Editing Shin Ukkattha (section)

== Biography ==

Shin Ukkaṭṭha was born in 1897 into a Burmese family with a history of involvement in resistance to colonial rule. His parents were arrested for providing financial support to a rebellion associated with the grandparents of Aung San, and the resulting impoverishment of the family shaped his early life. He entered the monastery as a novice at the age of eight and received an extensive traditional Buddhist education. From an early age he displayed an unusual aptitude for writing and learning languages, and he eventually attained the highest level of formal Buddhist education available in Burma. His early intellectual development nevertheless took place within a religious environment that he would later subject to increasingly radical criticism.<ref>Janaka (2016), ''Die Human, Born Human'', pp. 108–112.</ref>

In 1922, Ukkaṭṭha travelled to India, where he remained for approximately seven years. His time there was decisive for the formation of his mature intellectual outlook. He encountered Indian nationalists, members of other religious traditions, theosophists, ex-Untouchables, and Buddhists involved in international Buddhist revival movements. He also encountered ideas that encouraged a critical approach to traditional Buddhist cosmology and a reconciliation of Buddhism with modern scientific thought. Among his important intellectual influences was [[Burma#Ashin Ādiccavaṃsa|Ashin Ādiccavaṃsa]], whom he regarded as a friend and mentor. The international networks centred on India exposed Ukkaṭṭha to a conception of Buddhism that was simultaneously reformist, comparative, anticolonial, and intellectually open to modern science.<ref>Janaka (2016), pp. 121–129; Crosby & Janaka (2016), "All Too Human", pp. 222–228.</ref>

Ukkaṭṭha returned to Burma in 1929 and established a Buddhist Mission school in Rangoon. The school combined Buddhist education with secular subjects and was intended particularly to benefit poor students. It subsequently became associated with nationalist and left-wing political activity, and Ukkaṭṭha himself described his school as having served as a base for organizations including the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, the People's Armed Force, the Communist Party, and the Red Army. His educational work therefore combined Buddhist revivalism with a concern for social uplift and secular education. He also became a prolific writer, eventually producing more than thirty books and numerous other publications.<ref>Janaka (2016), pp. 133–146; Crosby & Janaka (2016), pp. 222–225.</ref>

Ukkaṭṭha became well known as a Buddhist public intellectual and defender of Buddhism in interreligious debate. In 1936 he participated in a highly publicized Buddhist-Christian debate in Kyauk Kwin village in Pegu Division. His victory was widely reported in the Burmese press and was followed, according to contemporary accounts, by the conversion or reconversion of many villagers to Buddhism. His success was partly connected to his ability to defend Buddhism while employing a comparatively open and critical attitude toward religious texts. Unlike conservative monks who regarded the preservation of inherited forms of Buddhism as the principal defense against colonialism, Ukkaṭṭha was willing to argue that parts of the Buddhist Canon were later additions if they contradicted reliable scientific knowledge.<ref>Crosby & Janaka (2016), "All Too Human", pp. 223–229.</ref>

During the 1950s, Ukkaṭṭha's increasingly heterodox teachings brought him into direct conflict with the Burmese Sangha hierarchy. He questioned the authenticity and authority of substantial portions of the Pāli Canon, particularly the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, and rejected traditional Buddhist cosmology. He also participated in the Sixth Buddhist Council but eventually withdrew, criticizing its treatment of the canonical texts as insufficiently critical. In 1956 he led a Burmese literary delegation to the Asia-Africa Literature Conference in New Delhi, and in 1957–1958 he represented Burma at an international peace conference in Stockholm. His subsequent travels took him through several European countries, the Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam, bringing him into further contact with international political and intellectual currents.<ref>Janaka (2016), pp. 143–150; Crosby & Janaka (2016), pp. 228–230.</ref>

In 1958 Ukkaṭṭha published his most famous work, ''Lūthelūhpyit'' ("Die Human, Born Human"), which developed his reinterpretation of rebirth in terms of Darwinian evolutionary theory. The book provoked a strong reaction from the Sangha hierarchy. In 1959, during the caretaker government of General Ne Win, Ukkaṭṭha was arrested and prosecuted for promoting ''adhamma'', or false Buddhist teaching. The proceedings continued after the military coup of 1962, but Ukkaṭṭha was released in an amnesty. He subsequently continued to write and to advocate his heterodox views, including his rejection of capitalism and support for socialism.<ref>Janaka (2016), pp. 146–160; Crosby & Janaka (2016), pp. 229–230.</ref>

Ukkaṭṭha died in 1978. In 1981, three years after his death, his teachings became the subject of the second case brought before the State Saṅghamahānāyaka Committee, the state-backed system of monastic courts established under Ne Win. The court found him guilty of heresy on the basis of his reinterpretation of Buddhist doctrine. The posthumous prosecution illustrates the extent to which his challenge was understood not merely as a disagreement over individual doctrines but as a challenge to the authority of the institutional Sangha to determine the boundaries of legitimate Buddhist belief.<ref>Janaka, Ashin & Kate Crosby (2017). "Heresy and Monastic Malpractice in the Buddhist Court Cases (Vinicchaya) of Modern Burma (Myanmar)". ''Contemporary Buddhism'' 18.1: 199–261, pp. 219–221; Janaka (2016), pp. 241–277.</ref>