Buddhist Learning in Burmese Monastic Culture:

Traditions of the Ayakauk (analytic work) and the Abhidhamma NyaWa

(night-class)
Pyi Phyo Kyaw
SOAS, Universit y of London, UK

In this paper, I shall examine a Buddhist approach to Abhidhamma stud y

in t he Burmese monast ic context from the late Konbaung period to the present
day, in part icular looking at a genre in t he vernacular Abhidhamma literature in
Bur ma, namely, t he Ayakauk (analyt ic work) genre. I shall also reflect on t he
extent to which t his genre has contributed to the development of a pedagogica l
tradit io n called abidama nya wa, it lit erally means Abhidhamma night -class,
which to my knowledge exist s only in Burma. In doing so, I shall highlight the
nature o f t he tradit ion of Abhidhamma night-class and assessing it s roles in
advanced study of Abhidhamma.
Before turning specifically to the tradit ion of abidama nya wa, I shall
briefly survey t he Abhidhamma lit erature produced in Bur ma from t he Pagan
per io d (849-1298) to the present in order to highlight the ext ent of in-dept h
Abhidhamma studies undertaken by Bur mese scholar- monks. We can be traced
back t he living tradit ion of Abhidhamma studies, at least, to the Pagan per io d.
According to Bur mese scholar-monks such as the Late Paht an Sayadaw Ven.
Ashin Visuddhbhivasa 1 and Nanadamlbhivasa 2 writ ing on t he histor y o f
Abhidhamma studies in Burma, t he Abhidhamma study started to become
popular during t he Pagan period. Along wit h t hese two sources, Bode 3 writ ing
on t he Pli lit erature of Bur ma - on the basis of Burmese chronicles 4 - suggest s
that Abhidhamma works by Burmese monks began to appear at the t ime of King
Narapat isit hu (1167-1202). A Bur mese monk, Ven. Saddhammajot ipla, well
known as Chappada, who returned from Ceylon after t he higher ordinat ion and a
lo ng-ter m study at the Mah Vihra, The Great Monastery, 5 might have

Visuddh bhi vasa et al. 1987: LXXXIX-XC.

Nandamlbhi vasa 2005: 13-14.

Bode 1966: 18-19.

The Ssanav asadpa and the Pitak atthamai ng.

The Mah Vihra wa s donated t o Mahinda, Asokas son, by the king of Ce yl on,

Devnapi ya Tissa. The Mah Vihra traditi on naturall y pr esents it sel f as a guardian of
orthodox y (Gom bri ch 2006: 149). It produced man y auth oritati ve lit eratures on th e
Theravada Buddhist scriptur es and the hist or y of Th erava da Buddhism. For exampl e, th e
1

produced a couple of Abhidhamma works, namely, t he Sakhepavaan, a subco mment ar y of t he Abhidhammatt ha-sagaha, and t he Nmacradpaka, a
Pahna text. The Nmacradpaka, according to Visuddhbhivasa et. al., is a
brief exp lanat ion of t he 24 condit ions of the Pahna wit h reference to
co nscio usness, Citta, ment al concomit ants, Cetasika, and matter, Rpa, in order
to understand t he nature of condit ional relat ions. This work, t herefore, seems
similar to Pahna ayakauk (Explicat ion of t he Pahna) produced in t he lat er
Bur mese lit erature, and perhaps belongs to the Ayakauk genre, which we shall
analyze below.
Turning to later periods, t he Ava per iod (1364-1555) was well-known fo r
it s co ntribut ion to Abhidhamma st udies, and most Abhidhamma comment aries
produced in t his per iod were in t he Pli language. 6 In the early 17 t h cent ury, t he
Pli-Bur mese Nissayas (support) - i.e. lit eral or int erpret ive translat ions of t he
Pli into t he Bur mese 7 - on t he Abhidhamma t ext s began to appear, and t he
Ko nbaung per iod (1752-1885) was dominated by t he growt h of Pli-Burmese
nissayas on t he Abhidhamma.
In Abhidhamma studies, according to Pit akatthamaing (History of t he
Tip iaka), 8 nissaya is also known as ayakauk and t hat the authors of Pahna
Pli Nissaya (Pahtanpalitaw nit haya), for example, used t he word nissaya
inst ead o f ayakauk in t he t it les of t heir work. 9 Lwin also ident ifies other
syno nyms of nissaya: nik-t ha- ye (supporter), a-hmi (aid), a-nak
(meaning), akauk or ayakauk (abstract) in Burmese. 1 0 In t he earlier strand o f
Abhidhamma lit erature in Bur mese, t herefore, t he words nissaya and ayakauk
were used int erchangeably.
While t his paper focuses only on ayakauk genre of t he Abhidhamma
lit erature, I should highlight t hat t he word ayakauk, or akauk, is also used in t he
tradit io n of Buddhist hermeneut ic t hat st arted perhaps before the Konbaung
per io d. This ayakauk tradit ion, following her meneut ical met hods developed in
the Nett ipakaraa, int erpret s mainly verbs (and other pli words) found in t he
fam ous 5th centur y comm entator, Buddhaghosa, r esided and wr ot e, a ccording t o the traditi on,
man y commentaries on the Buddhist scriptures at t he Mah Vihra.
6

