Tag Archives: buddhism It is a different world… Temples and monasteries are an integral part of life in Myanmar. They accommodate about half a million males, who are either vocational monks or novices, and around 50,000 nuns. That is: roughly one percent of the population actually lives in one of the many monasteries or nunneries, completely dependent on the laity for all their…  Temples in Southeast Asia are living places. This is certainly true in Myanmar. The many Buddhist temples I visited there were architecturally beautiful – and different, with no two exactly the same. But what I generally find more interesting is the life – both sacred and secular – within and around them. On my first afternoon in Mandalay,…  Myanmar truly is “The Golden Land.” From the mines to the temples, gold is everywhere. Shwedagon Pagoda, for example, is covered in 60 tons of gold, pounded into thin leaves. Gold is an integral part of Burmese life. Every day, faithful Burmese apply gold leaf to their favourite Buddha images as offerings. So much gold leaf has been…  We are having property management problems yet again. Our little holiday cottage, which sits perched on a quiet beach in Koh Samui, Thailand, has been orphaned once more. The situation is not as serious as it was 18 months ago, but it is still distressing to try to deal with agents and cleaners and bills when we are…  Enlightenment doesn’t happen overnight. Neither, apparently, does building a temple. I don’t know how long they have been working on the new wihan (พระวิหาร), or shrine hall, at Wat Ratchathammaram (วัดราชธรรมาราม) in Maret on the southeast side of Koh Samui, but we’ve been driving past on the way to or from somewhere for several of our visits… |
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