it. The Chinese
biographies of that eminent tantrist, Amogha, say that he went to
Ceylon in 741 and elaborated his system there before returning to
China. It is said that in 1408 the Chinese being angry at the
ill-treatment of envoys whom they had sent to the shrine of the tooth,
conquered Ceylon and made it pay tribute for fifty years. By
conquest no doubt is meant merely a military success and not
occupation, but the whole story implies possibilities of acquaintance
with Chinese Buddhism.

It is clear that, though the Hinayanist church was predominant
throughout the history of the island, there were up to the twelfth
century heretical sects called Vaitulya or Vetulyaka and Vajira which
though hardly rivals of orthodoxy were a thorn in its side. A party at
the Abhayagiri monastery were favourably disposed to the Vaitulya sect
which, though often suppressed, recovered and reappeared, being
apparently reinforced from India. This need not mean from southern
India, for Ceylon had regular intercourse with the north and perhaps
the Vaitulyas were Mahayanists from Bengal. The Nikaya-Sangrahawa also
mentions that in the ninth century there was a sect called
Nilapatadarsana,[106] who wore blue robes and preached indulgence
in wine and love. They were possibly Tantrists from the north but were
persecuted in southern India and never influential in Ceylon.

The Mahavamsa is inclined to minimize the importance of all sects
compared with the Mahavihara, but the picture given by the
Nikaya-Sangrahawa may be more correct. It says that the Vaitulyas,
described as infidel Brahmans who had composed a Pitaka of their
own, made four attempts to obtain a footing at the Abhayagiri
monastery.[107] In the ninth century it represents king Matvalasen as
having to fly because he had embraced the false doctrine of the
Vajiras. These are mentioned in another passage in connection with the
Vaitulyas: they are said to have composed the Gudha Vinaya[108] and
many Tantras. They perhaps were connected with the Vajrayana, a phase
of Tantric Buddhism. But a few years later king Mungayinsen set the
church in order. He recognized the three orthodox schools or nikayas
called Theriya, Dhammaruci and Sagaliya but proscribed the others and
set guards on the coast to prevent the importation of heresy.
Nevertheless the Vajiriya and Vaitulya doctrines were secretly
practised. An inscription in Sanskrit found at the Jetavana and
attributed to the ninth century[