Survey on Myanmar Buddhist Nuns’ Attitude Towards Piṭaka Library in Mandalay · SBAM Repository

Title: Survey on Myanmar Buddhist Nuns’ Attitude Towards Piṭaka Library in Mandalay
Author: Ma Añjanañāṇī
Type: Research Paper
Format: PDF
Language: English
Subject: Buddhist Studies
Date: 2019
Place: Mandalay
Publisher: Sitagu Buddhist Academy Mandalay
Rights Holder: Sitagu Buddhist Academy Mandalay
Abstract: The Government schools have one library at least. However, most of the Buddhist Nunnery in which Buddhist nuns stay learning from basic to higher educations throughout their lives does not have a Piṭaka library. Today library tradition plays an important role in the whole education systems. Many things such as education, religion, politics, literature, etc. make people's memory or brain open. All of them can be found out in the library. To be a highly developed community, library has an essential characteristic of it. However, the traditional Buddhist education system in Myanmar, especially for Buddhist nuns, is grounded on prescribed texts for Pariyatti exams, but not upon Piṭaka library. The Piṭaka library tradition does not play in the important role for Nuns’ Education because of the concepts that nuns would not be interested in their education if they were interested in reading light-literatures and some texts which is not related with their religious texts. Piṭaka library is not needed to be used according to the current Buddhist Education System. According to the survey, the most of nun like using library, believe that they will get a lot of supports from that and their non-orthodox learned lecturers encourage them to use library although they do not have chance to establish a Piṭaka library in their respective nunneries. For this study, a questionnaire method is used to investigate general attitudes of the participant nuns towards Piṭaka Library. Thus, this investigation is considered important in constructing the better education system for nuns in future.

Keywords: Library, Piṭaka-library, Nuns’ Pariyatti Education, Attitude

Item sets: SBAM Annual Seminar Proceedings 2019