''Chaithya Katha'' pi, චෛත්ය කථා - Controversy of tumulus or shrines done for eight reasons.
* ''Sammajjhananishansa Katha'' pi, සම්මජ්ජානානිශංස කථා - Controversy of good consequences received by Bhikkhus in six occasions.
* ''Mathika mathu Katha'' pi, මාතික මාතු කථා - Controversy of mother of Mathu.
* ''Swapna Dipana Katha'' pi, ස්වප්න දීපන කථා - Controversy of revelations of dreams.
* ''Karma Vibhaga Katha'' pi, කර්ම විභාග කථා - Controversy of divisions of Karma.
* ''Sarana Sila Prabheda Katha'' pi, සරණ ශීල ප්රභේද කථා - Controversy of categories of precepts.
* ''Danadi Kushala sangraha Katha'' pi, දානාදී කුශල සංග්රහ කථා - Controversy of compendiums about alms and so-called karmically wholesome acts.

Reasons for compiling the book

As mentioned above, ''Dammadinnacharya Wimalakiththi'' was a faithful pupil of ''Dharmakeerthi Sangharaja'' who was the author of a range of excellent scripture namely ''Saddharmalankaraya'', si, සද්ධරමාලංකාරය, ''Jina Bodhawaliya'', si, ජින බෝධාවලිය, ''Shasanawatharaya'', si, ශාසනාවතාරය , ''Balawatharaya'', si, බාලාවතාරය and ''Sankshepa Sannaya'' si, සංක්ෂේප සන්නය of ''Gampola era''. Having a mastering knowledge of ''Nidhanasthana'', si, නිධානස්ථාන (Treasuries of consistence), ''Prabhawasthana'', si, ප්රභවස්ථාන (Origins of consistence) and ''Upanishrayasthana'', si, උපනිශ්රයස්ථාන (Applicable facts of consistence) of Dhamma, the author has anxious to compile the book with the will, to achieve his ambition to exceed the Samsara at present of ''Maithri Sammasambuddha'', housed in his deep mind.

He reveals it at the end of ''Prakeernaka Sangraha Katha'' saying,
" Accepting respectfully the order of our lord in his supremacy and ultimate kindness, ''Bhasaye jothaye Dhammang'', pi, "භාසයේ ජෝතයේ ධම්මං" the bright Dhamma and even if it is absolutely hard to find such rare higherst excellencies (Buddhas), super-masteres in preaching Dhamma in a manner of so called diversity and a noble accent, I am, as a disciple of lord Buddha, hereby so pleased to expound the blessed Dhamma in 'Hela Basa' (the ancient figure of Sinhala) to those who are unable to do due to their incapacity and lack of wealth but filled with Shraddha enough to respond and do favour for the household..."

The other reason, according to Dhammadinnacharya Vimalakiththi, the author of the book, ''Saddharmarathnakaraya'' was a request of Wickramabahu Maha Sthavira and the Upasaka Weerasundara Kumara (a disciple of the author).

See also

*Kingdom of Kotte
*Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera
*History of Sri Lanka
* Guththila Kawya

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddhism
Sri Lankan Buddhist texts
Transitional period of Sri Lanka