Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
( my, ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), specifically
Theravāda Buddhism
''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' ...
( my, ထေရဝါဒဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), is the
State religion of
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
since 1961,
and practiced by nearly 90% of the population. It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and proportion of income spent on religion. Adherents are most likely found among the dominant
Bamar people
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of ...
,
Shan,
Rakhine,
Mon,
Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
, and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
who are well integrated into Burmese society.
Monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
, collectively 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 ...
(community), are venerated members of Burmese society. Among many ethnic groups in Myanmar, including the Bamar and Shan, Theravada Buddhism is practiced in conjunction with the worship of
nats, which are spirits who can intercede in worldly affairs.
Regarding the practice of Buddhism, two popular practices stand out:
merit-making
Merit ( sa, puṇya, italic=yes, pi, puñña, italic=yes) is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important ...
and
vipassanā meditation. There is also the less popular
weizza
A weizza or weikza ( my, ဝိဇ္ဇာ, pi, vijjādhara) is an immortal, supernatural wizarding mystic in Buddhism in Burma associated with esoteric and occult practices such as recitation of spells, samatha, mysticism and alchemy. The goal ...
path. Merit-making is the most common path undertaken by Burmese Buddhists. This path involves the observance of the
Five precepts
The Five precepts ( sa, pañcaśīla, italic=yes; pi, pañcasīla, italic=yes) or five rules of training ( sa, pañcaśikṣapada, italic=yes; pi, pañcasikkhapada, italic=yes) is the most important system of morality for Buddhist lay peo ...
and accumulation of good
merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria
* Merit Energy Company, ...
through charity (
dana, often to monks) and good deeds to obtain a favorable
rebirth
Rebirth may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Film
* ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film
* ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film
* ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth
* ''The Re ...
. The meditation path, which has gained ground since the early 1900s, is a form of Buddhist meditation which is seen as leading to
awakening and can involve intense
meditation retreats. The weizza path is an esoteric system of occult practices (such as recitation of spells,
samatha
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
and alchemy) believed to lead to life as a ''weizza'' ( my, ဝိဇ္ဇာ pi, vijjā), a semi-immortal and supernatural being who awaits the appearance of the
future Buddha,
Maitreya (Arimeitaya).
Pre-modern History
Buddhism in the Mon and Pyu states
![MonWheel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/MonWheel.jpg)
The early history of Buddhism in Burma is hard to decipher.
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
historical chronicles state that
Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...
sent two
bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
s, Sona and Uttara, to
''Suvaṇṇabhūmi'' ("The Golden Land") around 228 BCE with other monks and sacred texts as part of his effort to spread Buddhism. The area has been recognized as being somewhere in ancient
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
, possibly in
Thaton
Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 km ...
in
lower Burma or
Nakon Pathom in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
. However, this is uncertain.
An
Andhra Ikshvaku
The Ikshvaku ( IAST: Ikṣvāku) dynasty ruled in the eastern Krishna River valley of India, from their capital at Vijayapuri (modern Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh) during approximately 3rd and 4th centuries CE. The Ikshvakus are also kn ...
inscription from about the 3rd century CE refers to the conversion of the
Kiratas
The Kirāta ( sa, किरात) is a generic term in Sanskrit literature for people who had territory in the mountains, particularly in the Himalayas and Northeast India and who are believed to have been Sino-Tibetan in origin. The meaning o ...
(Cilatas) to Buddhism. These may have been the
Mon-Khmer
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
speaking peoples of ancient
Arakan
Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
and Lower Burma (i.e. the
Pyu
Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Phyu Township
Pyu Township is a township in Taungoo District in the ...
states and
Mon kingdoms). 3rd century Chinese texts speak of a "Kingdom of Liu-Yang," where people worshiped the Buddha, and there were "several thousand sramanas". This kingdom has been located in central Burma.
By the 4th century, most of Pyu had become predominantly Buddhist, though archaeological finds prove that their pre-Buddhist practices also remained firmly entrenched in the following centuries. According to the excavated texts, as well as the Chinese records, the predominant religion of the Pyu was
Theravāda Buddhism
''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' ...
.
[Aung-Thwin 2005: 31–34][Htin Aung 1967: 15–17]
Peter Skilling concludes that there is firm epigraphical evidence for the dominant presence of Theravāda in the Pyu
Kingdom of Sriksetra and the Mon kingdom of
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th cent ...
, "from about the 5th century CE onwards", though he adds that evidence shows that
Mahāyāna
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
was also present. The epigraphical evidence comes from Pali inscriptions which have been found in these areas. They use a variant of the South Indian
Pallava script.
[Skilling, Peter. ''The Advent of Theravada Buddhism to Mainland South-east Asia'', Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. Volume 20, Number 1, Summer 1997]
Indeed, the oldest surviving Buddhist texts in the Pāli language come from
Pyu city-state of Sri Ksetra. The text, which is dated from the mid 5th to mid 6th century, is written on solid gold plaques. The similarity of the script used in these plates with that of the
Andhra
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
-
Kuntala-
Pallava region indicates that Theravada in Burma first arrived from this part of South India.
According to Skilling the Pyu and Mon realms "were flourishing centres of Buddhist culture in their own right, on an equal footing with contemporary centres like Anuradhapura."
These Mon-Pyu Buddhist traditions were the predominant form of Buddhism in Burma until the late 12th century when
Shin Uttarajiva
The Venerable Shin Uttarajīva ( my, ရှင်ဥတ္တရဇီဝ ; died c. 5 October 1191) was Primate of Pagan Kingdom during the reigns of three kings Narathu, Naratheinkha and Narapatisithu from 1167 to 1191. The Theravada Budd ...
led the reform which imported the Sri Lankan
Mahavihara
Mahavihara () is the Sanskrit and Pali term for a great vihara (centre of learning or Buddhist monastery) and is used to describe a monastic complex of viharas.
Mahaviharas of India
A range of monasteries grew up in ancient Magadha (modern Bihar ...
school to Burma.
[Harvey 1925: 55–56]
From the 8th to the 12th centuries Indian Buddhist traditions increasingly spread to Southeast Asia via the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
trade network. Because of this, before the 12th century, the areas of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia were influenced by the Buddhist traditions of India, some of which included the teachings of Mahāyāna Buddhism and the use of the Sanskrit language.
[Baruah, Bibhuti. ''Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism''. 2008. p. 131] In the 7th century,
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
noted in his travels that in Southeast Asia, all major sects of Indian Buddhism flourished.
Archaeological finds have also established the presence of
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
,
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
and
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
in Burma. In Sri Ksetra, Pegu and other regions of ancient Burma, Brahmanical Hinduism was also a strong rival to Buddhism and was often in competition with it. This is attested in the Burmese historical chronicles. Prominent Mahayana figures such as
Avalokiteśvara
In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर, IPA: ) is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He has 108 avatars, one notable avatar being Padmapāṇi (lotus bearer). He is variably depicted, ...
,
Tara,
Vaiśravaṇa
(Sanskrit: वैश्रवण) or (Pali; , , ja, 毘沙門天, Bishamonten, ko, 비사문천, Bisamuncheon, vi, Đa Văn Thiên Vương), is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and is considered an important figure in Buddhism.
Names
The n ...
, and
Hayagriva
Hayagriva, also spelled Hayagreeva ( sa, हयग्रीव IAST , ), is a Hindu deity, the horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. The purpose of this incarnation was to slay a danava also named Hayagriva (A descendant of Kashyapa and Danu), wh ...
, were included in Pyu (and later Bagan) iconography. Brahmanical deities such as
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
,
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
,
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
,
Garuda
Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda ...
and
Lakshmi
Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
have been found, especially in Lower Burma.
Buddhism in the Bagan Kingdom
![Somingyi interior Buddha statues (142058)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Somingyi_interior_Buddha_statues_%28142058%29.jpg)
The
Bamar people
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of ...
(Burmese) also adopted Buddhism as they came into contact with the Pyu and Mon civilizations. Initially, Burmese Buddhism was dominated by an eclectic Buddhism called
Ari Buddhism
Ari Buddhism or the Ari Gaing ( my, အရည်းဂိုဏ်း, ) is the name given to the religious practice common in Burma prior to Anawrahta's rise and the subsequent conversion of Bagan to Theravada Buddhism in the eleventh century. It ...
, which included Mahayana and Vajrayana elements as well animist practices like
nat worship and influences from
Brahmanism
The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...
.
The Bamar adoption of Buddhism accelerated in the 11th century during the reign of king
Anawrahta
Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...
(Pali: Aniruddha, 1044–1077) who transformed the
Bagan Kingdom
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
into a major power in the region through the conquest of the
Irrawady river valley, which included the Mon city of
Thaton
Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 km ...
. During his reign, Mon Buddhist culture, architecture and writing came to be largely assimilated into the Bamar culture.
Though later historical chronicles (like the ''
Sāsanavaṃsa
The or ''Thathanawin'' ( my, သာသနာဝင်, ) is a history of the Buddhist order in Burma, composed by the Burmese monk Paññāsāmi in 1861.Bischoff 1995Aung-Thwin 2005: 145 It is written in Pali prose, and based on earlier documen ...
'') state that Anawrahta conquered Thaton in order to obtain the Buddhist scriptures and that a "pure Theravada Buddhism" was established during his reign, it is likely that Theravada was known in Bagan before the 11th century. Furthermore, Bagan Theravāda was never truly "pure" as it included local animist rites,
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:
Mythology
* Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions
* Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata''
* Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...
worship and Brahmanical rites associated with
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
officiated by
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
priests.
Anawrahta implemented a series of religious reforms throughout his kingdom, attempting to weaken the power of the Tantric Mahayana Ari monks (also called "Samanakuttakas") and their unorthodox ways.
[Coedès 1968: 149–150][Niharranjan Ray (1946), p. 150] Burmese historical chronicles state that Anawrahta was converted by a Mon
bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
,
Shin Arahan
, image =Shin Arahan.JPG
, caption = Statute of Shin Arahan in Ananda Temple
, birth name =
, alias =
, dharma_name = mnw, ဓမ္မဒဿဳ
, birth_date = c. 1034
, b ...
, to Theravāda Buddhism. The king may have been worried about the influence of the forest dwelling Ari Buddhist monks and sought a way to subvert their power. The Ari monks, who ate evening meals, drank liquor, and presided over animal sacrifices and sexual rites, were considered heretical by the more orthodox Theravāda circles of monks like Shin Arahan.
