| Background: |
|
| Sitagu Sayadaw | |
| Alias: | Venerable Dr. Ashin Nyanissara U Nyanissara Thegon Sayadaw Thabeik Aine Sayadaw |
| Birth Date: | 1937 2, df=yes[1] |
| Birth Place: | Thegon Township, Bago Division, Myanmar |
| Nationality: | Burmese |
| Religion: | Buddhism |
| School: | Theravada |
| Lineage: | Shwekyin Nikāya |
| Vice Sangha Rājā of Shwekyin Nikāya | |
| Location: | Sagaing Hills, Myanmar |
| Education: | Khin-ma-gan Pali University, Mandalay (M.A.) Sangha University, Yangon |
| Occupation: | Buddhist monk |
| Teacher: | Anicakhan Sayadaw Ashin Pandita[2] |
Ashin Nyanissara (Burmese: ဉာဏိဿရ;) best known as Sitagu Sayadaw, is a Burmese meditation teacher and prolific Buddhist scholar. He is also the founder of Sitagu International Buddhist Academy.
His work as a teacher began in 1977 and encompasses religious, educational, medical and infrastructural activities. He travels worldwide to promote his humanitarian efforts and for interfaith dialogue. In 2012, he became the Shwegyin Nikaya's (;).[3]
Sitagu Sayadaw is known for his charismatic leadership and practices of socially-engaged Buddhism.[2] His organization has funded many social projects in Burma, including water pumps, construction of hospitals such as the Sitagu Ayudana Hospital in Sagaing[4] in 1985, and the Sitagu Buddhist Academy in 1998.[2]
Sitagu Sayadaw was lauded for his missionary and charity works, especially in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed upwards of 100,000 in the country's delta regions.[5]
He is also interested in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.[6]
The sayadaw has associated in recent years with the Buddhist nationalist group Patriotic Association of Myanmar.[7] In May 2017, the sayadaw preached a sermon in Kayin State to Myanmar Army officers likely to be involved with the suppression in Arakan state.[8] In the sermon, he argues that bad karma obtained from killing of those who do not follow the five precepts is much less than of those who do.[9] On May 28, 2019, after having delivered a sermon, he singled Ashin Wirathu, then in hiding, out from among the saṅgha, asking in rhetoric, "Where is Wirathu? He is my comrade."[10]
In February 2021, the sayadaw had appeared not to affix his signature to a statement released by the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy in response to the then-days-old military coup and the ensuing protests against it. The letter was criticized as having presented a false balance between the two opposing sides. In March 2021, however, the sayadaw, along with the other leading monks of the Shwekyin Nikāya, added his signature to a letter that urged Min Aung Hlaing to immediately cease the assaults on unarmed civilians protesting the takeover by the military and to refrain from engaging in theft and property destruction.[11] [12] The letter reminded the general to be a good Buddhist.[11] The March letter gained notoriety for the discrepancies between its signed original draft and its final version, the latter which appears to have legitimized Min Aung Hlaing's rule through a veiled reference to him as king. The Burmese word for 'king', min, coincides with the first syllable of the general's name, even in the Burmese script.
The sayadaw was criticized for having attended a religious-donation event on March 26, 2021, upon invitation from the State Administration Council (SAC), during which a ceremony was held in relation to a religious-construction project involving what is reported to become the largest marble Buddha statue in existence. The criticism also brought the sayadaw's continued personal association with Min Aung Hlaing back to the fore.
The State Peace and Development Council bestowed two honorific titles upon him:
Honorary doctorates received from Myanmar and International Universities: