Buddhism in Myanmar
A Short History
by
Roger Bischoff
The Wheel Publication No. 399/401
ISBN 955-24-0127-5
Copyright © 1995 Roger Bischoff
Buddhist Publication Society
P.O. Box 61
54, Sangharaja Mawatha
Kandy, Sri Lanka
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Contents
Preface ![[go to toc]](http://www.geocities.com/nguyentang/scrollup.gif)
Myanmar, or Burma as the nation has been known throughout history, is one
of the major countries following Theravada Buddhism. In recent years Myanmar
has attained special eminence as the host for the Sixth Buddhist Council,
held in Yangon (Rangoon) between 1954 and 1956, and as the source from
which two of the major systems of Vipassana meditation have emanated out
into the greater world: the tradition springing from the Venerable Mahasi
Sayadaw of Thathana Yeiktha and that springing from Sayagyi U Ba Khin of
the International Meditation Centre.
This booklet is intended to offer a short history of Buddhism in Myanmar
from its origins through the country's loss of independence to Great Britain
in the late nineteenth century. I have not dealt with more recent history
as this has already been well documented. To write an account of the development
of a religion in any country is a delicate and demanding undertaking and
one will never be quite satisfied with the result. This booklet does not
pretend to be an academic work shedding new light on the subject. It is
designed, rather, to provide the interested non-academic reader with a
brief overview of the subject.
The booklet has been written for the Buddhist Publication Society to
complete its series of Wheel titles on the history of the Sasana in the
main Theravada Buddhist countries. The material has been sifted and organised
from the point of view of a practising Buddhist. Inevitably it thus involves
some degree of personal interpretation. I have given importance to sources
that would be accorded much less weight in a strictly academic treatment
of the subject, as I feel that in this case the oral tradition may well
be more reliable than modern historians would normally admit.
One of the objectives of the narrative is to show that the Buddha's
Teaching did not make a lasting impression on Myanmar immediately upon
first arrival. The Sasana had to be re-introduced or purified again and
again from the outside until Myanmar had matured to the point of becoming
one of the main shrines where the Theravada Buddhist teachings are preserved.
The religion did not develop in Myanmar. Rather, the Myanmar people developed
through the religion until the Theravada faith became embedded in their
culture and Pali Buddhism became second nature to them.
I dedicate this work to my teachers, Mother Sayamagyi and Sayagyi U
Chit Tin.
International Meditation Centre UK
Splatts House
Heddington, Calne
Wilts SN11 OPE
1. Earliest Contacts with Buddhism
Myanmar and its Peoples
There are four dominant ethnic groups in the recorded history of Myanmar:
the Mon, the Pyu, the Myanmar, and the Shan.
Uncertainty surrounds the origins of the Mon; but it is clear that,
at least linguistically, they are related to the Khmer.[1]
What is known is that they settled in the south of Myanmar and Thailand
while the Khmer made northern Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia their home.
These two peoples were probably the first migrants to the region, apart
from Indian merchants who established trading colonies along the coast.
The Mon with their distinct language and culture competed for centuries
with the Myanmar. However, today their influence and language is limited
to remote areas of the south.
The Pyu, like the Myanmar, are a people of Tibeto-Burman origin with
a distinct culture and language. They lived in the area around Prome long
before the Myanmar pushed into the plains of Myanmar from the north. Their
language was closely related to the language of the Myanmar and was later
absorbed by it. Their script was in use until about the fourteenth century,
but was then lost.
The Myanmar people began to colonise the plains of Myanmar only towards
the middle of the first millennium AD. They came from the mountainous northern
regions and may well have originated in the Central Asian plains.
After the Myanmar, the Shan flooded in from the North, finally conquering
the entire region of Myanmar and Thailand. The Thai people are descended
from Shan tribes. The northeast region of modern Myanmar is still inhabited
predominantly by Shan tribes.
The Region
In the sixth century BC, most of what we now know as Myanmar, Thailand,
Laos, and Cambodia was sparsely populated. While migrants from the east
coast of India had formed trading colonies along the coast of the Gulf
of Martaban, these coastal areas of Myanmar and Thailand were also home
to the Mon. By this time, the Khmer probably controlled Laos, Cambodia,
and northern Thailand, while Upper Myanmar may already have been occupied
to some extent by Myanmar tribes.
As these early settlers did not use lasting materials for construction,
our knowledge of their civilisation remains scant. We do know, however,
that their way of life was very simple -- as it remains today in rural
areas -- probably requiring only wooden huts with palm-leaf roofs for habitation.
We can assume that they were not organised into units larger than village
communities and that they did not possess a written language. Their religion
must have been some form of nature worship or animism, still found today
among the more remote tribes of the region.
There were also more highly developed communities of Indian origin,
in the form of trading settlements located along the entire coast from
Bengal to Borneo. In Myanmar, they were located in Thaton (Suddhammapura),
Pegu (Ussa), Yangon (Ukkala, then still on the coast), and Mrauk-U (Dhannavati)
in Arakan; also probably along the Tenasserim and Arakan coasts. These
settlers had mainly migrated from Orissa on the northeastern coast of the
Indian subcontinent, and also from the Deccan in the southeast. In migrating
to these areas, they had also brought their own culture and religion with
them. Initially, the contact between the Hindu traders and the Mon peasants
must have been limited. However, the Indian settlements, their culture
and traditions, were eventually absorbed into the Mon culture.
G.E. Harvey, in his History of Burma, relates a Mon legend which
refers to the Mon fighting Hindu strangers who had come back to re-conquer
the country that had formerly belonged to them.[2] This
Mon tale confirms the theory that Indian people had formed the first communities
in the region but that these were eventually replaced by the Mon with the
development of their own civilisation. As well as the Indian trading settlements,
there were also some Pyu settlements, particularly in the area of Prome
where a flourishing civilisation later developed.
Also, it is assumed that some degree of migration from India to the
region of Tagaung and Mogok in Upper Myanmar had taken place through Assam
and later through Manipur, but the "hinterland" was of course much less
attractive to traders than the coastal regions with their easy access by
sea. A tradition of Myanmar says that Tagaung was founded by Abhiraja,
a prince of the Sakyans (the tribe of the Buddha), who had migrated to
Upper Myanmar from Nepal in the ninth century BC. The city was subsequently
conquered by the Chinese in approximately 600 BC, and Pagan and Prome were
founded by refugees fleeing southward. In fact, some historians believe
that, like the Myanmar, the Sakyans were a Mongolian rather than an Indo-Aryan
race, and that the Buddha's clansmen were derived from Mongolian stock.
First Contacts with the Buddha's Teachings
The source of information for many of the events related forthwith is the
Sasanavamsa.[3] The Sasanavamsa is a chronicle
written in Pali by a bhikkhu,[4] Pannasami, for the Fifth
Buddhist Council held in Mandalay in 1867. As the Sasanavamsa is
a recent compilation, many events mentioned therein may be doubted. However,
as it draws on both written records, some of which are no longer available,
and on the oral tradition of Myanmar, information can be included in this
account with the understanding that it is open to verification.
There are many instances in the history of Southeast Asian tribes in
which a conquering people incorporates into its own traditions not only
the civilisation of the conquered, but also their clan gods, royal lineage,
and thereby their history. This fact would explain the visits of the Buddha
to Thaton and Shwesettaw in the Mon and Myanmar oral tradition, and the
belief of the Arakanese that the Buddha visited their king and left behind
an image of himself for them to worship. Modern historiography will, of
course, dismiss these stories as fabrications made out of national pride,
as the Myanmar had not even arrived in the region at the time of the Buddha.
However, it is possible that the Myanmar and Arakanese integrated into
their own lore the oral historical tradition of their Indian predecessors.
This does not prove that the visits really took place, but it seems a more
palatable explanation of the existence of these accounts than simply putting
them down to historical afterthought of a Buddhist people eager to connect
itself with the origins of their religion.
The Sasanavamsa mentions several visits of the Buddha to Myanmar
and one other important event: the arrival of the hair relics in Ukkala
(Yangon) soon after the Buddha's enlightenment.
The Arrival of the Hair Relics
Tapussa and Bhallika, two merchants from Ukkala,[5] were
travelling through the region of Uruvela and were directed to the Buddha
by their family god. The Buddha had just come out of seven weeks of meditation
after his awakening and was sitting under a tree feeling the need for food.
Tapussa and Bhallika made an offering of rice cake and honey to the Buddha
and took the two refuges, the refuge in the Buddha and the refuge in the
Dhamma (the Sangha, the third refuge, did not exist yet). As they were
about to depart, they asked the Buddha for an object to worship in his
stead and he gave them eight hairs from his head. After the two returned
from their journey, they enshrined the three hairs in a stupa which is
now the great Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
It is believed in Myanmar that the hill upon which the Shwedagon Pagoda
stands was not haphazardly chosen by Tapussa and Bhallika but was, in fact,
the site where the three Buddhas preceding the Buddha Gotama in this world
cycle themselves deposited relics. Buddha Kakusandha is said to have left
his staff on the Theinguttara Hill, the Buddha Konagamana his water filter,
and Buddha Kassapa a part of his robe. Because of this, the Buddha requested
Tapussa and Bhallika to enshrine his relics in this location. Tapussa and
Bhallika travelled far and wide in order to find the hill on which they
could balance a tree without its touching the ground either with the roots
or with the crown. Eventually, they found the exact spot not far from their
home in Lower Myanmar where they enshrined the holy relics in a traditional
mound or stupa.[6] The original stupa is said to have
been 27 feet high. Today the Shwedagon pagoda has grown to over 370 feet.
The Buddha's Visits to the Region
The Myanmar oral tradition speaks of four visits of the Buddha to the region.
While these visits were of utmost significance in their own right, they
are also important in having established places of pilgrimage up to the
present day.
The Visit to Central Myanmar
According to the Sasanavamsa, the city of Aparanta is situated
on the western shore of the Irrawaddy river at the latitude of Magwe. The
Sasanavamsa gives only a very brief summary of the events surrounding
the Buddha's visit to Aparanta, presumably because these were well known
and could be read in the Tipitaka and the commentaries.[7]
Punna, a merchant from Sunaparanta, went to Savatthi on business and
there heard a discourse of the Buddha.[8] Having won
faith in the Buddha and the Teachings, he took ordination as a bhikkhu.
After sometime, he asked the Buddha to teach him a short lesson so that
he could return to Sunaparanta and strive for arahatship. The Buddha warned
him that the people of Sunaparanta were fierce and violent, but Punna replied
that he would not allow anger to arise, even if they should kill him. In
the Punnovada Sutta, the Buddha instructed him not to be enticed by that
which is pleasant, and Punna returned and attained arahatship in his country.
He won over many disciples and built a monastery of red sandalwood for
the Buddha (according to some chronicles of Myanmar, the Buddha made the
prediction that at the location where the red sandalwood monastery was,
the great king Alaungsithu of Pagan would build a shrine). He then sent
flowers as an invitation to the Buddha and the Buddha came accompanied
by five hundred arahats, spent the night in the monastery, and left again
before dawn.[9]
Sakka, the king of the thirty-three devas living in the Tavatimsa plane,
provided five hundred palanquins for the bhikkhus accompanying the Buddha
on the journey to Sunaparanta. But only 499 of the palanquins were occupied.
One of them remained empty until the ascetic Saccabandha, who lived on
the Saccabandha mountain in central Myanmar, joined the Buddha and the
499 bhikkhus accompanying him. On the way to Sunaparanta, the Buddha stopped
in order to teach the ascetic Saccabandha. When Saccabanda attained arahatship,
he then joined the Buddha and completed the total of 500 bhikkhus who usually
travelled with the Master.
On the return journey, the Buddha stopped at the river Nammada close
to the Saccabandha mountain. Here, the Blessed One was invited by the Naga
king, Nammada, to visit and preach to the Nagas, later accepting food from
them. The tradition of Myanmar relates that he left behind a footprint
for veneration near this river, which would last as long as the Sasana
(i.e. 5000 years). Another footprint was left in the rock of the Saccabandha
mountain.[10] These footprints, still visible today,
were worshipped by the Mon, Pyu, and Myanmar kings alike and have remained
among the holiest places of pilgrimage in Myanmar. In the fifteenth century,
after the decimation of the population through the Siamese campaigns, knowledge
of the footprints was lost. Then, in the year 1638, King Thalun sent learned
bhikkhus to the region; fortuitously, they were able to relocate the Buddha's
footprints. Since then Shwesettaw, the place where the footprints are found,
has once again become an important place of pilgrimage in Myanmar. And
in the dry season thousands of devout Buddhists travel there to pay respects.
The Visit to Arakan
In Dhannavati, whose walls are still partially visible today, the Mahamuni
temple is located on the Sirigutta hill. In this temple, for over two millennia,
the Mahamuni image was enshrined and worshipped. The story of the Mahamuni
image, at one time one of the most revered shrines of Buddhism, is told
in the Sappadanapakarana, a work of a local historian.
Candrasuriya, the king of Dhannavati, on hearing that a Buddha had arisen
in India, desired to go there to learn the Dhamma. The Buddha, aware of
his intention, said to Ananda: "The king will have to pass through forests
dangerous to travellers; wide rivers will impede his journey; he must cross
a sea full of monsters. It will be an act of charity if we go to his dominion,
so that he may pay homage without risking his life."
So the Buddha went there and was received with great pomp by King Candrasuriya
and his people. The Buddha then taught the five and eight precepts and
instructed the king in the ten kingly duties, namely, (1) universal beneficence,
(2) daily paying homage, (3) the showing of mercy, (4) taxes of not more
than a tenth part of the produce, (5) justice, (6) punishment without anger,
(7) the support of his subjects as the earth supports them, (8) the employment
of prudent commanders, (9) the taking of good counsel, and (10) the avoidance
of pride. The Buddha remained for a week and on preparing for his departure
the king requested that he leave an image of himself, so that they could
worship him even in his absence. The Buddha consented to this and Sakka
the king of the gods himself formed the image with the metals collected
by the king and his people. It was completed in one week and when the Buddha
breathed onto it the people exclaimed that now there were indeed two Buddhas,
so alike was the image to the great sage. Then the Buddha made a prophesy
addressing the image: "I shall pass into Nibbana in my eightieth year,
but you will live for five thousand years which I have foreseen as the
duration of my Teaching."
The Mahamuni image remained in its original location until 1784 when
King Bodawpaya conquered Arakan and had the image transported to Mandalay
where a special shrine, the Arakan pagoda, was built to enshrine the three-meter
image. To have this image in his capital greatly added to his prestige
as a Buddhist king, as it was one of the most sacred objects in the region.
