U Pannya Jota Mahathera

Ven. U Pannya Jota Mahathera (Burmese: ဦးပညာဇောတမဟာထေရ်, Bengali: উ পঞ্ঞা জোত মহাথের), locally known as Guru Bhante (December 22, 1955 – April 13, 2020) was a Bangladeshi Theravada monk. He was born in the Royal Bohmong family[1] at Bandarban, East Pakistan. He previously served the government of Bangladesh as a judge and magistrate for about eight years; then he became a Buddhist monk.

U Pannya Jota Mahathera
ဦးပညာဇောတမဟာထေရ်


উ পঞ্ঞা জোত মহাথের
Ven. U Pannya Jota Mahathera in 2015
Personal
Born
U Saw Hla

(1955-12-22)December 22, 1955
Bandarban District, East Pakistan
DiedApril 13, 2020(2020-04-13) (aged 64)
ReligionBuddhism
NationalityBangladeshi
Parents
  • U Hla Thowai Prue (father)
  • Aung Mra Ching (mother)
SectTheravada Buddhism
EducationL.L.B, L.L.M, B.C.S
Known forFounder of Buddha Dhatu Jadi, Rama Zadi, The World Buddha Sasana Sevaka Sangha, etc.
Other namesGuru Bhante
OccupationEx. SR. ASSTT. JUDGE
Senior posting
Based inPannya Passanara Buddhist Monaster, Ujani Para, Bandarban, Bangladesh
In this Burmese name, U is an honorific, not a surname.

Biography

Early life

U Pannya Jota (Birth name: U Saw Hla, Bengali: উচহ্লা) was born in Bandarban, East Pakistan, on December 22, 1955. His father Hla Thowai Prue, his mother Aung Mra Ching, and his grandfather Kyaw Zaw Than was the late King of Royal Bohmong family.

At the early of six or seven, he began to attend school in Bandarban and after his high school/college he was admitted to Dhaka University in the Law department.

Mr. U Saw Hla (Ven. U Pannya Jota Thera) as an Assistant Judge and Magistrate of Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was taking his seat at Hathazari Court, Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1985

University
Left: U Saw Hla (Ven. U Pannya Jota Thera) in eye-catching heroic pose near Raj Pukur at Bandarban in 1975. Right: Mr. U Saw Hla (Ven. U Pannya Jota Thera) was performing as a singer (third from right) during Cultural Show at Dhaka, on 16th of December 1980

During his university life, he has led several organizations in promoting education among the students. He has joined many organizations and worked for the promotion of indigenous cultural heritage. He used to sing traditional songs at functions and many popular Marma songs like “Sangrai ma” [2] were composed by him. He also formed a music band named The Royal Artists Group (Bengali: দি রয়েল শিল্পীগোষ্ঠী). After his graduation, he served Bangladesh Government as a judge and magistrate for about 8 years. As a judge, he has worked towards justice and peace for society. At the second time of ordination, he grew a strong determination to become a Buddhist monk forever. He resigned from his job as a judge and became a monk in 1990 at Ching Mrong Bihara.[3] From that day he became known as U Pannya Jota Mahathera. Since then, he has been working tirelessly for Buddhasasana.

Life as U Pannya Jota

U Pannya Jota was very keen on learning and practicing Buddhism in depth. He believed Buddhism has the potential to bring peace to the minds of all people. The teaching and meditation in Buddhism were how he served society in peace building. He visited various places and taught Dhamma to the laypeople. He was one of the social reformers who worked on the scientific understanding of Buddhism and denied the superstitious beliefs that many people in Bangladesh had used to believe. Outside of preaching, he spent most of his free time practicing meditation. He has visited various countries and met many world popular meditation teachers like S.N. Goenka. He learned meditation from many great meditation masters from India and Burma.

Publications

He was not only a practitioner, but a Buddhist scholar as well. He practiced what he preached, and he preached what he practiced. This is why he published several books on the topics of Buddhism. His books were highly successful among Bangladeshi Buddhist readers.

Name of BooksSeriesYearsVersion
Sadhana Paddhati O Dikkha1990Bangla
Bidorshon DarponVipassana MirrorBangla
Poncha Guno Ananta Bandana2003Bangla, Marma
Deshona KolpotoruPart-1 (Nirvana for Them)2005Bangla
Deshona KolpotoruPart-2 (Is Buddhism a religion?)2005Bangla
Deshona KolpotoruPart-3 (Reincarnation and Science)2005Bangla
Deshona KolpotoruPart-4 (Nation, Dhamma, Buddha Sasana)2015Bangla
Deshona KolpotoruPart-5 (Four Saint Dhamma)2018Bangla

Establishment

Additionally he also built several temples in the country and outside the country. The objective of building temples in other countries is to keep the exchange of ideas and ties strong between countries. These are some of his temples built by him and some are under construction.


Buddha Dhatu Jadi
Close View of Buddha Dhatu Jadi

One of the most famous temples is the Buddha Dhatu Jadi. It is an amazingly decorative temple on the hill top. The Golden Temple with golden bell set on a dragon statue along with the second biggest Buddhist statue of Bangladesh. The local people called the Golden Temple as ‘Kyang’. The Buddha's dhatu (relic), which is enshrined in the temple, was a gift given to Ven. U Pannya Jota Mahathera in 1994 by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee of Myanmar. The Dhatu of Golden Temple has been believed to provide peace and contentment for mankind.

Rama Zadi

Rama Zadi is the largest and tallest Buddhist temple of Bangladesh, which is located in Hoda Babur Ghona area of Rohangchhari Upazila Road, 3 km away from the Bandarban district town. Its height is almost 175 ft.

Participation

These are some of international conferences he attended in promoting world peace by exchange of ideas and also to keep connection with the Buddhist countries around the world.

Social welfare
Newly 2nd grade student of Be Happy Learning Center in 2016

All of his organizations were for the purpose of social welfare. He built schools and learning centers especially for children and monks. His aim was to educate the young generation of the society because he believed that the future lies in the hands of the youth. Consequently, he thought the cause of tyranny and conflicts in the society is due to education: people with improper education were the ones creating problems in society in his eyes. They would do foolish things because they hadn't been taught otherwise. The most venerable of his aims was to build an educated society by providing secular and religious studies to all.
He also hoped that the children in his institutions would be examples and contributors to society. In his documentary, he said that he wanted to provide education for poor children whose parents are not able to pay education fees to send their children to schools. He also mentioned that some of these children are far from remote and hill areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts where there is not access to modern schools and facilities. Listed below are some of his social institutions for children.

  • Sasana Vaddhana Pariyatti Kyaung (Religious school)
  • Be Happy Learning Centre (Orphanage & Free school)
  • Kyaukmalaung Girl Hostel (Orphanage & Free school) (under construction)

References
  1. The Royal Family. "Bohmong Kingdom".
  2. "Story Behind Sangrai Ma". Documentary by Khola Chokh.
  3. "Ching Mrong Bihara". rangamati.gov.bd.
  4. "World Buddhist Summit in Myanmar". Retrieved 9 December 2004.
  5. World Buddhist Summit (4th : 2004 : Yangon, Burma). Myanmar: World Buddhist Summit. 9 December 2004.
  6. "United Nations Day of Vesak 2008".
  7. "Religious Conference for World Peace". Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  8. "World Religions Conference, Seoul, 2015".
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