Buddhist Devotional Practices of Myanmar(Part Two)

Pagoda Festivals: Buddhist holidays 

Thingyan usually falls in mid-April and tops the list of public holidays in (Myanmar) Burma. The full moon in May (Kason) is however the most sacred of all as the Buddha was born, became the Enlightened One, and entered Parinirvana (died) on the same day, celebrated by watering the Bodhi tree. Myanmar Buddhist people hold several festivals every year. There is a major festival in every month of the year. The various and famous pagoda festivals and other regional ones are held all over the country. Thus, our country is a veritable land of festivals as well as the land of pagodas.

Pagoda festivals (ဘုရားပြဲ- Paya pwè) held throughout the country also usually fall on full moon days and most of them will be on the full moon of Tabaung (February/March) including the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon. In Mandalay upper Myanmar, A major annual festival known as the 'Mahamuni Paya pwe' ('pwe' means: "festival") is held in early February, at the end of the Buddhist Lent to celebrate the history of the pagoda. During this festival, aside from the daily rituals, the Patthana from a "Book of Conditional Relations" is recited. This book is a philosophical text which Buddha recounted to his mother in a sermon in Tavatimsa heaven and is a sacred scripture in the Pali language. The Pattana recitation is a special feature, which continues for several days. Monks recite from the scriptures, in groups of two or three. The festivities also include various forms of entertainment programmes such as dance, music, theatre etc., and there is also a social event, allowing families and friends gather to greet each other. Given that large crowds of pilgrims are attracted during the festival season, guards are posted near the Great Image and video cameras are placed in many parts of the temple precincts to protect it. They attract not only crowds of pilgrims from near and far, often in caravans of bullock carts, but they also double as great market fairs where both local and itinerant traders set up their stalls and shops among food stalls, restaurants, and free open-air stage performances as well as theatre halls.

Buddhist lent in Myanmar

The three monsoon months from mid-July to mid-October coincide with the Buddhist Lent or Wa-dwin (ဝါတြင္း), a time when people are busy tilling their land and planting the paddy fields, and monks will not travel but stay at their monasteries (ဝါကပ္Wa-kup or the rains retreat). Waso robes are offered at the beginning of lent, the end of which is marked by the Thadingyut Light Festival. The harvest is now in and robes (သၾကၤန္ thingan) are again offered at the Kathina Festival usually held during October and November. Uposatha or sabbath days are observed keeping the Eight Precepts by most during Thingyan and Lent, and by devout Buddhists all the year round.

Parents and elders also receive obeisance from younger members of the family at the beginning as well as the end of lent, after the tradition established by the Buddha himself. It was during lent that he ascended to the Tavatimsa Heaven in order to preach a sermon, as an act of gratitude, to his mother who had become a celestial being, and he was welcomed back to earth with a great festival of lights. Teachers receive the same obeisance, a tradition started by National Schools founded in defiance of the colonial administration and continued after independence by state schools.

Wedding ceremonies - nothing to do with religion and not conducted by the Sangha - are not held during the three months of lent (Buddhist rain-retreatment-Vassavasa), a custom which has resulted in a spate of weddings after Thadingyut or Wa-kyut, awaited impatiently by couples wanting to tie the knot.

Thingyan Festival know as Myanmar Happy New Year

The most famous and joyous festival participated by the whole people of the country is Myanmar New Year Festival or Thingyan Water Festival. It usually falls on 13 and lasts for three or four days in April. The main feature of the festival is water throwing or pouring water to each other. As a rule, people take no offence when they are doused knowing that water-throwing is deep rooted custom. Myanmar people believe that water-throwing to each other is done as a symbol of washing away the impurities or sins of the old year. Water-throwing relieves the intense heat of April which is the hottest month of the year. Thingyan is not only a time for fun but a season of goodwill and good deeds. It is the time for washing the images of the Buddha in the family shrine room with scented water. Many elderly people spend the days of the festival observing Sabbath, listening to sermons, meditating and telling beads at pagodas and monasteries. The last day of Thingyan, April 17, Buddhist monks recited Parittas and Kammavaca in the whole country. Satae Sangha Maha Nayaka also chants Parittas and pours the Parittas water on the land of country from the sky with airplane with the help of Government of Myanmar in order to be free from dangers and protect them in our country. All the tourists feel that Thingyan is one of the Myanmar identities.