The king himself went out of his city to meet the approaching image with
great devotion and "through the long colonnades leading to the pagoda,
there used to come daily from the Myanmar palace, so long as a king reigned
there, sumptuous offerings borne in stately procession, marshalled by a
minister and shaded by the white umbrella."[11]
The Missionaries of the Third Buddhist Council
The Third Buddhist Council was held in the reign of Emperor Asoka in the
year 232 BC in order to purify the Sangha, to reassert orthodox teaching
and to refute heresy. But the work of the Council did not stop there. With
the support of Emperor Asoka, experienced teachers were sent to border
regions in order to spread the teachings of the Buddha. This dispersal
of missionaries is recorded in the Mahavamsa, a Sinhalese chronicle
on the history of Buddhism:
When the thera Moggaliputta, the illuminator of the religion
of the Conqueror, had brought the (third) council to an end and when, looking
into the future, he had beheld the founding of the religion in adjacent
countries, then in the month of Katthika he sent forth theras, one here
and one there. The thera Majjhantika he sent to Kasmira and Gandhara, the
thera Mahadeva he sent to Mahisamandala. To Vanavasa he sent the thera
named Rakkhita, and to Aparantaka the Yona named Dhammarakkhita; to Maharattha
he sent the thera named Mahadhammarakkhita, but the thera Maharakkhita
he sent into the country of the Yona. He sent the thera Majjhima to the
Himalaya country and together with the thera Uttara, the thera Sona of
wondrous might went to Suvannabhumi....[12]
According to the Sasanavamsa, the above mentioned regions are the
following: Kasmira and Gandhara is the right bank of the Indus river south
of Kabul; Mahisamandala is Andhra; Vanavasa is the region around Prome;
Aparantaka is west of the upper Irrawaddy; Maharattha is Thailand; Yona,
the country of the Shan tribes; and Suvannabhumi is Thaton. The Sasanavamsa
mentions five places in Southeast Asia where Asoka's missionaries taught
the Buddha's doctrine, and through their teaching many gained insight and
took refuge in the Triple Gem. There are two interesting features mentioned
in the text. First, in order to ordain nuns, bhikkhunis, other bhikkhunis
had to be present, and secondly, the Brahmajala Sutta was preached in Thaton.
The Sasanavamsa goes on to describe sixty thousand women ordaining
in Aparanta. It states that women could not have been ordained without
the presence of bhikkhunis, as in Sri Lanka where women could only be ordained
after Mahinda's sister Sanghamitta had followed her brother there. In this
case, the author surmises that bhikkhunis must have followed Dhammarakkhita
to Aparanta at a later stage.
The Brahmajala Sutta, which the arahats Sona and Uttara preached in
Thaton, deals in detail with the different schools of philosophical and
religious thought prevalent in India at the time of the Buddha. The fact
that Sona and Uttara chose this Sutta to convert the inhabitants of Suvannabhumi
indicates that they were facing a well-informed public, familiar with the
views of Brahmanism that were refuted by the Buddha in this discourse.
There can be no doubt that only Indian colonisers, not the Mon, would have
been able to follow an analysis of Indian philosophy as profound as the
Brahmajala Sutta.
2. Buddhism in the Mon and Pyu Kingdoms
While there is no conclusive archaeological proof that Buddhism continued
to be practised in southern Myanmar after the missions of the Third Council,
the Sasanavamsa refers to an unbroken lineage of teachers passing
on the Dhamma to their disciples.
The Mon
In a third century AD inscription by a South Indian king in Nagarjunakonda,
the land of the Cilatas is mentioned in a list of countries visited by
a group of bhikkhus. Historians believe the Cilatas or Kiratas (also mentioned
by Ptolemy and in Sanskrit literature) to be identical to the Mon populations
of Lower Myanmar.
The inscription states that the bhikkhus sent to the Cilata country
converted the population there to Buddhism. In the same inscription, missions
to other countries such as Sri Lanka are mentioned. It is generally believed
that most of these countries had received earlier Buddhist missionaries
sent by Buddhist kings, but as civilisation in these lands was relatively
undeveloped, teachings as profound as the Buddha's had probably become
distorted by local religions or possibly been completely lost. It is possible
that these missions did not so much re-establish Buddhism, but rather purify
the type of Buddhism practised there. Southern India was then the guardian
of the Theravada faith and obviously remained in contact with countries
that had been converted in earlier times but were unable to preserve the
purity of the religion.
As has been already mentioned, the first datable archaeological finds
of the Mon civilisation stem from the Mon kingdom of Dvaravati in the South
of Thailand. They consist of a Roman oil lamp and a bronze statue of the
Buddha which are believed to be no later than the first or second century
AD. In discussing the Mon Theravada Buddhist civilisation, we cannot remain
in Myanmar only. For only by studying the entire sphere of influence of
the Mon in this period, can a comprehensive picture be constructed. This
sphere includes large parts of present day Thailand. In fact, the Chinese
Buddhist pilgrim, Yuan Chwang, who travelled to India in about 630 AD,
describes a single Mon country stretching from Prome to Chenla in the east
and including the Irrawaddy and Sittang deltas. He calls the country Dvaravati,
but the annals of the court of China of the same period mention Dvaravati
as a vassal of Thaton. We can, therefore, safely conclude that the Mon
of the region formed a fairly homogenous group in which the distribution
of power was obviously not always evident to the outsider.
The Pyu
Lower Myanmar was also inhabited by another ethnic group, the Pyu, who
were probably closely related to the modern Myanmar. They had their capital
at Sri Ksetra (near modern day Prome) and were also followers of the Theravada
Buddhist faith. Chinese travellers' reports of the mid-third century AD
refer to the kingdom of Lin-Yang where Buddha was venerated by all and
where several thousand monks or bhikkhus lived. As Lin-Yang was to the
west of Kamboja[13] and could not be reached by sea,
we can infer that the Chinese travellers must have been referring to the
ancient kingdom of Prome. This is all the more likely as archaeological
finds prove that only about one century later Pali Buddhist texts, including
Abhidhamma texts, were studied by the Pyu.
The earliest highly developed urban settlement of the Pyu was Beikthano,
near Prome. However, its importance dwindled towards the sixth century,
when Sri Ksetra became the centre of Pyu civilisation. A major monastery
built in the fourth century has been unearthed at Beikthano. The building,
constructed in brick, with a stupa and shrine located nearby, is identical
to the Buddhist monasteries of Nagarjunakonda, the great Buddhist centre
of southern India. It is situated near a stupa and a shrine, a design which
is identical to the one used in South India. Bricks had been used by the
Pyus since the second century AD for the construction of pillared halls,
which formed the temples of their original religion. Interestingly, the
Pyu bricks have always been of the exact dimensions as those used at the
time of Emperor Asoka in India. But the brick laying techniques used in
the monastery in Beikthano were far inferior to the ones used in their
southern Indian counterparts.
For such a major edifice as the monastery at Beikthano to have been
constructed, the religion must have been well established at least among
the ruling class. How long it took for Buddhism to become influential in
Pyu society is difficult to determine, but some historians assume that
the first contacts with Asokan religious centres in India took place in
the second century AD. This would allow for a period of development of
two hundred years until the first important shrine was built. Despite the
Indian architectural influence, the inferior brick laying techniques found
in Beikthano indicate that indigenous architects and artisans, rather than
imported craftsmen or Indian colonisers, were employed in the construction
of monasteries and other important buildings.
It should, of course, not be forgotten that the Pyu possessed an architecture
of their own and a highly developed urban culture that had evolved quite
independently of Indian influences. Theravada Buddhism found a fertile
ground in this highly developed civilisation. It is probable that the Pyu
civilisation was more advanced than that of the Mon. The Pyu sites found
around Prome are the earliest urban sites in Southeast Asia found to date.
The urban developments and datable monuments in Thailand and Cambodia are
only from the seventh century. Older artifacts may have been found in Thailand,
but they were not products of indigenous people and do not prove the existence
of a developed civilisation.
The information we have of the state of the religion in the Mon and
Pyu societies during the first four centuries AD is very limited. However,
by the fifth century, with the development of religious activity in the
region, information becomes more substantive. The historical tradition
of Myanmar gives the credit for this religious resurgence to a well-known
Buddhist scholar, Acariya Buddhaghosa.
Buddhaghosa and Myanmar
Acariya Buddhaghosa was the greatest commentator on the Pali Buddhist texts,
whose Visuddhimagga and commentaries to the canon are regarded as
authoritative by Theravada scholars. The chronicles of Myanmar firmly maintain
that Buddhaghosa was of Mon origin and a native of Thaton. They state that
his return from Sri Lanka, with the Pali scriptures, the commentaries,
and grammatical works, gave a fresh impetus to the religion.
However, modern historians do not accept that Buddhaghosa was from Myanmar
while some even doubt his existence.[14] Despite this
contention, Eliot, in his Hinduism and Buddhism, gives more weight
to circumstantial evidence and writes:
The Burmese tradition that Buddhaghosa was a native of Thaton
and returned thither from Sri Lanka merits more attention than it has received.
It can easily be explained away as patriotic fancy. On the other hand,
if Buddhaghosa's object was to invigorate Hinayanism in India the result
of his really stupendous labours was singularly small, for in India his
name is connected with no religious movement. But if we suppose that he
went to Sri Lanka by way of the holy places in Magadha [now Bihar] and
returned from the Coromandal coast [Madras] to Burma where Hinayanism afterwards
flourished, we have at least a coherent narrative.[15]
The Sinhalese chronicles, especially the Mahavamsa, place Buddhaghosa
in the first half of the fifth century. Although he spent most of his active
working life in Sri Lanka, he is also credited with imbuing new life into
Theravada Buddhism in South India, and developing such important centres
as Kancipura and Uragapuram that were closely connected with Prome and
Thaton. Proof of this connection can be found in archeological finds in
the environs of Prome which include Pali literature inscribed in the Kadambe
script on gold and stone plates. This script was used in the fifth and
sixth century in southern India.
All in all, Myanmar has a valid case for claiming some connection with
Buddhaghosa. It is, of course, impossible to prove that he was born there
or even visited there, but his influence undoubtedly led to great religious
activity in the kingdoms of Lower Myanmar.
Buddhism in Lower Myanmar: 5th to 11th Centuries
From the fifth century until the conquest of Lower Myanmar by Pagan, there
is a continuous record of Buddhism flourishing in the Mon and Pyu kingdoms.
The Mon kingdoms are mentioned in travel reports of several Chinese Buddhist
pilgrims and also in the annals of the Chinese court. In the fifth century,
Thaton and Pegu (Pago) are mentioned in the Buddhist commentarial literature
for the first time.[16] They were now firmly established
on the map as Buddhist centres of learning. Despite this, Buddhism was
not without rivals in the region. This is shown, by the following event
some chronicles of Myanmar mention.
A king of Pago, Tissa by name, had abandoned the worship of the Buddha
and instead practised Brahmanical worship. He persecuted the Buddhists
and destroyed Buddha images or cast them into ditches. A pious Buddhist
girl, the daughter of a merchant, restored the images, then washed and
worshipped them. The king could not tolerate such defiance, of course,
and had the girl dragged before him. He tried to have her executed in several
ways, but she seemed impossible to kill. Elephants would not trample her,while
the fire of her pyre would not burn her. Eventually the king, intrigued
by these events, asked the girl to perform a miracle. He stated that, if
she was able to make a Buddha image produce seven new images and then make
all eight statues fly into heaven, she would be set free. The girl spoke
an act of truth, and the eight Buddha statues flew up into the sky. The
king was then converted to Buddhism and elevated the girl to the position
of chief queen.
Until now, archaeological finds of Mon ruins in Myanmar are meagre,
but at P'ong Tuk, in southern Thailand,[17] a Mon city,
dating from the second half of the first millennium AD, has been unearthed.
Here, excavations have revealed the foundations of several buildings. One
contained the remains of a platform and fragments of columns similar to
the Buddhist vihara at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka; another, with a square
foundation of round stones, seems to have been a stupa. Statues of Indian
origin from the Gupta period (320-600 AD) were also found at the site.
The Theravada Buddhist culture of the Mon flourished in both Dvaravati
and Thaton. However, the Mon civilisation in Thailand did not survive the
onslaught of the Khmer in the eleventh century who were worshipping Hindu
gods. In Myanmar, the Mon kingdom was conquered by Pagan. The Myanmar were
eager to accept the Mon culture and especially their religion, while the
Khmer, as Hindus, at best tolerated it.
The Pyu culture of this period is well documented because of archaeological
finds at Muanggan, a small village close to the ancient ruins of Hmawza.
There two perfectly preserved inscribed gold plates were found. These inscriptions
reveal three texts: the verses spoken by Assaji to Sariputta (ye dhamma
hetuppabhava...), a list of categories of the Abhidhamma (cattaro
iddhipada, cattaro samappadhana...), and the formula of worship of
Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha (iti pi so bhagava...). At the same site,
a book with twenty leaves of gold protected with golden covers, was discovered.
It contained texts such as the paticca-samuppada (dependent origination),
the vipassana-nanas (stages of insight knowledge), and various other
excerpts from the Abhidhamma and the other two baskets of the Buddhist
scriptures. The scripts in all these documents are identical to scripts
used in parts of southern India, and can be dated from the third to the
sixth century AD.
In addition to these golden plates, a number of sculptures and reliefs
were found in Hmawza. They depict either the Buddha or scenes from his
life, for example, the birth of the Buddha and the taming of the wild elephant
Nalagiri. The sculpture is similar in style to that of Amaravati, a centre
of Buddhist learning in South India. There were also unearthed remains
of Brahman temples and sites of Mahayana worship of east Indian origin;
hence it would appear that several faiths, of which the Theravada was the
strongest, co-existed in Sri Ksetra, the then capital of the Pyu. The script
used by the Pyu is indicative of major links with Buddhist kingdoms in
South India rather than with Sri Lanka. And it can be surmised that the
bhikkhus of the Deccan and other regions of southern India were the teachers
of both the Mon and the Pyu in religious matters as well as in the arts
and sciences.
The inscriptions show how highly developed scholarship of the Pali Buddhist
texts must have been in Lower Myanmar even in these early days. Learning
had gone well beyond the basics into the world of Abhidhamma studies. Pali
was obviously well known as a language of learning, but unfortunately no
original texts composed in Sri Ksetra or Thaton have come down to us. Interestingly,
some of the texts inscribed on these gold plates are not identical to the
same canonical texts as they are known today. Therefore, the Tipitaka known
to the Pyu must have been replaced by a version preserved in a country
that had no close contact with the Pyu. This could well have been Sri Lanka,
as this country came to play an important role in the history of Buddhism
in Myanmar through the friendship between the conqueror of Lower Myanmar,
Anawratha, and the king who drove the Hindus from Sri Lanka, Vijayabahu.
The finds on the site of the ancient Pyu capital confirm the reports
of the Chinese pilgrims and also the Tang imperial chronicles of China
which state: "They (the Pyu) dislike taking life. They know how to make
astronomical calculations. They are Buddhists and have a hundred monasteries,
with brick of glass embellished with gold and silver vermilion, gay colours
and red kino.... At seven years of age the people cut their hair and enter
a monastery; if at the age of twenty they have not grasped the doctrine
they return to the lay state."[18]
Both Buddhist cultures in the south of Myanmar, the Mon and the Pyu,
were swept away in the eleventh century by armies of the Myanmar who had
found a unifying force in their leader, the founder of Pagan and champion
of Buddhism, Anawratha.
3. Theravada Buddhism Comes to Pagan
The Beginnings of Pagan
Pagan is believed to have been founded in the years 849-850 AD, by the
Myanmar, who had already established themselves as rice growers in the
region around Kyauksai near Mandalay. Anawratha began to unite the region
by subjugating one chieftain after another and was successful in giving
the Myanmar a sense of belonging to a larger community, a nation. The crucial
event in the history of Myanmar is not so much the founding of the city
of Pagan and the building of its walls and moat, but more Pagan's acceptance
of Theravada Buddhism in the eleventh century. The religion was brought
to the Myanmar by a Mon bhikkhu named Shin Arahan.
