The Shwedagon Pagoda

The Second Vatican Council in its Declaration on Non-Christian Religions said: “the Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions“. I have sought to ground my faith by allying Christianity with mysticism. With the gift of wisdom coming from and arising out of this mystical experience of nonduality I hope Christianity would return to being (for me) an even more inwardly-directed religion.

On March 21th 2015 I arrived Thilawa (Rangoon) Myanmar. Myanmar (also called Burma by the British) is a name used by its people for their homeland. King Anawrahta formed the country in the 11th century. Due to the invasion of the Mongols the empire collapsed 200 hundreds years later. The city of Yangon was only founded in 1755. By 1852 the British seized Burma transforming Yangon into a prosperous trading centre and Anglicizing the name to Rangoon. I first heard of this name as a little child when my parents went there on leave under the “aegis” of Harrisons and Crosfield. The name Rangoon has stuck in my mind ever since. I have always dreamed of making a cultural pilgrimage to this mystical land. So I arrived Thilawa (Rangoon) more than 60 years after my dad had first visited it. Upon arrival in Myanmar I took a coach to visit two of the most significant sites in Yangon and Bago.

A view of the Bago River

Bago is located on the eastern bank of the Bago River in Lower Myanmar and was founded in AD 825 by the Mons who migrated from China. King Binya U established his palace in Bago in the 14th century and it became the ancient capital of the Mon Kingdom in the 15th century when it was known as Pegu. My visit to Myanmar would be incomplete without a journey to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon and Shwethalyaung Buddha which is a reclining Buddha on the west side of Bago. I eventually noticed that aspects of Burmese culture are most apparent in religious sites. The country has been called the “Land of Pagodas” because the landscape is dominated by Buddhist pagodas or stupas (in various states of repair) which have stood for nearly a millennium.

According to legend the Shwedagon was constructed more than 2,600 years ago making it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world. Archaeologists and historians however maintain that the pagoda was built by the Mon between 6-10 centuries CE – “The Shwedagon Pagoda”- Journal of the Burma Research Society: 1–91. The Shwedagon Pagoda is located on a 114 acre Singuttara Hill west of the Royal Lake in Yangon. It is the most sacred and impressive Buddhist site for the people of Myanmar.

A view of the landscape from the Sanguttara Hill in Dagon Township Yangon Division

To Shwedagon Pagod

Entrance to the site

In various stages of repair

Visitors are required to remove shoes before entering the site as a mark of respect.

Even though I grew up in multicultural Malaysia where I still have many Buddhist (Mahayana) friends this journey would still grant me a better understanding and an insider’s view of the magnificent symbol of Buddhism (Theravada) in the lives of the Myanmar people. I realize that the Shwedagon forms the focus of religious as well as the community activities of the people of Myanmar.

Religious procession

Religious /community life

Procession for a family member joining the monastic life

Many of the practices of the monkhood are clearly understood only by those who are born into traditional Buddhist cultures.

With ” humility and reverence”. This is the monastic way not unlike the Benedictine way in the tradition of Christianity. However in Christianity (unlike “New Age” spirituality) there is no “losing of individuality” because the ultimate goal of contemplative prayer is to be divinized through union with God. On this day I visited the Shwedagon twice. I was determined to see this place once more (in its splendour) at night …The Pagoda stands 110 metres and is covered with hundreds of gold plates. The site is indeed repository of Myanmar heritage of architecture sculpture and arts.

The spectacular Pagoda at sunset

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Visitors are offered opportunity to light up the site

Lighting up the site

witnessing the hitting of the gong

One of the images of Buddha

Hitting the gong (I generated the loudest sound among the gongmen )!

During my journey to this mystical land I also had the opportunity to visit Shwethalyaung Buddha which is a reclining Buddha in the west side of Bago (Pegu). The Buddha which is 55 m (180 ft) long with a height of 16 m (52 ft) is the second largest Buddha in the world (after the 74 m reclining Buddha in Dawei). The Buddha is believed to have been built during the reign of Mon King in in 994. It is believed to be lost in the eighteenth century when Bago was pillaged. When Britain occupied Burma after the second Anglo-Burmese War the Shwethalyaung Pagoda was rediscovered under the jungle growth. Restoration of the Shwethalyaung began in 1881 and Buddha’s mosaic pillows (on its left side) were added in 1930.

On the way to visit Shwethalyaung Buddha

Shwethalyaung Buddha

The Buddha 55 m long with a height of 16 m.

For scale purpose only

Self-explanatory

Myanmar is predominantly a Theravada Buddhist country. The name Theravada comes from ancestral Sthaviriya which the Theravadins claim descent. A group broke away during the Second Buddhist Council giving rise to the Sthavira sect. According to its own accounts the Theravada school is fundamentally derived from the “doctrine of analysis”.

Images of Buddha

Theravada accounts its own origins to the teachings (known as the Vibhajjavada) agreed upon during the putative Third Buddhist Council under the patronage of the Indian Emperor Ashoka (250 BCE). The Vibhajjavadins in turn is said to have split into four groups: The Mahisasaka Kasyapiya Dharmaguptaka and the Tāmraparṇiya. Theravada is a branch of Buddhism that uses the teaching of the Pali Canon which is a collection of the oldest recorded Buddhist texts as its doctrinal core but also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with various cultures and communities. In recent time Theravada Buddhism has taken root in the West and in the Buddhist revival in India. Theravada Buddhists otherwise known as Theravadins are believed to number over 150 million worldwide. The Theravada sect appeared to be more orthodox while the Mahayana and some other sects tended to be more liberal in their outlook and religious observances.