Shinbyu (Pwe) festival in Myanmar 

Every Myanmar Lay Buddhists want their sons to become Samanera(novice) in to the Buddhist Order. Traditional monks start as novices while still in their childhood, between 7 and 14 years of age. They might stay in the monastery since their initiation ceremony (Shin byu). This ceremony is compulsory for all Buddhist boys, usually from the age of 7 to 12 years. However, it often depends on the financial situation of the family whether the ceremony takes place, since the performance involves serious expenses. The family has to cover the costs of a set of robes and other requisites, donations to the monastery as well as food for the invited guests. The ceremony symbolically reflects the renouncement of the material world by the Buddha, who abandoned his comfortable life of a prince and became a homeless mendicant. So does a boy, wearing the costume of a prince, who is carried to the monastery on a white horse or on a lit-ter. There he has his head shaved; he puts on the robe and is instructed by the senior teacher. He stays in the monastery for at least a week, during which he is taught the basic principles of Buddhism. This performance is the most important stage in a boy’s life, because only then he formally becomes a part of the Buddhist community and society. He, as it is stressed, becomes “a human being”

The monks brought up in the monastery enjoy generally a higher degree of respect than the ones who become a monk at an older age, as they are considered to be “pure”: they neither had any sexual experience, nor experienced the burden of family life. But this might also depend on personal qualities, skills and motivations of a person who joins the order.

Some of the monks, according to their own interests and inclination, may also undertake some kind of specialisation. Those interested in studies and propagation of Buddha’s teachings, can undertake studies up to the academic level. They later become abbots or teachers in monastic schools, the so-called Phongyi Kyaung; they may also perform some missionary tasks in distant regions of the country. Those interested in any particular school of meditation can be trained as meditation teachers and serve the community in meditation centres.

Monks who do not pursue higher degrees of studies usually stay in a monastery and serve the community with religious, daily life services or those related to Buddhist festivals. In fact, any important enterprise in the lifespan of a lay devotee should be accompanied by religious rites such as, for instance, recitation of prayers and offerings to the monastery. Monks living in a village serve also as teachers and counsellors for their followers, not only concerning religious matters but also as part of a monk’s engagement in other village activities.

It is fairly easy to become a monk in Burma and the way to liberation is open to all. One can become a monk at any age, regardless of life circumstances. That is why generalisations concerning the Sangha should be avoided.

A person can become a “a temporary monk”, coming to the monastery for a limited period of time to regain clarity of mind, which is strongly advised and appreciated by the society, as the monastery is a refuge from daily turmoil and meditation is the highest remedy for the people of Myanmar. It is common that the head of the family stays in the monastery for some time and the rest of the family supports him with food. It is also believed that meditation and temporary seclusion are auspicious for future undertakings, because it helps one attain the highest merit. It is common that the whole department of an administration unit joins a monastery for a few weeks, in order to work better.

Although the Vinaya rules strictly prohibit any additional occupation in the areas of medicine, magic, alchemy, fortune telling, choosing lucky lottery numbers, exorcism etc., these additional activities are quite common for a monk and they are not really despised by the majority of lay supporters. On the contrary: if a monk is successful, he can become quite popular and rich. But whatever is outside of the realm of formality and religious dogma often happens to be the most expressive aspect of human nature and represents the true needs of religious followers. However, this kind of performance may not be accepted or ignored by educated monks.

The easy access to the monastic life, in consequence, makes the monastery a place open to all sort of bogus monks, people who avoid responsibility or hardship and who just want to enjoy the privileges of monkhood. Unless they do not commit any serious offence, they will not be driven away from the order. One can also often hear about infiltration of monasteries by intelligence officers ordained as monks.  

It is the most important duty of all Burmese (Myanmar) Buddhist parents to make sure their sons are admitted to the Buddhist Sangha by performing a shinbyu ceremony once they have reached the age of seven or older. A symbolic procession and ceremony of exchanging princely attire with that of an ascetic follows the example of the historical Buddha. He was born a royal prince called Siddartha Gautama, but left his palace on horse-back followed by his groom Chanda in search of the Four Noble Truths and to attain Nirvana, after he found out that life is made up of suffering (dukkha) and the notion of self is merely an illusion (anatta or non-self) when one day he saw the 'Four Great Signs' (nat min gyi lay par)the old, the sick, the dead, and the ascetic - in the royal gardens.