[Lieberman 2003: 115–116][Htin Aung 1967: 32–37]
Anawrahta banished many Ari priests who refused to conform and many of them fled to
Popa Hill and the
Shan Hills
The Shan Hills ( my, ရှမ်းရိုးမ; ''Shan Yoma''), also known as Shan Highland, is a vast mountainous zone that extends through Yunnan to Myanmar and Thailand. The whole region is made up of numerous mountain ranges separated ...
.
[Harvey 1925: 26–31] Anawrahta also invited Theravāda scholars from the Mon lands, Sri Lanka and India to Bagan. Their scholarship helped revitalize a more orthodox form of Theravāda Buddhism, with a focus on Pali learning and Abhidhamma philosophy.
[Htin Aung 1967: 36–37] Anawrahta is also known as a great temple builder. Some of his main achievements include the
Shwezigon Pagoda
The Shwezigon Pagoda or Shwezigon Paya ( my-Mymr, ရွှေစည်းခုံဘုရား ) is a Buddhist stupa located in Nyaung-U, Myanmar. A prototype of Burmese stupas, it consists of a circular gold leaf-gilded stupa surrounded b ...
and the
Shwesandaw Pagoda.
However, Anawrahta did not attempt to remove all non-Theravāda elements from his kingdom. Indeed, Anawrahta continued to support some Mahayana practices. He allowed and even promoted the worship of the traditional Burmese nat spirits and allowed their worship in Buddhist temples and pagodas, presumably as a way to attract and appease the population and gradually have them accept the new Buddhist religion.
[Harvey 1925: 33]
Therefore, the spread and dominance of Theravāda in Burma was a gradual process taking centuries (and only really completed in around the 19th century). Hinduism, Ari Buddhism and nat worship remained influential forces in Burma at least until the 13th century, though the royal court generally favored Theravada.
The Ari practices included the worship of Mahayana figures like
Avalokiteśvara
In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर, IPA: ) is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He has 108 avatars, one notable avatar being Padmapāṇi (lotus bearer). He is variably depicted, ...
(''Lawka nat''), Tara and
Manjushri. The worship of Brahmanical deities, especially
Narayana
Narayana (Sanskrit: नारायण, IAST: ''Nārāyaṇa'') is one of the forms and names of Vishnu, who is in yogic slumber under the celestial waters, referring to the masculine principle. He is also known as Purushottama, and is co ...
, Vishnu,
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...
and
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
, as well as the nats, also remained popular. These gods were worshiped in their own temples (such as Vaisnava
Nathlaung Kyaung) as well as at Buddhist Temples.
Burmese Theravada did not ignore these practices, and in some cases incorporated them into the Theravada pantheon. Thus, the worship of Lokanatha was accepted in Burmese Theravada as well as the worship of a list of 37 Nats that were royally sanctioned.
The influence of these various religions is still felt in folk Burmese Buddhism today, which contains several elements of nat worship, esotericism, Mahayana and Hinduism.
The
Weikza tradition is particularly influenced by these unorthodox elements.
It seems that Bagan Theravāda was mainly supported by elite city dwellers, with over 90 percent of religious gifts being given by royalty, aristocrats, military officers and temple artisans. Meanwhile, the peasants in the countryside tended to be more associated with the animistic nat based religion.
At its height, the Bagan Kingdom became an important center of Theravāda scholarship. According to Lieberman:
At the great capital itself and some provincial centers, Buddhist temples supported an increasingly sophisticated Pali scholarship, part of an international tradition, which specialized in grammar and philosophical-psychological (''abhidhamma'') studies and which reportedly won the admiration of Sinhalese experts. Besides religious texts, Pagan’s monks read works in a variety of languages on prosody, phonology, grammar, astrology, alchemy, and medicine, and developed an independent school of legal studies. Most students, and probably the leading monks and nuns, came from aristocratic families.
![Bagan, Myanmar, Thatbyinnyu Temple](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Bagan%2C_Myanmar%2C_Thatbyinnyu_Temple.jpg)
The Burmese chronicles give a long list of monastic scholars (and their works) who worked during this era. Some important scholars of the Bagan era were Acariya Dhammasenapati, Aggavamsa Thera, Capata (Saddhammajotipala), Saddhammasiri, Vimalabuddhi, Aggapandita and Dhammadassi. Their work focused on the intricacies of
Pali grammar as well as on
Theravada Abhidhamma.
Another key figure of Bagan Buddhism was the Mon Buddhist monk
Shin Uttarajīva. He was a leading religious leader during the reigns of
Narathu
, image = Dhammayangyi Temple at Bagan,Myanmar.jpg
, caption = Dhammayangyi Temple built by Narathu
, reign = 1167 – February 1171
, coronation =
, succession = King of Burma ...
(1167–1171),
Naratheinkha
Naratheinkha ( my, နရသိင်္ခ, ; 1141–1174) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1171 to 1174. He appointed his brother Narapati Sithu heir apparent and commander-in-chief. It was the first recorded instance in the ...
(1171–74) and
Narapatisithu
Narapati Sithu ( my, နရပတိ စည်သူ, ; also Narapatisithu, Sithu II or Cansu II; 1138–1211) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1174 to 1211. He is considered the last important king of Pagan. His peaceful and p ...
(1167–1191). Uttarajiva presided over the realignment of
Burmese Buddhism
Buddhism ( my, ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), specifically Theravāda Buddhism ( my, ထေရဝါဒဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ), is the State religion of Myanmar since 1961, and practiced by nearly 90% of the population. It is the most re ...
with the
Mahavihara school of Sri Lanka, moving away from the
Conjeveram-
Thaton
Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 km ...
school of
Shin Arahan
, image =Shin Arahan.JPG
, caption = Statute of Shin Arahan in Ananda Temple
, birth name =
, alias =
, dharma_name = mnw, ဓမ္မဒဿဳ
, birth_date = c. 1034
, b ...
.
[Hall 1960: 23] Even though the kings supported the reform and sent numerous monks to Sri Lanka to re-ordain, various Burmese monks of the old order (known as the Maramma Sangha) refused to ordain in the new Burmese Sri Lankan based order (the Sinhala Sangha), and this led to a
schism.
The schism lasted two centuries before the old order finally died out.
Later kings continued to support Theravada Buddhism and its mainly Mon scholarly elite. In the 13th century, the Bamar kings and elites built countless Buddhist stupas and temples, especially around the capital city of
Bagan. These acts of generosity were a way to gain merit (''
puñña'') and to show that one had ''phun'' (glory, spiritual power). Bagan kings presented themselves as bodhisattvas, who saw themselves as responsible for the spiritual merit of their subjects. They also saw themselves as Dharma kings (
''Dhammaraja'') who were protectors and promoters of the Buddhist religion. Bagan kings also promoted themselves as manifestations of the god
Sakka.
The scale of state donations to Buddhist temples grew throughout the 13th century and many of these temples were also given arable land grants which were tax exempt as well as
slaves. Over time, this flow of wealth and agricultural capacity to the Buddhist temples put increasing economic strain on the kingdom.
To recover some of this wealth in an acceptable manner, kings often saw fit to "purify" or reform the Buddhist
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 ...
(monastic community). However in the 13th century, no Burmese kings were strong enough to manage and reform the increasingly rich and powerful sangha. The situation was also compounded by drier weather during the late 13th century and the 14th century (the
Medieval Warm period), which lowered crop yields.
[Lieberman (2003) p. 121] Because of this, the state was weak and divided. It was unable to resist the invasion of new enemies like the Mongols,
Hanthawaddy and the Shans.
The invasions by neighboring Shan and Mon states as well as the
Mongol invasions of Burma (13th century) brought the
Bagan Empire
The Kingdom of Pagan ( my, ပုဂံခေတ်, , ; also known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire; also the Bagan Dynasty or Bagan Empire) was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-da ...
to its end (the capital fell in 1287).
Era of Fragmentation (14th–16th centuries)
![Burma in 1450](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Burma_in_1450.png)
This era saw the rise of various fragmented warring kingdoms (Burmese, Shan and Mon) all vying for power.
During this period, the western mainland remained divided between four main regional political-ethnic zones. In the Shan Realm, the
Shan people
The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in th ...
established a
loose confederation of valley kingdoms. The Shan kingdoms supported Theravada Buddhism in imitation of the Burmese elites, though the Buddhist institutions in the Shan realm never wielded political power as they did in the Burmese regions. In the 14th century, the Buddhist sangha continued to receive patronage from regional Shan kings like
Thihathu
Thihathu ( my, သီဟသူ, ; 1265–1325) was a co-founder of the Myinsaing Kingdom, and the founder of the Pinya Kingdom in today's central Burma (Myanmar).Coedès 1968: 209 Thihathu was the youngest and most ambitious of the three brother ...
and scholarly activities continued under their reigns. Meanwhile,
Arakan
Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
was ruled by
the kingdom of Mrauk-u, who also patronized Theravada Buddhism.
The main power in the
Upper Burma
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
region was the
Kingdom of Ava
The Kingdom of Ava ( my, အင်းဝခေတ်, ) was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1364 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing t ...
(founded in 1365), which was still the most populous region in the western mainland, despite all the sociopolitical disorder of the era. However, this kingdom was severely weakened economically (lacking coastal trade access), and continued to suffer from the Pagan era issue of tax free religious estates. The leaders of Buddhist institutions grew in power during this era, assuming administrative and even military offices. While most Ava kings supported the sangha, one infamous ruler,
Thohanbwa
Thohanbwa ( my, သိုဟန်ဘွား, ; Shan: သိူဝ်ႁၢၼ်ၾႃ့; 1505 – May 1542) was king of Ava from 1527 to 1542. The eldest son of Sawlon of Mohnyin was a commander who actively participated in Monhyin's numer ...
is known as a king who pillaged and destroyed many monasteries and temples and massacred numerous monks.
In spite of the political weakness of the kingdom, Buddhist scholarship flourished during this time, with prominent scholars like Ariyavamsa, Silavamsa and Ratthasara composing numerous works. Ariyavamsa is known for his ''Manisaramañjusa'', a sub-commentary on the ''Abhidhammatthavibhavani,'' and his ''Manidipa,'' a commentary on the ''Atthasalini.'' He also wrote some works in Burmese, and thus was one of the first pioneers to write Buddhist works in that language.
