The Mission to Ceylon

King Asoka's son himself accompanied by four Bhikkhus, one Samanera, and a lay Upasaka arrived in Langka to convert the Sinhalas. It was on a festival day that they reached Ceylon. It was on a festival day that they reached Ceylon. They met the reigning king Devanampiyatissa, who had gone with a party to hunt deer on a hill called Missaka (modern Mihintale). The Arahant Mahinda arrested the attention of the king by addressing him simply as "Tissa". An interesting conversation then followed. After this the Arahant Mahinda preached the Cullahantthi-padopama Sutta to the king and his followers, hearing which they all sought refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha and embraced this new teaching.

The Venerable Mahinda's Ceylon mission was a great success he found in Langka a fertile soil to disseminate the sublime Teachings of the Buddha. With royal patronage Buddhism was firmly established in Ceylon.

As Princess Anula, who attained the first stage of sainthood on hearing the first discourse delivered in the capital of Anuradhapura, expressed her desire to join the Order, the Venerable Mahinda dispatched a messenger to India inviting his sister Sanghamitta Their to visit Langka in order to establish the Bhikkhuní Sasana. As invited, she arrived in Ceylon with a branch of the Mahabodhi Tree at Buddha Gaya, and accompanied by a large retinue of distinguished men, who contributed largely to the material, intellectual and spiritual development of Sri Lanka.

To the eternal credit of Sinhala Buddhists it should be said that it is they who protected the sublime Teachings of the Dharma in their pristine purity by committing them to writing on ola leaves for the first time in the history of the Buddhist world.