All Buddhists are required to keep the basic Five Precepts (ငါးပါးသီလ), and novices are expected to keep the Ten Precepts (ဆယ္္္္္္ပါးသီလ). Parent would expect them to stay at the monastery immersed in the teachings of the Buddha as members of the Sangha for a few weeks or longer, at least for the duration of Thingyan. They will have another opportunity to join the Sangha at the age of 20, taking the Upasampada ordination, to become a fully fledged monk, keeping the 220 precepts of the full monastic rules (Patimokkha), and perhaps remain a monk for life.

The minimum age for ordaining as a Buddhist monk is 20 years, reckoned from conception. However, boys under that age are allowed to ordain as novices (samanera), performing a ceremony such as Shinbyu in Burma. Novices shave their heads, wear the yellow robes, and observe ten basic precepts. Although no specific minimum age for novices is mentioned in the scriptures, traditionally boys as young as seven are accepted. This tradition follows the story of the Lord Buddha’s son, Rahula, who was allowed to become a novice at the age of seven. Monks follow 227 rules of discipline, while nuns follow 311 rules. 

In most Theravada countries, it is a common practice for young men to ordain as monks for a fixed period of time. In Thailand and Burma, young men typically ordain for the 3 month Rain Retreat (vassa), especially in Myanmar during the Thingyan festival (Myanmar happy New Year in short period ordination) though shorter or longer periods of ordination are not rare. Traditionally, temporary ordination was even more flexible among Laotians. Ordaining as a monk, even for a short period, is seen as having many virtues. In many Southeast Asian cultures, it is seen as a means for a young man to "repay" his parents for their work and effort in raising him, because the merit from his ordination accrues to them as well. Particularly in rural areas, temporary ordination of boys and young men traditionally gave peasant boys an opportunity to gain an education in temple schools without committing to a permanent monastic life. The recommendation is usually that to be able to live fully as a monk or nun you should move to a monastery in a country with a culture that embraces Theravada Buddhism.

Buddhist education in Myanmar  

Myanmar also send their children to the monastery to receive a Buddhist education, learning the Pali Canon, the life story of Gautama Buddha (ဗုဒၶဝင္-Buddhawin), the 550 Jataka tales (ငါးရာ့ငါးဆယ္ နိပါတ္ေတာ္Nga-ya nga-ze nipattaw) - most importantly the Ten Great Incarnations (ဇတ္ေတာ္ၾကီးဆယ္ဖြဲ႔-Zatkyi sebwè), and the 38 Buddhist Beatitudes (သံုးဆယ့္ရွစ္ျဖာ မဂၤလာ-Thonzeshi hpya mingala) as soon as they have a good grounding of the three Rs. Monks were the traditional teachers of the young and old alike until secular and missionary schools came into being during the British colonial administration. The Burmese word kyaung( စာသင္ေက်ာင္း)for school is derived from Hpongyi kyaung (ဘုန္းၾကီးေက်ာင္း -monastery). Myanmar Buddhist monasteries are the centre of Buddhist Education in Myanmar. Actually, the field of education is very wide in all aspects.  However, I would like to touch on the subject highlighting our aim of Buddhist education in our country. Practical efficiency certainly has its place in Buddhist education, for Buddhism propounds a middle path which recognizes that our loftiest spiritual aspirations depend on a healthy body and a materially secure society. But for Buddhism the practical side of education must be integrated; with other requirements designed to bring the potentialities of human nature to maturity in the way envisioned by the Buddha. Above all, an educational policy guided by Buddhist principles must aim to instill values as much as to impart information. It must be directed, not merely toward developing social and commercial skills, but toward nurturing in the students the seeds of spiritual nobility. 

The prime responsibility for imparting the principles of the Dhamma to the students naturally falls upon the Dhamma schools or Buddhist educational Temples. Buddhist education in the Dhamma schools or Buddhist Temples should be concerned above all with the transformation of character. Since a person's character is molded by values, and values are conveyed by inspiring ideals, the first task to be faced by Buddhist educators is to determine the ideals of their educational system. If we turn to the Buddha's discourses in search of the ideals proper to a Buddhist life, we find five qualities that the Buddha often held up as the hallmarks of the model disciple, whether monk or layperson. These five qualities are faith or confidence (Saddhā), virtue (Sīla), generosity (Cāga), learning (Suta), and wisdom (Paññā).

