DSpace Collection:
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10223
2024-03-28T17:19:07ZThe Christian Notion of the fall of the Human Being in Relation to Buddhism
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/8729
Title: The Christian Notion of the fall of the Human Being in Relation to Buddhism
Authors: Atapattu, D.
Abstract: The Bible holds a distinctive view of what has gone wrong with the human being. The story of the fall of Adam and Eve in the third chapter of Genesis is used to express the basic malady as it is experienced by both Christians and non-Christians. The Genesis story of the fall of human beings is a narrative which reveals the reason for death and the mystery of the human situation. There is a similar narration known as the Agganna Sutta in the Digha Nikaya of the Major Buddhist text the Tripitaka. It is several times longer than the Genesis story.
The Genesis story as well as Agganna Sutta are myths. The term myth is not used in the sense of a fable, a figment of the imagination, but in the sense of a "literary form which describes other worldly matters in this worldly concepts". When thus considered, we see striking similarities in both stories, especially in regard to three fundamental matters (1) the fact of the fall, (2) the cause of the fall, and (3) the consequences of the fall.
We do intend to trace how both Christianity and the teaching of the Buddha had dealt with the fall of human being under the above mentioned main three factors. It is an interesting fact to illustrate both stories which seek to account for the evil state in which the human being is, and point to a state of prior blessedness. Both stories also say that the human being has also fallen from that state of blessedness. In the Buddhist story beings lose their luster and descend from the Abassara world to dwell on earth where their bodies are solid and subject to mortality. In the other narrative of Genesis, the image of the human being is distorted and the human being is driven out of the garden. As systematic theologian Paul Tillich says, this is not an event that occurs in space and time, but, bears a trans-historical quality of all events in space and time. Apart from that we have identified that Christian teaching and Buddhism have taken desire or "Tanha" as the cardinal cause of the fall of human being. We analyze in detail how this common cause called "Tanha" (desire) causes the degeneration of a human being’s purity and blessedness into decay. This research is totally based on textual references from the Christian Scripture and Tripitaka. We have also included the studies of Lynn Alton de Silva to figure out the fundamental parallels in both Genesis story and the Tripitaka.2015-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Contextual Significance of the “Less Popular Saints” of the Archdiocese of Colombo
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/8728
Title: The Contextual Significance of the “Less Popular Saints” of the Archdiocese of Colombo
Authors: Jayatunge, M.
Abstract: The paper is a study of the contextual significance of the “less popular saints” venerated by the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka. While many churches have been dedicated to the so called popular saints such as St. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, St. Anne, the Grand Mother of Jesus, St. Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus, St. Anthony of Padua and St. Sebastian, it is observed that only a very few churches have been dedicated to saints such as St.
Isidore, St. Augustine, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Martin de Porres, St. Barbara, St. Cecilia, St.
Maximillian Kolbe, St. Gerard Majella, and St. Blaise.
This study inquires into the historical, social and cultural significance of each of these saints to the respective faith communities. Patron Saints of churches have a deep significance for the worshipping communities and the present research studies this phenomenon in detail.2015-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Diverse Musical Traditions of Sri Lankan Passion Plays
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/8727
Title: The Diverse Musical Traditions of Sri Lankan Passion Plays
Authors: Samarakoon, K.
Abstract: The primary objective of this study is to present an analysis on the different genres of music that is embedded in Sri Lankan Passion Plays. Sri Lankan Passion Play music is influenced by musical disciplines of several countries such as Portugal, India, and Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka Passion Play tradition can be traced as far back as 1602 with the arrival of the Franciscans (1553) and then the Jesuit missionaries (1602). When the Passion Plays were enacted in different parts of Sri Lanka they were accompanied by different regional musical traditions. Thus through the Sri Lankan Passion Plays one can trace European, South Indian as well as Sri Lankan musical elements with regional cultural and linguistic differences.
To achieve my objective I have selected three Sri Lankan Passion Plays, namely, Pesalai (1907), Boralessa (1924) and Duwa (1939).2015-01-01T00:00:00ZA Redaction-Critical Study of Petavatthu
http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/8726
Title: A Redaction-Critical Study of Petavatthu
Authors: Gamage, A.K.
Abstract: Applying the methods of Biblical criticism particularly Redaction criticism this paper presents a redaction-critical study of Petavatthu-pāḷi (the seventh book of Khuddakanikāya in the Pāli canon). While doctrinal, chronological and philological aspects of the Petavatthu have been studied so far, the method of Redaction Criticism has not been employed in studying this text.
This paper attempts to fill that lacuna. Redaction Criticism is meant to detect the redactor’s or editor’s intervention in an author’s original work. The two terms ‘editor’ and ‘redactor’ are used synonymously in this paper while the term ‘author’ refers to the creator of the original work. The redactor intends to facilitate the reader’s comprehension of the text by ‘filling in the blanks’ or adding material that would allegedly interconnect disparate statements in the original text. As specialists in Redaction Criticism assert, such seams or stitches, though meant to clarify the original text, might end up interrupting its flow. Modelling on John 3 and Mark 16, the interventions of the redactors (saṅgītikārā) in the Petavatthu-pāḷi, is examined. The commentary on the Petavatthu is also consulted as a possible aid to detect the editorial interventions.2015-01-01T00:00:00Z