1.
Burmese language
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The Burmese language is the official language of Myanmar. Although the Constitution of Myanmar officially recognizes the English name of the language as the Myanmar language, Burmese is a tonal, pitch-register, and syllable-timed language, largely monosyllabic and analytic, with a subject–object–verb word order. It is a member of the Lolo-Burmese grouping of the Sino-Tibetan language family, the Burmese alphabet is ultimately descended from a Brahmic script, either Kadamba or Pallava. Burmese belongs to the Southern Burmish branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Burmese is the most widely spoken of the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages. Burmese was the fifth of the Sino-Tibetan languages to develop a system, after Chinese characters, the Pyu script, the Tibetan alphabet. However, several dialects substantially differ in Burmese with respect to vocabulary, lexical particles, the standard dialect of Burmese comes from the Irrawaddy River valley. Regional differences between speakers from Upper Burma, called anya tha အညာသား, and speakers from Lower Burma, called auk tha အောက်သား, occur in vocabulary choice, minor pronunciation differences do exist within the Irrawaddy River valley. For instance, for the term ဆွမ်း food offering, Lower Burmese speakers use instead of, the standard dialect is represented by the Yangon dialect because of the modern citys media influence and economic clout. In the past, the Mandalay dialect represented standard Burmese, moreover, with regard to kinship terminology, Upper Burmese speakers differentiate the maternal and paternal sides of a family whereas Lower Burmese speakers do not. Spoken Burmese is remarkably uniform among Burmese speakers, particularly living in the Irrawaddy valley. The figure would have much higher if non-Bamars were excluded. For the whole country, the rate was 49% for men and 5. 5% for women. The migration of Burmese speakers of Bamar descent to Lower Burma is relatively recent, as late as the mid-1700s, the Austroasiatic language Mon was the principal language of Lower Burma and the Mon people who inhabited it. After the Burmese-speaking Konbaung Dynastys victory over the Mon-speaking Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom in 1757, by 1830, an estimated 90% of the population in the region identified themselves as Bamar due the influx from Upper Burma, assimilation, and intermarriage. In the British colonial era, British incentives, particularly geared toward rice production, as well as political instability in Upper Burma, more distinctive non-standard varieties emerge as one moves farther away from the Irrawaddy River valley toward peripheral areas of the country. These varieties include the Yaw, Palaw, Myeik, Tavoyan, despite substantial vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there is mutual intelligibility among most Burmese dialects. Dialects in Tanintharyi Region, including Palaw, Merguese and Tavoyan, are conservative in comparison to Standard Burmese. The Tavoyan and Intha dialects have preserved the /l/ medial, which is only found in Old Burmese inscriptions
2.
Buddhism in Myanmar
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Adherents are most likely found among the dominant Bamar people, Shan, Rakhine, Mon, Karen, Zo, and Chinese who are well integrated into Burmese society. Monks, collectively known as the sangha, are venerated members of Burmese society, with regard to the daily routines of Buddhists in Myanmar, there are two most popular practices, merit-making and vipassanā. The weizza path is the least popular, it is an esoteric form somewhat linked to Buddhist aspiration that involves the occult, merit-making is the most common path undertaken by Burmese Buddhists. This path involves the observance of the Five Precepts and accumulation of merit through charity. The vipassana path, which has gained ground since the early 1900s, is a form of insight meditation believed to lead to enlightenment. The weizza path, is a system of occult practices and believed to lead to life as a weizza. The history of Buddhism in Myanmar probably extends more than two thousand years, the Sāsana Vaṃsa, written by Pinyasami in 1834, summarises much of the history of Buddhism in Myanmar. According to the Mahavamsa, a Pali chronicle of fifth century Sri