U Pannya Jota Mahathera
Biography. Early life. U Pannya Jota (Birth name: U Saw Hla, ) was born in Bandarban, East Pakistan, on December 22, 1955. His father Hla Thowai Prue, his mother Aung Mra Ching, and his grandfather Kyaw Zaw Than was the late King of Royal Bohmong family. At the early of six or seven, he began to attend school in Bandarban and after his high school/college he was admitted to Dhaka University in the Law department. University. During his university life, he has led several organizations in promoting education among the students. He has joined many organizations  and worked for the promotion of indigenous cultural heritage. He used to sing traditional songs at functions and many popular Marma songs like “Sangrai ma” were composed by him. He also formed a music band named The Royal Artists Group (). After his graduation, he served Bangladesh Government as a judge and magistrate for about 8 years. As a judge, he has worked towards justice and peace for society. At the second time of ordination, he grew a strong determination to become a Buddhist monk forever. He resigned from his job as a judge and became a monk in 1990 at  Ching Mrong Bihara. From that day he became known as U Pannya Jota Mahathera. Since then, he has been working tirelessly for Buddhasasana. Life as U Pannya Jota. U Pannya Jota was very keen on learning and practicing Buddhism in depth. He believed Buddhism has the potential to bring peace to the minds of all people. The teaching and meditation in Buddhism were how he served society in peace building. He visited various places and taught Dhamma to the laypeople. He was one of the social reformers who worked on the scientific understanding of Buddhism and denied the superstitious beliefs  that many people in Bangladesh had used to believe. Outside of preaching, he spent most of his free time practicing meditation. He has visited various countries and met many world popular meditation teachers like S.N. Goenka. He learned meditation from many great meditation masters from India and Burma. Publications. He was not only a practitioner, but a Buddhist scholar as well. He practiced what he preached, and he preached what he practiced. This is why he published several books on the topics of Buddhism. His books were highly successful among Bangladeshi Buddhist readers. Establishment. Additionally he also built several temples  in the country and outside the country. The objective of building temples in other countries is to keep the exchange of ideas and ties strong between countries. These are some of his temples built by him and some are under construction. Buddha Dhatu Jadi. One of the most famous temples is the Buddha Dhatu Jadi. It is an amazingly decorative temple on the hill top. The Golden Temple with golden bell set on a dragon statue along with the second biggest Buddhist statue of Bangladesh. The local people called the Golden Temple as ‘Kyang’. The Buddha's dhatu (relic), which  is enshrined in the temple, was a gift given to U Pannya Jota Mahathera in 1994 by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee of Myanmar. The Dhatu of Golden Temple has been believed to provide peace and contentment for mankind. Rama Zadi. Rama Zadi is the largest and tallest Buddhist temple of Bangladesh, which is located in Hoda Babur Ghona area of Rohangchhari Upazila Road, 3 km away from the Bandarban district town. Its height is almost 175 ft. Participation. These are some of international conferences he attended in promoting world peace by exchange of ideas and also to keep  connection with the Buddhist countries around the world. Social welfare. All of his organizations were for the purpose of social welfare. He built schools and learning centers especially for children and monks. His aim was to educate the young generation of the society because he believed that the future lies in the hands of the youth. Consequently, he thought the cause of tyranny and conflicts in the society is due to education: people with improper education were the ones creating problems in society in his eyes. They would do foolish things because they hadn't been taught otherwise. The most  venerable of his aims was to build an educated society by providing secular and religious studies to all. He also hoped that the children in his institutions would be examples and contributors to society. In his documentary, he said that he wanted to provide education for poor children whose parents are not able to pay education fees to send their children to schools. He also mentioned that some of these children are far from remote and hill areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts where there is not access to modern schools and facilities. Listed below are some of his social institutions  for children.