4 

But the author passed all three commentaries in one year and acquired the rare 
and coveted title of Pariyatti Sāsanahita Dhammācariya Vaṭaṁsakā. 

However, the first time he really made a name for himself as a man of vast 
learning was when he passed with distinctions the Tipiṭakadhara Examination, 
which was held for the first time and was also reputed to be the longest and most 
difficult Examination. As the name suggests, the candidate has to recite all 
Three Baskets (

Tipiṭaka

) that he had learned by heart. In addition, he has to pass 

the written papers on all the canonical texts and commentaries. It took him four 
years to sit the whole Examination that earned him, in 1953, the unique title of 
Tipiṭakadhara Dhammabhaṇḍāgārika, which means “Bearer of the Three 
Baskets and Keeper of the Dhamma-Treasure.” Sayādaw’s ability to recite what 
amounts to 16,000 pages of the Buddhist Canonical Texts has been recorded in 
the Guinness Book of Records in 1985. 

As regards his work for the Sāsana, suffice it to say that even before that great 
achievement of being Tipiṭakadhara Dhammabhaṇḍāgārika, when the Sixth 
Buddhist Council was well under way, Sayādaw was assigned the task of editing 
the Canonical texts to be approved by the Council as its sessions. Besides this, 
when the Council was convened, Sayādaw acted as the Respondent (

Vissajjaka

) 

answering questions on all three portions of the Canon. The Questioner 
(

Pucchaka

) was the late Mahāsi Sayādaw (1904-1982). In answering the 

questions, the author took the combined role of Vens. Upāli and Ānanda who 
answered the questions on the Vinaya and the Dhamma respectively at the First 
Council presided over by Ven. Mahā Kassapa. 

After the Council, the author devoted himself to literary pursuits. At the request 
of U Nu, then Prime Minister of Myanmar, he assiduously compiled the Great 
Chronicles of the Buddha (

Mahā-buddha-vaṁsa

), being the Myanmar exposition 

on the lives of the Buddhas as related mainly in the Chronicles of the Buddha 
(

Buddha-vaṁsa

) of the Collection of the Supplementary Texts (

Khuddaka-

nikāya

). This compilation, which resulted in six volumes in eight books, was 

commenced in 1956 and ended in 1969. The work, being the author’s magnum 
opus and a colossal contribution to Myanmar Buddhist literature, has been 
received with enthusiastic acclaim by members of the Saṅgha and the laity alike. 

In the year 1980, an historic event in the history of the Saṅgha in Myanmar took 
place, which was the emergence of the State Saṅgha Mahā Nāyaka Committee, 
comprising representatives of all sects of the Buddhist Saṅgha in Myanmar. The