Pyi Kyaw
Biography
I am also a Senior Lecturer in Theravada Studies at Shan State Buddhist University, Taunggyi, Myanmar. I studied BA in Economics and Management at Oxford University, before completing my MA in Buddhist Studies at SOAS, University of London, in 2010, and my PhD in Buddhist Philosophy at King’s College, London in 2014, under the supervision of Prof. Kate Crosby and examined by Lance Cousins and Gustaaf Houtman. I have undertaken monastic training in Myanmar as a precept-nun in nunneries based at Pyay (formerly Prome) and Sagaing. I have also undertaken meditation practice within different meditation traditions in Myanmar since 2005. I teach meditation—primarily following the Theinngu Meditation Tradition of Myanmar—in Hungary.
Research Interests
Buddhist Studies, Burmese Buddhism, Abhidhamma.
My research interests bridge the fields of Buddhist Studies and Burma Studies, and primarily concern living traditions of Burmese Theravada Buddhism as well as their global impact and relevance. I am also interested in Abhidhamma literature, including canonical, commentarial and Pali-Burmese mixed texts. Other areas of interest are Theravada meditation traditions and their practices.
Current Projects
Translation of the first volume of the Paṭṭhāna, the final text of Theravada Abhidhamma, using the Siamrath Thai Edition.
Courses Taught
MPhil in Buddhist Studies, various courses on Buddhism, and Pali
Selected Publications
- Conditional Relation (translation of the first volume of the Paṭṭhāna, Siamrath Thai Edition, from Pali into English). In preparation.
- ‘Transformative Power of the Paṭṭhāna: its applications in protective practices and the Weikza tradition in Burmese Buddhism’ in Eviatar Shulman and Daniel Stuart (eds.) “Abhidhamma as systems of experience”, special section, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, 2026, vol. 8, issue. 1, pp. 36–59.
- ‘Calculating Combinations in Abhidhamma: the Pucchāvāra of the Paṭṭhāna’. 2026. Download from HERE.
- ‘The Milk Debt to the Mother: Abhidhamma in Burmese Buddhism’, in Paul Fuller and Indaka Weerasekera (eds.) Mind, Text, and Reality in Buddhist Studies: Engaging the Scholarship of Rupert Gethin. 2025. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 141–160.
- ‘Continuity in Novel Ways of Studying the Paṭṭhāna: the Development of the Study of Paṭṭhāna in Myanmar from the 18th century C.E.’, in The Paṭṭhāna Study Guide by Bhikkhu Atulañāṇa. Foreword, 2024. Anuradhapura: Theravada Publications Society. Download from HERE.
- ‘Meditation: Techniques and Processes of Transformation’, with Kate Crosby, in Berkwitz, Stephen and Ashley Thompson (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Theravada Buddhism. Routledge, 2021, pp. 127–138.
- ‘Transformation and Abhidhamma in Three Theravāda Meditation Traditions’, with Kate
- Crosby, in Toshiichi Endo (ed.) Illuminating the Dharma: Buddhist Studies in Honour of Venerable Professor KL Dhammajoti, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, 2021, pp. 29–50.
- ‘The Sound of the Breath: Sunlun and Theinngu Meditation Traditions of Myanmar’. Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2019, 20, 1–2: 247–291.
- ‘In the Midst of Imperfections: how Buddhists in Burma resolve moral dilemmas encountered in their business activities’. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2017, 24, 287–339.
- ‘An Abhidhamma Perspective: Causes of Illness in a Burmese Buddhist Medical System’ in Pierce Salguero (ed.) Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, Columbia University Press, 2017, pp. 575–582.
Edited volumes
- Variety in Theravada Meditation. Special volume in Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Personal contribution: editing of all contributions; article.
- Critical Thinking in Buddhist Studies. Special section in Contemporary Buddhism: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Vol. 16, Issue 2, 2015. Personal contribution: editing of all contributions; editorial; article.
