Myanmar Summary

The group: Young, Pu Pu and me.

Religion is everywhere.

A monk sleeps contentedly in his gaze.

A reclining Buddha makes a good sitter.

Monks and nuns both are both supported by the communities who feed them.

Myanmar Summary

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Myanmar. It is a beautiful country, rich in tradition and culture and full of warm and friendly people.

Myanmar gained independence from the British on January 4, 1948, right after the Second World War. There is some confusion worldwide about what to call this country and its major city. The British gave the country the name Burma and the city Rangoon, but historically it was Myanmar and Yangon and that is what they have gone back to. Yangon is thought to be the capital city of the country, but not so. That honour goes to a city that very few people have ever heard of: Nay Pyi Taw. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, being an entirely planned city outside of any state or region, similar to Canberra in Australia, or Washington, D.C. in the United States. Nay Pyi Taw is notable for its unusual combination of large size and very low population density. Nay Pyi Taw is more centrally located than Yangon. The military government decided to move the capital from Yangon, which they said had become too congested and had little room for growth and began building a new capital city in 2002. It was completed in 2012. It is a transportation hub located adjacent to the Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states. It was felt by government and military leaders that a stronger military and government presence nearby might provide stability to those chronically turbulent regions.

The history of the area of Southeast Asia is long and complicated. For example, back in the 1600’s Myanmar included most of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Borders have shifted many times over history with the victors of war or because of colonial imperialism. Today Myanmar shares borders with Thailand, Laos, China, India, and Bangladesh. There are 135 different tribal people in all these regions who are on one side of the border and would like to be on the other or would like to create their own country. As a result, there is conflict along a lot of the Myanmar border. Pu Pu said that if they all got their wishes the country would become very small. She feels the international media has been quick to judge Myanmar without really researching the underlying history. She claims there are terrorist groups in the Muslim Rohingya people in the Rakhine state of Western Myanmar bordering on Bangladesh who are trying very hard to separate from the country and it is these people who the government is dealing with. Whatever the case, it is always really easy for the Western countries to assess the problem and provide a solution without really getting it right. Look at Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and others. I don’t really know what the problem is, but there has been no mention of it anywhere I have been. I have not seen military presence anywhere. You wouldn’t know there was anything going on a few hundred miles from here. Whether the local people are informed, I really have no idea, but Pu Pu says they are. I have never felt unsafe hear because of the issues at that border. The following is a precis of an article from late May 2018 published in a UK newspaper:

Geneva/Yangon: The United Nations said on Thursday it had struck an outline deal with Myanmar aimed at eventually allowing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims sheltering in Bangladesh to return safely and by choice.

Since August 2017, about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a military crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, many reporting killings, rape and arson on a large scale, UN and other aid organisations have said.

"Since the conditions are not conducive for voluntary return yet, the MoU (memorandum of understanding) is the first and necessary step to support the government's efforts to change that situation," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years but differences between the two sides persist, impeding implementation of the plan.

In a separate statement on Thursday, Myanmar's government said it would set up an independent commission to investigate "the violation of human rights and related issues" in Rakhine State following the army operation there in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security posts.

Senior UNHCR official George William Okoth-Obbo said an immediate challenge for humanitarian agencies was to relocate 200,000 Rohingya refugees threatened by seasonal monsoon flooding and landslides to a safer place.

The United Nations and aid agencies have described the crackdown on the Rohingya as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", an accusation Myanmar rejects.

The Security Council asked Myanmar in November to ensure no "further excessive use of military force" and to allow "freedom of movement, equal access to basic services, and equal access to full citizenship for all".

Myanmar has for years denied Rohingya citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as healthcare. Many in Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from mostly Muslim Bangladesh.

Other items of interest:

This is the low season for tourists on account of the oncoming monsoon and the heat. But the troubles in the northwest part of the country where they share the border with Bangladesh has really put off tourists coming to this country. Whenever we go to a hotel, or a market or a tourist site with souvenir shops, we can see how few tourists there are. The hotel staff wait and fawn over us, sometimes up to three waiters, and shops are desperate to sell you things, but thankfully they do take ‘no thank you’ pretty graciously.