See Bode 1966: 40-46; Vi suddh bhiva sa et. al.1987: XCI-XCV; Nandaml bhi vasa

2005: 14-15 for attri buting the Ava peri od during whi ch Abhidhamma studi es fl ourish ed.
7

See Lwin 1961: 3-11 for definitions of nissay a ba sed on the Pli and Sanskrit; and different

st yl es of ni ssayas which are present in Burmese Nissaya. Al so see Okell 1965 and 1967 for
linguisti c feat ures of Nissaya Burm ese.
8

Mahathirizeyyathu 1989.

Tilok bhi vasa 2009: i-ii.

10

Lwin 1961: 5.

Tip iaka from t he Abhidhammatt hasagaha viewpoint and t hat of the canonical
Abhidhamma viewpoint. 1 1 By t he Konbaung period, it is ver y likely t hat
scho lar-monks, t he Taungbila Sayadaw Ashin Munidaghosa and t he Htantap in
Sayadaw Ashin Nandamedha for example, composed Abhidhamma ayakauk
works based on t he hermeneut ic technique of the ayakauk tradit ions.
Focusing on t he ayakauk genre, Visuddhbhivasa et. al. define ayakauk
works as follows.
Ayakauk is a lit erar y work written in Bur mese and explicates t he nature,
characterist ic and meaning of [dhammas in] t he Abhidhammapiaka as if one
can pick-up these aspects [of dhammas] wit h t heir own hands in order to fully
co mprehend t he meaning [of t he text s]. 1 2
(My translat ion)
Ayanak analyses the Abhidhamma text s in t erms of cittas, cetasikas and rpas in
detail, unlocking t he hidden meaning of t he texts, and thus captures essence o f
the Buddhist philosophy as given in t he Abhidhamma. Alt hough Lwin renders
ayakauk as abstract , I would be more inclined to agree wit h Shwe Zan Aungs
translat io n t hat ayakauks are analyt ic works 1 3 because as we have seen above
these ayakauks are in-depth analyses of t he texts. In addit ion, I agree wit h his
view t hat ayakauks are used a subst it utes for t he translat ions. 1 4 Therefore,
Shwe Zan Aung is taking ayakauks to be different from word-for-word
translat io ns, i.e. nissayas. Moreover, comparing two Pahna Pli Nissayas
writt en by Burmese scho lar-monks in t he late 18 t h century, I have found t hat one
o f t hem is t he word-for-word translat ion of t he Pahna, while t he other is t he
analyt ic work on t he Pahna in terms of t he ult imat e realit ies. The latter is
no w kno wn as Pahna ayakauk. We, t herefore, find t hat ayakauk has become a
specialist term referr ing exclusively to Abhidhamma works. For example,
Pahna Pli Nissaya written by t he Htantapin Sayadaw Ashin Nandamedha
in 1770s is now known as Pahna ayakauk, which is in t he syllabus of t he
nat io nal monast ic examinat ion, i.e. t he Pahtamapyan Examinat ion.
In t his Pahna ayakauk, t he condit ional relat ions as descr ibed in t he
cano nical Pahna are analyzed and explained in ter ms of cittas, cetasikas and

11

I thank Ven. Dr. Dhammasmi for pointing out a link bet ween the Nettipakaraa and th e

ayakauk traditi on. Personal communi cati on 07/04/ 2012.

12

Visuddh bhi vasa et. al. 1987: XCIII.

13

Shwe Zan Aung 1910-12: 115.

