About Anawrahtar Foundation
The Anawrahta Foundation is a non-profit Buddhist organization. In general, its purpose is to propagate and to maintain the teachings of the Buddha for the benefit of humankind for many millennia to come. We are totally convinced that the teachings of the Buddha are applicable to all of mankind regardless of race, nationality, religion or creed. Therefore, these precious teachings are the way to attain true peace and happiness throughout the entire world. In the efforts to spread the invaluable teachings, this organization is striving to educate especially the new generations of Myanmar Buddhist monks and Samaneras, both in the Buddhist philosophy and scriptures, as well as in the modern formal education system. The top leaders of the organization are broad-minded, very knowledgeable and learned monks wholly dedicated to the Buddhasasana (the teachings of the Buddha) and they have a clear vision of its potential positive impact on the near and distant future of humankind. As such, the followers and members in the organization are devoted disciples of these leaders.
The Anawrahta foundation was established in Inngone village, Kyauk Se Township on July 1, 2017 formulating the following three strategies.
(1) The Anawrahta Golden Novice School Project
(2) The Project to constantly help both the teachers and students who are monks and novices in sustaining the proper teaching and learning of the Buddha’s philosophy.
(3) The Anawrahta Leadership University Project.
Vision
The vision of the Anawrahta Foundation is to continually have increase in number of members of the Myanmar Sangha community who are fully skillful and qualified in all the fields of Buddhist education, leadership and management.
Mission
The mission of the Foundation is to undertake the duties and responsibilities systematically and to work effectively towards increasing the number of members in the Sangha community and, at the same time, to teach and train monks and Samaneras in developing their leadership and management skills through the practice of meditation in accordance with the techniques of the Buddha, ultimately leading to peace and tranquility. In short, “The Sasana can exist only with the Sangha” and “The success of the Sasana depends on the leadership of the Sangha” are our organization’s mission statements.
Our initial desired future of the organization is to bring to realization three major projects in accordance with our three main strategies. Within the next ten years, we intend to complete (1) the project to teach and train 1000 student Samaneras in the fields of education and leadership; (2) the project to support 10000 student monks, Samaneras and teachers in their pursuit of Buddhist studies education, and (3) to complete the project of a fully equipped and functional Leadership University.
Projects of the Anawrahta Foundation
(1) The Anawrahta Golden Novice School Project plan was implemented in 2021 in Inngone village. The main aim of this project is to begin solving the problem of the diminishing Sangha population and the scarcity of Buddhist monks. The Golden Novice School organizes the parents to send their sons to ordain as Samaneras to study, not only the Buddhist teachings, but also the modern educational lessons without discarding the practical socio-cultural characteristics of the Myanmar people. This strategy has been found quite effective because the parents themselves are devout Buddhists who wish their sons to have a bright future as noble and educated human beings. Since the past three years, 160 Samaneras are being systematically tutored in the Golden Novice School on Buddhist teachings as well as in modern education. It is now projected that this school will have taught and trained 1000 Samaneras within 10 years.
(2) The Project to constantly help both the teachers and students who are monks and novices in sustaining the proper teaching and learning of the Buddha’s philosophy. This project was first initiated in 2019. A total of 300 Samaneras and monks were offered MK 36 milion by the Anawrahta Foundation in a grand ceremony on 26th November 2019 in Mandalay city. The purpose of this project is to maintain the present Samaneras and monks who are in the field of education in Buddhist studies and to upgrade their teaching and learning abilities. To date there have been ten similar grand ceremonies in several cities with offerings amounting to a grand total of 1300 Samaneras and monks. The benefits of this project remain to be seen. Hopefully, we shall be able to support 10000 Samaneras and monks within the next ten years.
(3) The Anawrahta Leadership University Project had its beginnings in the formation of Anawrahta Leadership Academy in 2017. Since that time up to the present, 13 courses on leadership training have been conducted producing 800 monks some of whom are abbots, and others are graduate prospective abbots. The Leadership Academy is, in effect, the forerunner of the Leadership University which aims to further develop the leadership capacity of the monks and to produce highly qualified devoted Samaneras and monks for the perpetuation of the Buddha’s Sasana in the future. It is intended to complete the university construction in ten years. The university will produce many highly qualified leader-monks who will nurture a new generation of extremely talented Samaneras and monks who can lead in the propagation of the Buddha’s Sasana.