Myanmar used to drive on the left like their British colonizers, but switched to the right side in the 80’s. However, for some reason they import a lot of second hand right side drive cars from Japan. All public buses are left hand drive. This makes it very interesting for driving and especially for passing as frequently they can’t see around the truck in front of them from the wrong side of the car. Pu Pu says that the people prefer to drive on the right side of the car, but as of 2018 the government has decreed that all cars going forward must have left side drive.

As most of you know, I don’t have a religious bone in my body. However, I seem to be traveling the world visiting all the major religious sites. I have been to a large number of the Buddhist countries and even though I think that the masses have been very effectively brainwashed from birth, there are some aspects of the religion that seem sensible to me. For example, they believe that in order to achieve their ultimate goal of nirvana, they have to perform a good deed daily, to help someone or donate to the temple. But there is always someone in this world who would find a way to make money from this. On the teak bridge I saw a woman with a bird cage full of sparrows. I asked Pu Pu why, and she said you buy one or more and set it free thus doing your daily good deed. I was tempted to buy the lot and free the unfortunate birds, but that would only perpetuate their capture. The monks and the religious powers that be have convinced the populace over the ages, that they can achieve nirvana (or go to heaven) by donating regularly to the temples. As a western who comes at this from a very different vantage point, I see poor people financing the religion and what do they get back? The promise of nirvana and more temples and monks, all of which they support.

I did some research on the net, about Buddhism and the role of monks in Myanmar life. Here are a few things I learned. I am sorry it is a bit disjointed. I did not really have time to collate it in the best order.  I hope you find it interesting, because it certainly is different from home.  

Buddhism in Myanmar is by 89% of the country's population. It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and proportion of income spent on religion.

The basic Five Precepts of Buddhism are to refrain from taking life, stealing, lying, committing adultery and drinking intoxicants. They should be "worn as firmly as one wears his waist garment." Although prestige and wealth are impressive it is also the upright morality of a man that decides his standing in the community.

"Theravada Buddhism is not a religion in the sense in which that word is commonly understood, it is not a system of faith or worship." It is a path to follow for harmonious living and its essence is Metta, loving kindness to all creature and self.

"To refrain from all evil
To do what is good,
To purify the mind"

The majority of the population lives in the countryside as farmers and their daily lives are infused at all levels by Buddhist beliefs. The people know that their lives should be governed by the three principles of Buddhism: morality, charity and awareness. They believe that both loving kindness and endurance, build moral character. They know it through the 550 Jataka Tales, of the Buddha's patience in enduring suffering and his attitude even towards enemies during his 550 reincarnations. They believe that having unstinting goodwill towards others in thought, word and deed brings merit, while malice lessens the collected merit. What is conveniently called luck or fate is derived from the word action, so they understand that what happens to them is directly caused by their own actions. There is no blind fate or random luck, for according to Buddhist belief transgressing against others brings similar suffering to the guilty, if not in this life then in the following ones. To the Buddhist, a lifetime is but one among the millions of rebirths that they could go through until they can cease this suffering by reaching Nirvana. This life cycle includes rebirth as animals, ghosts or celestials, the last comparable to angels of Christianity.

The amount of merit enables them to be reborn to a better life but one reaches Nirvana, the end of the cycle of rebirths only through meditation of striving to attain constant, conscious awareness, as well as purifying the mind by discarding attachments.

Buddha is not a god to be prayed to for favours or mercy, and salvation rests entirely on each person. However, human beings having weaknesses and strengths as well as a need for succour in times of desperation and danger... or greed... the majority of the Buddhists have come to believe in the Buddha's glory, if not actually his persona, as having the 'power' to 'save' them or improve their lives.
Even with such beliefs growing within Buddhist practice, these devotees seeking salvation know that greater sins such as taking a life, doing harm to others, disrespect or ingratitude toward parents could not be erased by any number of offerings they make to images.