14

Shwe Zan Aung 1910-12: 127.

rpas in great detail. 1 5 Ayakauks such as t he Dhtukat h ayakauk, t he Yamak a

ayakauk and t he Pahna ayakauk become comprehensive manuals of t he
Abhidhamma text s. Therefore, t hese ayakauks, and ayakauk as a her meneut ic
technique, are used pervasively by Abhidhamma teachers in t he Abhidhamma
nyawa tradit ion.
We shall now consider t he nature of t he nyawa tradit ion and t he extent to
which t he ayakauk tradit ion has contribut ed to the development of t he nyawa
tradit io n based on available Burmese sources and my own observat ion o f
Abhidhamma night-classes in contemporary Burma. 1 6 Visuddhbhivasa et. al.
explain t he role of ayakauks in Abhidhamma studies, viz., t he nyawa tradit io n
in Bur ma since perhaps t he Konbaung per iod as follows.
Using t he met hod descr ibed in Abhidhamma ayakauks, both teachers and
student s recit e and discuss t he topic wit hout looking at manuscript s or books at
night. This is called nyawa (night-class). This technique enhances Buddhist
philo sophical t hinking and profound understanding of t he Buddhas teaching. 1 7
(My translat ion)
We know from t his brief descript ion t hat the ter m nyawa refers not only to
Abhidhamma classes held at night t ime and also to the pedagogical techniqu e
used during these classes (see below). In addit ion, to these two aspects, based
on my fieldwork, t he ter m nyawa is also used to refer to the Abhidhamma text s
taught dur ing the night-classes - namely, t he Mt ik, t he Dhtukat h, t he
Yamaka and t he Pahna. These are called nyawa subject s, which are on t he
Paht amap yan Examinat ions syllabus. Therefore, t he nyawa tradit ion can be
defined in a broader context referr ing three aspects, namely, t he Abhidhamma
classes at night, t he nyawa Abhidhamma subject s and t he pedagogical technique
used during t hese classes.
Based on my observat ion of a Pahna nyawa at a teaching monastery in
Mo nywa, namely - t he Saddhamma Pajjot rma Sat hint ike, I shall now descr ibe
general at mosphere of t he nyawa and the pedagogical technique of nyawa
tradit io n. I had to visit Monywa in upper Burma part icular ly to attend t he
nyawa because the pract ice of nyawa is in decline at present and only several
teaching monaster ies now offer Abhidhamma nyawa. The night-class at this
15

In 1979 and 1986, the Mula Pahtan Sa yada w U Nrada of Burma publi shed t wo books,

ba sed on the Pahna ayak auk by the Htantapin Sa yada w, in English. Although th e
presentati on of the mat erials in these books i s di ffer ent from that of the Pahna a yaka uk,
the underl ying hermeneuti c t echnique i s the same as that of the Pahna ay akauk.
16

During m y fi eldwork in Burma from Sept em be r 2012 t o March 2012, I participa ted i s

several night-classes on the Pahna.

17

Visuddh bhi vasa et. al. 1987: XCIV.

mo naster y began at seven oclock in t he evening after t he evening chant ing.

When I arrived at the teaching hall rows of fort y student-monks were alread y
seated o n t heir own mat s laid on unpolished wooden floor. The first thing I
not iced was t he hall was extremely dim and one could not possibly see an y
words wit hout much concentrat ion. The student-monks were facing t he altar
wit h a couple of Buddha images on it, and in front of t he alt ar was a chair
presumably for t he teacher- monk. Dur ing the class, t he teacher did not sit down;
he in fact walked back and fort h behind the rows of student s. Thus, t he student s
sat facing t heir backs to the teacher. I guess classroom layout would differ fro m
mo naster y to monaster y and teacher to teacher. However, it is very t ypical to
have night-classes in a dark or much dimmed hall/room because bot h teacher
and students do not look at any text s dur ing the class, as we will see below.
The class began wit h t he recit at ion of a sect ion of t he Pahna ayakauk
by the students from memory. The teacher then gave detail explanat ions of t he
topic highlight ing hidden meanings of the text, and analyzing it from t he
Abhidhamma viewpoint wit hout looking at any text s. Indeed, he analyzed mind
and matter, and t heir condit ion relat ions as given in t he Pahna in man y
different ways describing t heir nature, character ist ics and philosophica l
meanings. Occasionally, the teacher would ask the student s to recit e some text s
fro m t he Pahna ayakauk or to repeat some Abhidhammic words and ayakauk
texts out loud in order to help wit h t he memorizat ion of what had been said. The
pedagogical technique of the nyawa tradit ion, therefore, requires bot h teacher
and student to work from t he Abhidhamma and ayakauk texts committed to their
memory. Moreover, for student s, it is designed to help wit h t he revision of t he
texts already committed to memory, and t he deepening ones understanding o f
Abhidhamma and analyt ical aspect s associated wit h Abhidhamma.
Alt hough Visuddhbhivasa et al. wr it ing in the 1980s descr ibe t hat
teacher and student s discuss t he topic during t he night-class, I did not observe
any int eract ive discussion between teacher and student s, apart from occasiona l
quest io n and answer between t he teacher and student s. It could be suggested
that the nature of nyawa might have been different. For example, according to
the Pahna nun-teacher at the Sakyadht Thilashin Sarthint ike of Sagaing,
Sayag yi Daw Kusalavat i, student s were allowed to ask quest ions when she had
her Abhidhamma nyawa in t he ear ly 1980s, though it was rare t hat anyone
would raise quest ions. She also added t hat there were fewer student s in t he
class, and t hat she even had one-to-one classes on t he Yamaka text, the sixt h
text in t he Abhidhamma-piaka, wit h her Abhidhamma nun-teacher. 1 8 Smaller
classes in t hose days might have made it possible to build a close relat ionship
18

Intervi ew wi th Da w Kusala vati on 04/03/2012.

