The Origin of Cave Monasteries

There are many cave monasteries in Buddhist literature. (1) The Buddha met Sakka when he was living in the Sāla Guhā. (2) Mahākassapa Thera had lived for a long time in the Pippali Guhā. (3) Pacceka Buddhas had lived in the Nandasāla Guhā. (4) The Thera Gātha mentions about many caves as abodes of monks (monk dwelling caves). After the Buddha passed away, the First Buddhist Council was held at Saptapanni Guhā. The caves were prevalent both in India and SriLanka as religious settlements. The caves in India are different from those in Srilanka. In India rock is cut, and cells and chambers were made out of mountain rock for religious settlements. For example, the caves of Bihar and Ajanta as they really are.

The Buddha first preached the nissayas(needs) to the monks. According to these four nissāyas, monks had to live under trees. (Pindāpata nissāya, Pansakūla nissāya, Rukkhamūla sensāna nissāya and Putimutta besajjha nissāya) But later the Buddha allowed the monks to accept five kinds of dwellings. Namely: (1) Vihāra – Ordinary Residences, (2) Uddhayoga - Round Residences, (3) Pāsāda – Long Residences, (4)   Hammīya – Upstairs’ Residences and (5)  Guhā – Caves.  

In Sri Lanka, the cave monasteries at the very beginning were natural. There were no architectural embellishments whatsoever except for the drip-ledge cut on the top. The caves in Srilanka had been named according to their natural situation. The following names were given to the caves. (1) Sihamukha - lion 's Mouth, (2) Piyadasana - Fascinating view Sight, (3) Manorama - Delighting to the mind and (4) Supadite - Well-Sighted.read more

All these caves were prepared with great effort by devotees from all walks of life – kings, millionaires, potters and smiths, and they were offered to the Sangha – agata, anagata, catudisa without any difference or distinction. The wishes of donors were expressed on the respective dedications. This shows their earnest wish in performing this good deed. Always the names of the donors were inscribed. Otherwise, in SriLnaka there were 1200 caves in all parts of the island. The following can be listed as the most prominent cave monasteries in Srilanka: (1) Mihintale, (2) Rajagirilena(near Mihintale), (3) Hatthikucchi, (4) Vessagiri, (5) Isurumuniya, (6) Ritigala, (7) Cittalapbbata, (8) Sigiriya, (9) Dambulla, (10) Hindagala and (11) Kurundakalena.

Apart from the caves dedicated as mentioned above, monks themselves selected caves as their living places. The preparation was done as follows. The cave was filled with firewood and was filled fire and then burnt. This helped to remove all loose splinters of rock. This helped to remove the unnecessary things and also to do away with unpleasant smell. After that the cave was swept and cleaned well. These types of caves cooled during the hot season. At the very beginning there were natural caves in Sri Lanka but as time went on, these caves gradually changed. Finally some of the residential caves ended up becoming Image Houses with the interest of layman to example, Dambulla.