In
Lower Burma the Mon people were dominant. The most powerful of the Mon kingdoms was
Hanthawaddy (a.k.a.
Ramaññadesa), founded by
Wareru
Wareru ( mnw, ဝါရေဝ်ရောဝ်, my, ဝါရီရူး, ; also known as Wagaru; 20 March 1253 – 14 January 1307) was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic a ...
. He was a patron of Theravada Buddhism, and also led the compilation of the
''Wareru'' ''Dhammasattha'', an influential code of law patterned on Bagan customary law and influenced by Buddhism.
In spite of their support for Theravada Buddhism, many of the people in Burma during this era continued to practice animist and other non-Buddhist religious rites. Shan, Burmese and Mon elites often practiced animal sacrifice and worshiped nat spirits during this period. Meanwhile, the forest dwelling Ari monks continued to practice rites in which alcohol was imbibed and animals were sacrificed.
However, there were also more orthodox Buddhist movements and tendencies in this era, such as a
teetotal
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
movement which was influential from the 14th century onwards, as can be seen from surviving inscriptions of the era. By the 16th and 17th centuries, this movement seemed to have been successful in replacing the drinking of alcohol in public ceremonies with pickled tea.
The royalty also often promoted orthodoxy and Buddhist reform. The greatest of the Hanthawaddy kings,
Dhammazedi
Dhammazedi ( my, ဓမ္မစေတီ, ; c. 1409–1492) was the 16th king of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in Burma from 1471 to 1492. Considered one of the most enlightened rulers in Burmese history, by some accounts call him "the greatest" of al ...
(Dhammaceti), was a former Mon bhikkhu who ruled from 1471 to 1492. According to the
Kalyani Inscriptions
The ''Kalyani Inscriptions'' ( my, ကလျာဏီကျောက်စာ), located in Bago, Burma (Myanmar), are the stone inscriptions erected by King Dhammazedi of Hanthawaddy Pegu between 1476 and 1479. Located at the Kalyani Ordinatio ...
, Dhammazedi carried out an extensive reform of the Buddhist sangha by sending thousands of Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka to receive ordination and training in the
Mahavihara tradition. He also purified the sangha of undisciplined monks, such as monks who owned land or other forms of material wealth.
The invitation of Sinhalese monks and ordination lineages as a way to reform the sangha was also adopted in Mrauk-U, Ava, Toungoo, and Prome. These Sinhalese Theravada lineages spread throughout the mainland through the different trade routes, reaching the Shan realm, Thailand and Laos. They brought with them Theravada texts, rituals, lowland alphabets and calendars. These changes paved the way for the standardizing Theravada reforms of the first Taungoo dynasty in the mid-16th century.
Taungoo Buddhism (1510–1752)
In the 16th century, the Burmese
Taungoo dynasty
, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty
, common_name = Taungoo dynasty
, era =
, status = Empire
, event_start = Independence from Ava
, year_start ...
unified all of Burma under energetic leaders like
Tabinshwehti
Tabinshwehti ( my, တပင်ရွှေထီး, ; 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550) was king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest kin ...
(r.1531–1550) and
Bayinnaung
, image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG
, caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar
, reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581
, coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toung ...
(r.1551–1581). Taungoo exploited the higher population of upper Burma along with European style firearms to create the largest empire in Southeast Asia.
Taungoo monarchs patronised the Mahavihara Theravada tradition (the Sinhala Sangha). During the
First Toungoo Empire
The First Toungoo Empire ( my, တောင်ငူ ခေတ်, ; also known as the First Toungoo Dynasty, the Second Burmese Empire or simply the Toungoo Empire) was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the ...
, a reform movement led by the Taungoo kings took place, which attempted to standardize the Buddhism of Upper Burma and the Shan region in line with the Mahavihara tradition. These reforms were modeled after those of Dhammazedi.
[Harvey 1925: 172–173]
Before the reform, the Buddhism of the Shan realm and Upper Burma was still heavily influenced by animism, Ari Buddhism and pre-Buddhist ritualism (which included animal and human sacrifice).
[Lieberman 2003: 135–136] Even in Lower Burma, where Theravada was more dominant, nat worship and Ari Buddhist practices also remained influential.
Bayinnaung attempted to bring the religious practice of his empire more in line with the orthodox
Sri Lankan Mahavihara tradition (i.e. the Sinhala Sangha). Bayinnaung distributed copies of the Pali scriptures, promoted scholarship and built pagodas throughout his empire.
One of the main temples built in his reign was the
Mahazedi Pagoda at Pegu.
![The Bodhisattva Lokanatha LACMA AC1995](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/The_Bodhisattva_Lokanatha_LACMA_AC1995.103.1_%281_of_2%29.jpg)
Bayinnaung also promoted mass ordinations into the Sinhala Sangha at the
Kalyani Ordination Hall
Kalyāṇī Ordination Hall (, pi, Kalyāṇī Sīmā) is a Buddhist ordination hall located in Bago, Myanmar. The ordination hall is a major pilgrimage site, and houses the Kalyani Inscriptions, a set of 10 sandstone pillars inscribed in Pali a ...
in the name of purifying the religion.
He also prohibited all human and animal sacrifices throughout the kingdom. In particular, he forbade the Shan practice of killing the slaves and animals belonging to a ''saopha'' at his funeral.
[Htin Aung 1967: 117–118] He also sent Burmese Theravada monks to preach in the Shan realm. During his reign, there were great scholars such as Saddhammalamkara, Dhammabuddha and Ananda (known for his commentary on the
''Dhammasanghani's'' Abhidhammamatika).
Bayinnaung's reforms were continued by the monarchs of the Restored Toungoo Dynasty, who spent much of their efforts in religious projects. An important later king was
Thalun
Thalun ( my, သာလွန်မင်း, ; 17 June 1584 – 27 August 1648) was the eighth king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). During his 19-year reign, Thalun successfully rebuilt the war-torn country which had been under constant wa ...
(1584–1648), known for building a number of monasteries and chedis in Upper Burma and other acts of donation to the sangha. He also patronized various learned elders of his era, such as Tipitakalamkara, Ariyalamkara and Jambudhaja. Tipitakalamkara is the author of the ''Vinayalamkara'' and a commentary to the ''Atthasalini, while Jambhudhaja'' composed a commentary on the ''Vinayatthakatha.''
Thalun's successor
Pindale
Pindale is a village in the Wundwin Township, Mandalay Division of central Myanmar.
See also
* Pindale Min
Pindale Min ( my, ပင်းတလဲမင်း, ; 23 March 1608 – 3 June 1661) was king of the Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanma ...
(1648–1661) also followed in his father's footsteps, building monasteries and patronizing Buddhist scholarship by figures such as Aggadhammalamkara, a great translator of various Abhidhamma works into Burmese (including the ''
Patthana'' and the ''Dhammasangani''). His Taungoo successors also promoted learning and further construction projects for the sangha.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Theravada practices became more regionally uniform, and the hill regions were drawn into closer contact with the basin.
[Lieberman 2003: 191–192] The consistent royal support of the Mahavihara Theravada tradition and the pacification of the Shan hill region led to the growth of rural monasteries (
''kyaungs''), which became a near universal feature of Burmese village life.
The rural monasteries were the main center of education and by the 18th century the large majority of village males were learning to read and write in these monasteries. As literacy became more common (over 50 percent among males), the cost of transcribing and writing Buddhist texts decreased and they thus became more commonly available.
The 17th century saw a growth in the interest of Abhidhamma study and the translation of various classic works of Abhidhamma into the Burmese language, including the
''Atthasalini'' and the ''
Abhidhammatthasangaha.'' This made the Abhidhamma more accessible to a much wider audience which probably included lay people''.''
At the same time, the Ari "Forest dweller" sect with their large landed estates virtually disappeared in this period due to various economic and political pressures.
[Lieberman 2003: 159] However, in spite of these changes and reforms, some animist and esoteric practices like nat worship and the
Weikza remained popular throughout Burma.
During the reign of King
Sanay (1673–1714), a great controversy swept the sangha over whether it was acceptable to wear the monk's robe so as to leave one shoulder exposed. This dispute would consume the sangha for almost a century.
Konbaung dynasty
![Mingun-Pagoda-Myanmar-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Mingun-Pagoda-Myanmar-01.jpg)
In the mid-18th century, King
Alaungpaya
Alaungpaya ( my, အလောင်းဘုရား, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). By the time of his death from illness during his campaign in Siam, this f ...
(1714–1760) established the
Konbaung Dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
(1752–1885) after a short period of rebellion and warfare.
His son,
Bodawpaya
Bodawpaya ( my, ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား, ; th, ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) was the sixth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Shwe Waing and later Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya, fo ...
(1745–1819), arbitrated the dispute concerning the correct way of wearing the monk robes by ruling in favour of covering both shoulders and the sangha was then unified under the
Sudhammā Nikāya.
[Leider, Jacques P. ''Text, Lineage and Tradition in Burma. The Struggle for Norms and Religious Legitimacy Under King Bodawphaya (1782–1819).'' The Journal of Burma Studies Volume 9, 2004, pp. 82–129]
Bodawpaya, a devout Buddhist, attempted to reform the sangha, aiming at a standard code of discipline and strict obedience to the scriptures. These reforms were known as the Sudhammā reforms. He appointed a council of
sangharajas as leaders of the sangha, tasked with maintaining monastic discipline.
He also appointed a sangha head (''sasanabaing''), Maung-daung Sayadaw, which was allowed to use the office and resources of the Royal Council to examine monks and defrock them if necessary. Various monks that did not meet the new standard were expelled from the sangha.
There were also monthly recitations of the vinaya in numerous cities throughout the realm. Regular examinations for monks were also organized, though this was a practice which had existed at least since the time of King
Sinbyushin (1763–1776). If monks repeatedly failed their exams, they could be expelled from the sangha. Bodawpaya also made many donations to the Buddhist order, including regular food offerings, numerous copies of the Tipitaka and a wave of monastery and pagoda construction in the capital of
Amarapura as well as the creation of animal sanctuaries (where hunting was prohibited). Bodawpaya also built numerous monasteries for learned Buddhist elders. One of the most learned scholars of this era was elder Ñāṇa, who wrote numerous works including commentaries on the
''Nettipakarana'', the ''Jatakatthakatha'' and the ''
Digha Nikaya.''
