Re: the title 'Sayadaw'

Hi Lennart,

> reminds me very much of Ven. Katukurunde Nyanananda... :-) But I
guess he is > known a little bit better in the West for his "Concept
and Reality" as well > as Nibbana sermons...

That's a new one for me.

> I sure would love to hear or see a book, written by a Tipitakadhara,
about > best techniques to memorize Pali books and/or their experience
and > challenges by doing so...would be quite interesting to know.
Especially when > it comes to entire books.

I have seen an explanation on the web of how one famous Sayadaw set
out to memorize the Tipitaka. U Thitzana once told me that in Myanmar
they memorize at the rate of 6 leaves a day. I think that's about one
bhanavara. I'd be doing well if I could do that much in one month.
There is also the work of keeping the memory of the text regularly
refreshed. It would be interesting to memorize a text orally instead
of from printed pages. You learn the text from someone who knows it by
heart.

Here's Susi Goetz's summary of the message she got from a friend in
Germany. The German message follows after.

<< Georg says that the honorific title Sayadaw is not bestowed
officially, as far as he and his wife know, and therefore there are no
definite prerequisites for this title.

People begin to address an elder monk (old in age or "ordination age")
with a certain expertise who is regarded as wise/ advanced on the
spiritual path as "Sayadaw". This is often/mostly the case for those
who have become abbots of a monastery, but the title can well be also
applied to monks who are held in an especially high esteem by the lay
people and other monks. >>

========================
"Sayadaw ist ein Ehrentitel (Saya - Meister/Lehrer/Ajarn, daw- edel,
ehrwürdig, verehrungswürdig) der unseres Wissens nicht formell
verliehen wird und daher auch keine bestimmten, klar definierten
Voraussetzungen hat. Vielmehr werden ältere/langjährige Mönche mit
entsprechender Erfahrung und dem Ruf, ein besonders weiser/auf dem
geistlichen Weg fortgeschrittener Mönch zu sein irgendwann von immer
mehr Menschen als Sayadaw angeredet - das gilt vor allem für die, die
dann Vorsteher eines Klosters werden, kann aber durchaus auch andere
von der Bevölkerung und anderen Mönchen als besonders verehrungswürdig
empfundene Mönche betreffen."
=====================

Best wishes,
Jim