What is Novitiation Buddhism?
What is Novitiation Buddhism?
Also known as the Shinbyu, the Novitiation Ceremony represents a coming of age for boys under 20 years old. Celebrated throughout the country in March, sons in each family would partake in a short journey guided by the monks to learn the ways of Buddhism.
What is a Buddhist novice?
In many Buddhist orders, a man or woman who intends to take ordination must first become a novice, adopting part of the monastic code indicated in the vinaya and studying in preparation for full ordination. The name for this level of ordination varies from one tradition to another.
What do we call a ceremony where a boy becomes a monk in Buddhism?
Shinbyu (Burmese: ရှင်ပြု; MLCTS: hrang pru.; pronounced [ʃɪ̀ɰ̃bjṵ], also spelt shinpyu) is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony (pabbajja) in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, referring to the celebrations marking the sāmaṇera (novitiate) monastic ordination of a boy under the age of 20.
What are the sacred books of Buddhism?
Memories of the sayings of the Buddha carried down through oral tradition after he died, ca 483 B.C.E., and were compiled into collections called suttas (Pali) or sutras (Sanskrit). These collections, plus the Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules) and Abidhamma/Aabidharma (philosophical texts) compose the Buddhist Canon.
Is the coming of age of boys in Myanmar?
The novitiation ceremony, or “shinbyu” in Burmese, marks the first time a boy enters the monastery and becomes a novice monk. Almost every Burmese boy participates in a novitiation ceremony during his lifetime as parents consider it an important duty to encourage their sons to study the teachings of Buddha.
What Buddha means?
A Buddha is one who has attained Bodhi; and by Bodhi is meant wisdom, an ideal state of intellectual and ethical perfection which can be achieved by man through purely human means. The term Buddha literally means enlightened one, a knower.
Is a novice a monk?
There are ordinarily two levels of ordination. A samanera is a novice monk. In the Theravada tradition, a man may become a novice as the first stage toward becoming a full-fledged monk or bhikkhu, or he may become a novice monk for a short period with the specific intention of accruing religious merit.
How do you become a postulant?
A person usually applies after staying in the monastery a few times to consider things with the Vocations’ Director and Abbot. If the application is accepted he is invited to come as a postulant for approximately six months.
Can a female become a monk?
Women can be ordained as the equivalent of monks in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, mostly dominated by the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Female ordination is not available in the Tibetan tradition nor in Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar.
What is the sacred text of Theravada Buddhism?
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
Is Tibetan Buddhism Mahayana or Theravada?
Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism include both Hinayana and Mahayana practices.
What is the legal age for marriage in Myanmar?
The Child Rights Law, enacted on July 2019, raised the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years old. The minimum marriageable age for boys continues to be 18 years old. However, the legal framework around marriage in Myanmar is complex.
Do teenagers work in Myanmar?
In Myanmar, school is mandatory until 14 and – as per the Child Rights Law – no child under 14 years is legally permitted to work. Hazardous work is also prohibited for anyone under 18-years-old.
What is a trainee monk called?
“Robe-bearer”—If the novice continues on to become a monk, he is clothed in the first degree of monasticism at a formal service known as the Tonsure.
What is the significance of shinbyu in Buddhism?
Those who are not blessed with a male child will seek for an orphan boy or a boy from very poor families in order to receive this special dispensation by the Buddha and hence gain great merit by the act. Shinbyu may well be regarded as a rite of passage or coming of age ceremony as in other religions.
What is Theravāda Buddhism?
Theravāda Buddhism is a Buddhist school that came to prominence during the reign of king Asoka the Great around 250 BC, after the purification of the Sangha (order of monks) which was by that time infested with corrupt monks. Nowadays it is the main form of Buddhism practiced in Southeast Asia, especially Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar.
What is the Buddhist way of meditation?
This style of Buddhism, then, is fundamentally devoted to meditating and sitting quietly while thinking on these deeper things that are more important than the common distractions of the world.