Bodawpaya also sent many monks trained in vinaya to the provinces to enforce monastic standards and others were sent to preach the dharma in places “where the religion was not flourishing”.
[Leider, Jacques P. ''Text, Lineage and Tradition in Burma. The Struggle for Norms and Religious Legitimacy Under King Bodawphaya (1782–1819).'' The Journal of Burma Studies Volume 9, 2004, p. 87] Bodawpaya's policies also led to the persecution of the heretical Zoti (Joti/Zawti) sect, who rejected rebirth and believed in an omniscient creator nat who judged individuals after death for eternity.
Under his auspices, the
upasampada ordination was also re-introduced to
Sri Lanka where it established the
Amarapura Nikaya
Amarapura ( my, အမရပူရ, MLCTS=a. ma. ra. pu ra., , ; also spelt as Ummerapoora) is a former capital of Myanmar, and now a township of Mandalay city. Amarapura is bounded by the Irrawaddy river in the west, Chanmyathazi Township in t ...
.
Bodawpaya also attempted to regulate the ethics of the lay population. He banned liquor, opium, cannabis and the killing of animals in his capital. He also appealed to the lay population to keep the 5 precepts and the 8 precepts during the uposatha days.
According to Lieberman, the Konbaung crown was thoroughly involved in numerous different religious matters such as:
* appointing capital and provincial abbots,
* conducting regular monastic examinations,
* disseminating “purified” copies of the Tipitaka,
* sending missionaries to outlying provinces.
* issuing new explicitly Buddhist law codes
* outlawed liquor with severe punishment for recidivism
* harassing heretics and muslims
* forbidding of animal slaughter in the cities
*the promotion of an official pantheon of 37 nats
Konbaung era monastic and lay elites also launched a major reformation of Burmese intellectual life and monasticism, known as the Sudhamma Reformation. It led to, amongst other things, Burma's first proper state histories.
[Charney 2006: 96–107] It was during this era that the ''Thathana-wun-tha'' (
''Sasanavamsa'', "Chronicle of the Buddhist religion") was written (1831).
Konbaung era monastics also wrote new commentaries on the canon. A key figure of this intellectual movement was the ascetic and sangharaja
Ñāṇabhivamsa, who wrote commentaries on the Nettippakarana and other works as well as a sub-commentary on the Digha Nikaya. Furthermore, there was an increase in translations of Pali Buddhist works into the Burmese language. In the first half of the 19th century, almost the entire
Sutta Pitaka became available in Burmese, and numerous commentaries continued to be composed on it. Buddhist texts also became much more widely available due to the growth of the use of
modern printing methods.
During the Konbaung period, alcohol consumption became frowned upon at all social levels (though it of course continued in private). Ritualized public drinking was eventually replaced by the public drinking of pickled tea. The public slaughter and sale of meat (not fish) also ceased in the major towns. Government edicts were also passed against opium, opium derivatives, gambling, and prostitution as well as alcohol and hunting.
In the villages, rituals became more standardized, based on orthodox Theravada merit-making and monastics became objects of popular veneration. Popular culture also "became suffused with the Jatakas and Buddhist maxims." Indeed, Theravada Buddhism achieved an "unqualified superiority" in this era over the nat cults.
It was also during this period that the first vipassana meditation teachers began to popularize the widespread practice of Buddhist meditation. This included figures like the monks Waya-zawta and
Medawi
Medawi ( pi, ; 1728–1816) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk credited with being the first author of extant modern vipassanā manuals and thus may have been the first practitioner in the modern vipassana movement. Medawi's first manual date ...
(1728–1816). Waya-zawta flourished during the reign of
Mahadhammayaza (1733–1752) and promised his followers could reach
sotapanna through
anagami levels of awakening under him.
[Pranke, Patrick. ]
On saints and wizards, Ideals of human perfection and power in contemporary Burmese Buddhism.
' Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 33 • Number 1–2 • 2010 (2011) pp. 453–488. Medawi was the first author of Burmese language vipassana meditation manuals (completing over thirty of these), focusing on the
three marks of existence
In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण trilakṣaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely '' aniccā'' (impermanence), '' dukkha'' (commonly translated as "su ...
as they pertain to the
five aggregates
(Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the rise of craving and clinging. They are also ...
.
Medawi promoted meditation as the way to prevent the decline of the Buddha's religion. He held that the Buddha's teaching was in decline only because people were not practicing it, and not, as others believed, because they lived in degenerate times.
Alongside of all the Theravada Buddhist activity, non-Buddhist rites and practices continued throughout the Konbaung era. These include the worship of ancestors, Hindu gods like Ganesha and Vishnu, and the Burmese nat spirits (which sometimes even included ceremonial sacrifices of living beings).
Modern era
Reign of Mindon Min (1853–1878)
King
Mindon Min
Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King P ...
is a key figure in the modernization of Burmese Buddhism. He became king after
Lower Burma had been conquered by the British in 1852. Mindon spent most of his reign, which was generally peaceful, attempting to modernize his realm and reform the sangha.
After the Second Anglo-Burmese War concluded, many monks from Lower Burma had resettled in Mandalay, having fled there during the war. Mindon Min attempted to convince these bhikkhus to return to lower Burma so that they might continue to educate the people in Buddhism. Some of these monks did return.
However, many of the monks in lower Burma began to group together under certain local leaders who saw themselves as outside of royal control. One of these figures was Okpo Sayadaw, who taught that the sangha did not need the protection of a secular elite power as long as it strictly kept the monastic discipline. His movement also challenged the authority of the Thudhamma sect, and took new ordinations by themselves. His ideas also reached Upper Burma and gained popularity there.
Meanwhile, in Upper Burma, many monks were now moving out of the capital to Sagaing hills, seeking an environment that was stricter than the capital which they saw as promoting lavish lifestyles. At this time, the Sagaing hills area became a center for more strict monastic practice. One of monks who left for Sagaing was the Ngettwin Sayadaw. He was a popular figure, known for criticizing many traditional religious practices.
Ngettwin Sayadaw, the 'Bird-cave Abbot' of Sagaing Hills, required his monks to practice vipassana meditation daily and keep a strict discipline.
He also advised laypersons to meditate instead of give offerings to Buddha images (which he said were fruitless).
[Bischoff (1995), pp. 132–133.] Another important figure of this period was Thingazar Sayadaw, who also stressed the importance of meditation practice and strict Vinaya.
Fearing that the Buddhist religion was in danger from colonialism and internal division, Mindon patronized and convened the Fifth Buddhist Council from 1868 to 1871. At this council, the Pali canon was recited and edited to a create a new edition and remove scribal transmission errors. When this was done, Mindon patronized the creation of a collection of 729 stone tablets inscribed with the new edition of the Pali canon. It remains the
world's largest book. The tablets were then stored in 729 small pagodas at the
Kuthodaw Pagoda complex.
Mindon's reign also saw the production of new scholarly works and translations of Pali texts. Ñeyyadhamma, the royal preceptor, wrote a sub-commentary to the Majjhima Nikaya (which had been translated into Burmese by his disciples). Paññasami (author of the ''Sasanavamsa'') also wrote numerous Pali works in this era, like the ''Silakatha'', and the ''Upayakatha''.
Another important Buddhist policy of Mindon was the establishment of animal sanctuaries, particularly outside Sagaing, at Maungdaung (near Alon), near the lower
Chindwin ,
, image = Homalin aerial.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Chindwin at Homalin. The smaller, meandering Uyu River can be seen joining the Chindwin.
, map = Irrawaddyrivermap.jpg
, map_size =
, map_alt =
, map_caption ...
and around
Meiktila lake
Lake Meiktila ( my, မိတ္ထီလာကန် ) is a lake located near Meiktila, Myanmar. It is long, averages half a mile across, and covers an area of . Mone-Dai dam supplies water to the lake. It is divided into two parts, north lake an ...
.
British rule
After Mindon’s death in 1877, his son Thibaw ascended the throne was weak and unable to prevent the British conquest of Upper Burma in 1886. This was an epoch making change, since the Buddhist sangha had now lost the support of the Burmese state for the first time in centuries.
During the
British administration of Lower and Upper Burma (from 1824 to 1948), government policies were generally secular which meant Buddhism and its institutions were not patronised or protected by the colonial government. Furthermore, monks who broke the vinaya now went unpunished by the government. The presence of Christian missionaries and missionary schools also became widespread. This resulted in tensions between the Buddhists, Christians and Europeans in Colonial Burma.
As the authority and prestige of the sangha yielded to that of western educated colonial elites (and with the rise of western education in Burma), there was a general feeling among Burmese Buddhists during the colonial era that the Buddhist dispensation (
''sasana'') was in decline and in danger of dying out.
[Kaloyanides, Alexandra (2015) ]
Escaping Colonialism, Rescuing Religion
' (review of Alicia Turner’s ''Saving Buddhism''), Marginalia, LA Review of Books. Not only did Buddhism now lack state support, but many of the traditional jobs of the Burmese sangha, especially education, were being taken by secular institutions.
The response to this perceived decline was a mass reform movement throughout the country which responded in different ways to the colonial situation. This included waves of Buddhist publishing, preaching, and the founding of hundreds of lay Buddhist organizations, as well as the promotion of vegetarianism, Buddhist education, moral and religious reform and the founding of schools. Lay persons, including working class individuals such as schoolteachers, and clerks, merchants were quite prominent in this Buddhist revival. They now assumed the responsibility of preserving the ''sasana'', one which had previously been taken by the king and royal elites.
![Ledi Sayadaw portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Ledi_Sayadaw_portrait.jpg)
An important part of this revival movement was the widespread promotion of Buddhist doctrinal learning (especially of the Abhidhamma) coupled with the practice of meditation (among the monastic and lay communities).
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 ( ...
(1846–1923) became an influential figure of this "
vipassana movement
The Vipassanā movement, also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American vipassana movement, refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (''sukha-vipassana'') to attain ...
", which was seen as a way to safeguard and preserve Buddhism. He traveled widely teaching and preaching, and also founded numerous lay study and meditation groups.
He also wrote voluminously. His output included meditation manuals and the ''Paramattha Sankhip,'' which was a Burmese verse translation of the ''Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha.'' According to Ledi, the study of this text and the practice of meditation allowed even laypersons to attain awakening "in this very life." His teachings were extremely influential for the later post-colonial spread of meditation by figures such as
U Ba Khin
Sayagyi U Ba Khin ( my, ဘခင်, ; 6 March 1899 – 19 January 1971) was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He was the founder of the International Meditation Centre in Yangon, Myanmar and is principally known as a leading ...
