Study On Myanmar Bagan Buddhist Culture

The culture of Bagan was a kind of Buddhist culture,and the core of it was Theravada Buddhism.All the cultural form of Bagan was in relation to Buddhism.In this paper,Bangan Buddhism Culture are studied from the three sectors include Origin,Characteristics and influence.Base on the spread manner of Bangan Buddhism,this paper mainly studied the expressions forms of Bangan Buddhist culture.The content of this paper are given priority to with some empirical examples such as buddhist architecture and words,Buddhism theories are just a brief overview as the background of Bagan Buddhist culture.The Bagan Kingdom is considered to be the first kingdom to unify the regions.Before the Bamar's entrance,people of Pyu,Mon,Kayah,Rakhine had inhabited Burma for nearly ten centuries.Among those ethnic groups,Pyu and Mon had relatively developed culture,and the Mon kingdom Thaton was believed to be the center of Theravada Buddhism in the world.However,the ethnic groups mentioned didn't found a unified country but several city-states.There was nearly no obstacle to the Bamar migration into Burma,because at that time Pyu city-states had crashed down under the attacks by the Nanzhao Kingdom,and meanwhile the Mon kingdom was facing the invasion of the Khmer.Moreover,the Bamar successfully inherited cultural legacy of the Pyu's.In 1057,King Anawrahta leading his armies invaded and conquered the Mon kingdom,Thaton,and brought the King Manuha of Thaton,eminent monks,Tripitaka,Buddhist relics,Mon craftsmen and artisans back to Bagan.It helped Theravada Buddhism gradually become the state religion and lay a foundation for the development of Buddhist culture.During the Bagan era,when the Bamar were exposed to Theravada Buddhism,the culture of them was still less developed,so they selectively accepted some simple and intelligible theories such as Samsara and Karma theory.The primary way that the Bamar used to practice Buddhism was to accumulate merit by donations and in order to do so,Bagan people donated most of their properties to Buddhism throughout their lives,building a large number of Buddhist architecture.The spread of Theravada Buddhism at Bagan was mainly through temple education and Buddhist architecture.Temple was the uppermost form of Buddhist architecture,also the most important place for Buddhism dissemination and the only educational establishment in the Bagan period.The principle functions of temple were teaching Pali and Tripitaka,helping people learn about Buddhism and inducting men into the community of monks,the sangha.In order to explain Tripitaka in their own language during the pace of Buddhism spread,and for keeping records of donations better,the Bamar created their own script basing on Mon scrip,and later inscription literature emerged.It provided a basis for the development of Burmese culture and literature.The demand generated by the spreading of Buddhism bred the Burmese script.Monks and priests were the main creators of Burmese,and temples were the major places for Burmese creation.In a manner of speaking,the emergence of Burmese language was inseparably related to Buddhism.Another way for Buddhism dissemination was Buddhist architecture,including Buddha caves,pagodas and temples.Most of the well-preserved Buddhist architecture at present are Buddha caves and pagodas.Due to the less development,only a tiny minority of the Bamar could read.Besides,the grand and spectacular Buddha caves and pagodas along with the vivid frescoes inside were more appealing to people than obscure scripts,so these places played an important role in spreading Buddhism among ordinary people.Buddhist architecture is an significant carrier of the culture of Bagan,as well as a precious legacy left by Bagan Kingdom.It shows the superb skills in construction,sculpture and painting during the Bagan era,combing the wisdom of Burmans,Pyus.Mons and Indians.Pyu culture and Mon culture were the sources of the culture of' Bagan,which was created by the Bamar,the Pyu,the Mon and the Indian.The contributions of the Bamar were the efficient management on the country and the patronage of Theravada Buddhism.Both the Pyu and the Bamar were branches of Proto-Qiang people.After mixed inhabitation,they gradually amalgamated into one ethnic group.Pyus made their contributions to the culture of Bagan from both material and spiritual aspects.The Bamar learned how to fire bricks,how to build Buddha caves and pagoda,as well as the skills of planting and living from the Pyu.As for the Mon.they influenced the culture of Bagan mainly by cultural elites.In the early Bagan,which was the golden age for the development of Mon culture,some cultural elites of Mon made great influence on religion and court of Bagan.There were many Indians who believed in Hinduism or Buddhism living in Bagan.Most of them were slaves,while some of them were temple slaves.They left their religious marks in their work,so some Hindu characteristics could be found in the culture of Bagan.However,because those Indians were in a low status at that time,they didn't impact on the mainstream of belief.The culture of Bagan had made great contribution to the development of Buddhism,and it was vitally important to the formation of Southeast Asian and South Asian Theravada cultural circle.The culture of Bagan is the cornerstone of Burmese culture for it has produced tremendous impact.Since the Bagan Kingdom,successive rulers had regarded themselves as the protectors of Buddhism providing with strong patronage.Today,Myanmar is still the center of Theravada Buddhism in the world.Buddhism affected the views on life and values of Burmese people as an important part of the daily life and the culture of themselves.