In 1753, four Bo trees were planted in Trincomalee to commemorate the arrival of ordained Siamese monks, marking the revival of Theravada Buddhism.
Four Historic Bo Trees (Trincomalee)
Trincomalee four historic Bo trees (Photo credit: Google street view) Four Historic Bo Trees (Sinhala: ත්රිකුණාමලය පැරණි බෝ ගස් සතර) are found in Trincomalee town, Sri Lanka. They were planted in 1753 in commemoration of the arrival of the group of ordained Siamese (Thailand) monks headed by Ven. Upali Maha Thera during the reign of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1781 A.D.). History The Buddha Sasana and the Theravada Upasampada system in the country had started to deteriorate gradually during the Kandyan Period and the Buddhist temples were begun to fill with non-ordained monks called Ganinnansela whose behaviour did not conform to the Vinaya , monastic discipline accepted for the Buddhist monks. In such an environment a few Kandyan kings made several attempts to re-establish pure Theravada Buddhism in the country by bringing ordained monks from abroad such as Burma (Myanmar) and Siam (Thailand) but they all failed in the end. Again during the reign of Sri Vijaya Rajasinha (1739-1747 A.D…