,
S. N. Goenka, and
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 ...
.
According to Patrick Pranke, during the same period that the vipassana movement was growing, another alternative soteriological system called ''
weikza-lam'' ("Path of esoteric knowledge") was also developing.
The major goal of weikza path is not the attainment of arhatship, but the attainment of virtual immortality as a weikza ("wizard"). This system is one "whose methods and orientation fall largely outside the parameters of contemporary Theravāda orthodoxy."
A weikza-do (Pali: ''vijjā-dhara'') is a Buddhist wizard believed to have esoteric powers which he uses to defend the Buddhist dispensation and assist good people. The archetypal weikza include figures like
Bo Min Gaung and
Bo Bo Aung (though there is a diverse pantheon of weikzas). Weikzas are typically portrayed as a white clad layman who awaits the arrival of the future Buddha Metteya and extends his life through alchemy and magic.
During 19th and 20th century, numerous weikza-lam associations were founded, many of which believed in a millenarian myth which said that a righteous king called
Setkya-min would defeat evil (along with Bo Bo Aung) and usher in a golden age in preparation for the arrival of Metteya. Other weikza followers do not subscribe to this unorthodox myth and simply wish to extend their lives so that they may live long enough to meet the next Buddha. While the practice of magic (for healing, immortality, magical protection and other ends) is a key element of weikza path, normative Buddhist practices like the five precepts and
samatha
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
meditation are also important in weikza-lam.
During this time, there was also widespread opposition to the conversion efforts of Christian missionaries. One unique figure in this fight was the popular Irish Buddhist monk
U Dhammaloka, who became a widely celebrated public preacher and polemicist against colonialism and Christian missionaries.
During the colonial period, the future of the Burmese nation was seen as closely tied to the future of the Buddhist dispensation. For the ethnic Burmese people,
Burmese nationalism was almost inseparable from their Buddhist identity. Indeed, a common slogan of the independence movement was "To be Burmese means to be Buddhist".
Therefore, many monks often participated in the nationalist struggle for independence, even though the majority of the senior monks leading the Burmese Sangha spoke out against monks participating in politics. They saw such activities as being contrary to the Vinaya rules. Likewise, many of the lay Buddhist organizations and its key organizers would also take part in the nationalist movement. One of the first and most influential of these nationalist Buddhist organizations was the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), founded in 1906. They were the first organization to co-operate with politicized monks.
Politically involved monks included figures such as
U Ottama
, image = Ven.Ottama.png
, caption =
, birth_name = Paw Tun Aung
, birth_date = 28 December 1879 1st waning of Pyatho 1241 ME
, birth_place = Rupa Village, Sittwe District, Arakan Division, British Burma
, death_date = 11th waning of Wag ...
, who argued that British rule was an obstacle to the practice of Buddhism and thus independence had to be gained, through violent means if necessary, though he also promoted
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians.
Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
tactics like boycotts and tax avoidance. In support of the use of violence, he quoted some Jatakas. He was arrested numerous times and died in jail, becoming a sort of martyr for the independence movement. However, Lehr points out that monastic political agitation "did not sit well with the population at large since this open participation in anti-colonial politics, or in social activism, was deemed to be a violation of the monastic rules."
[Lehr (2019), p. 170.] The reputation of the activist monks was further damaged by the participation of a small group of monks in the anti-Indian Indo-Burmese riots of 1938.
Parliamentary era
![Chattha_Sangāyana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Chattha_Sang%C4%81yana.jpg)
Since 1948 when the country gained its independence from
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
, both civil and military governments have supported Burmese Theravada Buddhism. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, created in 1948, was responsible for administering Buddhist affairs in Myanmar.
The first Burmese prime minister,
U Nu
Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...
was influenced by socialist principles and was also a devout Buddhist who promoted a kind of
Buddhist socialism. In 1954, U Nu, convened the
Sixth Buddhist Synod at the newly built
Kaba Aye Pagoda
Kaba Aye Pagoda ( my, ကမ္ဘာအေးစေတီ; ; also spelt Gaba Aye Pagoda; lit. World Peace Pagoda), formally Thiri Mingala Gaba Aye Zedidaw, ), is a Buddhist pagoda located on Kaba Aye Road, Mayangon Township, Yangon, Myanm ...
and Maha Pasana Guha (Great Cave) in
Rangoon (Yangon). It was attended by 2,500 monks, and established the International Institute for Advanced Buddhist studies, located on the premises of the Kaba Aye Pagoda. The main output of the council was the a new version of the Pali Canon, the "Sixth Council Tipitaka" (''Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka'').
U Nu also led to make Buddhism as the
State Religion. The
Union Parliament
The Union Parliament ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်) was the bicameral legislature of the Union of Burma from 1948 to 1962, when it was disbanded by the Union Revolutionary Council. It consisted of an upper h ...
passed and the president
Mahn Win Maung enacted the followings; the 1961 Act of the Third Amendment of the Constitution (that amended the
1947 Constitution to make Buddhism as State Religion) on 26 August 1961, and the State Religion Promotion and Support Act on 2 October 1961. U Nu also made the
uposatha
The Uposatha ( sa, Upavasatha) is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time (600 BCE), and still being kept today by Buddhist practitioners. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind ...
days public holidays, required government schools to teach Buddhist students the Buddhist scriptures, banned cattle slaughter, and commuted some
death sentences
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. While U Nu was overthrown as prime minister by Ne Win (who undid some of U Nu's religious policies) in 1962, he continued to travel and to teach Buddhism and remained an important Burmese spiritual leader and literary figure.
During the parliamentary era, Buddhism also became an ideological barrier against communism. Both U Nu and Burmese monk and philosopher U Kelatha argued that Buddhism had to counter the
Marxist Materialist philosophy which was against the teachings of the Buddha and a threat to Buddhism.
During the 20th century, the Burmese vipassana meditation movement also continued to grow and expand. Numerous monks and lay students developed various methods of meditation and there are many meditation centers and meditation monasteries. Influential figures of 20th century Burmese Buddhist meditation include
U Nārada
U Nārada ( my, နာရဒ; 1868–1955),Robert H. Sharf, ''Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience,'' Numen 42 (1995) pg 242 also Mingun Jetawun Sayādaw or Mingun Jetavana Sayādaw, was a Burmese monk in the Theravada ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
(who promoted what is called the "new Burmese method"),
Webu Sayadaw
Webu Sayadaw ( my, ဝေဘူ ဆရာတော်, ; 17 February 1896 – 26 June 1977) was a Theravada Buddhist monk, and vipassanā master, best known for giving all importance to diligent practice, rather than scholastic achievement ...
,
U Ba Khin
Sayagyi U Ba Khin ( my, ဘခင်, ; 6 March 1899 – 19 January 1971) was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He was the founder of the International Meditation Centre in Yangon, Myanmar and is principally known as a leading ...
and his student
S.N. Goenka,
Mogok Sayadaw,
Sunlun Sayadaw, and
Pa Auk Sayadaw (who emphasizes the
jhanas as taught in the
Visuddhimagga
The ''Visuddhimagga'' (Pali; English: ''The Path of Purification''), is the 'great treatise' on Buddhist practice and Theravāda Abhidhamma written by Buddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a manual condensing and sys ...
). Numerous western students also studied Burmese Buddhist meditation and brought them to the west as part of what is sometimes called the insight meditation (or vipassana) movement. This includes figures like
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Maha ...
,
Joseph Goldstein and
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg (born August 5, 1952) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, with Jack Kornfield and Jos ...
.
Burmese Way to Socialism
The 1947 constitution was suspended in 1962. But the State Religion Promotion Act remains.
The military and socialist governments led by Ne Win and his followers attempted to reform Myanmar under the "
Burmese Way to Socialism
The Burmese Way to Socialism ( my, မြန်မာ့နည်းမြန်မာ့ဟန် ဆိုရှယ်လစ်စနစ်), also known as the Burmese Road to Socialism, was the state ideology of the Socialist Republic of the ...
" which contained elements of Buddhism and Socialism. The constitution adopted in 1974 doesn't contain mentioning of a religion as a State Religion. They also cracked down on activist monks as part of a "cleaning up the sangha" reform, which saw monasteries raided and numerous politically active monks forcefully disrobed and jailed. Some monks were even
tortured
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carr ...
and died in jail.
[Lehr (2019), p. 173.]
Ne Win also tried to push for monks to register with the government, but this was strongly resisted by the Burmese sanghas. It was only during 1980–81 that general
Sein Lwin
Sein Lwin ( my, စိန်လွင်, ; 27 January 1924 – 9 April 2004) was a Burmese politician and retired military general in the Myanmar Army. He was served as the sixth president of Burma for 17 days in 1988, following the resignation ...
, serving as Minister of Home and Religious Affairs, finally forced all monks to register and get their own ID cards with the government. He also formed the 47-member State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee as a governing body for all monks in the country who had the power to disrobe "misbehaving" monks (i.e. politically involved monks). Numerous monks were attacked and persecuted during this period. Even highly respected figures like Mahasi Sayadaw and Mingun Sayadaw were targeted (since they had shown reluctance to work with the new Maha Nayaka Committee).
The economic policy of these governments, which was based on widespread
nationalisation, have widely been seen as a major failure which turned Burma into
one of the world's poorest countries.
These failures and the constant political repression led to the
8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests of 1988, which saw massive demonstrations throughout the country.
[Lintner; Human Rights Watch (2009), p. 44.]
Many Buddhist monks participated, particularly those of the
All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA). These monks were persecuted by
Burmese military
Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
during their crackdown on the protesters, many monks were killed.
During the chaos that ensued during the protests, Buddhist monks were at the forefront of the attempt to establish some sort of order in the towns and cities of Burma (before the military re-established control in 1989). Many organized day to day affairs like trash collecting, directing traffic and even policing.
Buddhist monks continued to protest and defy the military government and the military continued to respond with force, such as when a group of monks who were protesting in Mandalay were fired upon in 1990. In response, thousands of monks decided to boycott the donations from anyone associated with the military and their families (and refusing to perform rites for them).
