Who is a weizzar?

In the Burmese language, "weizzar" means the knowledge and skill to do something. A person who has full knowledge to do something really well is called a "weizzar dara". When we contract this word we get the Burmese word "weizzar do". Here "dara" becomes "do". The Pali word "sarana" means deligent practice. Thus in the nine virtues of the Buddha we say "weizzar sarana". It means someone who has knowledge and good practice.

In "sarana" there are 15 components. They are .. the virtues of a virtuous person are seven; good conduct or sila is four; Jhana is four. Thus togeether they make 15 components of "sarana".
In Buddhism we classify human beings into three categories... a) Anta putuzana or inferior human being, b) kalayana putuzana or mediocre human being, and c) ariya or those who are already on the path leading to Nibbana. They are Sotapana, Thadagan, Anagan and Yahanda (also called Arahat).

For weizzars also there are two categories .. Lawki Weizzar Do and Lawkuttara Weiizar Do.
Lawki Weizzar Do: In the Burmese language lawka means "of this world". Therefore lawki weizzar dos or lawki  weizzars are persons who study the knowledge which pertains to mundane things. Lawkuttara weizzar dos are persons who are interested in attaining liberation from the 31 planes of existence. They are on the path to nibanna.

There are three types of lawki weizzars.
a) Zenapada Gandayi weizzar: This is the lower level path.

b) Sula Gandayi weizzar: Those person who study and who have full knowledge of any of the following arts viz. the art of magical inscriptions using tabular forms with numbers incsribed on bamboo paper or very thin copper plates ( in Burmese this is called Inn Weizzar path) ; the art of healing using herbs and magical inscriptions (this is called Say Weizzar path) ; the art of alchemy using mercury as the base (this is called Pada Weizzar path) ; the art of alchemy using iron as the base (this is called Than Weizzarb path) ; the art of magical inscriptions using figures of the Buddha and Nats ( this is also called Inn Weizzar path) ; the art of magical inscriptions using alphabets (this is called Sama Weizzar path).

c) Mahagandayi weizzar: Those persons who have made a solemn wish to be reborn as the chief disciples of the future Buddha called "Medeya" or "Meitreya" as written by Tibetan scholars.

Other scholars classify weizzars into six categories:
1. Veda Weizzar: Those persons who have full knowledge of the four vedas. The four vedas are Thama, Yazu, Iru and Artappana.
2. Manda Weizzar: Those persons who have full knowledge of palmistry, reading of omens, gahtas, mantras and Dat Kyan (knowledge pertaining to the interaction of the four primary elements such as Earth, Fire, Water and Air. Also includes the knowledge of food and nutrition and how these can be used according to the weather and different geographic locations.

(to be continued)