5

wit h t he teacher, and perhaps such close relat ionship might have encouraged
teacher and student s to discuss t he topic.
Alt ernat ively, we may have int erpreted t he words discuss t he topic out
o f co ntext. In other words, one should not think of discussion in Bur mese
mo nast ic context, viz., t he nyawa tradit ion as an open, interact ive discussio n
like in modern western pedagogies. For Burmese monast ic, it is perhaps more
like a simple quest ion and answer sect ion rat her than a dialogue between
teacher and student s. This is because a strong culture of hierarchical teacherstudent relat ionship in Buddhist monast icism may limit t he extent to which one
can quest ion ones teacher. Moreover, in t he Abhidhamma nyawa context ,
accord ing to the Innsein Sayadaw Ven. U Tilokbhivasa, an expert in t he
Abhidhamma - i.e. an bhidhammika, Burmese monast ics are studying t he
Dhamma, including the Abhidhamma, t hat is complet e in it s ent it y, i.e.
kevalaparipua, wit h t he aim for transmission of t he Buddhas Dhamma and
ult imat ely preservat ion of t he Buddhas Ssana. 1 9 Therefore, t heir main concer n
is to have accurately memorized t he text s, both canonical and comment arial including the ayakauks, and t hus, they are able to retrieve relevant informat io n
and give a more or less standardized answers wit hin t he framework of t he
(Burmese int erpretat ion of) Abhidhamma at fitt ing mo ment s. Therefore, the
pedagogical technique of t he nyawa tradit ion - namely, teacher-cent ered
learning wit h a focus on enhancing memorizat ion of t he text s - reflect s t he aims
to preserve t he Burmese Buddhist tradit ions, including t he who le corpus o f
Buddhist literature in Burma.
In conclusions, we have seen t hat, in Burmese monast ic culture, Buddhist
learning of t he canonical t exts and commentar ial text s have developed into a
co mplex syst em. In part icular, t he study of t he canonical Abhidhamma and it s
co mment ar ies has evolved into interrelated and dynamic tradit ions, namely, t he
ayakauk tradit ion and t he nyawa tradit ion.
The ayakauk tradit ion can be seen as consist ing two aspect s: t he ayakauk
as a hermeneut ical technique in which t he canonical text s are analyzed in terms
o f cittas, cetasikas and rpas, and t he ayakauk as a genre referring to analyt ic
works such as t he ayakauk books on t he Abhidhamma text s. These ayakauks
then beco me comprehensive manuals for t he Abhidhamma nyawa.
Like t he ayakauk tradit ion, the nyawa tradit ion is also dynamic in t he
sense that it encompasses t hree aspects. For me, the nyawa refers to
Abhidhamma classes held at night, and the Abhidhamma nyawa subjects. I n
addit io n, t he nyawa can be seen as a pedagogical t echnique, i.e. t he teachercent ered learning wit h a focus on memorizat ion and oral transmission of the
19

Intervi ew wi th the Innsein Sa yada w on 06/03/2012.

6

cano nical text s and ayakauk text s. Moreover, t he nyawa provides an effect ive
way o f revising mat erials t hat have been committed to memor y. Throug h
quest io ning and answer ing of the text s, one deepens ones understanding o f
Abhidhamma and develops a skill to analyze t he texts from Abhidhamma
viewpo int. In addit ion, if t he class size of nyawa is small, t hen it may help
establishing and strengt hening relat ionship between teachers and student s.
However, as we have seen, t he class size of nyawa at present is relat ively big.
This imp lies t hat there is low teacher to student rat io, and thus it is difficult to
pay clo se attent ion to the student s. Another aspect is t hat in t he curr icula across
formal monast ic exams for student s are too much, and t hus t hey have very litt le
t ime to memories, do revision and study the subject s in depth like in old days.
One o f t he consequences of this is t hat the pract ice of Abhidhamma nightclasses has declined over t he years. Therefore, preservat ion of the long tradit io n
o f nyawa faces tough challenges ahead.