[Lintner; Human Rights Watch (2009), pp. 48–50.] The army responded by raiding 133 monasteries and arresting numerous monks in late 1990 and early 1991. These arrests included various respected senior abbots like U Thumingala. Most were forced to disrobe and sent to labor camps. At this point, most of the pro-democracy movement crumbled. State propaganda meanwhile showed military leaders visiting monasteries and donating to monks.
The succeeding military regime, the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), did patronise Buddhist monasteries and some leading monks in order to attempt to legitimize their rule. They also placed monks which were supportive of the military in high positions. Senior military leaders continue to sponsor the renovations of pagodas and donate gifts to monks, which is then depicted in the state controlled media (though numerous Burmese remain suspicious of these displays). Meanwhile, persecution of Buddhists contrary to the regime, as well as persons of other religions and ethnic groups, continued. This also has led to rising ethnic tensions. One of the few Buddhist monks who successfully resisted being co-opted by the state was the
Thamanya Sayadaw, a widely revered and respected figure.
One of the key leaders of the democracy movement,
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
, has often spoken of the importance of Buddhism for the Burmese people, for the democracy movement and for her own personal struggles. Her association with the Thamanya Sayadaw contributed to her rising popularity and her speeches often include Buddhist themes.
During the pro-democracy
Saffron Revolution
The Saffron Revolution ( my, ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The pro ...
(2007), thousands of Buddhist monks were widely involved in the protests. When the military broke up the protests, many monasteries were raided and numerous monks were jailed, beaten, tortured and even killed. Others were sent to isolated labor camps.
[Lintner; Human Rights Watch (2009), pp. 9, 68–70.] U Gambira
Nyi Nyi Lwin (; born 19 June 1979), more widely known by his monastic name U Gambira ( my, ရှင်ဂမ္ဘီရ), is a former Buddhist monk, activist and a leader of the All-Burma Monks' Alliance, a group which helped lead the 200 ...
was an influential activist monk of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and is the leader of the All Burma Monks' Alliance (which was founded by U Nat Zaw).
The Burmese monks were supported by a regional network of Buddhist activists from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. During and after the crackdown, many such as U Nat Zaw managed to leave the country.
The extreme crackdown on the Buddhist sangha (one of the worst in history) led to much loss of legitimacy for the military government in the eyes of many Burmese. It also discredited the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, the official leadership body of the Sangha which sided with the military.
Pro democracy activities continue under the "Saffron Monks Network," who works to educate and politicize fellow monks. Buddhist monks and temples were also at the forefront of unofficial relief efforts during the aftermath of
cyclone Nargis
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis ( my, နာဂစ်, ur, نرگس ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone m ...
, and many monasteries and pagodas served as temporary shelters for displaced Burmese.
There has also recently been a rise in Buddhist monks espousing
anti-muslim
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
nationalist sentiments. One of the most infamous of which is
Ashin Wirathu
Wirathu ( my, ဝီရသူ, pi, ; born 10 July 1968 in Kyaukse, Mandalay Division, Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, Burma) is a Burmese Buddhist monk, and the leader of the extremist 969 Movement in Myanmar. He has been accused o ...
, who believes most muslims are violent radicals who are raping Burmese women throughout Burma. He fears that muslims (with a higher
birthrate
The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
and foreign support) will take over Burma unless they are stopped, through the use of violence if necessary. There are several ultra-nationalist Buddhist organizations in contemporary Myanmar, such as
Ma Ba Tha ("Patriotic Association of Myanmar") and the
969 Movement
The 969 Movement () is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist ...
.
It is important to note that in spite of the activities of numerous different types of activist monks (whether it is pro-democracy or ultra-nationalist types), the "silent majority" of the Burmese sangha generally frowns upon monastics taking part in political activity. Many Burmese monks do not see politics as something that Buddhist
bhikkhus
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics (" nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
should be participating in (and believe they should disrobe if they wish to enter politics).
Religious Practices and Traditions
Festivals
The
culture of Myanmar
The culture of Myanmar (also known as Burma) ( my, မြန်မာ့ယဉ်ကျေးမှု) has been heavily influenced by Buddhism. Burmese culture has also been influenced by its neighbours.
In more recent times, British colonial ...
is inseparable from Buddhism. There are
many Burmese traditional festivals all through the year, and most of them are related to
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
.
Common activities include vising pagodas or local monasteries, donating food to the monastics, taking the
eight precepts, and attending parades.
The Burmese New Year (''
Thingyan
Thingyan (, ; Arakanese: ; from Sanskrit '' saṁkrānti,'' which means "transit f the Sun from Pisces to Aries) is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. Thingyan is the first ever water festival celebrated in ...
''), also known as the
Water Festival
The Water Festival is the New Year's celebrations that take place in Southeast Asian nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand as well as among the Dai people of China. It is called the 'Water Festival' by Westerners because they no ...
, has its origins in Indian traditions. It is also a time when many Burmese boys celebrate ''
shinbyu
Shinbyu (; , also spelt shinpyu) is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony ( pabbajja) in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, referring to the celebrations marking the sāmaṇera (novitiate) monastic ordination of a boy under the age of ...
'', a special
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
by which a boy enters the monastery for a short time as a
sāmaṇera. Thingyan usually falls in mid-April and tops the list of
Public holidays in Myanmar
Several public holidays are observed in Myanmar.
Public holidays
References
External links
2012 Public Holidays in Myanmar* 2016 Public Holidays in Myanmar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Public Holidays In Myanmar
Myanmar
Burmese culture
Observanc ...
.
Vesak
Vesak (Pali: ''Vesākha''; sa, Vaiśākha), also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Tibet and Mongolia. The festival commemora ...
, also known as the full moon day of Kason, is the most sacred of all holidays, as it marks the Buddha's birth, awakening and death. Buddhists may celebrate by offering alms to monastics, keeping the eight precepts, practicing meditation, and freeing animals from captivity. Kason is also celebrated by watering
Bodhi Trees during the Bodhi tree watering festival (''Nyaungye-thun'').
Other popular festivals include the
Dhammasekya Day celebration, the
Festival of Lights and the
pagoda festivals.
Pagoda festival
Pagoda festivals ( my, ဘုရားပွဲ; ''paya pwe'') are regular festivals found throughout Burma (Myanmar) that commemorate major religious events in pagoda's history, including the founding of a pagoda and the crowning of the pagoda's ...
s ( ''Paya pwè'') held throughout the country also usually fall on full moon days and most of them will be on the full moon of Tabaung (February/March) including the
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
.
They attract not only crowds of pilgrims from near and far, often in caravans of bullock carts, but they also double as great market fairs where both local and itinerant traders set up their stalls and shops among food stalls, restaurants, and free open-air stage performances as well as theatre halls.
Veneration and Devotion
A Burmese Buddhist household usually contains an altar or shrine to the Buddha, with at least one dedicated image or statue of Gautama Buddha (known as a ''buddharupa''). Likewise, Buddhist temples and monasteries also contain larger Buddha statues in their main halls, sometimes the Buddha statue will be flanked by statues of the Buddha's 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 ...
).
A Buddha image is commonly placed on a "throne" called a ''
gaw pallin'' (, from
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
''pallanka''). Flowers, candles, food and other offerings are commonly placed in front of the Buddha statue.
[Khantipalo, Bhikkhu (1982)]
''Lay Buddhist Practice: The Shrine Room, Uposatha Day, Rains Residence'' (The Wheel No. 206/207).
Kandy, Sri Lanka:Buddhist Publication Society.
Before a Buddha statue is used for veneration, it must be formally consecrated, in a ritual called ''
buddhābhiseka'' or ''anay gaza tin'' (). This consecration, led by a Buddhist monk, including various offerings (candles, flowers, etc) and chanting of ''paritta'' and other verses such as ''aneka jāti saṃsāraṃ'' ("through the round of many births I roamed"), the 153rd verse of the
Dhammapada (found in the 11th chapter).
The consecration rituals are believed to imbue the Buddha image with a sacred quality that can protect the surroundings from misfortune and symbolically embody the powers of the Buddha.
Common devotional practices which are done at home or in a temple include the
taking of refuge in the three jewels (usually by reciting a popular formula), the chanting of key scriptural verses (such as ''
parittas'' like the ''
Mangala Sutta
Mangala (Sanskrit: मङ्गल, IAST: ) is the personification, as well as the name for the planet Mars, in Hindu literature. Also known as Lohita (), he is the celibate deity of anger, aggression, as well as war. According to Vaishnavism, ...
'' and the ''
Metta Sutta
The Mettā Sutta is the name used for two Buddhist discourses (Pali: '' sutta'') found in the Pali Canon. The one, more often chanted by Theravadin monks, is also referred to as ''Karaṇīyamettā Sutta'' after the opening word, ''Karaṇīyam'' ...
''), respectful salutation with joined palms (
''anjali'') and the "five limb
prostration
Prostration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especiall ...
".
The chanting of Buddhist scripture is also part of Burmese Buddhist funerals as well as other important occasions.
Ethics and Merit
A central element of Burmese Buddhist practice is making merit or goodness (Pali: ''
puñña''). This generally involves doing certain good deeds, such as donating food and other things to Buddhist monastics. Buddhists believe that wholesome actions (''kusala
kamma'') will create good karmic fruits or results (''phala'') in this life and in the next life.
Another important element of Burmese Buddhist ethics is the keeping of "precepts" or "trainings". The most basic set of ethical precepts are
the five precepts
The Five precepts ( sa, pañcaśīla, italic=yes; pi, pañcasīla, italic=yes) or five rules of training ( sa, pañcaśikṣapada, italic=yes; pi, pañcasikkhapada, italic=yes) is the most important system of morality for Buddhist lay peo ...
(abstaining from killing, stealing, lying, adultery and alcohol). There are also extra precepts (see:
eight precepts) that Burmese laypersons may take occasionally, during religious holidays, the uposatha days and meditation retreats.
It is a traditional practice to request a Buddhist monastic to bestow the precepts on a layperson by chanting the precepts in the Pali language.
On days of the lunar observance or
uposatha
The Uposatha ( sa, Upavasatha) is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time (600 BCE), and still being kept today by Buddhist practitioners. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind ...
(which typical occur about once a week), Buddhist laypersons may take on extra precepts and visit a Buddhist temple to make merit and practice more intensely.