The religion prevailing among the Myanmar before and during the early
reign of Anawratha was some form of Mahayana Buddhism, which had probably
found its way into the region from the Pala kingdom in Bengal. This is
apparent from bronze statues depicting Bodhisattas and especially the "Lokanatha,"
a Bodhisatta believed, in Bengal, to reign in the period between the demise
of the Buddha Gotama and the advent of the Buddha Metteyya. Anawratha continued
to cast terracotta votive tablets with the image of Lokanatha even after
he embraced the Theravada doctrine.[19]
In India, Buddhism had split into numerous schools, some of which differed
fundamentally from the teachings of Pali Buddhism, which is also called
Theravada Buddhism (the doctrine of the Theras). The Ari, the monks or
priests of this Mahayana Buddhist form of worship, are described, in later
chronicles of Myanmar, as the most shameless bogus ascetics imaginable.
They are said to have sold absolution from sin and to have oppressed the
people in various ways with their tyranny. Their tantric Buddhism included,
as an important element, the worship of Nagas (dragons), which was probably
an ancient indigenous tradition.
At this time, the beginning of the eleventh century, the Buddhist religion
among the Mon in Suvannabhumi was on the decline as people were disturbed
by robbers and raiders, by plagues, and by adversaries of the religion.
These most probably came from the Hindu Khmer kingdom in Cambodia and the
north of Thailand. The Khmer were endeavouring to add Thaton and the other
Mon kingdoms of the south to their expanding empire. Shin Arahan must have
feared that bhikkhus would not be able to continue to maintain their religious
practice and the study of the scriptures under these circumstances. He
went, therefore, upcountry where a new, strong people were developing,
prosperous and secure from enemies.
It is interesting to note that in this same period, Buddhism was under
attack in other places as well. The Colas, a Hindu dynasty strongly opposed
to Buddhism, arose in southern India, one of the last strongholds of Theravada
Buddhism. They were able to expand their rule to include most of Sri Lanka
between 1017 and 1070. The great Mon city, Dvaravati, a Theravada centre
in southern Thailand, fell to the Khmer, the masters of the whole of Thailand,
who were Shaivaite Hindus. In the north of India, Muslim armies were trying
to destroy what little was left of Buddhism there. "In this perilous period,"
writes Professor Luce, "Buddhism was saved only by such valiant fighters
as Vijayabahu in Sri Lanka and Anawratha."[20]
Shin Arahan Converts the King
Shin Arahan arrived in the vicinity of Pagan and was discovered in his
forest dwelling by a hunter. The hunter, who had never before seen such
a strange creature with a shaven head and a yellow robe, thought he was
some kind of spirit and took him to the king, Anawratha. Shin Arahan naturally
sat down on the throne, as it was the highest seat, and the king thought:
"This man is peaceful, in this man there is the essential thing. He is
sitting down on the best seat, surely he must be the best being." The king
asked the visitor to tell him where he came from and was told that he came
from the place where the Order lived and that the Buddha was his teacher.
Then Shin Arahan gave the king the teaching on mindfulness (appamada),
teaching him the same doctrine Nigrodha had given Emperor Asoka when he
was converted. Shin Arahan then told the monarch that the Buddha had passed
into Parinibbana, but that his teaching, the Dhamma, enshrined in the Tipitaka,
and the twofold Sangha consisting of those who possessed absolute knowledge
and those who possessed conventional knowledge, remained.
The king must have felt that he had found what had been missing in his
life and a genuine alternative to the superficial teachings of the Ari
monks. He built a monastery for Shin Arahan, and according to some sources,
stopped all worship of the Ari monks. Tradition has it that he had them
dressed in white and even forced them to serve as soldiers in his army.
The Ari tradition continued for a long time, however, and its
condemnation
is a feature of much later times, and not, as far as contemporary evidence
shows, of the Pagan era.
The Sasanavamsa gives an alternate version of Anawratha's conversion
according to which Shin Arahan had originally come from Sri Lanka to study
the Dhamma in Dvaravati and Thaton and was on his way to Sri Ksetra in
search of a text when he was taken to Anawratha by a hunter. The king asked
him, "Who are you?" -- "O King, I am a disciple of Gotama." -- "Of what
kind are the Three Jewels?" -- "O King, the Buddha should be regarded as
Mahosadha the wise, his doctrine as Ummagga, his order as the Videhan army."[21]
This version is interesting in that Anawratha is portrayed as being
a Buddhist with knowledge of Jataka stories, such as the Mahosadha Jataka
referred to above, even before meeting Shin Arahan. This assumption that
he was no stranger to Buddhism is supported by the fact that earlier kings
had been followers of Buddhism in varying degrees. Caw Rahan, who died
about 94 years before Anawratha's accession, is said to have built a Sima
and five Pagodas, and Kyaung Pyu Min built the white monastery outside
Pagan. Kyaung Pyu Min is believed to have been Anawratha's father.
Anawratha Acquires the Scriptures
Through Shin Arahan, Anawratha had now found the religion he had been yearning
for and he decided to set out and procure the scriptures and holy relics
of this religion. For he wished his kingdom to be secured on the original
teachings of the Buddha. He tried to find the scriptures and relics of
his new religion in different quarters. In his enthusiasm he did not limit
his quest to Thaton, but also searched among the Khmer in Angkor, and in
Tali, the capital of the Nanchao, a kingdom in modern day Yunnan, in China,
where a tooth of the Buddha was enshrined. But everywhere he was refused.
He then went to Thaton, where his teacher Shin Arahan had come from, to
request a copy of the scriptures. According to the tradition of Myanmar,
Anawratha's request was refused, and unable to endure another refusal he
set out with his army in the year 1057 to conquer Thaton and acquire the
Tipitaka by force. Before conquering Thaton, however, he had to subjugate
Sri Ksetra, the Pyu capital. From there, he took the relics enshrined in
King Dwattabaung's Bawbaw-gyi Pagoda to Pagan.
Some think that the aim of his campaign was mainly to add the prosperous
Indian colonies of Lower Myanmar to his possessions, while others think
he may have actually been called to Thaton to defend it against the marauding
Khmer. Whatever the immediate cause of his campaign in the lower country,
we know for certain that he returned with the king of Thaton and his court,
with Mon artists and scholars and, above all, with Thaton's bhikkhus and
their holy books, the Tipitaka. Suvannabhumi and its Mon population were
now in the hands of the Myanmar and the Mon culture and religion were accepted
and assimilated in the emergent Pagan with fervour.
Initially the fervour must have been restricted to the king and possibly
his immediate entourage, yet even they continued to propitiate their traditional
gods for worldly gain as the new religion was considered a higher practice.
Theravada Buddhism does not provide much in the way of rites and rituals,
but a royal court cannot do without them. So the traditional propitiation
of the Nagas continued to be used for court ceremonials and remained part
of the popular religion, while the bhikkhus were accorded the greatest
respect and their master, the Buddha Gotama, was honoured with the erection
of pagodas and shrines.
There were contacts between the new kings of Myanmar and Sri Lanka that
are recorded not only in the chronicles of the two countries but also in
stone inscriptions in South India.[22] As the Hindu
Colas had ruled Sri Lanka for more than half a century, Buddhism had been
weakened and King Vijayabahu, who had driven out the Vaishnavite Colas,
wanted to re-establish his religion. So in 1070, he requested King Anawratha
of Myanmar, who had assisted him financially in his war against the Colas,
to send bhikkhus to re-introduce the pure ordination into his country.[23]
It is interesting to note that the Culavamsa refers to Anawratha
as the king of Ramanna, which was Lower Myanmar, also called Suvannabhumi.
He was approached as the conqueror and master of Thaton, a respected Theravada
centre, rather than as the king of Pagan, a new and unknown country. The
bhikkhus who travelled to Sri Lanka brought the Sinhalese Tipitaka back
with them and established a link between the two countries which was to
last for centuries.
Anawratha is mentioned in the Myanmar, Mon, Khmer, Thai, and Sinhalese
chronicles as a great champion of Buddhism because he developed Pagan into
a major regional power and laid the foundation for its glory. He did not,
however, build many of the temples for which Pagan is now so famous as
the great age of temple building started only after his reign. It is important
to realize that his interest was not restricted only to Pagan. He built
pagodas wherever his campaigns took him and adorned them with illustrations
from the Jatakas and the life of the Buddha. Some maintain that he used
only Jatakas as themes for the adornment of his religious buildings because
that was all he possessed of the Tipitaka. Such a conclusion is negative
and quite superficial. After all, during Asoka's time Jatakas and scenes
from the life of the Buddha were used for illustrations in Bharut and Sanchi,
the great stupas near Bombay. We cannot therefore deduce that the builders
of Bharut and Sanchi were acquainted only with the Jatakas. These edifying
stories which teach the fundamentals of Buddhism so skilfully are singularly
suited to educate an illiterate people beset by superstitions through the
vivid visual means of the stone reliefs depicting these stories. It is
almost unthinkable that the Mon Sangha, who taught Anawratha, had no knowledge
of at least all of the Vinaya. Otherwise, they would not have been able
to re-establish a valid ordination of bhikkhus in Sri Lanka.
Anawratha left behind innumerable clay tablets adorned with images of
the Buddha, the king's name, and some Pali and Sanskrit verses. A typical
aspiration on these tablets was: "By me, King Anawratha, this mould of
Sugata (Buddha) has been made. Through this may I obtain the path to Nibbana
when Metteyya is awakened." Anawratha aspired to become a disciple of the
Buddha Metteyya, unlike many later kings of Myanmar who aspired to Buddhahood.
Is this an indication that this warrior had remained a modest man in spite
of his empire building?
4. Pagan: Flowering and Decline
Anawratha was succeeded by a number of kings of varying significance to
Buddhism in Myanmar. His successors inherited a relatively stable and prosperous
kingdom and consequently were able to embark on the huge temple building
projects for which their reigns are still remembered.
This is the time when kings such as Kyanzitta and others built pagodas,
libraries, monasteries, and ordination halls. These kings must have possessed
coffers full of riches collected from their extensive kingdom which they
lavished on the religion of the Buddha. Their palaces were probably built
of wood as was the last palace of the Myanmar dynasty. Though the palaces
must have reflected the wealth and power of the rulers, the more durable
brick was not deemed necessary for such worldly buildings. This is similar
to views still found in rural areas of Myanmar today. The only structure
adorned to any extent in a village is the monastery and the buildings attached
to it, such as the rest house. The villagers are very modest with regard
to their private houses and even consider it improper to decorate them.
Their monastery, however, is given every decoration affordable.
Kyanzitta Strengthens Theravada Buddhism
Kyanzitta (1084-1113), who had been Anawratha's commander-in-chief and
had succeeded Anawratha's son to the throne, consolidated Theravada Buddhism's
predominance in Pagan. In his reign, such important shrines as the Shwezigon
Pagoda, the Nanda, Nagayon, and Myinkaba Kubyauk-gyi temples were built.
With the three latter temples, Kyanzitta introduced a new style of religious
building. The traditional stupa or dagoba found in India and Sri Lanka
is a solid mound in which relics or other holy objects are enshrined. The
area of worship is situated around them and is usually marked by ornate
stone railings. In the new style of building, however, the solid mound
had been hollowed out and could be entered. The central shrine was surrounded
by halls which housed stone reliefs depicting scenes from the Buddha's
life and Jataka stories. Kyanzitta's aim was the conversion of his people
to the new faith. Whereas Anawratha had been busy expanding his empire
and bringing relics and the holy scriptures to Pagan, Kyanzitta's mission
was to consolidate this enterprise. Enormous religious structures such
as the Nanda Temple attracted the populace and the interiors of the temples
allowed the bhikkhus to instruct the inquisitive in the king's faith.
Professor Luce writes:
The Nanda (temple) ... he built with four broad halls. Each
hall had the same 16 scenes in stone relief all identically arranged. The
bhikkhus could cope with four audiences simultaneously. The scenes cover
the whole life of the Buddha. When well grounded in these, the audience
would pass to the outer wall of the corridor. Here, running around the
whole corridor are the 80 scenes of Gotama's life up to the Enlightenment.
The later life of the Buddha is shown in hundreds of other stone reliefs
on the inner walls and shrines.[24]
Kyanzitta's efforts for the advancement of Buddhism were not limited to
his own country. For in one of his many inscriptions, he also mentions
that he sent craftsmen to Bodhgaya to repair the Mahabodhi temple, which
had been destroyed by a foreign king. The upkeep of the Mahabodhi temple
became a tradition with the kings of Myanmar, who continued to send missions
to Bodhgaya to repair the temple and also to donate temple slaves and land
to the holiest shrine of Buddhism.[25]
Kyanzitta also initiated an extensive review and purification of the
Tipitaka by the bhikkhus. This was the first occasion in Myanmar's history
when the task of a Buddhist Sangayana or Synod, comparing the Sinhalese
and Suvannabhumi's Tipitaka, was undertaken. It is possible and even probable
that this huge editing work was carried out along with visiting Sinhalese
bhikkhus.
By nature of Myanmar's geographical position, external influences swept
in predominantly from northern India, and therefore tantric Buddhism, dominant
especially in Bengal, remained strong. However, Kyanzitta succeeded in
firmly establishing the Pali Tipitaka by asking the bhikkhus to compare
the ancient Mon Tipitaka with the texts obtained from the Mahavihara in
Sri Lanka. In this way, he also made it clear that confirmation of orthodoxy
was to be sought in Sri Lanka and not in any other Buddhist country. Though
Mahayana practices were tolerated in his reign (his chief queen was a tantric
Buddhist), they were not officially regarded as the pure religion. It is
characteristic of Pagan that these two branches of Buddhism co-existed
-- the religion of the Theras, which was accepted as the highest religion
-- and the tantric practices, which included the worship of spirits or
nats and gave more immediate satisfaction. Pagodas are often adorned
with figures of all types of deities, but the deities are normally shown
in an attitude of reverence towards the pagoda, a symbol of the Buddha.
The ancient gods were not banished, but had to submit to the peerless Buddha.
Tradition attributes to King Anawratha the observation: "Men will not come
for the sake of the new faith. Let them come for their old gods, and gradually
they will be won over."
An approach such as this, whether it was Anawratha's or Kyanzitta's,
would suggest that the practice of the old religion of the Ari monks was
allowed to continue and that the conversion of the country was gentle and
peaceful as befits the religion of the Buddha. Although later Myanmar chronicles
refer to the Ari monks as a debased group of charlatans who were totally
rooted out by Anawratha, this is far from the truth. A powerful movement
of "priests" who incorporated magic practices in their teachings continued
to exist throughout the Pagan period, and though they may have respected
the basic rules of the Vinaya and donned the yellow robe, their support
was rooted in the old animistic beliefs of the Myanmar.[26]
It should not be forgotten that the Myanmar first started to settle in
the area of Kyauksai in the sixth century AD and that the "man in the field"
was in no way ready for such highly developed a religion as Theravada Buddhism.
The transition had to be gradual, and the process that started remains
still incomplete in the minds of many people, especially in the more remote
areas of the hill country.
