Shin Upagutta ( or ; also spelt Shin Upagot, Shin Upagote or Shin U Pagoke) is an arahant commonly venerated by Buddhists in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. He is believed to protect worshipers from danger, including floods and storms. He is also venerated in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, Northern Thailand and

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, where he is known as Upakhut (; ). He is commonly depicted sitting cross-legged, dressed in monk's robes and with a hand tilted into an alms bowl called a thabeik, and is associated with nāga, water serpents. He is believed to be either Moggaliputta-Tissa, a Buddhist monk who presided the Third Buddhist council, Upagupta, a Mahayana arhat, or a creation of Mahayana Buddhism, because he is not described in the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

and only mentioned in the Burmese historical chronicle '' Maha Yazawin''.

Biography

Life before becoming an arhat

He was a monk named Eindagotta (ဣန္ဒာဂုတ္တ, ) during Kassapa Buddha's time. He told some fellow monks to leave the monk life and to live a human life again. The Buddha told him that he would become an arhat after 218 years of the death of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

. In Gautama Buddha's time, he was a non-believer called Sula Thakuladayi (စူဠသကုလဒါယီ, ). He was taught by the Buddha about the concept of saṃsāra. However, he could not become a monk because of the prophecy of Kassapa Buddha.

The afterlife

In 265 or 182 BCE, Upagutta was born to his mother Missa Dewi (မစ္ဆဒေဝီ, ) and his father Prince Dawtha Kumara (ဒေါသကုမာရ, ). He was told that he would become a noble person in the future. Upagutta had a rough personality; he was interested in wild animals and he did not like to learn. A sage named Upa (ဥပ, Upa) taught him about the Buddha's teachings when he was young. Years later, Upagutta and his mother went back to her father who was king of Yazaka (ရာဇဂြိုဟ်, ). The king wanted Upagutta to become his heir but his mother believed in the prophecy about her son becoming an arhat. Meanwhile, a

deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...

carried Prince Upagutta and went across the ocean. Upagutta began to consider the dhamma taught by Bayathe. Later, he suddenly became an arhat and the angel dropped him. As he was falling down, a bronze palace appeared in the ocean and he started to live there. Some Burmese believe that Shin Upagutta is still living, in a floating brass palace in the southern ocean, and that he can be invoked through a special Pali incantation, and that his mere invisible presence will prevent storms and floods. Shin Upagutta is commonly venerated by people in the Irrawaddy Delta. A major festival dedicated to Shin Upagutta is in Shwegyin, near Bago, during the Burmese month of Thadingyut. Another, called the ''Ye Hmyaw Pwe'' (ရေမျှောပွဲ), is held in

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

's Chinatown in October and involves a Chinese-style procession and ceremonial dispersal of ashes into the Yangon River.

References

{{reflist Buddhism in Myanmar Buddhist folklore Burmese folklore Arhats Folk saints

Biography

Life before becoming an arhat

The afterlife

See also

References