A saffron-clad Buddhist monk is one of the most common sights in Sri Lanka, where the doctrine of the Buddha has been venerated for over 2,000 years. During the early 1980s, however, a different type

Editor's note: This feature was first published in the now-retired Bodhi Journal, Issue 1, October 2006. In which sense can we speak of a characteristically Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition? In answering