The example of Kyanzitta's son Rajakumar, however, shows how even in
those early days the teachings of the Buddha were understood and practised
not only by the bhikkhus, but also by lay people and members of the royal
court. Rajakumar's conduct is proof of his father's ability to establish
men in the Dhamma and survives as a monument just as the Ananda temple
does.
Rajakumar was Kyanzitta's only son and his rightful heir. Due to political
misadventures Kyanzitta was separated from his wife and therefore not aware
of the birth of his son for seven years. When his daughter gave birth to
his grandson he anointed him as future king immediately after his birth.
Rajakumar grew up in the shadow of his nephew, the crown prince, but neither
during his father's reign nor after his death did he ever try to usurp
the throne through intrigue or by force. He was a minister zealous in the
affairs of state, prudent and wise. He was also a scholar of the Tipitaka
and instrumental in its review, vigorously supporting his father in his
objective to establish Buddhism. But he is best known for his devotion
to his father in his last years when his health was failing. In order to
restore the king's health he built five pagodas which to this day are called
Min-o-Chanda, "The Welfare of the Old King." When the king was on his deathbed:
Rajakumar, remembering the many and great favours with which
the king had nourished him, made a beautiful golden image of the Buddha
and entering with ceremony presented it to the king, saying: "This golden
Buddha I have made to help my lord. The three villages of slaves you gave
me, I give to this Buddha." And the king rejoiced and said "Sadhu, sadhu,
sadhu." Then in the presence of the compassionate Mahathera and other leading
bhikkhus, the king poured on the ground the water of dedication, calling
the earth to witness. Then Rajakumar enshrined the golden image, and built
around it a cave temple with a golden pinnacle.[27]
Later Kings
Rajakumar's nephew was King Alaungsithu (c.1113-67), who continued the
tradition of his dynasty of glorifying the Buddha's religion by building
a vast temple, the Sabbannu Temple, probably the largest monument in Pagan.
During his many travels and campaigns, he built pagodas and temples throughout
Myanmar. The faith that Shin Arahan had inspired in Anawratha and his successors
continued to inspire Alaungsithu. Shin Arahan, who had seen kings come
and go and the flowering of the religion he brought to Pagan, is believed
to have died during the reign of King Alaungsithu, in about 1115.
After the death of Alaungsithu, Pagan was thrown into turmoil by violent
struggles for the throne. Several kings reigned for short periods and spent
most of their time and resources in power struggles. One even succeeded
in alienating the great king of Sri Lanka, Parakramabahu, by mistreating
his emissaries and breaking the agreements between the two countries. Eventually
Parakramabahu invaded Myanmar, devastating towns and villages and killing
the king. The new king, Narapati (1174-1210), blessed the country with
a period of peace and prosperity. This conducive atmosphere was to allow
outstanding scholarship and learning to arise in Pagan.
Kyawswa (1234-50) was a king under whom scholarship was encouraged even
more, undoubtedly because the king himself spent most of his time in scholarly
pursuits including memorising passages of the Tipitaka. He had relinquished
most of his worldly duties to his son in order to dedicate more time to
the study of the scriptures. Two grammatical works, the Saddabindu
and the Paramatthabindu, are ascribed to him. It would appear that
his palace was a place of great culture and learning as his ministers and
his daughter are credited with scholarly works as well.
During the twelfth century, a sect of forest dwellers also thrived.
They were called arannaka in Pali and were identical with the previously
mentioned Ari of the later chroniclers of Myanmar.[28]
This was a monastic movement that only used the yellow robes and the respect
due to them in order to follow their own ideas. They indulged in business
transactions and owned vast stretches of land. They gave feasts and indulged
in the consumption of liquor, and, though they pretended to be practising
the teachings of the Buddha, their practices were probably of a tantric
nature. It would appear that they had a considerable amount of influence
at the royal court and one of the main exponents of the movement was even
given the title of royal teacher. Superstition and magic were gaining dominance
once again and Anawratha's and Kyanzitta's empire was slowly sliding into
decadence.
The last king of Pagan, Narathihapate, whom the Myanmar know by the
name Tayoupyemin[29] (the king who fled the Chinese),
repeatedly refused to pay symbolic tribute to the Mongol emperors in Peking
who in 1271 had conquered
neighbouring Yunnan. He even went so far as to
execute ambassadors of the Chinese emperor and their retinue for their
lack of deference to the king. He became so bold and blinded by ignorance
that he attacked a vassal state of the Mongols. The emperor in Peking was
finally forced to send a punitive expedition which defeated the Pagan army
north of Pagan. The news of this defeat caused the king and his court to
flee to Pathein (Bassein). As the imperial court in Peking was not interested
in adding Pagan to its possessions, the Yunnan expedition did not remain
in the environs. When the king was later murdered and the whole empire
fell into disarray, the Yunnani generals returned, looting Pagan. The territories
were divided amongst Shan chiefs who paid tribute to the Mongols.
G.E. Harvey honours the kings of Pagan with the following words:
To them the world owes to a great measure the preservation
of Theravada Buddhism, one of the purest faiths mankind has ever known.
Brahmanism had strangled it in its land of birth; in Sri Lanka its existence
was threatened again and again; east of Burma it was not yet free from
priestly corruptions; but the kings of Burma never wavered, and at Pagan
the stricken faith found a city of refuge.[30]
Contacts with Sri Lanka and the First Controversies
The contact with Sri Lanka was very important for the growth of the religion
in Pagan. As was shown previously, it started with the friendship of Anawratha
and Vijayabahu, both of whom fought for Buddhism: Anawratha to establish
a new kingdom, Vijayabahu to wrench an old one from the clutches of the
Hindu invaders. They supported each other in their struggles and then together
re-established the Theravada doctrine in their respective countries, Anawratha
sending bhikkhus to Sri Lanka to revive the Sangha, while Vijayabahu reciprocated
by sending the sacred texts. The continued contact between the two countries
was beneficial to both: many a reform movement, purifying the religion
in one country spread to the other as well. Bhikkhus visiting from one
country were led to look at their own traditions critically and to reappraise
their practice of the Dhamma as preserved in the Pali texts. After the
fall of the main Buddhist centres in southern India, centres which had
been the main allies of the Mon Theravadins in the south, Sri Lanka was
the only ally in the struggle for the survival of the Theravada tradition.
Leading bhikkhus of Pagan undertook the long and difficult journey to
Sri Lanka in order to visit the holy temples and study the scriptures as
they had been preserved by the Sinhalese Sangha. Shin Arahan's successor
as the king's teacher left the royal court for Sri Lanka, returning to
Pagan only to die. He was succeeded by a Mon bhikkhu, Uttarajiva, who led
a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka in 1171. This was to cause the first upheaval
in the Sangha of Pagan.
Uttarajiva travelled to Sri Lanka accompanied by Chapada, a novice who
remained behind on the island in order to study the scriptures in the Mahavihara,
the orthodox monastery of Sri Lanka and the guardian of the Theravada tradition.
After ten years, he returned to Pagan accompanied by four elders who had
studied with him. The Kalyani inscription, written about three hundred
years later, relates that Chapada considered the tradition of the Myanmar
bhikkhus impure. He had consequently taken four bhikkhus with him because
he needed a chapter of at least five theras in order to ordain new bhikkhus.
It is possible that the Myanmar bhikkhus, who seemed to have formed a group
separate from the Mon bhikkhus, had paid more attention to their traditional
worship than was beneficial for their practice of the Dhamma. It is also
possible that there was an element of nationalist rivalry between the Mon
bhikkhus and the Myanmar bhikkhus. As he showed a penchant for the reform
movement, the Myanmar king Narapati seems to have accepted the superiority
of the Mon bhikkhus, though he did not neglect the other bhikkhus. Chapada
and his companions refused to accept the ordination of the Myanmar bhikkhus
as legitimate in accordance with Vinaya. They established their own ordination,
following which the Myanmar bhikkhus sent a delegation to Sri Lanka to
receive the Mahavihara ordination for themselves.
After Chapada's death, the reform movement soon split into two factions,
and eventually each of the four remaining bhikkhus went his own way, one
of them leaving the order altogether. "Thus in the town of Arimaddana (Pagan)
there were four schools.... Because the first of these to come was the
school of the Elder Arahan from Sudhamma (Thaton) it was called the first
school; while the others, because they came later, were called the later
schools."[31]
Scholarship in Pagan
It is surprising how quickly a relatively simple people absorbed the great
civilisation that arrived in their midst so suddenly. Even before the conquest
of Thaton, Pagan possessed some ornate religious buildings, which is indicative
of the presence of artists and craftsmen. It is quite likely, however,
that these were Indians from Bengal and the neighbouring states. The type
of Buddhism that had come to Pagan from India was an esoteric religion,
as some old legends indicate. It was the jealously guarded domain of a
group of priests, who made no attempt to instruct the people but were happy
if their superiority remained unquestioned by a superstitious populace.
The advent of Theravada Buddhism with its openness and its aim to spread
understanding must have been quite revolutionary in Pagan and obviously
the people were eager to acquire the knowledge offered to them by the bhikkhus.
Mabel Bode says in her Pali Literature of Burma:
Though the Burmese began their literary history by borrowing
from their conquered neighbours, the Talaings (Mon) -- and not before the
eleventh century -- the growth of Pali scholarship among them was so rapid
that the epoch following close on this tardy beginning is considered one
of the best that Burma has seen.[32]
The principal works of the Pagan period still extant are Pali grammars.
The most famous of these is the Saddaniti, which Aggavamsa completed
in 1154. Uttarajiva gave a copy of this work to the bhikkhus of the Mahavihara
in Sri Lanka and it "was received with enthusiastic admiration, and declared
superior to any work of the kind written by Sinhalese scholars." The Saddaniti
is still used to teach grammar in the monasteries in Myanmar and has been
printed many times. B.C. Law regards it as one of the three principal Pali
grammars along with the grammars by Kaccayana and Moggallana. K.R. Norman
says: "The greatest of extant Pali grammars is the Saddaniti, written
by Aggavamsa from Arimaddana [Pagan] in Burma...."[33]
Aggavamsa was also known as the teacher of King Narapatisithu (1167-1202)
and was given the title Aggapandita. Unfortunately, no other works by this
author are known today.
The second famous author of Pagan was Saddhammajotipala who has been
previously mentioned under his clan name of Chapada. He was a disciple
of Uttarajiva and is credited with a great number of works, but in the
case of some it is doubtful whether he actually composed them himself or
merely introduced them from Sri Lanka.[34] His works
deal not only with grammar, but also with questions of monastic discipline
(Vinaya) and the Abhidhamma, which in later centuries was to become a favourite
subject of Myanmar scholars. His work on Kaccayana's grammar, the Suttaniddesa,
formed the foundation of his fame. However, his specialty would appear
to have been the study of Abhidhamma, as no less than four noted works
of his on the subject attained fame: Samkhepavannana, Namacaradipani,
Matikatthadipani, and Patthanagananaya. According to the
Pitaka-thamain, a history of Buddhism in Myanmar, he also devoted a commentary
to the Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa called the Visuddhimagga-ganthi.[35]
There are no written records that refer to meditation being practised in
Myanmar before this century. However, his interest in the Visuddhimagga
is indicative of an interest in meditation, if only in the theory rather
than in the practice.
Another scholar of Pagan, Vimalabuddhi, also wrote a commentary concerning
Abhidhamma, the Abhidhammatthasangahatika, in addition to another
important grammatical work, the Nyasa, a commentary on Kaccayana's
grammar.
Other grammatical works of some importance were written, but none acquired
the standing of Aggavamsa's Saddaniti. However, a rather peculiar
work worth mentioning is the Ekakkharakosa by Saddhammakitti. It
is a work on Pali lexicography enumerating words of one letter.
5. Shan Rule
Upper Myanmar
After Narathihapate had fled Pagan in fear of the Mongol army, he was never
able to re-establish his authority, even though the Mongols supported the
Pagan dynasty. The Mongol court in Peking preferred a united neighbouring
country under a single ruler, but in spite of its efforts Myanmar was divided
into several principalities mainly under Shan tribal leaders. These self-styled
princelings paid tribute to the Chinese Mongol court and were nominally
its subjects. The Shan, at this time still nomadic tribes in the north,
broke into an already destabilized Myanmar like a tidal wave. They penetrated
the entire region as far as the Mon country and established themselves
as rulers in many towns and cities. The intrigues, fratricidal wars, and
murders that make up the history of their courts are innumerable.
A division of the country into Upper and Lower Myanmar is somewhat arbitrary,
as, after the fall of Pagan, the two regions were composed of many competing
principalities. However, there were the two principle kingdoms of Ava in
Upper Myanmar and Pago (Pegu) in Lower Myanmar. Hostilities between these
two prevailed, as well as with the neighbouring smaller states including
the Shan fiefs of Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya in Thailand. Intrigues within
and between courts were rife. Sometimes these claimed victims only within
the circle of the powerful and mighty, and sometimes whole towns were looted
and destroyed, and their population massacred or carried off into slavery.
But, in spite of politically unsettled conditions, the Sangha survived,
because the new rulers, initially somewhat barbaric, soon accepted the
religion of their subjects. Just as the Myanmar had adopted the religion
and culture of the more refined Mon, so the Shan submitted to the sophisticated
civilisation of the peoples they subjugated. The Shan initially established
their capital at Pinya in Upper Myanmar to the north of Pagan and transferred
it to Ava in 1312. Ava was to remain the capital of Upper Myanmar until
the eighteenth century.
The Sasanavamsa praises Thihathu, the youngest of three Shan
brothers who wrested power from the Pagan dynasty in Upper Myanmar, as
a Buddhist king who built monasteries and pagodas. He had a bhikkhu as
his teacher and supported thousands of bhikkhus in his capital Pinya and
later Ava. However, Pagan remained the cultural and religious capital of
the region for the whole of the fourteenth century. Scholarly works were
composed in its monasteries throughout this period whereas no such works
are known to have been written in the new centres of power. The works of
this period of scholarship were mostly concerned with Pali grammar.
Two generations later, a descendant of Thihathu secured himself a place
in religious history as a great patron of scholarship. As in the courts
of some previous kings, his court was also devoted to scholarly learning;
and not only bhikkhus, but also the palace officials, produced treatises
on religious subjects and the Pali language.
Although the political situation remained unsettled in Upper Myanmar
throughout the fifteenth century, in the main, this affected only those
in power and their usurpers. Consequently the Sangha appears to have flourished,
while the traditional devotion to the support of the Sangha through gifts
of the four requisites remained unchanged. The royal court, followed by
the leading families, made great donations of monasteries, land, and revenue
to the bhikkhus.
In approximately 1440, two Mahatheras from Sri Lanka settled in Ava.[36]
Here they joined a group of famous scholars, of whom Ariyavamsa was the
most outstanding. The Sasanavamsa tells us of his great wisdom and
humility in an anecdote.[37]
The elder Ariyavamsa had studied the books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka,
but felt he had not gained real understanding. Eventually he came to a
bhikkhu in Sagaing who kept his mouth always filled with water in order
not to have to engage in meaningless chatter. Ariyavamsa did not talk to
"the Elder Water-bearer," as this bhikkhu was known in the Myanmar language,
but simply performed the duties of a disciple to his teacher for two days.
