Mulsikha - Professor Risiman Amarasinghe intimated to us his yearing desire to write a Thesis on the "Mulsikha" or Monkish discipline in English. We are quite aware of his thorough knowledge of Sinhala and Pali. It is indeed profound. Hence we encouraged him further. Yet we entertained doubts in our mind whether he possessed the Buddhist Doctrine and that too on an abstruse text related to the discipline of the Buddhist clergy. We are aware that he is a non-Buddhist ; in fact a Roman Catholic by persuasion but amazingly his research induce us to reject such a view. Until now scholars considered the name of this text as “Sikhavalanda”. Prof. Amarasinghe terms it “Mulsikha”. He employs his logical perception to reach such a conclusion. This research not only displays Prof. Amarasinghe’s sound knowledge in linguistics but also his etymological erudition. Further he has based his research approach on Munidasa Kumarathunga’s analytical research and editing system. In sri Lankan literature a research work on this book has not so far been produced. Hence it is with great pleasure that I introduce this scholarly work to the reader.
Buddhist Nuns - In this book Dr. Wijayaratna explains how this community was started by the Buddha in the 5th century BCE, and how it developed gradually. To show the motivation and the way of life of these ordained women, the author uses the oldest texts of the Pali canon. Several chapters of this book discuss the position of Buddhist nuns in the field of the three famous monastic themes: poverty, chastity and obedience.