By Maha Saddhamma Jotika dhaja. Sithu, Dr Khin Maung Nyunt
Since our younger days we learn at home and school Anataw Ananta Nga Pa {အနန္တော အနန္တငါးပါး}. Five Categories whom we owe infinite gratitude. They are:
1. The Buddha
2. The Dhamma {his teachings}
3. Sangha {the entire order of Monks}
4. Parents our very first teachers and
5. Our teacher’s mural and extra mural [သင်ဆရာ၊ မြင်ဆရာ၊ ကြားဆရာ].
Dr U Pe Maung Tin {Retired} who was the first Myanmar Principal of Yangon University and the writer used to sit on the bench in front of the Recreation Centre on the Chancellor Road leading to the Convocations Hall.
“Hey, Khin Maung Nyunt I heard that you are going to England to get Ph.D. as you won State Scholarship”.
“Yes, Saya gyi, I’m leaving by S.S. Salwen of Henderson Line to join L.S.E London School of Economics and Political Science to get Ph.D. in International Relations”.
“Very good. In that case I want you to follow my foot step”.
Myanmar Saya gyi narrated in detail the full account of his Acariya Puja at Exeter College, Oxford University. There were only seven students at the Exeter College. U Pe Maung Tin was the only one who was a research scholar of Pali. He translated into English Visudimagga of Ashin Buddha Gosa as “The Path to Purity” published by Oxford University Press. Oxford Professors awarded him Doctor of Literature [D Lilt].
The other six students were I.C.S Students, top ranking heaven born administrators to become black Englishman in spirit and body. So that they served British Colonial Government faithfully. When all examinations were ended and all Myanmar students passed with flying colours a farewell party was arranged. I.C.S students chose each his own souvenir gift, Shan beg, smoking pipe, Kachin silver beg, Burmese silver bowles etc.
Saya gyi U Pe Maung Tin decided to hold Acariya Puja Fare well. All I.C.S students were surprised.
“Ko Maung Tin, you are Anglican Christran? How could you do it? These Oxford Professors could understand Acariva Puja?
“Accariya Puja is not Buddhist. It is Universal Christianity, Islam and Hindu Brahmanism. Don’t worry I’ll do it. The Acariva Puja Fare well Party was held flawlessly. Oxford Professors could not believe they belong to Five Categories whom we owe gratitude.
We were are on par with Sangha and Students. Many shed tears of raptures and delight. When the writer finished his Ph.D. with flying colours he held his Acariya Puja at L.S.E. As L.S.E has no large hall for such celebration, The writer held his Acariya Puja Farewell at the Oriental Restaurant in St. Giles Street, Oxford circus London, owned by Daw Mya Sein.
Both English and Burmese were served. Mr. B.R.Pearn the author of famous book “History of Rangoon who had served as Professor of History, Yangon University, explained the meaning and significant of Accariya Puja. Professor C. W. Manring, Supervisier Mr. Tunstall
D.G.E Hall Professor Htinker and Myanmar Ambassador H.E I.C.S.U Aung Soe and wife and the writer’s classmates attended. Professor Pearn’s explanation of the essence of Accariya Pujas moved them to shed teans of rapturous delights.
On return home the writer took photo snaps shots of that farewell party to Saya gyi U Pe Maung Tin. Very well Khin Maung Nyunt. I wish you good health, longevity of life, good cure and research work.
The writer now turns early nine gingerier 92 by 2020 May. He is still teaching, supervising Ph.D. students and contributors of Articles to monthly magazines and Daily New Paper The Global New Light of Myanmar.
Except for using wheelchair due to back pain he can teach home and abroad and sing Burmese and English songs of his Salad Days.
Lord Buddha had prescribed 5 duties of Teachers and Pupils, Students owe each other.
ဆရာ့ဝတ် ၅ ပါး
၁ အတတ်လည်းသင်
၂ ပဲ့ပြင်ဆုံးမ
၃ သိပ္ပမချန်
၄ ဘေးရန်ဆီးကာ
၅ သင့်ရာ အပ်ပို့
ဆရာ့ဝတ်
တပည့်ဝတ် ၅ ပါး
၁ ညီညာဖျဖျ
၂ ဆုံးမနာယူ
၃ လာမူကြိုဆီး
၄ ထံနီးလုပ်ကျွေး
၅ သင်တွေးအံရွတ်
တပည့်ဝတ်
Teachers’ duties
1. Teach till they are learned
2. Train them characters
3. Leave no science subjects
4. Protect them from all dangers
5. Send them to suitable place/job
Five duties of pupils, students
1. All in unity and harmony
2. Listen to and obey teachers’ teachings and advices
3. Welcome them on their arrival
4. Attend to teachers’ need
5. Thoroughly learn their teachings.