Another common practice is for Buddhist monks to give sermons or "
Dhamma talks" to the laity and junior monks. It is believed that listening to the Buddha's teachings is a meritorious activity. Burmese Monks will often address the laypersons in an informal and conversational style, called a "fan down" sermon, which uses plain language and may include humor. This contrasts which a more ancient and ritualized "fan up" (which refers to how monks would cover their face with a fan) sermon which was often done in Pali and was mostly incomprehensible to laypersons.
Though most Burmese eat meat, some prominent Burmese Buddhist monks have promoted
vegetarianism as a wholesome and compassionate diet. These figures include the popular
Thamanya Sayadaw and his followers, who promote a vegetarian diet as a useful way to cultivate
metta.
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 ...
has also recommended vegetarianism as the best way to make sure one's meal is "pure in three ways." This refers to the rule the Buddha laid down which allows monks to eat meat only if it is not seen, heard or suspected that the animal was killed specifically for them. Burmese Buddhists also generally avoid jobs which entail the killing of animals, since it would be a wrong livelihood.
Meditation
Buddhist Meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and '' jhāna/dhyāna'' (mental training resulting in a calm and ...
is a popular and widespread Buddhist practice in Burma. It is done by both laypersons and monastics. Though traditionally, most laypersons (and even most monks) did not focus on meditation, this changed with the growth of a mass lay meditation movement (a.k.a. the "
vipassana movement
The Vipassanā movement, also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American vipassana movement, refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (''sukha-vipassana'') to attain ...
") in the 20th century. It was led by figures such as
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 ...
,
U Nu
Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...
and
U Ba Khin
Sayagyi U Ba Khin ( my, ဘခင်, ; 6 March 1899 – 19 January 1971) was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He was the founder of the International Meditation Centre in Yangon, Myanmar and is principally known as a leading ...
, who promoted the idea that even laypersons could strive for awakening through meditation practice.
There are numerous meditation centers throughout Burma, such as the Mahasi Thathana Yeiktha (one of the largest ones).
[Jordt, Ingrid (2014). ''Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power.'' Ohio University Press, pp. 15–18.] Another important early meditation center is the International Meditation Centre (I.M.C.) of U Ba Khin. Laypersons will sometimes enter meditation retreats at these centers during which they will follow a rigorous schedule of daily meditation.
''Shinbyu ()''
![Monastery Buddhist altar, Taunggyi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Monastery_Buddhist_altar%2C_Taunggyi.jpg)
It is the most important duty of all Burmese parents to make sure their sons are admitted to the Buddhist ''
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 ...
'' by performing a shinbyu ceremony once they have reached the age of seven or older. Shinbyu is considered one of the
Twelve Auspicious Rites in
Burmese culture. This symbolic procession and ceremony of exchanging princely attire with that of an ascetic follows the example of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a 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 born in Lu ...
. He was born a royal prince named Siddartha Gautama, but left his palace on horseback followed by his loyal attendant Chanda () after he found out that life is made up of suffering (
dukkha) and the notion of self is merely an illusion (
anatta) when one day he saw the "Four Great Signs" () – the old, the sick, the dead, and the ascetic – in the royal gardens.
All Buddhists are required to keep the basic
Five Precepts
The Five precepts ( sa, pañcaśīla, italic=yes; pi, pañcasīla, italic=yes) or five rules of training ( sa, pañcaśikṣapada, italic=yes; pi, pañcasikkhapada, italic=yes) is the most important system of morality for Buddhist lay peo ...
(), and novices are expected to keep the
Ten Precepts (). Parents expect them to stay at the kyaung immersed in the teachings of the Buddha as members of the Sangha for three months or longer. They will have another opportunity to join the Sangha at the age of 20, taking the
upasampada ordination, to become a fully ordained
bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
, keeping the 227 precepts of the full monastic rules or
Pātimokkha and perhaps remain a monk for life.
Vassa
The three
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
months from mid-July to mid-October is
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 ...
(, ), a time when people are busy tilling their land and planting the rice paddies and
bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
s remain in
kyaung
A ''kyaung'' (, ) is a monastery ( vihara), comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Buddhist monks. Burmese ''kyaungs'' are sometimes also occupied by novice monks (samanera), lay attendants ('' kappiya''), nuns ('' thilashin''), and y ...
s. New robes are offered to bhikkhus at the beginning of Vassa, the end of which is marked by the
Thadingyut Festival
The Thadingyut Festival ( my, သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော်), also known as the Lighting Festival of Myanmar, is held on the full moon day of the Burmese lunar month of Thadingyut. As a custom, it is held at the end of t ...
.
After the harvest, robes are again offered at
Kathina
Kathina is a Buddhist festival which comes at the end of Vassa, the three-month rainy season retreat for Theravada Buddhists in Bangladesh (known as Kaṭhina Cībar Dān), Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Thail ...
(), usually held during October or November.
Uposatha
The Uposatha ( sa, Upavasatha) is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time (600 BCE), and still being kept today by Buddhist practitioners. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind ...
days are observed by keeping the
Eight Precepts by laypersons during Thingyan and Vassa and by devout Buddhists all the year round.
Parents and elders also receive obeisance from younger members of the family at the beginning as well as the end of lent, after the tradition established by the Buddha himself. It was during Vassa that he ascended to the
Tāvatiṃsa Heaven to preach a sermon, as an act of gratitude, to his mother, who had become a
deva, and he was welcomed back to earth with a great festival of lights.
Teachers receive the same obeisance, a tradition started by National Schools founded in defiance of the colonial administration and continued after independence by state schools.
Wedding ceremonies – nothing to do with religion and not conducted by 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 ...
– are not held during the three months of Vassa, a custom which has resulted in a spate of weddings after Thadingyut or ''Wa-kyut'', awaited impatiently by couples wanting to tie the knot.
Buddhist education
Devout Burmese Buddhists may send their children to local monasteries (''
kyaungs'') to receive a Buddhist education, which, apart from learning
the three Rs
The three Rs (as in the letter ''R'') are three basic skills taught in schools: reading, writing and arithmetic (usually said as "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic"). The phrase appears to have been coined at the beginning of the 19th century.
...
, also includes learning the
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During ...
, the life story of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a 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 born in Lu ...
, the 550
Jataka tales
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is ...
– most importantly the 38 Buddhist Beatitudes.
Monks were the traditional teachers of the young and old alike until secular and missionary schools came into being during the British colonial administration. There has been a revival of monastic schools since the 1990s with the deepening economic crisis. Children from poor families that can ill afford fees, uniforms and books have renewed the demand for a free monastic education, and
minority group
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
s such as the Shan,
Pa'O,
Palaung,
Lahu and
Wa are benefitting from this revival.
Monasticism
Buddhist monks are venerated throughout Burmese society. According to 2016 statistics published 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 ...
, the Sangha included 535,327 members, evenly split between 282,347 fully-ordained Buddhist monks (
bhikku
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist c ...
) and 252,962 novice monks (
samanera
A sāmaṇera (Pali); sa, श्रामणेर (), is a novice male monastic in a Buddhist context. A female novice is a ''śrāmaṇerī'' or ''śrāmaṇerikā'' (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''sāmaṇerī'').
Etymology
The ''sāmaṇera'' is a ...
).
There were also 60,390 ''
thilashin
A ( my, သီလရှင်, ,( mnw, သဳလ, ), "possessor of morality", from Pali '' sīla'') is a female renunciant in Burmese Buddhism; a Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun. They are not fully ordained nuns, as the full ordination is not ...
'' (female renunciants).
The majority of Buddhist monks belong to one of two primary monastic orders ( ''gaing''):
Thudhamma Nikaya
Thudhamma Nikaya ( my, သုဓမ္မာနိကာယ, ; also spelt Sudhammā Nikāya) is the largest monastic order of monks in Burma.
It is one of 9 legally sanctioned monastic orders (''nikāya'') in the country, under the 1990 Law Co ...
(87.24% of Buddhist monks) and the more orthodox
Shwegyin Nikaya
Shwegyin Nikāya (, ; also spelt Shwekyin Nikāya) is the second largest monastic order of monks in Burma. It is one of nine legally sanctioned monastic orders (''nikāya'') in the country, under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations. Sh ...
(9.47% of Buddhist monks).
Other minor monastic orders include the
Dwara Nikaya in Lower Burma, and
Hngettwin Nikaya
Hngettwin Nikaya ( my, ငှက်တွင်နိကာယ, ), officially Catubhummika Mahāsatipaṭṭhana Nikāya ( my, စတုဘုမ္မိက မဟာသတိပဋ္ဌာန် နိကာယ) is the name of a monastic order o ...
in Mandalay, both of which have a few thousand member monks. There are nine legally recognised monastic orders in Burma today, under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations. Burmese monastic orders do not differ in doctrine but in monastic practice, lineage and organisational structure.
There are also numerous small
esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...
Buddhist sects or
weizza
A weizza or weikza ( my, ဝိဇ္ဇာ, pi, vijjādhara) is an immortal, supernatural wizarding mystic in Buddhism in Burma associated with esoteric and occult practices such as recitation of spells, samatha, mysticism and alchemy. The goal ...
not recognised by any authority that incorporate non-Buddhist elements like
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
,
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and
occultism.
The overwhelming majority of Burmese monks wear
maroon robes, while others wear
ochre, unlike in neighbouring Theravada countries like Thailand, Laos and Sri Lanka, where monks commonly wear
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in ...
robes.
Female Monastics
The full
bhikkhuni (nuns) lineage of Theravada Buddhism died out, and for various technical and social reasons was therefore permanently absent. The governing council of Buddhism in Myanmar has ruled that there can be no valid ordination of women in modern times, though some Burmese monks disagree. However, as in many other Theravadin countries, women have created a niche for themselves as renunciants not recognised by the state-empowered
Sangharaja
Sangharaja (Pāli: ''sangha'' religious community + ''raja'' ruler, king, or prince) is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity ( nikaya), or of the ''Sangha'' t ...
or even 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 ...
in general. In Myanmar, these women are called ''
thilashin
A ( my, သီလရှင်, ,( mnw, သဳလ, ), "possessor of morality", from Pali '' sīla'') is a female renunciant in Burmese Buddhism; a Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun. They are not fully ordained nuns, as the full ordination is not ...
''.
