Shin Arahan | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Shin Arahan in Ananda Temple | |
| Title | Sayadaw |
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. 1034 |
| Died | 1115 (age 80)[1] |
| Nationality | Burmese |
| Occupation | Buddhist monk |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| School | Theravada |
| Lineage | Conjeveram-Thaton |
| Dharma names | Dhammadassī ဓမ္မဒဿီ Mon: ဓမ္မဒဿဳ |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Pagan |
| Successor | Shin Panthagu |
Students | |
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The Venerable Shin Arahan (Burmese: ရှင်အရဟံ [ʃɪ̀ɰ̃ ʔəjəhàɰ̃]; formally, Dhammadassī Mahāthera, ဓမ္မဒဿီ မဟာထေရ် [dəma̰dəθì məhàtʰḛi]; c. 1034 – 1115) was Thathanabaing of Burma of the Pagan Kingdom from 1056 to 1115. The monk, a native of Thaton Kingdom, was the religious adviser to four Pagan kings from Anawrahta to Alaungsithu. He is credited with converting Anawrahta to Theravada Buddhism, and overseeing the subsequent reformation of the Buddhist school throughout the kingdom.[2]: 149, 156, 166 However, evidence strongly suggests that the Theravada Buddhism of Shin Arahan and early Pagan was one strongly influenced by Hinduism as compared to later more orthodox standards. Within 75 years of Shin Arahan's death, the Buddhism of Pagan would be realigned with the Mahavihara school of Ceylon although his Conjeveram-Thaton school lasted 200 more years before finally dying out.
Nonetheless, his conversion of Anawrahta is viewed as a key turning point in the history of Theravada Buddhism. The powerful king's embrace greatly helped stabilize the Buddhist school, which had hitherto been in retreat elsewhere in South and Southeast Asia. The success of Pagan Empire made the Buddhist school's later spread in mainland Southeast Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries possible.
- ^ GE Harvey (1925). History of Burma. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. pp. 44–45.
- ^ Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.