Shan State Buddhist University

In accordance with the motto of the University, bhāsaye jotaye dhammaṃ (the Visākha-sutta, AN 4.48 and SN 21.7, and the Mahāsutasoma-jātaka (No. 537)), ‘to dialogue and uphold the torch of Dhamma’, our vision is to create a vibrant, liberal Theravada institution for future generations. Our vision is informed by the establishment of large teaching institutions in South Asia more than one and a half millennia ago. The famous Nālandā institution (the 5th – 12th centuries CE), along with four other big institutions—Vikramashila, Somapura, Odantapuri, and Jaggadala—played a key role in contributing to the development of rich, diverse Buddhist scholarship, and in spreading the Dhamma to other parts of Asia and possibly beyond. These Buddhist institutions, which are often characterized as the earliest universities, had close intellectual connections and working relationships among themselves; they reached their peak under the Pala Dynasty, i.e. the 8th-12th centuries CE.

Informed by our motto, we aspire to work together with diverse communities in Myanmar and beyond in order to study and nurture the Dhamma for the benefit of oneself and others. In practice this means that our long-term aim is to use Theravada Tipiṭaka as the principal source of wisdom and provide (1) rigorous, adaptable educational programs, and (2) socially engaged activities and programs for the benefit of our diverse communities and of the wider world. We strongly believe that through such programs and engagements with the wider world, we all would be able to nurture the Buddha’s teachings and practice within ourselves, and to build on it for the benefit of others.

We study traditional meditation techniques in Myanmar and we also study from the canonical texts, in addition, we also look at the latest research findings about meditation. This is about compassion meditation. How do we do that? The way we do is, we emphasize writing, mainly in Asia, we have lost our earlier Buddhist tradition at Nalanda. Nalanda emphasized writing and reading, you know, senior students had to compile a text at Nalanda, and that is why, they produced so many texts, so many good books. Sadly, many Asian universities don't preserve this writing culture. Nevertheless, Oxford University which came into existence 700 years after the Nalanda, still maintains this writing culture, a lot of essay writing. So, here, at our university, we try to implement that, we teach students how to read this kind of academic book. This is published by Oxford University Press, published by Cambridge University Press. We teach them how to read and comprehend these texts and then produce, first, a summary, then an essay, then a bigger essay which we call coursework, and then yet a bigger one, a bigger piece of writing which we call independent study research where students, okay, a student has to come up with his or her own topic and also proposal. We mark everything, we mark the proposal and we mark the essay as well and finally, for postgraduate students, they have to write a thesis. So, this is how we guide our students in a progressive way, you know, to master writing, of course, writing and reading, you know, you can't be separating them. So, you need to teach them how to read these books academically, in Pali, and in English. So, if this is what you are looking for, welcome to our University.