The holy objects are carved in wood, sculpted in marble or gilded in gold to touch the mind and soul of anyone lucky enough to set eyes on them. Everyone's heart too will surely be moved by the devotion evident in every single statue and stupa, impressed by the cleanliness and awed by the simplicity of their faith. All this in a country that is probably one of the world's "poorest". Harmed by trade sanctions imposed by the West and largely ignored by the rest of the world, Burma's people nevertheless maintain an elegant simplicity that is fabulous to experience, rejoice and behold.
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| Burma Temples Of Bagan |
This is the second time I have been to Burma in twelve months. The first time I had gone only to Yangon the capital, but that journey had forever transformed my view of Burma. When I first set eyes on the Shwedagon complex of golden pagodas (real gold not plated!) I kept whispering to myself, "it is not possible that such a place as this exists in the world, so many thousands of life size Buddhas in as many shrines and altars, prayer halls and holy stupas".
It does not matter what lineage Buddhist you belong to or indeed even whether you are a Buddhist at all. You simply cannot fail to be awed by the sheer magnificence and splendour of the place, or by the devotion on the faces of the people walking around the central stupa. This surely must be one of the wonders of the world! Constructed of solid gold plates and encrusted with zillions of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, all magnificently lit up against a dark blue but clear sky, you imagine, "surely this must be pure land".
That is what my precious Lama, the incomparable Choden Rinpoche and the two learned monks, Geshe Gyalten and Geshe Deyang and an attendant monk all said to me as they too stared open-mouthed wonder at the sight before them. My precious Guru and his attendants came with me, this time with 45 others - friends and business partners of mine - all keen to explore the Burma experience. They were definitely not disappointed that first night as they lit 9000 light offerings around the stupa in tribute to the golden pagoda. It was a feeling which stayed with them all through the eight days we were in the country. After Yangon, we flew to the magical ancient city of Bagan where 3,500 stupas dot an entire city and its suburbs.
Here, the purity of the energy makes the chi so light that we feel like we are floating. The breezes that blow are of a most special quality, and although we are here in summer when temperatures are around the 90F level, we hardly noticed.
We explore one temple after another, soaking in the energy of the gigantic Buddha statues in the still maintained Stupas here, many of which are over a thousand years old. Some of the temples are better kept than others, but each has its own very special energy. Meanwhile, following us is an entire troupe of retail sales boys and girls - all charming and gentle and Oh-so-eager to do some business, cut a deal, sell us something.
They show us jade, gemstones, antiquities and lacquer ware. There is amazing art done with river stones and painted to reflect the images found in the pagodas and stupas. Indeed, there are many lovely souvenirs to buy and they are not expensive. Burmese craftsmanship is legendary. Workmanship is as good as anything you can get from the best shops of the western world.
But it is Mandalay and beyond that the most amazing surprise await us. We drive North of this ancient city towards the special region of Monywa, and the drive takes us about 6 hours. The roads are quite good and stupas and temples dot the journey... and then we start to see them - life-size Buddha statues sitting in various stages of meditation, their hands in different mudras and they stretch for miles it seems. How can there be so many Buddhas and in such a remote part of Burma? This ends Part 1 of Burma Temples Of Bagan. You can read Part 2 at the next post.