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A kyaung (, ) is a monastery (vihara), comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of bhikkhu. Burmese kyaungs are sometimes also occupied by novice monks (samanera), lay attendants ( kappiya), nuns ( thilashin), and white-robed (ဖိုးသူတော် phothudaw).
The kyaung has traditionally been the center of village life in Burma, serving as both the educational institution for children and a community center, especially for merit-making activities such as construction of buildings, offering of food to monks and celebration of Buddhist festivals, and observance of uposatha. Monasteries are not established by members of the sangha, but by laypersons who donate land or money to support the establishment.
Kyaungs are typically built of wood, meaning that few historical monasteries built before the 1800s are extant. Kyaungs exist in Myanmar (Burma), as well as in neighboring countries with Theravada Buddhist communities, including neighboring China (e.g., Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture). According to 2016 statistics published by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, Myanmar is home to 62,649 kyaungs and 4,106 nunneries. Burmese monasteries are typically built on land zoned for monasteries, pagodas, or allotted by the government. In urban centres, monasteries tend to cluster together, due to lack of available land.
Kyaung has also been borrowed into Tai languages, including into Shan language as kyong (spelt ၵျွင်း or ၵျေႃင်း) and into Tai Nuea as zông2 (ᥓᥩᥒᥰ, rendered in Chinese as ).
In modern-day Myanmar, kyaungs may be divided into a number of categories, including monastic colleges called sathintaik (), remote forest monasteries called tawya kyaung (), and monastic schools called ba ka kyaung (ဘကကျောင်း). Myanmar's primary monastic university towns are Bago, Pakokku, and Sagaing.
Traditional monastic education first developed in the Pagan Kingdom, in tandem with the proliferation of Theravada Buddhism learning in the 1100s. The syllabus at kyaungs included the Burmese language, Pali grammar and Buddhist texts with a focus on discipline, morality and code of conduct (such as Mangala Sutta, Sigalovada Sutta, Dhammapada, and Jataka tales), prayers and elementary arithmetic. Influential monasteries held vast libraries of manuscripts and texts. The ubiquity of monastic education was attributed with the high literacy rate for Burmese Buddhist men. The 1901 Census of India found that 60.3% of Burmese Buddhist men over twenty were literate, as compared to 10% for British India as a whole. Kyaungs called pwe kyaungs (ပွဲကျောင်း) also taught secular subjects, such as astronomy, astrology, medicine, massage, divination, horsemanship, swordsmanship, archery, arts and crafts, boxing, wrestling, music and dancing. During the Konbaung Dynasty, various kings, including Bodawpaya suppressed the proliferation of pwe kyaung, which were seen as potential venues for rebellions.
Sumptuary law dictated the construction and ornamentation of Burmese kyaungs, which were among the few building structures in pre-colonial Burma to possess elaborate multi-tiered roofs called pyatthat. Mason characterized royal monasteries.
In recent decades, monasteries have expanded to provide social welfare services; these are called parahita kyaung (ပရဟိတကျောင်း). They fill a void in government services, providing education, health services, housing, and vocational services. One such kyaung, Thabarwa Meditation Center in the Yangon suburb of Thanlyin is one of the largest social welfare centers in Myanmar.
Since 1993, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture have jointly accredited thousands of independent monastic schools to operate in the country. Colloquially called (ဘကကျောင်း), these schools are functionally independent but teach the national curriculum, and students from these schools are allowed to sit in state-run examinations. Teacher salaries at these schools are paid by the national government. In 2018, Yangon Region had 280 such schools, attended by 80,000 students, while Mandalay Region had 325 monastic schools (e.g., Phaungdawoo Monastic Education High School), attended by 68,000 students. Many students who attend monastic schools today are from ethnic minorities including the Palaung people, Pa'O, and Shan people, often fleeing violence and economic insecurity in the country's unstable border regions.
Buddhist monasteries in Myanmar are affiliated with a monastic order. However, monks of different orders commonly cross sectarian lines and stay in monasteries of different orders. In 2016, 89% of the country's monasteries were affiliated with Thudhamma Nikaya, the country's largest monastic order.
In small monasteries, a single abbot manages everything, while larger monasteries have additional leadership roles —such as a vice monk, managing monk, and head of dormitories—who handle specific responsibilities. These roles are appointed by the abbot, and the monks holding such roles are often considered likely successors to him.
Ownership and inheritance of monastic real estate is complicated by the Vinaya. Monastic real estate disputes are adjudicated by religious courts run by the State Sangha Mahā Nāyaka Committee. Forms of monastery ownership include:
Traditional monasteries of the Konbaung era consisted of the following halls:
In pre-colonial times, royal monasteries were organized as complexes known as kyaung taik (ကျောင်းတိုက်), composed of several residential buildings, including the main building, the kyaunggyi (ကျောင်းကြီး) or kyaungma (ကျောင်းမ), which was occupied by the residing sayadaw, and smaller structures called kyaungyan (ကျောင်းရံ), which housed the sayadaw's disciples.D. Christian Lammerts (2025). 9789814519069, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. ISBN 9789814519069 The complexes were walled compounds, and also housed a library, ordination halls, meeting halls, water reservoirs and wells, and utility buildings. Thayettaw is a major kyaungtaik in downtown Yangon, comprising over 60 individual monasteries.
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