Aung Zabu Forest Monastery
အောင်ဇမ္ဗူတောရဓမ္မရိပ်သာ
Religion
AffiliationTheravada Buddhism
Location
CountryHmawbi Township, Yangon Region, Burma
Geographic coordinates17°04′40″N 96°05′01″E / 17.0778288969°N 96.0835091118°E / 17.0778288969; 96.0835091118

Aung Zabu Forest Monastery (Burmese: အောင်ဇမ္ဗူတောရဓမ္မရိပ်သာ; Aung Zabu Tawya Dhamma Yeiktha), commonly known as Japan Paya (Burmese: ဂျပန်ဘုရား) is a Buddhist monastery (kyaung) in Yegya village, Hmawbi Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar (Burma).

The monastery was opened c. 2012, using the name of a prominent Buddhist retreat centre in Mawlamyine.[1] The monastery is known for a collection of 301 historic Buddha images from the Pagan, Pinnya, Ava, Toungoo, Nyaungyan, Tagaung and Konbaung eras, although the authenticity of these images has not been verified.[1][2][3] The images were donated by a Japanese national named Kumano in 2012.[2] Over 10,000 visitors per week visit the monastery.[4]

Controversies

The monastery has been mired in controversy, criticised for being more a business venture, rather than a religious centre.[1] The monastery grounds now include a shopping arcade, a small zoo, and other attractions.[1] In 2023, the monastery's abbot Paṇḍavaṃsa sparked additional controversy after hosting a lavish 60th birthday celebration at Lotte Hotel in Yangon.[1] He also opened a library, which purportedly doubles as a luxury residence, in Pyin Oo Lwin.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "ခေတ်ပျက်သည့်တိုင် စီးပွားရေးသောင်းကျန်းနေသည့် ရန်ကုန်က ဂျပန်ဘုရား". Myanmar NOW (in Burmese). 9 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Devotees flock to 'Japan Pagoda' in Yangon". Thai PBS. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Hunting and hoarding treasure". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "Famous Japan Pagoda outside Yangon". Yangon Life. Retrieved 21 October 2018.


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