The entire system of Buddhist education must be rooted in faith or confidence (saddhā) — faith in the Triple Gem, and above all in the Buddha as the Fully Enlightened One, the peerless teacher and supreme guide to right living and right understanding. Based on this faith, the students must be inspired to become accomplished in virtue (sīla) by following the moral guidelines mentioned or spelled out by the Five Precepts which are built on the vast conception of universal love and compassion for all living beings, on which the Buddha’s teaching, is based. They must come to know the precepts well, to understand the reasons for observing them, and to know how to apply them in the difficult circumstances of human life today. Most importantly, they should come to appreciate the positive virtues these precepts represent: kindness, honesty, purity, truthfulness, and mental sobriety. They must also acquire the spirit of generosity and self-sacrifice (cāga), so essential for overcoming selfishness, greed, and the narrow focus on self-advancement that dominates in present-day society. To strive to fulfill the ideal of generosity is to develop compassion and renunciation, qualities which sustained the Buddha throughout his entire career. It is to learn that cooperation is greater than competition, that self-sacrifice is more fulfilling than self-aggrandizement, and that our true welfare is to be achieved through harmony and good will rather than by exploiting and dominating others. 

The fourth and fifth virtues work closely together. By learning (suta) what is meant is a wide knowledge of the Buddhist texts which is to be acquired by extensive reading and persistent study. But mere learning is not sufficient. Knowledge only fulfills its proper purpose when it serves as a springboard for wisdom (paññā), direct personal insight into the truth of the Dhamma. Of course, the higher wisdom that consummates the Noble Eightfold Path does not lie within the domain of the Dhamma School or Buddhist Educational Centre. This wisdom must be generated by methodical mental training in calm and insight (Samatha and Vipassanā): the two wings of Buddhist meditation. But Buddhist education can go far in laying the foundation for this wisdom by clarifying the principles that are to be penetrated by insight. In this task learning and wisdom are closely interwoven, the former providing a basis for the latter. Wisdom arises by systematically working the ideas and principles learned through study into the fabric of the mind, which requires deep reflection, intelligent discussion, and keen investigation.

Wisdom is the intellectual ability to reason, investigate and collect information and critique. It is the ability to design, estimate, construct and run the project, evaluate the results and make corrections when it is ineffective. It is very interesting and important to note that thoughts of selfless detachment, love and non-violence, are grouped on the side of wisdom. This clearly shows that true wisdom is endowed with these noble qualities, and that all thought of selfish desire, ill-will, hatred and violence are the result of lack of wisdom – in all spheres of life, whether individual, social or political. Right Understanding (Sammā diṭṭhi) is very important in the Buddhist education. It is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the Four Noble Truths that explain things as they really are. Right Understanding therefore is ultimately reduced to the Understanding of the Four Noble Truths. This understanding is the highest wisdom which sees the Ultimate Reality. 

According to Buddhist education, there are three sorts of understanding: learning, acquiring or acquisition of knowledge by listening to something or somebody (Sutamayañāṇa), what we generally call understanding is knowledge, an accumulated memory, an intellectual grasping of a subject according to certain given data (Cintāmaya-ñāṇa) which is included in thoughts of ideas. This is called ‘knowing accordingly’ (Anubhodha). It is not very deep. Real deep understanding is called ‘penetration’ (Paṭivedha-ñāṇa), or insight knowledge (Bhāvanāmaya-ñāṇa), seeing a thing in its true nature, without name and label. This penetration is possible only when the mind is free from all impurities and is fully developed through meditation. That is why the Buddha says that Wisdom is the most excellent gem of the mankind in the world (Paññā narānaṃ ratanaṃ). Actually it is quality of mind. It is wisdom that the Buddha held up as the direct instrument of final liberation, as the key for opening the doors to the Deathless (Amata-dvāra), and also as the infallible guide to success in meeting life's mundane challenges. Thus wisdom is the crown and pinnacle of the entire system of Buddhist education, and all the preliminary steps in a Buddhist educational system should be geared toward the flowering of this supreme virtue. It is with this step that education reaches completion, that it becomes illumination in the truest and deepest sense, as exclaimed by the Buddha on the night of his Awakening: "There arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and light." 

By Ashin Sutacaralankara