Aggamahāpaṇḍita ( my, အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ, ) is an honorific Burmese Buddhist title conferred by the

Myanmar government Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. ...

to distinguished

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhist monks.

Etymology

Aggamahāpandiṭa, meaning "foremost great and wise one," is derived from the following Pali terms: *''Agga'', from ''Aggasāvaka'' (), which was conferred by the Buddha to his foremost disciples, Sariputta and

Mahamoggallana Maudgalyāyana ( pi, Moggallāna), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was one of the Buddha's closest disciples. Described as a contemporary of disciples such as Subhuti, Śāriputra ('), and Mahākāśyapa ( pi, M ...

. *''Mahā'', meaning "great." *''Paṇḍita'', meaning "wise or learned person," and denoting possession of wisdom and knowledge of Tipitaka.

Qualifications

The title is usually awarded to Buddhist monks who are highly proficient in teaching the

Dhamma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ''d ...

or those who are believed to be enlightened (''arahants''). The title is awarded annually in January by the head of the Burmese government, following after rigorous and subtle examination of a monk's wisdom and achievement by the

State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee The State Saṅgha Mahā Nāyaka Committee ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် သံဃာ့မဟာနာယကအဖွဲ့, abbreviated Mahana or in Burmese, SSMNC in English) is a government-appointed body of high-ranking Buddhis ...

. Recipients must meet the following qualifications: * Possesses the Aggamahāganthavācakapaṇḍita title * Has at least 40 years (

vassa The ''Vassa'' ( pi, vassa-, script=Latn, sa, varṣa-, script=Latn, both "rain") is the three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada practitioners. Taking place during the wet season, Vassa lasts for three lunar months, usually from July ...

) in the monkhood * Is an morally upright person (sīlavanta) * Has passed the Dhammācariya examination * Expert writer of Pali commentaries and Pali texts * Expert teacher of Pali commentaries and Pali texts * Serves as an abbot for a monastic college (ပရိယတ္တိစာသင်တိုက်) * Commands authority and influence among Sangha disciples * Free of accusations and disputes

History

Historically, the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

had disciples who held title of ''Aggasāvaka'' and ''Mahāsāvaka'' who were already enlightened Ariyas and regarded as leaders of the communities of monks known as the

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

. From 1915 to 1942, the British colonial government conferred the title Aggamahāpaṇḍita (အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ) to 98 monks. From 1951 through 1953, the Burmese government awarded the Aggamahāpaṇḍita title to 15 monks.

List of recipients

Ledi Sayadaw Ledi Sayadaw U Ñaṇadhaja ( my, လယ်တီဆရာတော် ဦးဉာဏဓဇ, ; 1 December 1846 – 27 June 1923) was an influential Theravada Buddhist monk. He was recognized from a young age as being developed in both the theory ( ...

(1911, Title offered by the Government of India) *Ashin Janakabhivamsa (1948) *

Mahasi Sayadaw Mahāsī Sayādaw U Sobhana ( my, မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန, ; 29 July 1904 – 14 August 1982) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk and meditation master who had a significant impact on the teaching of vipa ...

(1952) *Ambalangoda Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera (1954) *

Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero ( si, අග්ග මහා පණ්ඩිත බලංගොඩ ආනන්ද මෛත්‍රෙය මහා නා හිමි;23 August 1896 – 18 July 1998; was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who was on ...

(1955) * Sayadaw U Thittila (1956) *Anisakhan Sayadaw

U Pandita Sayadaw U Paṇḍita ( my, ဆရာတော် ဦးပဏ္ဍိတ, ; also ''Ovādācariya Sayādo Ū Paṇḍitābhivaṁsa''; 28 July 1921 – 16 April 2016) was one of the foremost masters of Vipassanā. He trained in the Theravada ...

*Mogok Sayadaw

U Vimala U Vimala ( my, ဦးဝိမလ; 27 December 1899 - 17 October 1962), commonly known as the Mogok Sayadaw ( my, မိုးကုတ်ဆရာတော်), was a renowned bhikkhu and vipassanā meditation master of Theravada Buddhism. Earl ...

(1962) *Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa (1979) *Myaungmya Sayadaw U Nyanika (1991) *Birmingham Sayadaw U Rewatadhamma *Sitagu Sayadaw Ashin Nyanissara *Sayadaw U Silananda (1993) * Madihe Pannaseeha Thero (1996) *Sayadaw

U Pannavamsa U Paññāvaṃsa ( my, ဦးပညာဝံသ; Pyinnyawuntha), commonly known as the Penang Sayadaw and officially titled Bhaddantapaññāvaṃsa) was a prominent Burmese Buddhist monk, known for his missionary work, particularly in Sri Lan ...

(1998) *

Walpola Rahula Thero Walpola Rahula Thero (1907–1997) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, scholar and writer. In 1964, he became the Professor of History and Religions at Northwestern University, thus becoming the first bhikkhu to hold a professorial chair in the West ...

(1998) *Yaykyi Mingala Kyaungtaik Sayadaw, Bhaddanta Indobhasa * Kotugoda Dhammawasa Thero *Thirikunamale Ananda Thero (2022)

References

External links