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The Maha Bodhi Society is a South Asian Buddhist society founded by the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala and the British journalist and poet Sir Edwin Arnold. The organization's self-stated initial efforts were for the resuscitation of Buddhism in India, and restoring the ancient Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinara.〔(Maha Bodhi Society )〕〔( India Revisited by Sri Edwin Arnold )〕〔Dipak K. Barua, “Buddha Gaya Temple: its history”〕 Although some Indians had remained culturally Buddhist for centuries after the decline of Buddhist philosophy, they did not self-identify as "Buddhist". The Maha Bodhi Society renewed interest in Buddhism, and spawned the Ladakh Buddhist Association, All Assam Buddhist Association, and Himalayan Buddhist Society, as well as laying the grounds for the Dalit Buddhist movement.〔D.C. Ahir. ''Buddhism in Modern India''. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1991. p. 17.〕 ==Origins== In 1891, while on pilgrimage to the recently restored Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, the location where Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) attained enlightenment, Anagarika Dharmapala had experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship as a result of which he began an agitation movement.〔 Sean O'Reilly, James O'Reilly, ''Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit'', Travelers' Tales, 2000,ISBN 1-885211-56-2 pg 81-82〕 Prior to that, in 1885 Sir Edwin Arnold visited the site and published several articles drawing the attention of the Buddhists to the deplorable conditions of Buddhagaya.〔〔〔 The Buddhist renaissance inaugurated by Anagarika Dharmapala through his Mahabodhi Movement has also been described as "conservative" for it considered Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India, in the then current mood of Hindu-Buddhist brotherhood.〔 (A Close View of Encounter between British Burma and British Bengal )〕 The Mahabodhi society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but its offices were moved to Calcutta the following year. One of its primary aims was the restoration of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, the chief of the four ancient Holy sites to Buddhist control.〔 Arnold Wright, ''Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources'', "Angarika Dharmapala", Asian Educational Services, 1999, ISBN 81-206-1335-X pg.119〕〔 C. J. Bleeker, G. Widengren, ''Historia Religionum, Volume 2 Religions of the Present: Handbook for the History of Religions'', Brill Academic Publishers, 1971, ISBN 90-04-02598-7 pg. 453〕 To accomplish this Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin priests who had held control of the site for centuries.〔〔 After a protracted struggle this was successful with the partial restoration of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maha Bodhi Society」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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