The Fifth Buddhist Council (Burmese: ပဉ္စမသင်္ဂါယနာ; Pali: Pañcamasaṃgāyanā) took place in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) in 1871 CE under the auspices of King Mindon of Burma (Myanmar). The chief objective of this meeting was to recite all the teachings of the Gautama Buddha according to the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism and examine them in minute detail to see if any of them had been altered, distorted or dropped. It was presided over by three elder bhikkhus, Mahathera Jagarabhivamsa, Narindabhidhaja, and Mahathera Sumangalasami in the company of 2400 monks. Their joint Dhamma recitation lasted five months.
The Fifth Buddhist council was a Burmese affair, and most other Buddhist countries were not involved in it. It is not generally recognized outside Burma.[1] It has been argued that, since the Theravadin multinational Sixth Buddhist council received the name of "Sixth Buddhist council", this involved implicitly recognizing the fifth, even though most other nations were not involved in the fifth council, and the results of the fifth council were limited to the Burmese edition of the Pali Canon only. However, there were a number of other councils held in Ceylon and Siam between the fourth and sixth, so the total can be made up in other ways.[2]
(1) After 2,415 religious years, between the fourth and fifth time, it lasted about 2,000 years, so it was placed on the leaves because of the weather and the risk of insects, it could not last long, and the variations occurred.
(2) Religious year = (2415) years
(3) Location = Yadana Pone Nay Pyaytaw ( Mandalay, Myanmar )
(4) Leader = Lord Zagaramathera
(5) Number of monks = ordinary monks (2400)
(6) King =Mindon
(7) duration = oral recitation (5) months (3) days
On the 7th year (6th) month (14th day) of Kyauk Chettin - 2415 years of the religious year, the 3 pictures of the Pita card placed on the pe leaves were damaged due to the weather and the danger of insects and some variations occurred. (3) Together, they held a synod at the Yadana Pinayi Temple in Mandalay.
- After the oral recitation lasted for (5) months and (3) days, the scriptures were engraved on the marble slabs so that they would not be destroyed for as long as the world existed, and a total of (729) white marble slabs were obtained . It was very prominent as a proud landmark of Myanmar.
In 1871, King Mindon was responsible for the construction in Mandalay of the world's largest book, consisting of 729 large marble tablets with the Tipitaka Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism inscribed on them in gold. One more was added to record how it all came about, making it 730 stone inscriptions in total. Stone tablets inscribed with the Tripiṭaka (and other Buddhist texts) stand upright in the grounds of the Kuthodaw Pagoda (kuthodaw means 'royal merit') at the foot of Mandalay Hill in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The work was commissioned by King Mindon as part of his transformation of Mandalay into a royal capital. It was completed in 1878. The text contains the Buddhist canon in the Burmese language.
There are 730 tablets and 1,460 pages. Each page is 1.07 metres (3+1⁄2 ft) wide, 1.53 metres (5 ft) tall and 13 centimetres (5+1⁄8 in) thick. Each stone tablet has its own roof and precious gem on top in a small cave-like structure of Sinhalese relic casket type called kyauksa gu (stone inscription cave in Burmese), and they are arranged around a central golden pagoda.