, image = Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa.jpg , alt = Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa in

Pyin U Lwin Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...

, other_name = Pa-Auk Sayadaw , website = , birth_date = , birth_place =

Hinthada Township Hinthada Township ( my, ဟင်္သာတမြို့နယ်) is a township of Hinthada District in the Ayeyarwady Division of Myanmar. Notable residents *Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa The Most Venerable Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa ( pi, label=none ...

, Ayeyarwady,

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 ...

, mother = Daw Saw Tin , father = U Phyu , death_date = , death_place = , nationality = Burmese , religion =

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. ...

, school =

Theravāda ''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' ...

, order = Shwekyin Nikāya , lineage = , title = Dhammācariya (1956), Aggamahā Kammaṭṭhānācariya (1999), Hrwekyang Nikāya Rattaññūmahānāyaka (2009), Abhidhaja Aggamahā Saddhammajotika (2018) , location =

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...

, Mon State;

, Mandalay , education = , occupation =

Monk 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 ...

, initiation_date = May 2, 1944 , initiator = U Soṇa , ordination = May 10, 1954 () , teacher =

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 Paṇḍitā , predecessor = Aggapañña , successor = , students = Ariyadhamma Mahāthera, Shaila Catherine , works = The Practice That Leads to ''Nibbāna'' The Most Venerable Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa ( pi, label=none, script=mymr, ဘဒ္ဒန္တအာစိဏ္ဏ), more commonly referred to as the Pa-Auk Sayadaw (), is a Burmese

monk, meditation teacher and the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

of the

Pa-Auk Forest Monastery The Pa-Auk Forest Monastery, known in Burmese as the Pa-Auk Tawya (), is a Theravāda monastery in the village of Pa-Auk in Mawlamyine, Mon State. Situated in a tropical forest along the Dawna Range, it is the main monastery complex and medita ...

. Āciṇṇa ordained as a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

in 1944, receiving full ordination in 1954. Immersed in the study of 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 ...

from his days as a novice, Āciṇṇa gradually broadened his scope of attention to include

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

, initially training under

and U Paṇḍitā. Not long after, Āciṇṇa would also decide to become a forest monk. In the months and years to follow, he would deepen his meditation abilities under the Kathitwaing,

Thanlyin Thanlyin (; or ; mnw, သေၚ်, ; formerly Syriam) is a major port city of Myanmar, located across Bago River from the city of Yangon. Thanlyin Township comprises 17 quarters and 28 village tracts. It is home to the largest port in the cou ...

and Shwetheindaw sayadaws, eventually developing his own set of meditation methods, often collectively referred to as the "Pa-Auk method". On July 21, 1981, Āciṇṇa succeeded the Phelhtaw

Sayadaw A sayadaw ( my, ဆရာတော်, ; , and alternatively spelled ''hsayadaw'', ''sayado'', ''sayāḍo'' or ''sayāḍaw'') is a Burmese Buddhist title used to reference the senior monk or abbot of a monastery. Some distinguished sayadaws wo ...

Aggapañña, at the latter's invitation, as the abbot of the Pa-Auk Forest Monastery. The monastery would then grow into a network of meditation centres across

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 ...

and beyond, and is currently the largest network in Myanmar.

Awards and honours

In 2010, the national government awarded Āciṇṇa the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

of ''Aggamahā Saddhammajotikadhaja'' ( pi, label=none, script=mymr, အဂ္ဂမဟာသဒ္ဓမ္မဇောတိကဓဇ). In 2018, his title was raised to that of ''Abhidhaja Aggamahā Saddhammajotika'' ( pi, label=none, script=mymr, အဘိဓဇအဂ္ဂမဟာသဒ္ဓမ္မဇောတိက). In 2021, his title was raised to that of ''Aggamahāpandita''. In May 2017, Āciṇṇa was conferred an honorary

doctorate of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยมหาจุฬาลงกรณราชวิทยาลัย, ) is one of two public Buddhist universities in Thailand, as well as being the oldest Budd ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

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 ...

References

External links

Downloadable books by the Pa-Auk sayadaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acinna, Bhaddanta 1934 births People from Ayeyarwady Region Burmese Theravada Buddhists Theravada Buddhist monks Burmese Buddhist monks Students of Mahasi Sayadaw Students of U Pandita Pa-Auk Society 20th-century Burmese writers 21st-century Burmese writers Burmese spiritual writers Living people