Inspite of changing circumstances and environment the Theravada sect tried to observe the Vinaya to the very letter. Even though minor changes of the precepts (e.g the rule regarding the partaking of food after the stipulated time of the day) had taken place from time to time they were not officially recognized. The Theravada sect has not openly acknowledged the fact that certain variations could be allowed under special circumstances. Some monks insist on observing the very letter of the Vinaya code rather than in its spirit. Theravada sect has continued to adhere to the use of the original robes that were traditionally prescribed despite the changed social and climatic conditions.

Mahayana is the Buddhism practised in China Indonesia Malaysia Vietnam Korea Tibet and Japan. It constitutes an inclusive tradition characterized by plurality and the adoption of new Mahayana Sutras in addition to the earlier Agama texts. Mahayana sees itself as penetrating further and more profoundly into the Buddha’s Dharma with expansive doctrines. There is also a tendency in Mahayana sutras to regard adherence to these sutras as generating spiritual benefits greater than those that arise from being a follower of the non-Mahayana approaches to Dharma.

The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine were based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings (hence the “Great Vehicle”) and the existence of buddhas and bodhisattvas embodying Buddha Nature. The Pure Land school of Mahayana simplifies the expression of faith by allowing salvation to be alternatively obtained through the grace of the Amitabha Buddha by having faith and devoting oneself to the mindfulness of Buddha. This devotional lifestyle of Buddhism has greatly contributed to the success of Mahayana in East Asia where spiritual elements traditionally relied upon mindfulness of the Buddha and the reading of Mahayana sutras. In Chinese Buddhism most monks (let alone) lay people practise Pure Land with some combining it with Chan (Zen).

Chan Thar Gyi Buddha Image

Most Mahayana schools believe in supernatural bodhisattvas who devote themselves to the perfections ultimate knowledge and the liberation of all sentient beings. In Mahayana the Buddha is seen as the ultimate highest being present in all times in all beings and in all places and the bodhisattvas come to represent the universal ideal of altruistic excellence.

Instruction in Theravada Buddhism

Buddhists nowadays are still concerned with the special rules (Bhikkhunis for female monastics) given by the founder of Buddhism as shown at International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha held at the University of Hamburg, Germany in 2007.

The Sthavira from which Theravada is derived differed from other early Buddhist school on a variety of teachings. The differences resulted from the systemization of the Buddhist teachings which was preserved in the Abdhidhammas of the various schools. The Abhidhamma is a restatement of the doctrine of the Buddha in strictly formalised language assumed to constitute a consistent system of philosophy. Its aim is not the empirical verification of the Buddhist teachings but “to set forth the correct interpretation of the Buddha’s statements in the Sutra to restate his ‘system’ with perfect accuracy”.

The use of mantra or the repetition of certain phrases in Pali is an extremely common form of meditation in the Theravada tradition.

” In Theravada Buddhism one of the main spiritual elements of sangha is to come together for meditation and prayer.”

Burmese female devotees pour water over an image of the Buddha at the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon. This ritual is seen as a way of paying respect to the person of the Buddha himself.

Novice monks

Buddhism reached Burma around the beginning of the Christian era mingling with Hinduism (also imported from India) and indigenous animism.

Christianity was brought to Burma by European missionaries in the 1800s. It made little if any headway among Buddhists but has been widely adopted by non-Buddhists such as the Chin Karen and Kachin. The Roman Catholic School and Myanmar Baptist Convention are the largest Christian denominations in Burma. After the United States Burma is home to the second largest population of Baptists in the world… At the age of 25 Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) became the first Protestant missionary sent from North America to preach in Burma. He was an American Baptist missionary who served in Burma for almost forty years. American Baptist missionary couple Arthur Carson (1860-1908) and his wife Laura (1858-1942) arrived in Burma on March 15 1899 and opened a mission station in Hakha in Chin State. Later other missionaries joined them and did extensive mission works throughout the Chin Hills and converted most of the Northern Chin State to Christianity within a century. This missionary work brought education development social and economic changes and health improvement to the Chin people. Christians were persecuted after the military takeover of Burma in the 1960s.

Approximately 4%-6% of the population of Myanmar are Christians today.

Peace be with you

Nicholas

Just a thought: In another age and time and in other culture it might be different. In the First World (in this age and time) very few enter the monastery just because it is there. Some enter not because society points them there but some how they sense that they will find God inside. For someone not called to live a monastic life I need to find myself grounded in the idea that God’s presence is everywhere. It is incumbent upon me to seek this out as follower of Christ and live life in a holistic manner with a constant reminder of the reality of the Incarnation.

For me Jesus is the Way : “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”- John 14:6 (KJV ). But what are the “many mansions”?

In John 14:2 (KJV): “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”. Perhaps “by Him” there is hope for everyone (willing) to find a place in the Kingdom of God… even for the unbaptised (for those who had come before John the Baptist for the one who repented and died on the cross next to our Saviour and for those who will come after and are willing to follow His Way – (the Path to His Kingdom) …“For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.”– Anselm of Canterbury.

” In the physical world I arrived where I had started and knew the place for the first time. I have also come to the realization that the busyness of life had spun me outward from the centre. I am grateful to have stumbled upon “The Road of The Diamond”–my pilgrim path. This “Road” may still have ups and downs but I believe the way-marks are clear and the destination set. The only thing unsure is when I will arrive. My journey continues…”