Abhidhaja Maha Rattha Guru

Abhidhajamahāraṭṭhaguru (Burmese: အဘိဓဇမဟာရဋ္ဌဂုရု, pronounced [ʔəbḭdəza̰ məhà ràʔtʰa̰ gṵrṵ], lit.'Most eminent great guru of the country') is an honorific Burmese Buddhist title conferred by the government of Myanmar, to the Buddhist monks who have contributed to the pariyatti field. The awardees are annually announced on the 4th January, the Independence Day of Myanmar.

The title is equivalent to the Rājaguru (ရာဇဂုရု) or Rājādhirājaguru (ရာဇာဓိရာဇဂုရု) titles which were offered by the Burmese kings to distinguished sayadaws, in the Konbaung period.[1]

Qualifications

edit

According to the section 6 (A) of the Provisions on the Religious Titles promulgated on 17 June 2015, a recipient must meet the following qualifications:[2]

  1. Possesses the Aggamahāpaṇḍita title
  2. Has at least 60 years (vassas) in the monkhood
  3. Has a good general knowledge
  4. Has written beneficial works to the Buddha's Sāsana
  5. Serves as a chief abbot of a monastic college
  6. Commands authority and has influence among Sangha disciples
  7. Has been respected by the public for his morals, attitude and wisdom

Recipients

edit

2022

edit
No. Recipient Monastery Location
1. Bhaddanta Siṭṭhilābhivaṃsa Minkyaung Monastery Loikaw, Kayah State
2. Bhaddanta Narāsabhābhivaṃsa Vejayantā Monastery Monyo, Bago Region
3. Bhaddanta Ñāṇidasāra Majjimāyon Pāramī Monastery Yesagyo, Magway Region
4. Bhaddanta Ñāṇavaṃsa Htay Monastery Myingyan, Mandalay Region
5. Bhaddanta Tikkha Taung Salin Taikthit Monastery Chanayethazan, Mandalay Region
6. Bhaddanta Tilokābhivaṃsa Ywama Monastery Insein, Yangon Region
7. Bhaddanta Jotālaṅkāra Dakkhiṇāyon Monastery Mayangon, Yangon Region
8. Bhaddanta Sumana Sek-yon Dhammayeiktha Monastery Kyonemange [my], Ayeyarwady Region
9. Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatanana[nb 1] Wat Ratchabophit Sathitmahasimaram Ratchaworawihan Bangkok, Thailand
10. Dodampahala Chandrasiri Maha Nayaka Thero Gothama Thapowanaya Sri Lanka

[3]

2021

edit
No. Recipient Monastery Location
1. Bhaddanta Sūriya Mahā Vijjāsippaṃ Monastery Monywa, Sagaing Region
2. Bhaddanta Javana Khamti Monastery Wuntho, Sagaing Region
3. Bhaddanta Gandamā Myoma Monastery Bago, Bago Region
4. Bhaddanta Vimalābhivaṃsa Aungmyaythaya Wunmingyi Monastery Yesagyo, Magway Region
5. Bhaddanta Indaka Nyaunggan Monastery Chanmyathazi, Mandalay Region
6. Bhaddanta Tilokābhivaṃsa Mahānandisenārāma Monastery Chanmyathazi, Mandalay Region
7. Bhaddanta Sujanābhivaṃsa Jayavatī Kyaung, Moegaung Monastery Chanayethazan, Mandalay Region
8. Bhaddanta Jotikābhivaṃsa Ratanābimān Kyaung, Chanthagyi Taung Taik Monastery Aungmyethazan, Mandalay Region
9. Dr Bhaddanta Veḷuriya Minkyaung Monastery Myittha, Mandalay Region
10. Dr Bhaddanta Paññāsāmi Aung Maṅgalā Monastery Mrauk U, Rakhine State
11. Bhaddanta Soma Maṇiratanā Monastery Sittwe, Rakhine State
12. Bhaddanta Vāseṭṭha Pheppin-aing Monastery Thingangyun, Yangon Region
13. Bhaddanta Gandhamālābhivaṃsa Aletawya Sanbya Monastery Bahan, Yangon Region
14. Dr Bhaddanta Aṅgisa Pāḷikārī Monastery Thaketa, Yangon Region
15. Bhaddanta Dhammasīri Naga Hnakaung Monastery Tachileik, Shan State
16. Bhaddanta Vissuta Nigrodhāyon Nyaungbintha Monastery Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region
17. Bhaddanta Ñāṇissara Kushinagar Myanmar Monastery India

[4]

2020

edit
No. Recipient Monastery Location
1. Bhaddanta Sumana Panngweyon Tawya Monastery Madauk, Bago Region
2. Bhaddanta Cintāsāra Saṅgārāma Monastery Magway, Magway Region
3. Bhaddanta Kelāsa Chaungdaung Monastery Myingyan, Mandalay Region
4. Bhaddanta Aggañāṇābhivṃsa Sishin Kyaung, Mahā Visuddhāyon Taikthit Monastery Maha Aungmye, Mandalay Region
5. Bhaddanta Jotipāla Myolaekyaung Monastery Thanbyuzayat, Mon State
6. Bhaddanta Kovidadhaja Kyaukkone Tawya Medinī Monastery Yankin, Yangon Region
7. Dr Bhaddanta Nandamālābhivaṃsa International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University Mayangon, Yangon Region

[5]

2019

edit
No. Recipient Monastery Location
1. Bhaddanta Kavindācāra Dhammālaṅkāra Hydropower Monastery Thazi, Mandalay Region
2. Bhaddanta Canda Dakkhiṇārāma Monastery Sittwe, Rakhine State
3. Bhaddanta Dhammānanda Sagaing Monastery Thingangyun, Yangon Region
4. Bhaddanta Siddhiya Puññanimmitārāma Shwe Thuwun Monastery Thingangyun, Yangon Region
5. Bhaddanta Sumaṅgalābhivṃsa Maithauk Pathama Monastery Nyaungshwe, Shan State
6. Bhaddanta Indavaṃsābhivaṃsa Shwe Hintha Tawya Monastery Nyaungdon, Ayeyarwady Region

[6]

Note

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Houtman, Gustaaf (1990). Traditions of Buddhist Practice in Burma. School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. pp. 277–278.
  2. ^ "Provisions on the Religious Titles". www.mlis.gov.mm. Myanmar Law Information System. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. ^ "သာသနာတော်ဆိုင်ရာ ဘွဲ့တံဆိပ်တော်များ ဆက်ကပ်လှူဒါန်း" [Religious titles have been offered]. The Mirror (in Burmese). 4 January 2022. p. 7 – via Online Burma/Myanmar Library.
  4. ^ "သာသနာတော်ဆိုင်ရာ ဘွဲ့တံဆိပ်တော်များ ဆက်ကပ်လှူဒါန်း" [Religious titles have been offered]. The Mirror (in Burmese). 4 January 2021. p. 4 – via Online Burma/Myanmar Library.
  5. ^ "သာသနာတော်ဆိုင်ရာ ဘွဲ့တံဆိပ်တော်များ ဆက်ကပ်လှူဒါန်း" [Religious titles have been offered]. Myanmar Alin (in Burmese). 4 January 2020. p. 5 – via Online Burma/Myanmar Library.
  6. ^ "သာသနာတော်ဆိုင်ရာ ဘွဲ့တံဆိပ်တော်များ ဆက်ကပ်လှူဒါန်း" [Religious titles have been offered]. The Mirror (in Burmese). 4 January 2019. p. 8 – via Online Burma/Myanmar Library.