Lanka, Ashoka sent two bhikkhus, Sona and Uttara, to Suvarnabhumi around 228 BC with other monks and sacred texts, including books. An Andhra Ikshvaku inscription from about the 3rd century refers to the conversion of the Kiratas to Buddhism, early Chinese texts of about the same date speak of a Kingdom of Liu-Yang, where all people worshiped the Buddha and there were several thousand samaṇas. This kingdom has been identified with a region somewhere in central Burma, a series of epigraphic records in Pali, Sanskrit, Pyu and Mon datable to the 6th and 7th centuries, has been recovered from Central and Lower Burma. From the 11th to 13th centuries, the Bamar kings and queens of the Pagan Kingdom built countless stupas, the Ari Buddhism era included the worship of bodhisattvas and nāgas. Theravada Buddhism was implanted at Bagan for the first time as early as the 11th century by the Bamar king Anawrahta, in year 1057, Anawratha sent an army to conquer the Mon city of Thaton to obtain theTipiṭāka of the Pāli Canon. He was converted by a Mon bhikkhu, Shin Arahan, to Theravada Buddhism, Shin Arahans advice led to acquiring thirty sets of Pali scriptures from the Mon king Manuhal by force. Mon culture, from that point, came to be assimilated into the Bamar culture based in Bagan. Despite attempts at reform, certain features of Ari Buddhism and traditional nat worship continued, Burmese rule at Bagan continued until the first Mongol invasion of Burma in 1287. Towards the end of the 13th century, Buddhism declined due to the invading Tatars, in the 14th century, another lineage was imported from Sri Lanka to Ayutthaya, the capital of the Thai Ayutthaya Kingdom. A new ordination line, that of the Thai Forest Tradition, the Shan, meanwhile, established themselves as rulers throughout the region now known as Myanmar. Thihathu, a Shan king, established rule in Bagan by patronising and building many monasteries, the Mon kingdoms, often ruled by Shan chieftains, fostered Theravada Buddhism in the 14th century
3.
Vihara
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Vihara is the Sanskrit and Pali term for a Buddhist monastery. It originally meant a place in which to walk. The northern Indian state of Bihar derives its name from the word vihara, the word vihara has also been borrowed in Malay where it is spelled biara, and denotes a monastery or other non-Muslim place of worship. In Thailand and China, vihara has a meaning. It is called a Wihan in Thai, and a Vihear in Khmer, in Burmese, wihara, means monastery, but the native Burmese word kyaung is preferred. During the rainy season they stayed in temporary shelters and these dwellings were simple wooden constructions or thatched bamboo huts. However, as it was considered an act of not only to feed a monk but also to shelter him. They were located near settlements, close enough for begging alms from the population, trade-routes were therefore ideal locations for a vihara and donations from wealthy traders increased their economic strength. From the first century CE onwards viharas also developed into educational institutions, in the second century BCE a standard plan for a vihara was established. It could be structural, which was more common in the south of India. It consisted of a quadrangular court, flanked by small cells. The front wall was pierced by a door, the side facing it in later periods often incorporated a shrine for the image of the Buddha, the cells were fitted with rock-cut platforms for beds and pillows. The unwanted rock was excavated, leaving the cave structure. This basic layout was similar to that of the communal space of an ashrama ringed with huts in the early decades of Buddhism. As permanent monasteries became established, the name Vihara was kept, some Viharas became extremely important institutions, some of them evolving into major Buddhist Universities with thousands of students, such as Nalanda. Life in Viharas was codified early on and it is the object of a part of the Pali canon, the Vinaya Pitaka or basket of monastic discipline. Buddhist Vihara or monastery is an important form of institution associated with Buddhism and it may be defined as a residence for monks, a centre for religious work and meditation and a centre of Buddhist learning. Reference to five kinds of dwellings namely, Vihara, Addayoga, Pasada, Hammiya, of these only the Vihara and Guha have survived
4.
