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Theravāda is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha's teaching or dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia.
Pāli, also known as Pali-Magadhi, is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language on the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka as well as the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism. Pali is designated as a classical language by the Government of India.
The Mon are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and several areas in Thailand. The native language is Mon, which belongs to the Monic branch of the Austroasiatic language family and shares a common origin with the Nyah Kur language, which is spoken by the people of the same name that live in Northeastern Thailand. A number of languages in Mainland Southeast Asia are influenced by the Mon language, which is also in turn influenced by those languages.
Nikāya (निकाय) is a Pāli word meaning "volume". It is often used like the Sanskrit word āgama (आगम) to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit. It is most commonly used in reference to the Pali Buddhist texts of the Tripitaka namely those found in the Sutta Piṭaka. It is also used to refer to monastic lineages, where it is sometimes translated as a 'monastic fraternity'.
Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda tradition, the Chinese Buddhist Canon used in East Asian Buddhist tradition, and the Tibetan Buddhist Canon used in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by roughly 93.4 percent of the population. Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, with approximately 64 million Buddhists. Buddhism in Thailand has also become integrated with folk religion (Bon), Hinduism from millennia of Indian influence, and Chinese religions from the large Thai Chinese population. Buddhist temples in Thailand are characterized by tall golden stupas, and the Buddhist architecture of Thailand is similar to that in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia and Laos, with which Thailand shares cultural and historical heritages. Thai Buddhism also shares many similarities with Sri Lankan Buddhism. Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Laos are countries with Theravada Buddhist majorities.
The Bamar are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group native to Myanmar. With an estimated population of around 35 million people, they are the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, accounting for 68.78% of the country's total population. The geographic homeland of the Bamar is the Irrawaddy River basin. The Bamar speak the Burmese language which serves as the national language and lingua franca of Myanmar.
Buddhism, specifically Theravāda Buddhism, is the official and state religion of Myanmar since 1961, and practiced by nearly 90% of the population. It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and proportion of income spent on religion. Adherents are most likely found among the dominant Bamar people, Shan, Rakhine, Mon, Karen, and Chinese who are well integrated into Burmese society. Monks, collectively known as the sangha (community), are venerated members of Burmese society. Among many ethnic groups in Myanmar, including the Bamar and Shan, Theravada Buddhism is practiced in conjunction with the worship of nats, which are spirits who can intercede in worldly affairs.
Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali is the traditional language. The earliest and most important Pali literature constitutes the Pāli Canon, the authoritative scriptures of Theravada school.
A kyaung is a monastery (vihara), comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Buddhist monks. Burmese kyaungs are sometimes also occupied by novice monks (samanera), lay attendants (kappiya), nuns (thilashin), and white-robed acolytes.
Tai Tham script is an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün and Lao; as well as the liturgical languages of Buddhism i.e., Pali and Sanskrit. It is historically known as Tua Tham. In Thailand and Myanmar, the script is often referred to as Lanna script in relation to the historical kingdom of Lan Na situating in the Northern region of modern day Thailand and a part of Shan state in Myanmar. Local people in Northern Thailand also call the script as Tua Mueang in parallel to Kam Mueang, a local name for Northern Thai language. In Laos and Isan region of Thailand, a variation of Tai Tham script, often dubbed Lao Tham, is also known by the locals as To Tham Lao or Yuan script. Tai Tham script is traditionally written on a dried palm leaf as a palm-leaf manuscript.
Wareru was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic and military skills, he successfully carved out a Mon-speaking polity in Lower Burma, during the collapse of the Pagan Empire in the 1280s. Wareru was assassinated in 1307 but his line ruled the kingdom until its fall in the mid-16th century.
The Mon–Burmese script is an abugida that derives from the Pallava Grantha script of southern India and later of Southeast Asia. It is the basis of the alphabets used for modern Burmese, Mon, Shan, Rakhine, Jingpho and Karen.