A ''thilashin'' ( my, သီလရှင်, , "possessor of morality", from
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
''
sīla'') is a female lay renunciant whose vows are the same as those of
''sāmaṇerīs'' "novitiate nuns". Like the ''
maechi
Maechi or Mae chee ( th, แม่ชี; ) are Buddhist laywomen in Thailand who have dedicated their life to religion, vowing celibacy, living an ascetic life and taking the Eight or Ten Precepts (i.e., more than the Five Precepts taken by ...
'' of neighbouring
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
and the ''
dasa sil mata
A dasa sil mata (Sinhala: දස සිල් මාතා ) is an Eight- or Ten Precepts-holding anagārikā (lay renunciant) in Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where the newly reestablished bhikkhuni (nun's) lineage is not officially recognized yet.
...
'' of
Sri Lanka, thilashin occupy a position somewhere between that of an ordinary lay follower and an ordained monastic. However, they are treated more favourably than most maechi, being able to receive training, practice meditation and sit for the same qualification examinations as the monks.
Thilashins observe the
ten precepts and can be recognised by their pink robes, shaven head, orange or brown shawl and metal alms bowl. Thilashins go out on alms rounds on
uposatha
The Uposatha ( sa, Upavasatha) is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time (600 BCE), and still being kept today by Buddhist practitioners. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind ...
and receive uncooked rice or money. Thilashins are addressed with the
honorifics ''sayale'' ( my, ဆရာလေး, "little teacher") and
''daw'' (, ).
Thilashins often reside in either separate quarters or in segregated
kyaung
A ''kyaung'' (, ) is a monastery ( vihara), comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Buddhist monks. Burmese ''kyaungs'' are sometimes also occupied by novice monks (samanera), lay attendants ('' kappiya''), nuns ('' thilashin''), and y ...
(temple-monasteries). They do not have to look after the monks, but may help cook if required. Although ranked lower than the monks, they are not subservient to them.
There have been efforts by some thilashins to reinstate the bhikkhuni lineage, although there are reservations from the government and general populace. A new Theravada bhikkhuni sangha was first convened in 1996, and since then many more have taken the full vows. However, within Myanmar, thilashins remain the only monastic option for women at this time. In 2003, Saccavadi and Gunasari were ordained as bhikkhunis in
Sri Lanka, thus becoming the first female Myanma novices in modern times to receive higher ordination in Sri Lanka.
Politics
Buddhism made major contributions in the development of Burmese politics. Buddhist monks and lay organizations remain involved in Burmese politics. Burmese nationalism first began with the formation of the
Young Men's Buddhist Association
The YMBA, or Young Men's Buddhist Association, was created in Sri Lanka in 1898. The main founder was C. S. DissanayakeHuman Rights Watch (2009)''The Resistance of the Monks: Buddhism and Activism in Burma'' p. 12. as part of a bid to provide Budd ...
(YMBA) in 1906. Buddhist monks along with students have been in the forefront of the struggle for independence and later for democracy. Some influential leaders include
U Ottama
, image = Ven.Ottama.png
, caption =
, birth_name = Paw Tun Aung
, birth_date = 28 December 1879 1st waning of Pyatho 1241 ME
, birth_place = Rupa Village, Sittwe District, Arakan Division, British Burma
, death_date = 11th waning of Wag ...
and U Seinda in
Rakhine State
Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Ben ...
, and
U Wisara
Ven. U Wisara ( my, ဦးဝိစာရ, , pi, ; 24 April 1889 – 19 September 1929) was a Burmese Buddhist monk who died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike against the colonial British rule in Burma. The monk had been repeatedly imp ...
who died after a protracted hunger strike in
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
prison.
Buddhist Monks often participate in political protests and may also boycott certain political figures by refusing to accept alms offerings from them (thus denying them of a chance to make merit). Since independence, the Government and individual government figures have patronised Buddhism through different forms of donations as a way to legitimise their rule. Thus, this form of boycott is a powerful tool of protest in Myanmar.
![2007 Myanmar protests 11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/2007_Myanmar_protests_11.jpg)
The
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
has been an important venue for large public meetings where both
Aung San
Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goa ...
and his daughter
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
made their famous speeches. During the second university strike of 1936, students camped out on the Shwedagon terraces. Pro-democracy leaders, especially Suu Kyi, have consistently appealed to Buddhist values in their struggle for democracy.
One of the most recent wave of protests where Buddhist monks participated in large numbers was the
Saffron Revolution of 2007. The military junta cracked down harshly and imprisoned thousands of monks, while leaving many others dead.
In November 2008,
U Gambira
Nyi Nyi Lwin (; born 19 June 1979), more widely known by his monastic name U Gambira ( my, ရှင်ဂမ္ဘီရ), is a former Buddhist monk, activist and a leader of the All-Burma Monks' Alliance, a group which helped lead the 200 ...
, a leader of the
All Burma Monks' Alliance All Burma Monks' Alliance (abbreviated ABMA) is a coalition of monks in Myanmar, representing the All Burma Young Monks' Union, the Federation of all Burma Monks' Union, the Rangoon Young Monks' Union and the Sangha Duta Council of Burma. It was fou ...
, was sentenced to 68 years in prison, at least 12 years of which will be hard labour; other charges against him are still pending.
In early 2009, his sentence was reduced to 63 years.
His sentence was protested by
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
,
and
Amnesty International considers him a
prisoner of conscience.
Both groups called for his immediate release. Gambira was released during a mass pardon of prisoners on 13 January 2012 as part of the
2011–2012 Burmese political reforms. He ceased to be a monk in April 2012, stating that he had been unable to find a monastery to join due to his status as a former prisoner. He was re-arrested at least three times in 2012, and as of 11 December 2012, was released on bail.
Demography
Buddhism is practiced by approximately 90% of the country. According to
Burmese census data dating back to 1891, between 84% to 90% of the population have practiced Buddhism.
State Religion Day
The Buddhist nationalists mark the
Full Moon Day
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...
of
Wagaung as "State Religion Day" (နိုင်ငံတော်ဘာသာနေ့), as commemoration of the enactments of the "1961 Act of the Third Amendment of the Constitution" on the Full Moon Day of Wagaung of 1323 ME (26 August 1961 CE).
In 2015, The Association for Protection of Race and Religion (Ma Ba Tha) requested the government to officially celebrate the State Religion Day.
Recent celebration is the 60th anniversary of the State Religion Day on 26 August 2021, led by the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA), and include the hoisting of Sasana flags in homes and positing the flag photos in social media. On 22 August 2021,
Kayin State Government led by Chief Minister U Saw Myint Oo attended one of the meriting ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the State Religion Day.
See also
*
Agga Maha Pandita
Aggamahāpaṇḍita ( my, အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ, ) is an honorific Burmese Buddhist title conferred by the Myanmar government to distinguished Theravada Buddhist monks.
Etymology
Aggamahāpandiṭa, meaning "foremost great an ...
*
Burmese Buddhist titles Burmese Buddhist titles (သာသနာတော်ဆိုင်ရာ ဘွဲ့တံဆိပ်တော်များ) encompass numerous honorific titles conferred by the Burmese government, to recognize members of the Sangha as well as ...
*
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 ...
*
List of Sāsana Azani recipients
The Burmese government recognizes Buddhist monks who have successfully passed the Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection Examinations as "Sāsana Azani" (သာသနာ့အာဇာနည်), from Pali (). Since the examination's initial inc ...
*
*
Vipassana Movement
The Vipassanā movement, also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American vipassana movement, refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (''sukha-vipassana'') to attain ...
*
Buddha Sāsana Nuggaha
*
Young Men's Buddhist Association (Burma)
The Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) ( my, ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာကလျာဏယုဝအသင်း) is a Buddhist cultural organization in Burma.
History
The YMBA was founded in Rangoon in 1906 as a federation of lay Buddhi ...
*
Dhammasattha
''Dhammasattha'' ("treatise on the law") is the Pali name of a genre of literature found in the Indianized kingdoms of Western mainland Southeast Asia (modern Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Yunnan) principally written in Pali, Burmese, Mon ...
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Satuditha
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Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
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Thadingyut Festival
The Thadingyut Festival ( my, သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော်), also known as the Lighting Festival of Myanmar, is held on the full moon day of the Burmese lunar month of Thadingyut. As a custom, it is held at the end of t ...
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Pagoda festival
Pagoda festivals ( my, ဘုရားပွဲ; ''paya pwe'') are regular festivals found throughout Burma (Myanmar) that commemorate major religious events in pagoda's history, including the founding of a pagoda and the crowning of the pagoda's ...
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Pagodas in Myanmar
Burmese pagodas are stupas that typically house Buddhist relics, including relics associated with Buddha. Pagodas feature prominently in Myanmar's landscape, earning the country the moniker "land of pagodas." According to 2016 statistics compil ...
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969 Movement
The 969 Movement () is a Buddhist nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam's expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar (Burma). The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist ...
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References
Further reading
* Aung-Thwin, Michael (1985). ''Pagan: The Origins of Modern Burma'',
University of Hawaii Press
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
, Honolulu,
* Bischoff, Roger (1995)
Buddhism in Myanmar-A Short History Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
* Charney, Michael W. (2006). ''Powerful Learning. Buddhist Literati and the Throne in Burma's Last Dynasty, 1752–1885''. Ann Arbor:
The University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
Description
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* Ferguson, J.P. & Mendelson, E.M. (1981). "Masters of the Buddhist Occult: The Burmese Weikzas". ''Contributions to Asian Studies'' 16, pp. 62–88.
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* Hlaing, Maung Myint (August 1981). ''The Great Disciples of Buddha''. Zeyar Hlaing Literature House. pp. 66–68.
* Matthews, Bruce "The Legacy of Tradition and Authority: Buddhism and the Nation in Myanmar", in: Ian Harris (ed.), ''Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth-Century Asia''. Continuum, London/New York 1999, pp. 26–53.
* Pranke, Patrick (1995), "On Becoming a Buddhist Wizard," in
ed.
Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Princeton: Princeton University Press,
External links
Nibbana.com – Books and Articles by Myanmar Monks and Scholars for English-speaking ReadersBuddhaNet
G Appleton 1943
Saddhamma FoundationInformation about practising Buddhist meditation in Burma.
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ttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3052917.ece Buddha's Irresistible Maroon ArmyDr Michael W Charney, SOAS, TIMESONLINE, 14 December 2007
MyanmarNet Myanmar Yadanar Dhamma Section Dhamma Video Talks in English or Myanmar by Venerable Myanmar Monks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddhism In Myanmar
Religion in Myanmar
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...