Many spirits already exist in Buddhist lore as celestials, somewhat like angels, while Spirits of Animist worship are ghosts. Contrary to popular belief, it is greed and not poverty that turns people to Spirit worship.

Many new monasteries are being built by public or individual donations, as well as some nunneries. The biggest increase is in the number of new meditation centres which opened all over the country. People donated millions towards the construction, upkeep and the feeding of simple meals to the disciples. It has become normal for people of both sexes to take a course of ten days or more at these places.

Before the 1980s there were very few publications on meditation that are not peppered with difficult Pali terms and complex passages from the Buddhist scriptures, but a decade later secular-system educated and open-minded monks began to write books in simple and straightforward Burmese.
Their view is that while meditation leads the way to Nirvana it also helps people in the daily struggle with frustrations or anger. Devotees tape their sermons and sell them cheaply or distribute them free. So even the young people who before had no patience to read complex sermons in the old style became interested, which in turn led them to actually joining meditation classes.

The nature of the Myanmar people in general rarely include tragic overtones however hard their lives, or the neurosis of guilt of self-doubt. Belief in the Buddhist principles of hardship being the result of past defilements and transgressions, in the previous life if not in this one, saves them from questioning why such a fate has befallen them or why an All-Powerful Being has chosen to punish them so. Even in matters of extreme tragedy such as a violent and sudden death of a family member, they believe that it is past misdeeds that have caught up with the deceased.

If they have transgressed against others, they know they will pay for it one day even if not in this life. This belief keeps most people from doing cold-blooded bodily harm to others and perhaps this is the reason for the lack of violent street crime: in the country: it is not the police they fear but the afterlife. Thus, they have a fatality of facing what they know is inevitable and a resilience born out of the other belief that they could lessen the 'punishment' by doing good deeds.

There is no questioning without answers as to why certain terrible things happen to them, which goes a long way towards lessening self-pity or a sense of injustice. In times of despair they pray harder, do more good deeds and try to have a better attitude towards others. In desperation, they might go to fortune-tellers who prescribe certain rituals to be done at the pagoda and their faith in the glory of Buddha's persona is so strong that at least their fears are calmed after performing them.

This is not to say that everyone is a saint; there are those who by nature are violent and who would rob or steal and in the process, kill. There are those whose anger and frustration erupts into violence.
Overall, daily life is generally filled with merits done or lost. One great merit is to be respectful and caring of elders, especially towards parents and teachers. Nothing is more disdained than ungratefulness to parents even when some parents might be too demanding of their children. Being respectful of teachers or elders at times mean that unfortunately they are never questioned. This vertical system exists and will continue to exist until the deeply devout people come to realise that correcting someone or pointing out mistakes especially when it involves an elder and superior, is done not out of treachery or hatred but of honesty. Buddhist monks, who are venerated throughout Burmese society, are approximately 500,000 strong. Nuns form an additional 75,000.

The monks cannot cook for themselves and rely on people from the community or businesses to feed them. At 6:00am they walk in single file on a designated route where the people know they are coming. They stand by the side of the road and dish out a ladle full of rice into the pot of each monk in turn. Pu Pu says the people are happy to do this as the monks help them by collecting their donations and helping them to do good deeds which improves their karma. They are also thankful for the monks as they teach the people about the lessons of Buddha.

The nuns, on the other hand, do cook for themselves, but they too walk in single file through markets and business streets where the local people provide them with food items which they take back to cook their meals.

Most households will donate food to the monks who go with bare feet on their or Soon food rounds and stand silently in front of each house with eyes downcast. Unlike nuns, monks do not call out to the household for alms. If no one comes out or someone respectfully informs the monk that they could not offer anything, they leave. Usually they stop only in front of the houses of regular donors. Some devotees have their own regular monks who are invited to come into the house while the bowl is filled, Many prefer to stand in front of their houses with a large pot of rice and curry to donate to all monks that passes by. If they could not do it on a daily basis, they donate once a week. In some neighbourhoods in a deeply "religious" one like Mandalay, they put up signs asking the monks to come for alms on a certain day of the week, staggering the days with those chosen by other neighbourhoods to ensure Soon for every day of the week. Mandalay is also the place where in respect to the first precept of not taking life, they used to put up signs saying “be kind to animals by not eating them.”

