Buddhism Tradition Development

Mahinda introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the thirdwhich makes it hard to tell how their traditions differed
century BCE. After this brief introduction, Buddhismfrom those of the Mahavihara. There appeared to be
became the dominant religion on the island, and Sria rivalry between them due to a Mahavihara
Lanka turned into a center of religious learning. Theopposition to their Mahayana sympathies, which is
new religion substituted Hinduism and becamesimplistic and problematic.The schools of Chinese
well-accepted by the low/middle class.It emerged threeBuddhism are divided into two categories, those that
great divisions of the Sangha on the island, each ofhave a more or less direct Indian counterpart and
which centered on a monastery in the ancient capitalthose which have a more or less direct Indian
of Anuradhapura. Mahavihara, great monastery, is thecounterpart and those that are native to China. The
oldest of the monasteries and was established byprincipal schools are the Vinaya, the Kosa, the
Mahinda in the third century, the Abhayagiri-vihara inMadhyamaka, the Yogacara, and the Mantrayana.
the first century BCE, and the Jetavana in the thirdThose schools in principal are also the schools of
century CE. None of the writings of the monks ofKorean and Japanese Buddhism. Some schools
Abhayagiri and the Jetavana monasteries survived,developed more significant local traditions than others.