On the third day, the Venerable Water-bearer spat out the water and asked
Ariyavamsa why he was serving him. When Ariyavamsa told him that he wanted
to learn from him, the Venerable Water-bearer taught him the Abhidhammattha-vibhavani-tika,
a subcommentary on the Abhidhammattha-sangaha. After two days, Ariyavamsa
grasped the meaning and his teacher asked him to write a commentary on
this book in order to help others to gain understanding.
During the composition of his first work, Ariyavamsa submitted his writings
to the assembled bhikkhus on every Uposatha day, reading out what he had
composed and asking his brethren to correct any mistakes they found. On
one occasion, a visiting bhikkhu twice made a sound of disapproval during
the reading. Ariyavamsa carefully noted the passages where the sound of
disapproval had occurred. On reflecting on them in the evening, he found
one error of grammar where he had used the wrong gender and also a repetition,
an error of style. He approached the bhikkhu who had made the sounds during
the reading and out of gratitude for the correction gave him his own outer
robe.
Ariyavamsa composed several works in Pali: works on the Abhidhamma,
on grammatical subjects, and a study of the Jatakas. But his very important
contribution to Buddhism in Myanmar was the fact that all his writing was
in the Myanmar vernacular. He was probably the first bhikkhu to write treatises
on religious subjects in the local idiom, thus making the religion accessible
to a greater number of people. The work by Ariyavamsa still known today
is a commentary on the anutika (sub-commentary) of the Abhidhamma.
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, a bhikkhu by the name of Silavamsa
composed several epic poems in Pali. They were, of course, of a religious
nature dealing with subjects such as the life of the Buddha, or Jataka
stories. This genre was later very popular in the Myanmar language and
there are many poems relating Jataka stories which were sung by bards throughout
the country until recently. In the Sasanavamsa, however, Pannasami
disapproves of bhikkhus writing or reciting poetry as he considers it to
be in breach of the Vinaya rules. He says that because of this, Silavamsa's
name was excluded from the Theraparampara, a listing of eminent bhikkhus
of Myanmar by ancient chroniclers.
Lower Myanmar
The Mon civilization in Lower Myanmar flourished after Pagan's importance
waned, once again reliving the era of glory that it had experienced prior
to Anawratha's conquest.
Wareru, the Shan ruler who had established himself in Martaban in 1287,
was soon converted to Buddhism. He was a Shan peddler who had astutely
wrested power from a son of the last king of Pagan, a son who had revolted
against his father and founded an independent kingdom. Under Wareru's rule,
scholarship in the Mon monasteries flourished and a code of law was compiled
which still forms the foundation of the legal literature of Myanmar. The
Mon bhikkhus based this code on ancient Hindu codes of law which had found
their way into Mon tradition through Indian colonisers and merchants.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century two respected Mon theras
named Buddhavamsa and Mahanaga revived the tradition of their countryman
Chapada in making a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka. There, they accepted new ordination
in the Mahavihara monastery, the guardian of Sinhalese orthodoxy. The bhikkhus
of the Mahavihara asked those ordained in other countries to revert to
the lay-state before being re-ordained as novices and full bhikkhus, as
it was considered of the utmost importance that the ordination be handed
down in an unbroken tradition from the time of the Buddha. This was especially
significant in Myanmar where there were some reservations about the continuity
of the tradition. By disrobing, a bhikkhu forgoes the seniority he has
acquired through the years spent in robes and, in this case, he also states
that he considers his former ordination invalid. One can imagine that such
a step is not taken lightly but only after careful consideration.
The Great Reformation of the Sangha
King Dhammazedi (1472-92) takes a special place in the history of the religion
in Myanmar. He unified the Sangha in the Mon country and purified the order
of the bhikkhus. He recorded his great service to the country in the Kalyani
inscription, which will be quoted below.
Dhammazedi was a bhikkhu of Mon origin who taught one of the queens
at the royal palace in Ava. This lady, Shin Sawbu, was the daughter of
the king of Pago. She had been queen to several unfortunate kings of Upper
Mynamar and had beeen conveyed into the hands of the subsequent kings along
with the throne. She had become disenchanted with the life of a queen and
desired to return to her native land. Dhammazedi and a fellow Mon bhikkhu
helped her to escape and brought her back to Pago. Eventually she became
queen of Pago , but after reigning only a few years she wished to retire
and do works of merit. She found that the only people worthy of the throne
of Pago were her teachers, the two bhikkhus. She let fate decide which
would be the future king by concealing miniature imitations of the regalia
in one of the two bowls in which she offered them their daily alms food.
She handed the throne over to Dhammazedi who had received the fateful
bowl and spent the rest of her life at Dagon (Yangon) building the terrace
around the Shwedagon Pagoda and gilding the sacred mound. The Shwedagon
became what it is today chiefly thanks to Shin Sawbu's munificence.
Dhammazedi assumed government in Pago after leaving the Order of the
bhikkhus. He moved the capital closer to the Swemawdaw Pagoda and built
several pagodas and shrines. His name is also connected with a collection
of wise judgements and the translation of Wareru's Code of Law into the
vernacular. In 1472, Dhammazedi sent a mission to Bodhgaya to repair the
temple and make plans and drawings of it.
Dhammazedi had received his education in monasteries of Ava which adhered
to the Sihala Sangha. The Sihala Sangha was the faction of the Sangha of
Myanmar that accepted only the Mahavihara of Sri Lanka as the ultimate
authority in religious questions. King Dhammazedi knew from direct experience
the state of the Sangha in Lower Myanmar and was determined to improve
it. Having lived as a bhikkhu for so many years, he was also singularly
qualified to change the Sangha for the better.
He chose twenty-two senior bhikkhus to lead the reform movement and
informed them:
Reverend Sirs, the upasampada ordination of the bhikkhus
of the Mon country now appears to us to be invalid. Therefore, how can
the religion, which is based on such invalid ordination, last to the end
of 5000 years? Reverend Sirs, from the establishment of the religion in
the island of Sri Lanka up to this present day, there has been existing
in this island an exceedingly pure sect of bhikkhus.... Receive at their
hands the upasampada ordination ... and if you make this form of
the upasampada ordination the seed of the religion, as it were,
plant it, and cause it to sprout forth by conferring such ordination on
men of good family in this Mon country.... Reverend Sirs, by your going
to the island of Sri Lanka, much merit and great advantage will accrue
to you.[38]
At the beginning of 1476 the chosen bhikkhus with their twenty-two disciples
embarked on the journey to Sri Lanka. They sailed in two ships, one taking
about two months while the other needed six full months to arrive on the
shore of the Buddhist island. They received the upasampada ordination
at the Mahavihara from 17th to 20th July 1476. The return journey of the
forty-four Mon bhikkhus was not so smooth, however. One group arrived home
in August 1476, while the other group took three years to return to Pago
and ten of the bhikkhus died en route. Following their return, Dhammazedi
had a pure ordination hall(sima) consecrated and made the following
proclamation:
May all those who possess faith and desire to receive the bhikkhu's
ordination at the hands of the bhikkhus ordained in Sri Lanka come to the
Kalyani sima and receive ordination. Let those who have not faith and do
not desire to receive the bhikkhus ordination of the Sinhalese, remain
as they are.[39]
In order to confer the bhikkhu ordination outside the middle country (i.e.
northern India), a chapter of five bhikkhus is needed, one of whom must
be qualified to serve as preceptor (upajjhaya) and another as teacher
(acariya). The latter two must have spent at least ten years in
robes as fully ordained bhikkhus. So if Dhammazedi wanted to have local
bhikkhus ordained in the new ordination, it was necessary to find two senior
bhikkhus. Since those returning from Sri Lanka had been ordained for a
period of only three years, they could not act as preceptor or teacher.
Local bhikkhus who had not received the ordination of the Mahavihara in
Sri Lanka were unacceptable, as otherwise the ordination would again have
been invalidated by one who was not of pure descent. Fortunately, the two
theras who had undertaken a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka at the beginning of
the century and had received the Sinhalese ordination at that time, were
still alive. As a result, one was able to act as preceptor and the other
as teacher of the newly ordained bhikkhus. The stage was now set for the
reformation and unification of the Mon Order of bhikkhus and soon the re-ordination
of almost the entire Order of bhikkhus began. The Kalyani inscription records
the number of 15,666 ordinations in hundreds of ordination halls newly
constructed for the purpose.
It is interesting to note how forcefully the king reformed the Order
through royal decrees that would hardly be tolerated today. He declared
that all bhikkhus who were, for example, practising medicine or other arts
and crafts or who even slightly infringed on the Vinaya rules would be
expelled. The king as a layman, however, did not have the power to defrock
a bhikkhu who had not broken one of the four Parajika rules.[40]
Dhammazedi circumvented this by threatening to punish with royal penalties
the mother, father, relatives, and lay supporters of bhikkhus whose behaviour
was not in accordance with the rules of the Vinaya.
It goes without saying that a king who could allow himself to take such
drastic measures in regard to the Sangha must have had the support of a
broad section of the Order and also the people. After years spent in robes,
he was keenly aware of the problems of monastic life and because of this
even senior bhikkhus respected and accepted his council. We can assume
that all his actions to reform the Order were firstly discussed with his
bhikkhu teachers and then implemented with their blessings. There being
no such thing as a Buddhist Church with a central authority, the Sangha
has little possibility to regulate itself. Only the committed support of
a worldly power can protect the Order of bhikkhus from those who take advantage
of the respect that is given to the yellow robe.
Dhammazedi's support for the religion was so great that his fame spread
well beyond the borders of Myanmar and bhikkhus from neighbouring countries
such as Thailand came to his realm to receive ordination there. Though
the reform movement did not spread to Upper Myanmar and cause the same
mass ordinations there, it did not remain without influence in the kingdom
of Ava and other principalities, and many bhikkhus came to the Mon bhikkhus
to receive the Kalyani ordination.[41]
6. The Myanmar Build an Empire
Shan versus Myanmar
The beginning of the sixteenth century was one of the most difficult periods
for Buddhism in Upper Myanmar. While the religious fervour of Dhammazedi
still lived on in the kingdom of Pago in Ava, Shan rulers were endeavouring
to bring about the destruction of the Sangha. A Shan king named Thohanbwa
(?1527-1543) was particularly well-known for his barbarity. He destroyed
pagodas and monasteries and robbed their treasures. Although he was a king,
he was uneducated and ignorant. Hence fearing the influence of the bhikkhus
and suspicious of their moves, he brought about the massacre of thousands.
Under these terror regimes of the Shan rulers the Myanmar did not feel
safe. Many, including learned bhikkhus, fled to Toungoo, the stronghold
of the Myanmar race in the south. Despite the anarchy prevailing, some
respected treatises on Pali grammar were written in Upper Myanmar in these
years.
Better times, however, lay ahead for Buddhism in the Golden Land. Two
successive kings of Myanmar origin from Toungoo would unite the country
and fulfil the duties of Buddhist kings. The wars fought by these two kings,
King Tabinshwehti (1531-50) and King Bayinnaung (1551-81), were long in
duration and exceedingly cruel. They succeeded in gaining control of the
Mon kingdom in Lower Myanmar and the kingdom of Ava. They conquered all
of what is today Myanmar including the Shan states as far east as Chiang
Mai, and made incursions into lower Thailand and Yunnan where some kings
paid tribute to the Myanmar court.
Bayinnaung deferred to the Mon as far as culture and religion were concerned
and dressed in Mon style. Under his royal patronage, the Mon Sangha produced
scholarly works on grammar and the Abhidhamma and also helped with the
collection and standardisation of a code of law based on the old Mon code
compiled during Wareru's reign.
Bayinnaung not only unified the country politically, but also made Buddhist
principles the standard for his entire dominion. He forbade the sacrificial
slaughter of animals, a custom still practised by the Shan chiefs, the
worshippers of certain spirits, and the followers of some other religions.
He built pagodas and monasteries in all the newly conquered lands and installed
learned bhikkhus in order to convert the often uncivilised inhabitants
to gentler ways. The main religious building of his reign is the Mahazedi
Pagoda, a majestic monument to the Buddha in the capital, Pago. He also
crowned the main pagodas in Myanmar with the jewels of his own crown, a
custom practised by many rulers of the country. He continued in the tradition
of Dhammazedi, in supporting the Sihala Sangha and in sponsoring the ordination
of many bhikkhus in the Kalyani Ordination Hall near Pago. It is said that
he built as many monasteries as there were years in his life.
It remains a mystery how a king who had such deep devotion to the religion
of the Buddha and who was so generous towards it could spend his life fighting
campaign after campaign to expand his realm. He caused bloodshed and suffering
in the conquered regions and at home people starved because farmers were
drafted into the army. However this may be, Bayinnaung seems to have been
able to reconcile fighting expansionist wars with being a pious Buddhist.
After King Bayinnaung, Pago rapidly lost its significance. Bayinnaung's
son persecuted the Mon and consequently re-ignited racial tensions that
would plague Myanmar for centuries. Later, Pago was to fall into the hands
of a Portuguese adventurer who pillaged the pagodas and monasteries. Eventually
the whole of Lower Myanmar, already depopulated by the incessant campaigns
of Bayinnaung and his successors, was pillaged by all the surrounding kings
and princelings. The country was devastated and people starved.
The Sasanavamsa records one major problem of the Vinaya during
the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the century, the bhikkhus of
Toungoo were divided over whether or not bhikkhus could partake of the
juice of the toddy palm which was generally used to prepare fermented drink.
The dispute was settled by a respected thera who decided that toddy juice
was permissible only if it was freshly harvested.
Political Influence of the Sangha in Early Myanmar
What motivated the royal court probably remained largely a mystery to the
ordinary citizens, except when they were pressed into service in the king's
army. There was little sense of collective responsibility as it is cultivated
in today's democracies. Everyone looked after himself and his immediate
circle and governments were sometimes more of a scourge than a protection.
Kings did not always provide a visible administration beyond appointing
governors at whose mercy local people were. These governors often endeavoured
to establish independence as soon as they perceived inherent weaknesses
in their masters. Many accumulated great wealth for themselves.
There was, however, one element in the policy of rulers which, with
a few exceptions, remained fairly stable throughout Myanmar history. Most
kings supported Buddhism and the Sangha provided a framework of continuity
as no other entity could. Ray writes:
They (the kings) were good Buddhists and never did they waver
from their kingly duty of acting as the patron-guardian of the faith of
the country. Moreover, whatever their numerical strength, the bhikkhus
were real spokesmen of the people and the monasteries were the popular
assemblies as it were; and each king that came to the throne sought to
win the bhikkhus over to his side.[42]
The best insurance of a peaceful life in Myanmar was to become a bhikkhu,
as they were not drafted into armies or enslaved by conquerors and as long
as the lay people had food to eat they were also fed. The bhikkhus not
only provided a link between the people and those in power, they often
played a role in the affairs of state. This is illustrated by an event
which occurred in the middle of the seventeenth century and is related
by the Sasanavamsa.
The king, Ukkamsika, popularly known as King Thalun, was a devoted Buddhist
and thanks to him, learning flourished in Myanmar. The king's son, however,
tried to dethrone his father, and Thalun, taken by surprise, had to flee
accompanied only by two companions. Coming upon a river, the only vessel
in sight was the boat of a samanera. The samanera agreed to take them onboard
as passengers, and they ended up in the samanera's monastery where they
revealed their true identities and asked for protection from their persecutors.
