The 19th meeting of the 47-member leading committee of the 7th State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee began at the Wizaya Mingalar Dhammathabin Hall on Kaba Aye Hill in Yangon yesterday.
 

The meeting was opened with an address by Chairman Sayadaw of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee Abhidhaja Maharattha Guru Abhidhaja Agga Maha Saddhamma Jotika Bhamo Sayadaw Dr. Bhaddanta Kumarabhivamsa.

The meeting was also attended by member sayadaws of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, Union Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko and officials of the ministry.

In his opening address at the meeting, the Bhamo Sayadaw stressed the important role of dutiful monks in carrying out purification of the Buddha Sasana.

The Chairman Sayadaw also called for unity of the Buddhist monks for preservation and propagation of the Buddha Sasana.

Union Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko also supplicated matters relating to religious affairs, asked the country’s highest Buddhist regulatory committee to take action against unruly monks and novices doing things such as not following the Codes of Conduct of a Buddhist monk in crowded places.

The Union minister stressed the need to enforce the rules for monks to uplift the Sasana.
Besides, Union Minister Thura U Aung Ko also supplicated the rules for using the Sasana Flag and suggested the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee to enforce the rules for using the Sasana Flag.

“It is found today that some monks and people broke the rules for using the Sasana Flag in broad daylight. Due to lack of enforcement of rules, the flag can be seen even at political protest rallies,” said the Union Minister.

The Union Minister also informed the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee that the ministry would make a count of Buddhist monks and nuns in the coming period of the Buddhist Monsoon Retreat with the use of a digital system.

There are over 66,600 monasteries and 4,500 nunneries in 330 townships and about 500,000 members of the Sangha in Myanmar. Nearly 90 per cent of Myanmar’s population practices Theravada Buddhism, the more conservative of the two major branches of the religion. — MNA (Translated by Tun Tun Naing)