Monks and Monasteries in Myanmar Structure and Tradition

Abstract

The Buddhist monks in Myanmar played an important role in their religion and society and shared the teachings of the Buddha to the peoples to progress their spiritual needed. They follow and practise the teachings of Buddha. Their contribution and role were not well analyzed in Buddhist historical researches. My emphasis has examined the historical development of Myanmar with pertaining to their attributions. This thesis attempts to reveal the historical background of Theravand#257;da Buddhism in Myanmar especially on the evolution of monastic organization and their impact on society. By studying this, one can know the culture and tradition of Monks and Monasteries in Myanmar. The contribution of monasteries for development of socio-political institution and religion is also examined. In long historical process how Buddhism became Burmese Buddhist with acculturation and local culture tradition is a part of observation. This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter deals with the historical background of Theravand#257;da Buddhism in Myanmar based upon legends, history, inscriptions, epigraphs, and Buddhist monuments. The second chapter discusses the origin and development of saand#7747;gha in Myanmar. The first formation of Sinhala saand#7747;gha or Sinhala sect in Myanmar was founded by Chappada during the reign of king Narapatisithu (1173-1210 C.E). The third chapter focuses on acculturation of Buddhism with little tradition, like Nat cult. The indigenous cults or absorption of local deities, navagraha mandalas, incantations, rituals and other traditions had been prevalent in Myanmar before the introduction of Buddhism. This chapter also describes several belief systems in ancient time. The fourth chapter examines the relationship between saand#7747;gha and state in different periods of Myanmar especially in political issue. In the history of Myanmar, the leaders are the promoters, propagators, and purifiers of Theravand#257;da Buddhism for the perpetuation of the religion. The fifth chapter described the contribution of saand#7747;gha in social, religi