Misplaced Pages

#761238

19-657: His work as a teacher began in 1977 and encompasses religious, educational, medical and infrastructural activities. He travels worldwide to promote his humanitarian efforts and for interfaith dialogue. In 2012, he became the Shwegyin Nikaya 's Upaukkaṭṭha ( ဥပဥက္ကဋ္ဌ ; lit.   ' first and foremost ' ). Sitagu Sayadaw is known for his charismatic leadership and practices of socially-engaged Buddhism . His organization has funded many social projects in Burma, including water pumps, construction of hospitals such as

38-524: A false balance between the two opposing sides. In March 2021, however, the sayadaw, along with the other leading monks of the Shwekyin Nikāya , added his signature to a letter that urged Min Aung Hlaing to immediately cease the assaults on unarmed civilians protesting the takeover by the military and to refrain from engaging in theft and property destruction . The letter reminded the general to be

57-479: A good Buddhist . The March letter gained notoriety for the discrepancies between its signed original draft and its final version, the latter which appears to have legitimized Min Aung Hlaing's rule through a veiled reference to him as king . The Burmese word for 'king', min ( Burmese : မင်း ; MLCTS : mang: ), coincides with the first syllable of the general's name, even in the Burmese script . The sayadaw

76-710: A result of royal or government patronage (such as the Dhammayuttika Nikāya of Thailand), due to the national origin of their ordination lineage (the Siam Nikāya of Sri Lanka ), because of differences in the interpretation of the monastic code, or due to other factors (such as the Amarapura Nikāya in Sri Lanka, which emerged as a reaction to caste restrictions within the Siam Nikāya). These divisions do not rise to

95-568: A sermon, he singled Ashin Wirathu , then in hiding, out from among the saṅgha , asking in rhetoric, "Where is Wirathu? He is my comrade." In February 2021, the sayadaw had appeared not to affix his signature to a statement released by the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy in response to the then-days-old military coup and the ensuing protests against it. The letter was criticized as having presented

114-560: A total of nine legally recognized monastic orders in Burma today under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations. The largest of these is the Thudhamma Nikaya , which was founded in the 1800s during the Konbaung dynasty . The term Nikāya Buddhism was coined by Masatoshi Nagatomifake as a non-derogatory substitute for Hinayana , meaning the early Buddhist schools . Examples of these groups are pre-sectarian Buddhism and

133-677: Is considered absolute ( နိကာယဓိပတိ ဥက္ကဋ္ဌ မဟာနာယက ဓမ္မသေနာပတိ ). According to 2016 statistics published by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee , 50,692 monks belonged to this monastic order, representing 9.47% of all monks in the country, making it the second largest order after Sudhammā. With respect to geographic representation, the plurality of Shwegyin monks live in Yangon Region (23.66%), followed by Sagaing Region (17.47%), Bago Region (16.58%), and Mandalay Region (13.98%). The monastic order

152-663: Is one of nine legally sanctioned monastic orders ( nikāya ) in the country, under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations. Shwegyin Nikaya is a more orthodox order than Sudhammā Nikāya , with respect to adherence to the Vinaya , and its leadership is more centralized and hierarchical. The head of the Shwegyin Nikaya is called the Sangha Sammuti ( သံဃာသမ္မုတိ ), whose authority on doctrine and religious practice

171-622: Is referred to as "the Āgamas" by Mahāyāna Buddhists. The Āgamas survive for the most part only in Classical Tibetan and Chinese translation. They correspond closely with the Pāḷi nikāyas. Among the Theravāda nations of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, nikāya is also used as the term for a monastic division or lineage; these groupings are also sometimes called "monastic fraternities" or "frateries". Nikāyas may emerge among monastic groupings as

190-591: Is roughly equivalent to the English collection and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, the Sutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas: In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate term āgama was used instead of nikāya to describe their Sutra Piṭaka s. Thus the non- Mahāyāna portion of the Sanskrit-language Sutra Piṭaka

209-566: The Tripitaka namely those found in the Sutta Piṭaka . It is also used to refer to monastic lineages, where it is sometimes translated as a 'monastic fraternity'. The term Nikāya Buddhism is sometimes used in contemporary scholarship to refer to the Buddhism of the early Buddhist schools . In the Pāli Canon , particularly, the "Discourse Basket" or Sutta Piṭaka , the meaning of nikāya

SECTION 10

#1732780962762

228-567: The Buddhist nationalist group Patriotic Association of Myanmar . In May 2017, the sayadaw preached a sermon in Kayin State to Myanmar Army officers likely to be involved with the suppression in Arakan state. In the sermon, he argues that bad karma obtained from killing of those who do not follow the five precepts is much less than of those who do. On May 28, 2019, after having delivered

247-811: The Sitagu Ayudana Hospital in Sagaing in 1985, and the Sitagu Buddhist Academy in 1998. Sitagu Sayadaw was lauded for his missionary and charity works, especially in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed upwards of 100,000 in the country's delta regions. He is also interested in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute . The sayadaw has associated in recent years with

266-593: The early 1900s. In the 1960s, with the ascent of Ne Win to power, the order gained monastic influence in the country, as Ne Win sought counsel from a monk at the Mahagandayon Monastery , a Shwegyin monastery in Amarapura . During the 2021 Myanmar protests , the order urged Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to immediately cease the assaults on unarmed civilians and to refrain from engaging in theft and property destruction . Its leading monks reminded

285-526: The fore. The State Peace and Development Council bestowed two honorific titles upon him: Honorary doctorates received from Myanmar and International Universities: Shwegyin Nikaya Shwegyin Nikāya ( Burmese : ရွှေကျင်နိကာယ ; MLCTS : Hrwekyang Ni.kaya. , IPA: [ʃwèdʑɪ́ɰ̃ nḭkàja̰] ; also spelt Shwekyin Nikāya ) is the second largest monastic order of monks in Burma. It

304-488: The level of forming separate sects within the Theravāda tradition, because they do not typically follow different doctrines or monastic codes, nor do these divisions extend to the laity. In Burma , nikaya monastic orders have emerged in response to the relative conservativeness with which the Vinayas are interpreted, and the hierarchical structure within the nikaya. Since 1980, no new nikayas have been allowed, and there are

323-607: The senior general to be a good Buddhist, which entailed keeping to the Five Precepts required for at least a human rebirth . Nik%C4%81ya Nikāya ( निकाय ) is a Pāli word meaning "volume". It is often used like the Sanskrit word āgama ( आगम ) to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit. It is most commonly used in reference to the Pali Buddhist texts of

342-493: Was criticized for having attended a religious-donation event on March 26, 2021, upon invitation from the State Administration Council (SAC), during which a ceremony was held in relation to a religious-construction project involving what is reported to become the largest marble Buddha statue in existence. The criticism also brought the sayadaw's continued personal association with Min Aung Hlaing back to

361-582: Was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by a chief abbot monk in the village of Shwegyin (translated into english as Gold or suvaṇṇa into Pāḷi); hence, its name. It formally separated from the Sudhammā Nikāya during the reign of King Mindon Min , and attempts to reconcile the two sects by the last king of Burma, Thibaw Min , were unsuccessful. Monks of the order did not participate in the nationalist and anti-colonial movement in British Burma of

#761238