Bhikkhu
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A bhikkhu is an ordained male monastic in Buddhism. Male and female monastics (nun, bhikkhuni are members of the Buddhist community, the lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimokṣa or pātimokkha. Their lifestyles are shaped to support their practice, to live a simple and meditative life. A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni, bhikkhu literally means beggar or one who lives by alms. The historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, having abandoned a life of pleasure and status and those of his more serious students who abandoned their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopted this lifestyle. In the Dhammapada commentary of Buddhaghosa, a bhikkhu is defined as the person who sees danger and he therefore seeks ordination to obtain release from it. The Dhammapada states, He is not a monk just because he lives on others alms, not by adopting outward form does one become a true monk. Whoever here lives a life, transcending both merit and demerit, and walks with understanding in this world — he is truly called a monk. In English literature before the century, Buddhist monks were often referred to by the term bonze, particularly when describing monks from East Asia. This term is derived Portuguese and French from Japanese bonsō, meaning priest and it is rare in modern literature. Buddhist monks were also called talapoy or talapoin from French talapoin, itself from Portuguese talapão, ultimately from Mon tala pōi. Having no tie, which unites their interests with those of the people, they are ready, at all times, with spiritual arms, the talapoin is a monkey named after Buddhist monks just as the capuchin monkey is named after the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Theravada monasticism is organized around the guidelines found within a division of the Pāli Canon called the Vinaya Pitaka, Laypeople undergo ordination as a novitiate in a rite known as the going forth. Sāmaneras are subject to the Ten Precepts, from there full ordination may take place. Bhikkhus are subject to a longer set of rules known. In the Mahayana monasticism is part of the system of vows of individual liberation and these vows are taken by monks and nuns from the ordinary sangha, in order to develop personal ethical discipline. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the term sangha is, in principle, often understood to refer particularly to the aryasangha and these, however, need not be monks and nuns. The vows of individual liberation are taken in four steps, a lay person may take the five Upāsaka and Upāsikā vows
5.
Samanera
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A sāmaṇera, Sanskrit śrāmaṇera, is a novice male monastic in a Buddhist context. A female novitiate is a śrāmaṇerī or śrāmaṇerikā, the sāmaṇera is a Pali language diminutive of the Sanskrit term śrāmaṇa strenuous, which indicates an ascetic practitioner. Therefore, sāmaṇera might be said to mean small or young renunciate, in some South Asian Buddhist traditions, the term refers to someone who has taken the initial pravrajya vows but not the upasampada or full ordination. The prātimokṣa rules do not apply to them and they do not take part in the recital of the rules on uposatha days, the word śrāmaṇerī is the feminine form of śrāmaṇera. The account provided in the literature of South Asian Buddhism is that when Gautama Buddhas son Rāhula was seven years old, he followed the Buddha, the Buddha called Sariputta and asked him to ordain Rāhula, who became the first sāmaṇera. This rule was expanded to include the spouses of those intending to join the Order of monks, in the Vinaya used by many South Asian Buddhist sects, a man under the age of 20 cannot ordain as a bhikṣu but can ordain as a sāmaṇera. Sāmaṇeras keep the Ten Precepts as their code of behaviour and devote themselves to the life during breaks from secular schooling. In other cultures and Buddhist traditions, monks take different sets of vows, the Ten Precepts upheld by sāmaṇeras are, Refrain from killing living things. Refrain from taking food at inappropriate times, Refrain from singing, dancing, playing music or attending entertainment programs. Refrain from wearing perfume, cosmetics and garland, Refrain from sitting on high chairs and sleeping on luxurious, soft beds. Ordination differs between sāmaṇeras and srāmaṇerīs, after a year or at the age of 20, a sāmaṇera will be considered for the upasampada or higher ordination as a bhikṣu. Some monasteries will require people who want to ordain as a monk to be a novice for a set period of time, adults would normally wear the white robes of a Brahmin. A woman is to be ordained, according to the traditional vinayas, after a year or at the age of 20, she will be ordained as a full bhikṣuṇī. Bhikkhuni committee of the ASA includes a resource of articles regarding Bhikkhunis Monastic Resources - Training Female Monks In Buddhism. Vinaya Pitaka, brief description includes Order of ordination for men and women
6.
