Monastic Buddhist asset capitalization in ancient Sri Lanka

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines asset accumulation and capitalization in early Sri Lankan Buddhism from the 1st c. BCE until the 5th c. CE using financial records inscribed into stone. The interplay between religious and economic practices shaped early Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka. The collected material corpus suggests that Buddhism's growth on the island was closely connected to its corporate monastic ability to fundraise and acquire non-fungible assets with resources that could be sold for profit. In the early centuries of this strategy – which monastics may have exploited to avoid censure for violating rules regarding voluntary poverty and moderation – haphazard and inconsistent linguistic expressions indicate an unfamiliarity with the practice. However, as the centuries passed, the Buddhist saṃgha developed coherent and consistent language to express the nuance of capitalization, including uniform terminologies for profit. Capitalizing assets like land became a standard way to supplement and perhaps supplant less efficient fundraising practices like door-to-door collections. As Buddhism spread to the rest of Asia, this phenomenon spread. This article demonstrates that tracing language development is a powerful method of exploring the early Buddhist corporate firm's deliberate and powerful economic engagement.