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Dhammānudhamma Mahādvāra Nikāya Gaing (Burmese:ဓမ္မာနုဓမ္မမဟာဒွါရနိကာယဂိုဏ်း, also known asMahā Dwāya Gaing orMahādvāra Nikāya, is a monastic order of monks inMyanmar (Burma), primarily inLower Myanmar.[1] This order is very conservative with respect toVinaya regulations.[2] It is one of thenine legally sanctioned monastic orders in the country, under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations.[3]
ဓမ္မာနုဓမ္မမဟာဒွါရနိကာယဂိုဏ်း | |
| Abbreviation | မဟာဒွါရဂိုဏ်း (Mahādvāra Sect) |
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| Formation |
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| Type | Buddhist monastic order |
| Headquarters | Myanmar |
| Members | 6,066 (2016) |
| Leader | H.H. Latpadan Sayadaw Bhaddanta Varasāmi, 16thThathanabaing of Mahādvāra Sect |
According to 2016 statistics published by theState Samgha Maha Nayaka Committee, 6,166 monks belonged to this monastic order, representing 1.15% of all monks in the country, making it the third largest order afterThudhamma andShwegyin Nikaya.[4] With respect to geographic representation, the majority are based inLower Burma, with a sizable plurality of Mahādvāra monks living inAyeyarwady Region (40.69%), followed byYangon Region (20.65%),Bago Region (20.61%), andMon State (9.97%).[4]
In 2016, the order had 805monasteries, representing 1% of the country's monasteries.[5]
In 1214 of the Burmese Era (around 1852 CE), during British rule in theAyeyarwady Region, Sayadaw Ashin Ukkamsa Vimala from the town of Okpho (now Ingapu township) had a dispute with theSayadaws of theSudhammā order (Thudhamma Gaing) who were under British jurisdiction.[1][2][6]
This dispute was triggered by the issue of ordination (upasampadā) in a watersīmā (ye sim).[1][2][6] Furthermore, Okpho Sayadaw ruled that when paying homage toThe Buddha, one should not do so by recitingkāyakamma, vacīkamma, andmanokamma (bodily action/karma, verbal action, mental action).[7] According to him, the correct way was to pay homage with the concept ofdvāra (door), by recitingkāyadvāra, vacīdvāra, andmanodvāra (bodily door, verbal door, mental door).[7][note 1] He also argued that theSangha could self-regulate without aDhammarāja if the monks strictly followed theVinaya (monastic discipline), emphasizing moral intention and challenging royal authority in ordinations.[6]
Kyìthè Layhtat Sayadaw (of the Thudhamma order), author of theJinattha-pakāsanī, refuted this view on homage, arguing that homage with the concept ofkamma (action), rather thandvāra (door), was the correct one. Therefore, in Lower Myanmar, the order formed by Okpho Sayadaw was called the Dvāra Gaing ("Door Order"), while the Thudhamma order was called the Kamma Gaing ("Karma Order"). Later on, however, the name Kamma Gaing fell out of use, and it was again referred to as the Thudhamma Gaing.[2]
TheseDvāra orders later split further into 3 types, namely:
For 13 years after the death of Okpho Sayadaw, no one had been elected as a newMahānāyaka ofDvāra sāsanā. In the year 1280 M.E. (1918-1919 C.E.), the Dvāra Sect held a Sangha meeting which elected the Yangon Monastery Sayadaw fromHinthada as the secondMahānāyaka of Dvāra Sāsanā, and gave the title of "Dhammānudhamma Mahādva Nikāya" to their Dvāra Sect.[8]: 25 The majority of Dvāra monks reverted to perform rites on full moon days and new moon days in the Burmese calendar, citing a teaching of Lord Buddha that full moon days and new moon days be determined by the king or the government (rāja padhāna).[9]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)Theravada Buddhist orders | ||
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