The Theras

Titles may be trivial or petty matters but sometimes it may be important to us when we are addressing or make reference to a person.

Tonight before the Dhamma talk, Sayadaw mentioned that people here are ignorant of the terms nava, majjhima, thera and mahathera. Many people used wrong titles of Mahathera when refering to a bhikkhu even though the bhikkhu is only had one vassa. Here, Sayadaw taught us the proper usage of these 4 terms:

1. Nava bhikkhu refers to bhikkhu who has less than 5 vassas
2. Majjhima bhikkhu refers to bhikkhu who has 5 to 9 vassas
3. Thera bhikkhu refers to bhikkhu who has 20 or less than 20 vassas
4. MahaThera bhikkhu refers to bhikkhu who has more than 20 vassas

• Further clarification of these terms can be checked from this link.

Reverence to the title of Maha Thera must be done correctly, reflecting the seniority of the bhikkhu and not to the convenience of the devotees.

Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu.