Changing Buddhist Practice in Burma - Online Burma Library

monopoly over the function of the state flowed down to other levels of political
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and social organization.
Lay practice of Buddhism: king and sangha
The early practice of Buddhism was nicely summed up by Hla Pe, a Burmese
scholar: "The kings of the Pagan dynasty [and other members of royal families
and officials]..expressed in concrete form their observance of the three
primary Buddhist duties - charity, dana; morality, sila; and meditation,
bhavana. They built pagodas, monasteries and ordination halls. Dedicatory
inscriptions on stone in Burmese - transcribed to writing at the beginning of the
twelfth century -were set up alongside these sacred edifices. Many of these
buildings contain paintings depicting scenes from well-known Buddhist works"
(emphasis added, Hla Pe 1985: 191). In addition, Buddhism was propagated
through teaching and mural representations of the Jatakas, the legendary 550
life stories of Buddha. The Jatakas not only taught about the life of Buddha,
they also served multiple purposes in providing examples of successful lives of
the kings (Lu Pe Win 1966: 102-3). Jatakas presented an ideal life to the
people; its stories were to be emulated or to be felt and followed by readers (Lu
Pe Win 1966: 108).
The religious practices of monk and laity in propagating Buddhism were
conducted in specific ways. When Buddhism was introduced into Burma it
was mainly propagated through text and poems and pagoda building. The
religious practice for a monk was to preach. Monks learnt texts, specialized in
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