They were referred to another monastery where lived a bhikkhu wise in worldly
affairs. Following his advice, the bhikkhus formed a living wall around
the monastery and, as no Buddhist will attack a man in robes, the rebels
who had come to kill the king had to withdraw. Another example of the beneficial
influence of the Sangha is their appeal for clemency to King Bayinnaung.
Bhikkhus often tried to stay executions in accordance with the principles
of metta (loving kindness) and karuna (compassion) and sometimes
their efforts achieved success.
During one of Bayinnaung's Thai campaigns, the peasantry around Pago
revolted and razed the royal city to the ground. Bayinnaung, after hurrying
back from Ayutthaya, captured several thousand rebels and was ready to
burn them alive. It was the custom then to burn deserters from the army
alive and obviously rebellion was considered to be a crime of similar gravity.
The bhikkhus of all races intervened on behalf of the poor wretches and
were able to save all from the pyre, except for seventy ring leaders, the
most serious offenders.
There are several instances in Myanmar history when bhikkhus also mediated
between contending kings or princes and helped to avoid bloodshed. This
was often the case when cities were besieged and both parties realised
that they could not win. The king who was besieged would normally take
the initiative and send his bhikkhus to the king in attack. Often the bhikkhus
were authorised to negotiate on behalf of the monarch. An armistice agreed
by or in the presence of bhikkhus was more likely to be honoured than a
promise given without their blessings. Therefore, if the two parties were
sincere in their offers to negotiate, they usually requested bhikkhus to
be mediators and judges.
The Spread of Abhidhamma
The seventeenth century was a period of dynamic growth in the history of
Buddhism in Myanmar. Many outstanding developments took place, and principal
among these were the numerous translations of texts into the Myanmar language
and the great increase in the study of the Abhidhamma. It is quite possible
that the two developments were inter-connected.
In the first half of the century, Manirathana Thera translated the following
texts into the Myanmar language: Atthasalini, Sammohavinodani,
Kankhavitarani, Abhidhammatthavibhavini, Sankhepavannana.
Of these five, only the Kankhavitarani, Buddhaghosa's commentary
on the Patimokkha, is not concerned with Abhidhamma. In the second half
of the century Aggadhammalankara translated Kaccayana's Pali grammar, the
Abhidhammatthasangaha, Matika, Dhatukatha, Yamaka,
and the Patthana into the Myanmar tongue. Later, the Nettippakarana
was also translated.
It cannot be a coincidence that nine out of twelve translated works
were texts of the Abhidhamma or its commentaries. The reason for these
translations must have been a developing interest in the psychology of
Buddhism among the Buddhist followers who could not themselves read Pali.
Whether these were only bhikkhus or whether lay people were also interested
in exploring the scriptures for themselves is difficult to determine now.
However, what is known is that almost every boy and many of the girls attended
monastic schools, whose curriculum was probably established by this period,
if not earlier. Included in the curriculum were studies of the Mangala
Sutta, Metta Sutta, Ratana Sutta, and the other parittas, as well as basic
literacy which included some Pali. In addition a number of the Abhidhamma
texts had to be committed to memory.
The intention behind these translations and commentaries in the Myanmar
language was obviously to make the words of the Buddha accessible to a
wider audience who would, then, not be solely dependent on the authority
of the Pali scholars.
In the later half of the century, the bhikkhu Devacakkhobhasa designed
a system for the study and teaching of the Patthana, the last book
of the Abhidhamma, which in Myanmar is believed to be the highest teaching
of the Buddha. The king at the time of Devacakkhobhasa was so impressed
by the bhikkhu's proficiency in these higher teachings and by his system
of instruction, that he ordered the Patthana to be studied in all
the monasteries of Myanmar. It is not unreasonable to assume that the king
himself studied these teachings. Otherwise he would hardly have been in
a position to appreciate them and make them compulsory reading for the
Myanmar bhikkhus.
This emphasis on Abhidhamma in general and the Patthana in particular
has survived in Myanmar to the present day. The movement, therefore, that
began in the seventeenth century is still of great significance for Buddhism
there. The Patthana, for instance, is ubiquitous in Myanmar. The
twenty-four conditions of the Patthana can be found printed on the
fans of the bhikkhus, on calendars, and on posters. In some monasteries,
the bhikkhus are woken every morning by twenty-four strokes on a hollow
tree trunk, while the bhikkhu striking the tree trunk has to recite the
twenty-four conditions as he does so. Even little children learn to recite
the twenty-four conditions along with the suttas of protection. As the
Patthana is the highest and most difficult teaching of the Buddha,
it is believed that it will be the first to be lost. In order to slow the
decline of the Sasana, many people of Myanmar, bhikkhus and lay people
alike, memorize the Patthana and recite it daily.
In Pagan, the Jataka stories and the history of the Buddha's life were
the main subjects of religious study. In later centuries, Pali grammar
and the study of the Vinaya were foremost on the agenda. Dhammazedi's reform
movement drew the attention back to the foundations of all monastic life,
the code of conduct for the bhikkhus as laid down by the Buddha himself.
Though stricter observation of the Vinaya would have to be re-emphasised
in the future, its foundation was firm enough to insure that progressive
reform movements would be instigated within the Sangha and not be dependent
on external impetus. How far a bhikkhu was allowed to stray from the ideal
had been defined in strictures that had become integral to the Sangha.
Based on this foundation of sila (right conduct, morality), the
Sangha was now free to give increased attention to higher teachings.
The age of the Abhidhamma had dawned. The Abhidhamma remained no longer
the domain of a chosen few, but began to be studied by many. The wealth
of translations from the Abhidhamma would suggest that in the seventeenth
century it had become so popular that it may have been taught even to lay
people. The Myanmar language had developed and had been enriched with Pali
terms so that it could convey the difficult concepts of Abhidhamma. Civilisation
had matured to an extent never seen before. Myanmar was ready to study
the analysis of mind and matter as taught by the Buddha. The stage was
being set for the widespread practice of insight meditation (vipassana
bhavana) in later times.
7. The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
In the succession of rulers of the eighteenth century some were strong
and despotic, while others were ineffective and withdrawn. Some tried to
expand their power and fought wars, while others appeared satisfied with
existing conditions. There were several wars with Thailand and the population
of Myanmar had to bear the deprivations that war invariably brings not
only to the conquered, but also to the country where the conquering armies
are levied.
After a war between the Mon and the Myanmar in which the Mon initially
attacked and then conquered Ava itself, the Myanmar king Alaungpaya (1752-60),
who believed himself a Bodhisatta, crushed Mon resistance once and for
all. After Pago had fallen into his hands in 1756, Lower Myanmar was devastated
and many of the Mon survivors fled to Thailand or were deported as slaves.
Like Bayinnaung, Alaungpaya established a Myanmar empire, at the same
time decimating the population of the country by drafting the peasantry
into the army for campaigns against Ayutthaya (Thailand) and other countries.
The Sasanavamsa does not comment on the atrocity of war. War is
perceived as it is, cruel and pitiless -- but it is the affair of rulers,
not of bhikkhus. The manner in which rulers conduct their affairs is entirely
their responsibility. Pannasami probably took very seriously the Buddha's
injunction that a member of the Sangha should not talk about rulers and
royal affairs.
The Sasanavamsa pays much attention to a controversy which raged
in monastic circles throughout the eighteenth century. At the beginning
of the century, some bhikkhus began to wear their robes outside the monasteries
as they were worn within them, that is, covering only one shoulder. Even
when going on their daily alms round, they failed to drape the robe in
the traditional way. When challenged as to the orthodoxy of this practice,
they produced various interpretations and opinions, but could not validate
their practice through the authority of the scriptures. Different kings
endorsed one or other of the two opinions and bhikkhus of the orthodox
school even died for their conviction when a king had outlawed the covering
of both shoulders.
The most interesting aspect of this historical period of the religion
is not so much the actual controversy as the power the king had in religious
affairs. The kings of Myanmar were not normally expert in the Vinaya and
yet they took the final decision in matters of monastic discipline after
due consultation with the leaders of the Sangha. In the more than one hundred
years that this controversy prevailed, different kings supported the orthodoxy
of either view. This shows that this system is not entirely satisfactory.
However, the right view which was in accordance with the Vinaya did eventually
triumph due to the persistence of the majority of the Sangha. Only the
worldly power was in a position to regulate the Sangha into which undesirable
elements entered repeatedly. To keep the Order pure, it had to be always
under careful scrutiny and bogus ascetics had to be removed. The kings
of Myanmar in co-operation with the Sangharajas[43]
and the other senior bhikkhus had established a system of supervision of
the bhikkhus by royal officials. In every township, the king's representatives
were responsible for ensuring that the bhikkhus adhered scrupulously to
the rules of the Vinaya. Bhikkhus who transgressed were taken before religious
courts and punished according to the code of discipline.
The controversy concerning the correct manner of wearing the robes came
up for arbitration for the last time under Bodawpaya (1782-1819), the fifth
son of Alaungpaya. He decided in favour of orthodoxy and thenceforth all
bhikkhus had to cover both shoulders on the daily alms round. This ruling
created one unified sect throughout Myanmar under the leadership of a council
of senior bhikkhus appointed by the king. These were called the Thudhamma
Sayadaws and the Thudhamma sect has survived in Myanmar down to the present
day.
Bodawpaya appointed a chapter of eight eminent bhikkhus as Sangharajas,
leaders of the Sangha, and charged them with the duty to safeguard the
purity of the Order of bhikkhus. As a direct result of the discipline and
stability created by the work of these senior bhikkhus, the Sangha prospered,
and consequently scholarship flourished under Bodawpaya's reign.
The name of the Mahasangharaja Nanabhivamsa is especially noteworthy
in this respect. Nanabhivamsa was an eminently learned bhikkhu who had
proven his wisdom even as a young man. Only five years after his ordination
as a bhikkhu, he had completed a commentary (tika) on the Nettippakarana.
Eight years after full ordination, at the age of twenty-eight, he became
Sangharaja, and then Mahasangharaja, the title conferred by the king on
the highest bhikkhu in his realm. Soon after this, he wrote his well respected
"new sub-commentary" on the Digha Nikaya, the Sadhujjanavilasini.
At the request of the king, he wrote a commentary on Buddhaghosa's Jatakatthakatha
and several other treatises.[44]
The king was so devoted to the head of the Sangha that he dedicated
a "very magnificent five storied monastery" to him and later many other
monasteries as well. According to the Sasanavamsa, Nanabhivamsa
was not only a scholar, but also practised the ascetic practices (dhutanga)
sitting always alone. He divided his time between the various monasteries
under his tutelage and was an indefatigable teacher of the scriptures.
Scholarship flourished in the reign of King Bodawpaya and Myanmar was
able, for the first time, to return thanks to Sri Lanka for nurturing the
religion in the Golden Land. The bhikkhu ordination (upasampada)
preserved in Myanmar was re-introduced to Sri Lanka where the Sasana had
been interferred with by an unwise king.
The Amarapura Nikaya in Sri Lanka
In the later half of the eighteenth century, the upasampada ordination
in Sri Lanka was barred to all except the members of the landed aristocracy.
This was a result of royal decree probably issued with the support of at
least a section of the Sangha. However, this was a flagrant defilement
of the letter and the spirit of the Buddha's instructions. The conferring
of the upasampada ordination is dependent only upon such conditions
as the candidate being a man, free from government service, free of debt,
free of contagious diseases, and upon his having his parents' consent,
etc. Members of the lower castes had now only the possibility of becoming
novices (samanera), a condition that created dissatisfaction. A sizeable
section of ordained bhikkhus also disapproved of the royal order, but were
in no position to defy it within the country. The only recourse for those
of the lower castes desiring the higher ordination was therefore to travel
to other Buddhist countries to ordain. At first, missions were sent to
Thailand where Dhammazedi's reforms lived on through the ordination conferred
to Thai bhikkhus in Pago and through the scores of Mon bhikkhus who had
found refuge in Thailand from the Myanmar armies.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, Sinhalese bhikkhus
began travelling to Myanmar to find the pure ordination there. The fame
of the then Mahasangharaja of Myanmar, Nanabhivamsa, influenced their choice.
Scholarship had developed in all fields: Pali grammar, the Vinaya, the
Suttanta, and the Abhidhamma. Myanmar had, after a long period of development,
become the custodian of Buddhism.
The first delegation from Sri Lanka arrived in 1800 and was welcomed
with a magnificent reception by King Bodawpaya himself. Nanabhivamsa, the
wise Sangharaja, ordained the samaneras as bhikkhus and instructed them
for some time in the scriptures.[45] On returning to
Sri Lanka, they were accompanied by five Myanmar bhikkhus and a letter
from Nanabhivamsa to the Sinhalese Sangharaja. Five bhikkhus form a full
chapter and apparently the Myanmar bhikkhus were permitted to ordain bhikkhus
without class distinction. Even today, Sri Lanka possesses three schools,
the Amarapura Nikaya, the Siyama Nikaya (Thai school), and the Ramanna
Nikaya.
The Amarapura Nikaya was so called because King Bodawpaya had established
his capital in Amarapura (between Mandalay and Ava) and the bhikkhus had
received their ordination there. The Ramanna Nikaya[46]
was presumably founded by bhikkhus who had received ordination from Mon
bhikkhus in the tradition of the Dhammazedi reforms and who had fled to
southern Thailand from the wrath of the Myanmar kings. Both these schools
were allowed to ordain bhikkhus without discriminating against the lower
classes. Only the Siyama Sangha (the Thai ordination) continued to follow
the royal command, and ordained only novices of the higher castes as bhikkhus.
Missions from Sri Lanka continued to travel to Amarapura to consult with
its senior theras and they were all given royal patronage and sent back
with gifts of the Pali scriptures and commentarial texts.
Bodawpaya's Relationship with the Sangha
Although King Bodawpaya would appear to have been a pious and devout king,
his relationship with the Sangha was somewhat problematic. He supported
it at times and even used it to extend his own glory, but at times he seemed
almost jealous of the respect the bhikkhus received from the people. He
realised that the bhikkhus were not respected out of fear, but were held
in genuine esteem and affection by his subjects. His jealousy became apparent
on different occasions.
At one time, he declared that from then on the bhikkhus were no longer
to be addressed by the traditional title "Hpoungyi" meaning "The One of
Great Merit." This form of address was to be reserved for the king. Then
again he tried to confiscate land and other goods given to the Sangha and
to pagodas by previous generations. When the Sangharajas could not answer
his questions to his satisfaction, he invited the Muslim clergy for a meal
to test their faith. He had heard that they were so strict in the observance
of their discipline that they would rather die than eat pork. Unfortunately
for them, they did not display great heroism as they all ate the pork offered
to them by the king. Bodawpaya is also reputed to have been beset by a
form of megalomania. He wanted to force the Sangha to confirm officially
that he was the Bodhisatta of the next Buddha to come in this world cycle,
the Buddha Metteyya. On this issue, however, the Sangha was not to be bent
even in the face of royal wrath. The bhikkhus refused, and the king was
finally forced to accept defeat. Another expression of his inflated self-esteem
was the Mingun Pagoda near Sagaing. It was to be by far the biggest temple
ever built. Scores of slaves and labourers worked on its construction until
funds were depleted. However, it was never completed and remains today
as a huge shapeless square of millions of bricks.