Sangha
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Sangha is a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning association, assembly, company or community and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the monastic community of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. These communities are referred to as the bhikkhu-sangha or bhikkhuni-sangha. As a separate category, those who have attained any of the four stages of enlightenment, according to the Theravada school, the term sangha does not refer to the community of sāvakas nor the community of Buddhists as a whole. In a glossary of Buddhist terms, Richard Robinson et al. define Sangha as, the two meanings overlap but are not necessarily identical. Some members of the ideal Sangha are not ordained, some monastics have yet to acquire the Dharma-eye, the Sangha is the third of the Three Jewels in Buddhism. Due to the temptations and vicissitudes of life in the world, monastic life is considered to provide the safest and most suitable environment for advancing toward enlightenment, in Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha each are described as having certain characteristics. These characteristics are chanted either on a daily basis and/or on Uposatha days, the Sangha also fulfils the function of preserving the Buddha’s original teachings and of providing spiritual support for the Buddhist lay-community. The Sangha has historically assumed responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the doctrine as well as the translation and propagation of the teachings of the Buddha. Between midday and the day, a strict life of scripture study, chanting, meditation. Transgression of rules carries penalties ranging from confession to permanent expulsion from the Sangha, saichō, the founder of the Japanese school of Tendai, decided to reduce the number of rules down to about 60 based on the Bodhisattva Precepts. The Order of Interbeing, established in 1964 and associated with the Plum Village movement, has fourteen precepts observed by all monastics and they were written by Thích Nhất Hạnh. In practice, they often have a few personal possessions. Traditionally, Buddhist monks, nuns, and novices eschew ordinary clothes, originally the robes were sewn together from rags and stained with earth or other available dyes. A Buddhist monk is a bhikkhu in Pali, Sanskrit bhikṣu while a nun is a bhikkhuni, Sanskrit bhikṣuṇī. An emphasis on working for food is attributed to additional training guidelines laid down by a Chan Buddhist master, Baizhang Huaihai, notably the phrase, the idea that all Buddhists, especially Sangha members, practice vegetarianism is a Western misperception. In the Pali Canon the Buddha rejected a suggestion by Devadatta to impose vegetarianism on the Sangha, according to the Pali Texts, the Buddha ate meat as long as the animal was not killed specifically for him. Consequently, the Theravada tradition does not practice vegetarianism, although an individual may do so as his or her personal choice. On this question Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions vary depending on their interpretation of their scriptures, in some Mahayana sutras, meat eating is strongly discouraged and it is stated that the Buddha did not eat meat
7.
Anawrahta
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Anawrahta Minsaw was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone of Upper Burma into the first Burmese Empire that formed the basis of modern-day Burma, historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his accession to the Pagan throne in 1044. Anawrahta unified the entire Irrawaddy valley for the first time in history and he successfully stopped the advance of Khmer Empire into Tenasserim coastline and into Upper Menam valley, making Pagan one of two main kingdoms in mainland Southeast Asia. A strict disciplinarian, Anawrahta implemented a series of key social, religious and his social and religious reforms later developed into the modern-day Burmese culture. He bequeathed a strong administrative system that all later Pagan kings followed until the fall in 1287. The success and longevity of Pagans dominance over the Irrawaddy valley laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, Anawrahtas legacy went far beyond the borders of modern Burma. He helped restart Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon, the Buddhist schools original home, the success of Pagan dynasty made Theravada Buddhisms later growth in Lan Na, Siam, Lan Xang, and Khmer Empire in the 13th and 14th centuries possible. Anawrahta is one of the most famous kings in Burmese history and his life stories are a staple of Burmese folklore and retold in popular literature and theater. Prior to Anawrahta, of all the early Pagan kings, only Nyaung-u Sawrahans reign can be verified independently by stone inscriptions, Anawrahta is the first historical king in that the events during his reign can be verified by stone inscriptions. However, Anawrahtas youth, like much of early Pagan history, is shrouded in legend. Anawrahta was born Min Saw to King Kunhsaw Kyaunghpyu and Queen Myauk Pyinthe on 11 May 1044, the Burmese chronicles do not agree on the dates regarding his life and reign. The table below lists the dates given by the four main chronicles, among the chronicles, scholarship usually accepts Zatas dates, which are considered to be the most accurate for the Pagan period. Scholarships dates for Anawrahtas birth, death and reign dates are closest to Zatas dates, in 1021, when Min Saw was about six years old, his father was deposed by his step-brothers Kyiso and Sokkate. His father had been a usurper of the Pagan throne, who overthrew King Nyaung-u Sawrahan two decades earlier, Kunhsaw then married three of Nyaung-us chief queens, two of whom were pregnant at the time, and subsequently gave birth to Kyiso and Sokkate. Kunhsaw had raised Sokkate and Kyiso as his own sons, after the putsch, Kyiso became king and Sokkate became heir-apparent. They forced their step-father to a monastery, where Kunhsaw would live as a monk for the remainder of his life. Min Saw grew up in the shadow of his two step-brothers, who viewed Min Saw as their youngest brother and allowed him to retain his status at the court. Min Saw and his mother attended Kunhsaw, and lived nearby the monastery, in 1038, Kyiso died, and was succeeded by Sokkate
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