The royal chronicles of Myanmar are detailed and continuous chronicles of the monarchy of Myanmar (Burma). The chronicles were written on different media such as parabaik paper, palm leaf, and stone; they were composed in different literary styles such as prose, verse, and chronograms. Palm-leaf manuscripts written in prose are those that are commonly referred to as the chronicles. Other royal records include administrative treatises and precedents, legal treatises and precedents, and censuses.
Southern Esoteric Buddhism and Borān kammaṭṭhāna are terms used to refer to certain esoteric practices, views and texts within Theravada Buddhism. It is sometimes referred to as Esoteric Theravada or Tantric Theravada due to its parallel with tantric traditions ; or as Traditional Theravada Meditation.
The First Toungoo Empire was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the 16th century. At its peak, Toungoo "exercised suzerainty from Manipur to the Cambodian marches and from the borders of Arakan to Yunnan" and was "probably the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia." The "most adventurous and militarily successful" dynasty in Burmese history was also the "shortest-lived."
Buddhist kingship refers to the beliefs and practices with regard to kings and queens in traditional Buddhist societies, as informed by Buddhist teachings. This is expressed and developed in Pāli and Sanskrit literature, early, later, as well as vernacular, and evidenced in epigraphic findings. Forms of kingship that could be described as Buddhist kingship existed at least from the time of Emperor Aśoka the Great and Kanishka. Important concepts that were used with regard to Buddhist kingship are merit, pāramī, 'person of merit' 'wheel-turning monarch', and Bodhisatta. Many of these beliefs and practices continue to inspire and inform current kingship in contemporary Buddhist countries. Since the 2000s, studies have also began to focus on the role of Buddhist queens in Asian history.
The Wareru Dhammathat is one of the oldest extant dhammathats of Myanmar (Burma). It was compiled in the 1290s in Mon at the behest of King Wareru of Martaban. Modeled after the Hindu legal treatise Manusmriti, the Code expounds mostly Pagan era Burmese customary law; it contains less than 5% of the content of the Manusmriti.
The Paññāsa Jātaka is a non-canonical collection of 50 stories of the Buddha's past lives, originating in mainland Southeast Asia. The stories were based on the style of the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā, but are not from the Pāli Canon itself. The stories outline the Buddha's biography and illustrate his acquisition of the perfections (pāramitā), with a strong focus on generosity (dāna).
The history of Theravāda Buddhism begins in ancient India, where it was one of the early Buddhist schools which arose after the first schism of the Buddhist monastic community. After establishing itself in the Sri Lankan Anuradhapura Kingdom, Theravāda spread throughout mainland Southeast Asia through the efforts of missionary monks and Southeast Asian kings.
References
- ↑ Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.
- ↑ Myint, Htun. "Challenges Facing "State" Building in Burma: Law and Legal Dimension" (PDF). Indiana University.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - 1 2 3 Thuzar Ko (2019-11-18). "Myanmar's Kingship and Judicial System in Konbaung Period". Dagon University Research Journal. 5 (2013): 27–30. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3545254.
- Huxley, Andrew (1997). "The Importance of the Dhammathats in Burmese Law and Culture". The Journal of Burma Studies. 1: 1–17. doi:10.1353/jbs.1997.0008. S2CID 71177991.
- Andrew Huxley. "How Buddhist is Theravāda Buddhist Law?" The Buddhist Forum, Volume 1: Seminar Papers 1987-1988. New Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1990.
- Mya Sein. Mranʻ mā dha leʹ thuṃʺ tamʻʺ upade. Mandalay, 1970.
- Than Tun. Khetʻ hoṅʻʺ rājavaṅʻ. Rangoon, 1961.
- Lammerts, Dietrich Christian. 2010. Buddhism and written law dhammasattha manuscripts and texts in premodern Burma. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cornell University, May 2010.
- Lingat, Robert. Les régimes matrimoniaux du sud-est de l’Asie; essai de droit comparé indochinois. 2 vols. Paris, 1952–55.
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