To his credit, King Bodawpaya imposed the morality of the Five Precepts
in his whole realm and had offenders executed immediately. Capital punishment
was prescribed for selling and drinking alcohol, killing larger animals
such as buffaloes, spreading heretical views, and the smoking of opium.
Bodawpaya ruled the country with an iron fist and brought offending lay
people as well as bhikkhus to heel. His successors were benevolent, but
possibly they could be so only because of the fear his rule had instilled
in the populace.
The Fate of Buddhism in Upper and Lower Myanmar
Bodawpaya's successor, Bagyidaw (1819-1837), was the first of the Myanmar
kings to lose territory to the white invaders coming from the West. The
Myanmar court was so out of touch with the modern world that it still believed
Myanmar to be the centre of the world and her army virtually invincible.
Hence the king was not unduly disturbed when the British raj, governing
the Indian sub-continent, declared war on the Kingdom of Ava in 1824 (Bagyidaw
had moved the capital back to Ava). It came to a battle near the coast
in which the Myanmar general Mahabandhula achieved little or nothing against
modern British arms. The Indian colonial government occupied all of the
Myanmar coast as far south as Tenasserim in 1826 and forced the treaty
of Yandabo on King Bagyidaw. In the treaty, he was forced to accept the
new borders established by the Indian government and pay compensation to
the invaders for the annexation of the coast of Lower Myanmar.
However, Bagyidaw made a very important contribution to the development
of the Sangha and to the literature of Myanmar in general. His predecessor,
Bodawpaya, had united the Sangha by resolving the dispute relating to the
draping of the robe over one or two shoulders. Bagyidaw saw the necessity
of creating stability for the Sangha. He felt that this could be achieved
to some extent by bestowing on it a sense of its own history. He commissioned
a work on the history of the religion starting from the time of the Buddha,
which was to show an unbroken succession of the pure tradition from teacher
to pupil. Its purpose was to praise the diligent theras and expose the
shameless ones.
This work, the Thathana-lin-ga-ya-kyan, was composed at the king's
request by the ex-bhikkhu Mahadhamma-thin-gyan, a leading member of the
committee appointed by King Bagyidaw to compile the famous Hman-nan-ya-za-win,
The Glass-palace Chronicle, a secular history of Myanmar. The Thathana-wun-tha
(Sasanavamsa) -lin-ga-ya-kyan was completed in 1831; and in 1897, it
was printed in the form of a modern book for the first time in Yangon.
Pannasami based his Sasanavamsa on this work. About forty percent
of the Sasanavamsa is straight translation from the original work,
about forty percent summaries and paraphrasing of the latter, and only
some twenty percent Pannasami's own work.[47] Pannasami
states in his introduction to the Sasanavamsa that his treatise
is based on the works of the ancients (porana). The concept of mental
property or copyright had not been born and there was no moral need to
refer the reader to sources except to give authority to a statement. The
only references that would lend authority to a treatise would be the scriptures,
their commentaries, and sub-commentaries, but not a work as recent as the
Thathana-wuntha-lin-ga-ya-kyan.
The preface to the original work in Myanmar explains the reason for
its compilation. The king's representative had many times pleaded with
the author to write a history of the succession of [righteous] religious
teachers so that the people would not become heretical. Apparently the
king felt that the lack of a work recording the history of the pure religion
in its entirety left scope for wrong views to arise. But with an authoritative
record of the lineage of teachers, bhikkhus could not call on views of
shameless bhikkhus of the past anymore in order to support their heresies.
This is exactly what had happened again and again through the centuries
and especially in the robe-draping dispute. The ekamsikas, the one-shoulder-drapers,
had repeatedly dug out obscure teachers in order to support their point
of view. This was to be made impossible once and for all.
Whether this has been successful is difficult to ascertain without a
detailed study of the developments in the Sangha since the publication
of this work. However, the fact that the original Myanmar chronicle was
revised and translated into Pali for the Fifth Buddhist Council indicates
that it was by this time considered a useful tool to put the king's authority
behind a well-defined orthodox lineage, thus making it easy to refute heresy
by referring to the historical teachers.
Tharrawaddy-Min
King Bagyidaw never overcame his shock over the loss of part of his realm.
He was declared insane and was removed from the throne by Tharawaddy-Min
(1837-1846), King Mindon's father.
In the reign of Tharrawaddy-Min, another mission from Sri Lanka visited
Myanmar and was received by the Sangharaja Neyyadhammabhivamsa. Neyyadhamma
instructed the two bhikkhus and the accompanying novice in the teachings
and conferred the bhikkhu ordination on the novice. He is known for his
critical emendation of the text of the Saddhammapajjotika and its
translation into Myanmar. He was also the teacher of the later Sangharaja
Pannasami, the compiler of the Sasanavamsa and one of the most influential
theras at the time of King Mindon. Neyyadhamma showed the need for a recension
of at least some of the Pali texts by editing the Saddhammapajjotika.
His disciple, Pannasami, was to preside over the recension of the entire
Tipitaka as Sangharaja under King Mindon.
Pagan-Min
Tharrawaddy-Min was himself deposed because of insanity by his son Pagan-Min
(1846-52), the brother of Mindon-Min. Pagan-Min appointed Pannajotabhidhaja
as his Sangharaja. In his tenure, scholarship received encouragement as
the Sangharaja himself wrote a commentary and its sub-commentary in Myanmar
on the Anguttara Nikaya. Other works of the time, all in the vernacular,
are a translation of the Saddhammavilasini and commentaries on the
Samyutta Nikaya and the Digha Nikaya. This is also the time when the author
of the Sasanavamsa appears. He started his scholarly career with
the translation into Myanmar of a commentary on the Saddatthabhedacinta.
His next work was a comparison of the existing versions of the Abhidhanappadipika
and the translation of his emended text.
In accord with the pre-eminence Myanmar had achieved in the Theravada
Buddhist world, the kings of the country became less fierce and wars were
fewer. The successors of Bodawpaya seem to have shown a genuine interest
in religion as well as in improving the administration of the country.
Upper Myanmar moved into a period of peace, which meant improved conditions
for the bhikkhus.
The first half of the nineteenth century saw the translation of many
Pali texts into the Myanmar language. Almost the whole of the Suttanta
was now available in the vernacular and many commentaries and sub-commentaries
on Suttanta, Abhidhamma, and the Vinaya were composed in it. This not only
made it easier for bhikkhus with limited linguistic skills to study the
texts, but also made them readily accessible to the laity. That people
in a peaceful country have more time for the study of religion is obvious
and soon Myanmar would see the first Buddhist texts printed on modern printing
presses. This made it possible for a great number of people to acquire
texts relatively cheaply without having to pay a scribe to copy them laboriously
onto palm leaves.
Politically Pagan-Min was no luckier than Bagyidaw, as he lost the provinces
of Pathein (Bassein) and Yangon (Rangoon) to the British, who were ever
ready to create some pretext for war. So, in 1852, the Kingdom of Ava lost
access to the sea and became increasingly dependent on the colonial power.
Like his father, Pagan-Min was overthrown in a palace revolt. Although
not a leader of the uprising, his brother Mindon was placed on the throne.
He did not execute the deposed king as was usually the case after a revolt,
but allowed him to end his days in dignity.
The Colonial Administration and the Sangha
The occupation by the British forces was of utmost significance for the
Sangha as the British administration did not grant the traditional protection
afforded it by a Buddhist ruler. In accordance with the colonial policy
established in India, that the colonial government should be strictly secular,
the new lords refused to take on the role of a Buddhist monarch and accept
responsibility for the enforcing of the bhikkhus' discipline. Without this,
Buddhism in Lower Myanmar soon suffered and offending bhikkhus went unpunished.
The colonial administration would recognise its mistake only much later,
when it was too late, and when they were not able to establish control
in the Sangha any longer.[48]
King Mindon
Even today King Mindon's reign (1852-1877) is surrounded by the mystique
of a golden era in the minds of the Myanmar people. No war occurred during
the twenty-five years of his tenure and the king himself is said to have
been of gentle disposition and adverse to violence. He even declared a
dislike for capital punishment which was customarily inflicted by sovereigns
for the slightest disobedience or even disagreement.[49]
He was not only held in esteem by his subjects, but even praised by a British
envoy. The colonisers' comments on the Myanmar and their kings were usually
dictated by a parochial narrow-mindedness and a simplistic view that was
only widened by contact with the conquered. Therefore General Fytche's
words describing King Mindon are all the more impressive: "Doubtless one
of the most enlightened monarchs that has ever sat on the Burmese throne.[50]
He is polished in his manner, has considerable knowledge of the affairs
of state and the history and the statistics of his own and other countries.
In personal character he is amiable and kind and, according to his light,
religious."[51]
King Mindon transferred the capital from Ava to Mandalay, the last royal
capital before the British annexation of the whole of Myanmar in 1886.
In the early years of his reign, Mindon strove to improve monastic discipline.
Although a system of official investigation of complaints relating to bhikkhus'
misdemeanours existed, each king had to take his own initiative in re-establishing
order in the Sangha.
Mindon found that the attitude of many members of the Sangha to their
code of conduct was exceedingly lax. He therefore wanted all bhikkhus of
his dominions to take a vow of obedience to the Vinaya rules in front of
a Buddha image. He consulted the Sangharaja who convened an assembly of
mahatheras, the Thudhamma Council. As opinions regarding the vow differed,
the primate's disciple, Pannasami, had to deliver a religious address in
support of the king's views. He reasoned that vows were also taken by the
bhikkhus at the time of ordination and that if the king sincerely desired
to improve the discipline in the Order, he should be supported. All agreed,
and the vow was prescribed.
The greatest challenge King Mindon had to face as a Buddhist monarch
was undoubtedly his duty to look after the spiritual welfare of his subjects
not only in his own dominions, but also in the parts of Myanmar occupied
by the British. Moreover, he and many of the leading sayadaws of his court
were increasingly aware that the British were only waiting for an occasion
to annex the whole of Myanmar. Mindon's army clearly would not be able
to stand up to the might of the Indian colonial government. Therefore,
it was not only important to support religious activities in the occupied
territories but it was also essential to prepare the religion for the time
when it would have to survive without the support of a Buddhist monarch.
The British had made it clear at the outset that they would not take
over the traditional role of the Myanmar kings, that of protector of the
Sasana. The new masters' religion, Christianity, rapidly gained influence
through the missionary schools. The schools were popular because their
education provided much assistance in securing a job and favour with the
colonisers. Christian religious education was a compulsory part of their
curriculum.
After the conquest of Lower Myanmar, many bhikkhus had fled north in
order to remain within the jurisdiction of the Myanmar kings. Many monasteries
in British Myanmar were left without an incumbent and whole villages were
therefore bereft of the opportunity to receive religious and general education.
King Mindon, aware of this situation, tried to convince bhikkhus to return
to Lower Myanmar in order to serve their people. The king's efforts proved
successful and many bhikkhus returned to their places of origin. But soon
it became clear that without the king's ecclesiastic officials to control
the discipline of the Sangha, many bhikkhus developed a careless attitude
towards their code of discipline.
The Okpo Sayadaw, from Okpo between Yangon and Pago, had stopped many
bhikkhus on their way to Upper Myanmar when the movements of bhikkhus out
of the conquered territories was at its peak around 1855. He assembled
the bhikkhus around himself teaching that the Sangha needed no protection
from the secular power if it observed the rules of the Vinaya strictly.
His monastery was the birth place of a movement of strict monastic discipline.
He also emphasised that mental volition was what really mattered in the
religion of the Buddha and that acts of worship done with an impure intention
were worthless. He obviously felt that much of the Buddhist practice had
become a ritual and that the essence had been lost. In addition to this,
however, his movement also challenged the authority of the king's Council
of Sayadaws, the leaders of the unified Thudhamma sect, when he declared
their ordination was invalid due to a technicality. As a result, he took
the higher ordination anew together with his followers.
The Okpo Sayadaw was not the only critic of the Thudhamma sayadaws.
In Upper Myanmar, the Ngettwin Sayadaw criticised many religious practices
and maintained that a radical reassesment of religious teachings was necessary.
The Ngettwin Sayadaw was also a source of inspiration for the Okpo Sayadaw
and other reformers. He had been the teacher of Mindon's chief queen and
had also advised the king on many occasions. Interestingly, he was a driving
force in a movement in Upper Myanmar that wanted to return to the fundamentals
of the religion, but more radically than the Okpo Sayadaw. The Ngettwin
Sayadaw, together with many other bhikkhus, left the royal city and went
to live in the forest near Sagaing. He started to preach that meditation
was essential for all bhikkhus and he required an aspirant to novicehood
to prove that he had practised meditation before he would ordain him. All
the bhikkhus around him had to spend a period of the day in meditation
and he emphasised that meditation was of much greater importance than learning.
He advised lay people to stop making offerings of flowers, fruits, and
candles to Buddha images, but to meditate regularly on the Uposatha days.
Of course, his instructions that offerings to Buddha images were fruitless
and merely dirtied the places of worship, caused considerable unhappiness
with the traditional Thudhamma Council and presumably with many ordinary
people. However, the Ngettwin Sayadaw never strove to form a different
sect by holding a separate ordination as did the Okpo Sayadaw. His reforms
were within the community and within a Buddhist society that was presided
over by a king. The Okpo Sayadaw had no place for royalty in his view of
the world and did not hesitate to confront the system that was still alive,
though obviously doomed.
Two other important sayadaws of King Mindon's reign deserve mention:
the Shwegyin Sayadaw and the Thingazar Sayadaw. The Shwegyin Sayadawalso
tried to reform the Sangha and his movement is still very much alive and
highly respected in Myanmar today. He had studied under the Okpo Sayadaw,
but when he returned to his native Shwegyin near Shwebo in Upper Myanmar,
he avoided controversy in never rebelling against the Thudhamma Council.
He introduced two new rules for his bhikkhus, that they must not chew betel
and consume tobacco after noon. He also maintained that the Sangha must
regulate itself without help from the authority, but he never doubted the
validity of the traditional ordination ceremony.
The Thingazar Sayadaw was one of the most popular of the great sayadaws
of his time. He was also part of the movement to return to the basics of
the teachings and greatly emphasised the importance of practice as opposed
to mere scholarship. Though he was greatly honoured by the king and made
a member of the Thudhamma Council, he preferred spending long periods in
solitude in the forest. In the numerous monasteries built for him by the
royal family and the nobility of the country, he insisted on the practice
of the purest of conduct in accordance with the Vinaya. However, he did
not involve himself in disputes with the extreme reformers or the Thudhamma
council. He became very popular through the humorous tales he told in sermons
preached in his frequent travels up and down the country.[52]
King Mindon had no easy task. One section of the Sangha was pressing
for far reaching reforms, yet it was the king's duty to maintain a certain
continuity of the traditional ways for the benefit of the people in general.
What complicated the situation was the fact that the Sangha of Lower Myanmar
felt more and more independent of the Buddhist monarch and his Thudhamma
council of senior mahatheras. This is illustrated graphically by the Okpo
Sayadaw's declaration that the Sangha needed no regulation by the worldly
power. This view gained popularity also in Upper Myanmar. Luckily, King
Mindon's devotion to Buddhism was genuine and he was not deterred by the
difficulties confronting him. He was determined not to allow the Sangha
to split into factions that were openly opposing each other. This he achieved
to some extent through careful diplomacy and through the calling of a great
Synod, a Sangayana, in the royal city of Mandalay.
