Political Expectations Around the 2500th Year of the Buddhist Era

Abstract

Such ultimate goals of the Buddhist state could never be consistently realized in the past (cf. p. 93) but have remained an ideal, the realization of which folk tradition anticipates from a glorious future. Such expectations became to a considerable extent focused on the attainment of independence. The reëstablishment of independent Theravâda Buddhist states, Ceylon, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia fell within the decade preceeding the 2500th year of the Buddhist Era, the 2500th anniversary of Gautama Buddha’s Nirvana (1956/57). With the 2500th year of Buddhism became connected vague expectations held among the Buddhist peoples awaiting the advent of universal harmony. A Sinhalese monk wrote that “in accordance with an old tradition, there is in the Buddhist countries a firm belief that the great renovation of Religion and a great expansion of its Law shall come 2500 years after the Pari-Nirvana of the Buddha ... The year 2500 of the Buddhist Era is to mark the beginning of this renovation.”¹ According to a related tradition current amongst the Sinhalese, there shall, when Buddhism will have completed 2500 years, be established a Buddhist state in Ceylon: ‘Then, it is said, the faith will shine forth in glory and be a beacon to the whole world, and Laṇkâ [Ceylon] itself will be prosperous and joyful.”²