Sitagu Buddhist Academy

Sagaing

Set up in 1994 to educate the brightest young monks, this academy is a major intellectual centre for Theravada Buddhism. The centrepiece is a Sanchi-style hemispherical stupa, gilded and embossed with dharma-wheel patterns. In the surrounding arcade are photos of Asia's great Buddhist sites, often shown as holiday-style snaps featuring the university's founder-monk Ashin Nyanissara.

You can walk around the campus anytime, but it would be odd to visit at night, after the monks turn in (around 8pm).

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Nearby Sagaing attractions

1. Tilawkaguru

0.32 MILES

At the foot of the great temple-studded hills of Sagaing, you’ll find this little-visited cave monastery. Supposedly built around the 1670s, Tilawkaguru…

2. Soon U Pon Nya Shin Paya

0.46 MILES

This ‘early offering shrine’ is the most important of the temples on Sagaing Hill’s southern crown and the first you’ll come to on climbing the One Lion…

3. U Min Thonze Caves

0.6 MILES

Around a 10-minute walk south of Soon U Pon Nya Shin, U Min Thonze Caves (literally '30 Caves') is a temple complex famed for its crescent-shaped…

4. Thakya Dita Nunnery

0.69 MILES

This modern nunnery has a 16.5ft gilded woven-cane buddha figure in an air-conditioned glass chamber. Respectful guests are warmly welcomed.

5. Shwezigon

0.73 MILES

This small pagoda offers nice views over the countryside.

6. Shin Pin Nan Kain

0.93 MILES

Shin Pin Nan Kain's brass-clad stupa sits on a hilltop that's lower than Sagaing Hill, but has even better panoramas.