The Sangayana, or Buddhist Council, is the most important function of
the Buddhist religion. The first Sangayana was held during the first Rains
Retreat after the Parinibbana of the Buddha; the texts to be regarded as
authentic were determined at this time. There had been three more Sangayanas
since, according to the Theravada tradition. The council convened by the
great Emperor Asoka, whose missionaries brought Buddhism to Myanmar, probably
provided the most inspiration for Mindon. The Fourth Council, the one prior
to Mindon's council, was held in Sri Lanka in the first century BC, at
the Aluvihara near Matale, for the purpose of writing down the Tipitaka,
which up to that time had been passed on orally.
King Mindon himself presided over the Fifth Buddhist Council, during
which all the canonical texts were recited and the correct form was established
from among any variant readings. The task took more than three years to
accomplish, from 1868 to 1871. When the bhikkhus had completed their great
project, the king had all of the Buddhist scriptures, the Tipitaka, engraved
on 729 marble slabs. The slabs were then housed each in a separate small
pagoda about three meters high with a roof to protect the inscriptions
from the elements. The small shrines were built around a central pagoda,
the Kutho-daw Pagoda, the Pagoda of the Noble Merit. To commemorate the
great council, King Mindon crowned the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon with
a new Hti or spire.
The Fifth Buddhist Council and the crowning of the Shwedagon Pagoda
reminded all the people of Myanmar of the importance of their religion,
as well as of the fact that the king and the Thudhamma Council of senior
monks were still the guardians of the Sasana. The authority of the Thudhamma
Council was greatly enhanced also in Lower Myanmar through the synod. Although
the British had not allowed King Mindon to attend the raising of the new
spire onto the Shwedagon, the crowning was a symbol of the religious unity
of Myanmar which persisted in spite of the British occupation. The religion
was also later to become the rallying point for the Myanmar nationalists
who fought for independence from the colonisers.
King Mindon's reign produced a number of scholarly works as well as
translations from the Pali. Neyyadhamma, the royal preceptor, himself wrote
a sub-commentary on the Majjhima Nikaya, which had been translated by one
of his disciples under his guidance. A commentary in Myanmar on the Pali
Jatakas was composed by Medhavivamsa and the compiler of the Sasanavamsa,
Pannasami, put his name to a great number of works. One of the queens of
King Mindon requested Pannasami to write the Silakatha and the Upayakatha.
His teacher asked him to compose the Voharatthabheda, Vivadavinicchaya,
Nagarajuppattikatha. He also wrote a commentary on Aggavamsa's Saddaniti.
Whether all these works were composed by Pannasami or whether they were
composed under his supervision and control is difficult to assess. It is
interesting to note that a majority of his works were composed in Pali,
which was no doubt an attempt to encourage bhikkhus not to forgo Pali scholarship
now that Myanmar translations were readily available. The calling of a
great Buddhist council to purify the scriptures was part of this movement
towards the revival of the study of the original texts.
During King Mindon's reign bhikkhus from Sri Lanka came to Mandalay
on several occasions to solve difficult questions of Vinaya and to receive
the bhikkhu ordination in Myanmar. After Mindon's death in 1877, his son
Thibaw ascended the throne. He was weak and of feeble intellect, and his
reign was short. In 1886, he lost his kingdom to the British empire and
was exiled to India.
With the complete annexation of Myanmar by the British, an historical
era came to an end. Theravada Buddhism developed in Myanmar over more than
two millennia. The visits of the Buddha were the first brief illuminations
in a country that was shrouded in darkness. The worship of the Buddha that
is thought to have resulted from these visits and from the arrival of the
hair relics, may have been merely part of a nature religion. The pure religion
could not endure for long in a country which was yet on the brink of civilisation.
Later, however, the teachings of the Buddha were brought repeatedly to
those lands by various people.
The visits of the Arahats sent out after Emperor Asoka's council are
historically more acceptable than the visits of the Buddha. Their teachings
were understood and perpetuated possibly in Indian settlements along the
coast and later in communities of people from central Asia such as the
Pyu. Through their contact with India, these cultural centres of the Pyu
and Mon could remain in contact with Buddhism. At first the important centres
of Theravada Buddhism were in northern India and later in South India and
then Sri Lanka. Through repeated contact with orthodox bhikkhus abroad,
the understanding of Buddhism grew ever stronger in the minds of the people
of Myanmar. The religion was distorted dozens of times through ignorance
and carelessness, but someone always appeared to correct the teachings
with the help of the mainstays of the Sasana abroad. Gradually the role
was reversed: instead of travelling abroad for advice, the bhikkhus of
Myanmar became the guardians of Theravada Buddhist teaching and their authority
was respected by all. Eventually, when Theravada Buddhism had long been
lost to India and its future was uncertain in Sri Lanka, it found a secure
home in Southeast Asia, especially in Myanmar.
Notes
1. The Mon are also called Talaing, but this term is considered
to be derogatory. It is thought to come form Telugu, a language of South
Indian origin whose script the Mon adopted. [Go
back]
2. G.E. Harvey, History of Burma (London
1925; reprint 1967) pp. 5, 6. [Go
back]
3. Translated by B.C. Law, The History of
the Buddha's Religion (London 1952), pp. 40 ff. [Go
back]
4. Bhikkhu is the term applied to a fully ordained
member of the Buddha's Order. [Go
back]
5. Identified as Okkalapa near Yangon. Some
believe it to be modern Orissa (Utkala) on the east coast of India. [Go
back]
6. Shway Yoe, The Burman (reprint: Scotland
1989), pp. 179f. [Go back]
7. Punnovada Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya I,267ff.;
Theragatha, v. 70, Theragatha Atthakatha I,156ff. [Go
back]
8. See entry 'Punna' in G.P. Malalasekera, A
Dictionary of Pali Proper Names (PTS 1937-38). [Go
back]
9. The Sasanavamsa says the Buddha stayed
for seven weeks and converted eighty-four thousand beings to the Dhamma. [Go
back]
10. Ashin Dhammacara, Kyaungdawya zedidaw
thamain (Yangon 1978), pp. 28, 29. [Go
back]
11. Harvey, History of Burma, p. 268. [Go
back]
12. The Mahavamsa (reprint: London:
PTS, 1980), p. 82. [Go back]
13. Kamboja, a country referred to by Emperor
Asoka in his inscriptions, is generally believed to be to the west of India.
It could, however, also be identical with the Cambodia of today, and it
is conceivable that two Kambojas existed. [Go
back]
14. Smith, Asoka's alleged mission to Pegu
(Indian Antiquary, xxxiv, 1905), pp. 185-86. [Go
back]
15. Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, I,
p. 32. [Go back]
16. Mentioned in several places in the Manorathapurani,
the commentary to the Anguttara Nikaya. [Go
back]
17. Cf. L.P. Briggs, Dvaravati, the most ancient
kingdom of Siam (JAOS, 65, 1945), p. 98. [Go
back]
18. Parker, Burma with special reference
to the relations with China (Rangoon 1893), p. 12. [Go
back]
19. For a detailed treatment of Mahayana Buddhism
in Pagan, see G.H. Luce, Old Burma Early Pagan (New York, 1969),
I, p. 184ff. [Go back]
20. Ibid, I, p. 14. [Go
back]
21. Cf. Maha-ummagga-jataka, No.546, The
Jatakas (reprint: PTS, 1973), p. 156. [Go
back]
22. Cf. Wickremasinghe, Epigraphica Zeylan.,
I, pp. 242-55. [Go back]
23. Culavamsa, ch.60, vv. 4-8. [Go
back]
24. Luce, Old Burma Early Pagan, I,
p. 79 [Go back]
25. Cf. D.K. Barua, Buddha Gaya Temple,
Its History (Buddha Gaya, 1981), pp. 59, 62, 63, 163, 176, 195, 244-247. [Go
back]
26. Cf. Than Tun, Essays on the History
and Buddhism of Burma (Arran, 1988), pp. 85ff. [Go
back]
27. Cf. Luce, Old Burma Early Pagan,
I, p. 74. [Go back]
28. Cf. Than Tun, op. cit. [Go
back]
29. The Myanmar word for Chinese to this day
is teyou or tarou which is derived from "Turk," for the Mongols
are ethnic Turks. [Go back]
30. G.E. Harvey, History of Burma, p.
70. [Go back]
31. History of the Buddha's Religion,
p. 74. [Go back]
32. Pali Literature of Burma (reprint:
London, 1966), p. 14 [Go back]
33. K.R. Norman, Pali Literature (Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz, 1983), p. 164. [Go
back]
34. Ven. A.P. Buddhadatta, in his Corrections
to Geiger's Mahavamsa and Other Papers, offers an argument that there
were in fact two Chapatas and that the one called Saddhammajotipala, who
wrote on the Abhidhamma, probably dates from the late fifteenth century.
The Sasanavamsa mentions a contemporary second Chapata who was a
shameless bhikkhu. [Go back]
35. Pitaka-thamain, p. 37. [Go
back]
36. See History of the Buddha's Religion,
p. 95 [Go back]
37. Ibid, pp. 102-104. [Go
back]
38. Kalyani inscription, Epigraphica Birmanica,
Vol. III#, Pt. 2, pp. 220-21. [Go
back]
39. Ibid, p. 249. [Go
back]
40. A bhikkhu who kills a human being, has
sexual relations, falsely claims to have attained superhuman achievements,
or steals automatically ceases to be a bhikkhu and therefore even a layman
can take his robes away. [Go back]
41. The forty-four Myanmar bhikkhus were ordained
in Sri Lanka in a water sima, a place of ordination floating on the water,
on the Kalyani river. The first ordination hall built by Dhammazedi near
Pegu was therefore called the Kalyani Sima and the Sinhalese ordination
the Kalyani ordination. Ibid, p. 249. [Go
back]
42. Niharranjan Ray, Theravada Buddhism
in Burma, p. 212. [Go back]
43. Sangharaja is a position created
by the king. The holder of the title is appointed by the monarch. It is
the highest position as far as influence at the court is concerned as the
king will consult the Sangharaja in most religious matters. The Sangharaja
was usually assisted in his duty by a body (similar to a cabinet) of other
senior bhikkhus also chosen by the monarch. [Go
back]
44. For more information on his work, see Bode,
Pali Literature of Burma, pp. 79-82. [Go
back]
45. Bhikkhus of differing linguistic background
used to communicate in Pali. Even today a visiting Thai bhikkhu will speak
with his Burmese brethren in the language of the scriptures. [Go
back]
46. The Ramannadesa is Lower Myanmar, the Mon
country. [Go back]
47. For a full discussion of the relation between
the Tha-tha-na-wun-tha-lin-ga-ya-kyan and Pannasami's Sasanavamsa,
see Victor B. Lieberman, A New Look at the Sasanavamsa (S.O.A.S
Bulletin, Vol. 39, 1976), Pt. 1, p. 137. [Go
back]
48. In the political struggle for independence
the bhikkhus of Myanmar played a significant role. Political activity is,
of course, not normally admissible for a bhikkhu. However, as the British
administration had failed to fulfil its duties towards Buddhism and the
religion was in decline, the bhikkhus felt they had to oppose the government
in order to save their culture. When the government suddenly wanted to
re-establish authority to keep the bhikkhus in their monasteries, their
effort lacked credibility and authority and was not heeded. The colonial
government had to resort to imprisoning bhikkhus in ordinary civilian prisons,
but it was too late to break the movement of civil disobedience of the
young activists, including the bhikkhus. [Go
back]
49. In times of peace kings would use a eulogistic
formula instead of giving the order for execution, like "I do not want
to see his face ever again." In times of war the orders were clearer. Sometimes
even bhikkhus were executed. Mahadhammarajadhipati (1733-52), for instance,
executed the Sangharaja and a Brahman because an important Buddha image
was stolen. See The Glass Palace Chronicles (Hmannan I, 376). [Go
back]
50. It was the considered policy of the Indian
colonial government to portray the Myanmar kings as cruel villains. It
annexed Upper Myanmar under the pretext of liberating a people who were
oppressed by an ineffective government, much in the fashion of the Soviets
liberating Eastern Europe and Afghanistan. After the annexation of Upper
Myanmar, British publications describing the excesses of King Thibaw's
court and the relief of the liberated people amounted to a propaganda campaign. [Go
back]
51. Fytche, A. Burma, Past and Present
(London, 1878). [Go back]
52. Cf. Maung Htin Aung, Burmese Monk's
Tales (New York & London, 1966). [Go
back]
1.[Go back]
Select Bibliography
Original Sources
Glass Palace Chronicle. Partly translated by U Pe Maung Tin and
G.H. Luce: Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma. Oxford
University Press 1923.
Cerre, P.H. and F. Thomas. Pagan, Chronique du Palais de Christal.
Editions Findakly. France 1987.
Sasanavamsa. Translated by B.C. Law: The History of the Buddha's
Religion. London 1952.
Recueil des Inscription du Siam. Part II. G. Coedes.
Mahavamsa. Translated by Wilhelm Geiger. London: PTS, 1912. Reprint
1980.
Culavamsa. Translated by Wilhelm Geiger. London: PTS, 1929. Reprint
1973.
Dipavamsa. Translated by Hermann Oldenberg. Reprint: New Delhi
1982.
Secondary Sources
Barua, Beni Madhab. Asoka and His Inscriptions. Reprint: Calcutta
1968.
Barua, D.K. Buddha Gaya Temple: Its History. Buddha Gaya 1981.
Bechert, Heinz. Buddhismus, Staat und Gesellschaft. 3 vols. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz, 1973.
Bode, Mabel Haynes. The Pali Literature of Burma. Reprint: London
1966.
Collis, Maurice. The Land of the Great Image. Reprint: Bristol
1946.
Eliot, (Sir) Charles N. E. Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch.
3 vols. London 1921. Reprint 1957. See especially Vol. III, "Buddhism Outside
India."
Edwardes, Michael. A Life of the Buddha. London 1959.
Fytche, A. Burma, Past and Present. 2 vols. London 1878.
Halliday, R.S. The Talaings. Rangoon 1917.
Law, Bimala Churn. A History of Pali Literature. 2 vols. Reprint:
Delhi 1983.
Luce, Gordon H. Old Burma, Early Pagan. 3 vols. New York 1969-70.
Maung Htin Aung. Burmese Monk's Tales. New York and London 1966.
Maung Htin Aung. The Stricken Peacock. The Hague 1965.
Niharranjan, Ray. Theravada Buddhism in Burma. University of
Calcutta 1946.
Norman, K.R. Pali Literature. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1983.
Phayre, A.P. History of Burma. London. 1883-84. Reprint 1967.
Than Tun. Essays on the History and Buddhism of Burma. Arran
1988.
Thomas, E.J. The Life of the Buddha As History and Legend. London
1949.
Shway Yoe (G. Scott). The Burman. Reprint: Scotland 1989.
Stargardt, Janice. The Ancient Pyu of Burma. Vol. I. Cambridge
1990.
Periodicals
Annual Report of the Archeological Survey of Burma.
Bulletin de l'êcole Française d' Extreme Orient.
Epigraphia Birmanica.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Journal of the Burma Research Society.
Journal of the Pali Text Society.
Journal of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University).
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