In old Europe, if a man had three sons, one would inherit his estate or profession, one would become a soldier and the third would join the clergy. In the Burmese family inheritance is equal although in the past the eldest son received more. A son is seldom forced to join the monastic community for life but if he so wishes, nothing could please the parents more. The parents can be honoured and a mother with a son as a monk can hold her head high in her community, however poor she may be. A woman without a son can fund the expenses of a man who wants to become a monk.

The people send their children to monastic schools to receive a Buddhist education, learning the old Pali language, the life story of Buddha, the 550 Jataka tales - most importantly the Ten Great Incarnations and the 38 Buddhist Beatitudes - as soon as they have a good grounding of the three Rs. Monks were the traditional teachers of the young and old alike until secular and missionary schools came into being during the British colonial administration.

There has been a revival of monastic schools since the 1990s with the deepening economic crisis. Children from poor families that can ill afford fees, uniforms and books have renewed the demand for a free monastic education.

The overwhelming majority of Burmese monks wear maroon robes, unlike in neighbouring countries like Thailand, Laos and Sri Lanka, where monks commonly wear saffron robes.

People say they want sons because it would give them the honour of holding a 'to make a monk' ceremony, of initiating them into the Order as novices, who must follow 75 rules of conduct. During the festivities and the parade around town the richly costumed novices-to-be are shaded with opened gold umbrellas. They stay a few days or weeks at the monastery but in the countryside, it is normal for them to stay several months or a few years.

A new monk ceremony can be as elaborate or not as could be afforded. A boy can become a novice or a man a monk by having the requisite eight utensils of monk hood, and if he could not afford them, a donor could be found. However, it is not unusual for a family to get into debt for holding one with the ostentation they could not afford. The daughters of the family join their brothers not to become nuns but usually to have their ears pierced. A Myanmar Buddhist boy growing up without once entering the Order, usually due to poverty, is a mark for ridicule from his peers.
Through the ages, as the result of discriminative writing by some monks, and secular writers it became widely accepted that in Buddhist belief women are inferior to men. However, it is not true, for both in social and Buddhist traditions, mothers are esteemed and respected more than fathers, so womanhood is not disdained.

The Buddha spoke about the nobility that can exist in a man or woman, and the malice that can turn either of them evil and he never stated women were inferior.

Cultural norms exist however, in relation to women's status within the Buddhist context such as women not being allowed on the upper terraces of pagodas. It was not Buddha's rule that made it so, for pagodas did not exist until about 500 years after his passing.

Buddhist women do not mind this 'discrimination' as some western feminists view it, for it is a part of accepted behaviour according to cultural norms. In reality Myanmar women are a strong force behind the scenes, be it as mother or wife, even if in the eyes of westerners they lack rights: most of which in reality do not actively hamper everyday life.

Myanmar Buddhist nuns observe 81 rules of conduct. Nuns are not considered on the same level as monks. In the years before the 1980s, nunneries were not as many, and people tended to look down upon nuns as women who had no family or could not 'get' a husband.

With the increasing breakdown of the Socialist economy of the time, nunneries began to take in old people without family and orphaned or abandoned girl children. When the public saw that the nuns were saving the girls from a life in street crime or worse, nuns became more respected than in earlier times.

The older nuns, according to their rules, go out two consecutive days a week to beg for dry goods which they share with the children. The nunneries sometimes get lump sum donations from the public. Under the rules of nunneries, the girls have to enter the Order if they are over seven, as do boys taken in by monasteries but a nun or monk could leave the Order whenever they wished. It is not a strict life-long commitment.

Sorry this is so long, but it is a complicated topic. As usual, I welcome any comments or feedback.