My visit to Fo Guang Shan was very memorable and cherishable. Ven. YiJih welcomed me like an old friend and Ms. Chang took me to the campus of Fo Guang Shan. I am every grateful for their kindness and gratitude. My visit to Fo Guang Shan was covered in the Fo Guang Shan newspaper with the title ‘Hawaiian Indian Fellow Visit Fo Guang Shan’ and it is as below.
Hawaiian Indian Fellow Visit Fo Guang Shan He is from Ladakh, Himalaya, India. Presently, Kyomunim is a fellowship at the East West Center in University of Hawaii. The main reasons to visit FGS this time were to know FGS and to understand how Venerable Master Hsing Yun encouraged and cultivated his female disciples. He had been studied Won-Buddhism for more than 20 years in Korea. He started this trip from Hwa Lien by train to here. By the time he arrived at FGS already past seven-thirty at night. Venerable Yi-Jih handed him a copy of special issue about Bodhgaya International Full Ordination Ceremony 1998 which was held by FGS. This book also is one of the reasons why he visited here. He was very touched at that moment. The next day, he attended the morning chanting in Main Shrine. The volunteered tour guide Chang Chung-Mei took him to The Great Buddha Land after breakfast. He was amazed by the unbelievable constructions. He then took pictures with so many Amitabha Buddha to remember them. While walking downhill from The Ksitigarbha Shrine, he saw someone cutting the bushes. The volunteered tour guide told him he was a volunteer. Kyomunim was surprised. The volunteered tour guide told him that there is a very organized volunteers group in FGS. The volunteers come from different parts of Taiwan. They are also from overseas. FGS is so big. It needs a lot of man power. In order to welcome visitors and lay people, FGS will have all kinds of activities. Therefore, there are many volunteers join this group to accomplish so many things. The tour guide also told him that Venerable Master Hsing Yun's idea is “To use everyone's power to accomplish everyone's work”. Because single person's strength has limit, there is no limit when join everyone together. Because he wants to understand the Bhikkhunis Sangha in FGS, tour guide brought him to the Museum of Fo Guang Shan History at the 2nd floor of Tathagata Hall. From there, he could see the detail description of how FGS was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the past Abbots, the senior Bhikkhunis like Venerable Tzu Chuang(慈莊法師), Venerable Tzu Hui(慈惠法師), Venerable Tzu Jung(慈容法師). They were the teachers of the Ordination at Bodhgaya in 1998. They are the leaders for monastic buildings, education, all kinds of activities, respectively. He kept nodding his head said they were remarkable! The Indian fellow later visited Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery and Pure Land Cave. The tour guide mentioned Buddha Memorial Center and suggested him to go this time, because Buddha's tooth relic was there. The relic was given to Venerable Master Hsing Yun in 1998 by Kunga Dorje Rinpoche. While inside the Pure Land Cave, he praised greatly for Master Hsing Yun 's creativity. The pure land was appeared in front of people live - likely back to forty or fifty years ago. It is really incredible. Although time was short, only stayed one day, Kyomunim felt very substantial. He was very thankful for being received by FGS. He said FGS already in his memory forever. The tour guide told him to visit FGS at Hawaii after he went back to Hawaii. Venerable Yi-Hung(依宏法師) is the Abbess there. She was one of the guiding teachers in the Ordination at Bodhgaya. This visit, one taxi driver volunteered to check the train schedule at Jioucyutang Station (九曲堂站). He also helped bought the next day morning seven o'clock train ticket to Taipei for him. Such warm human touch let him feel peace and no worry.
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Though I had to go through a great ordeal on the first day of my arrival in Indonesia my purpose of visiting Yogyakarta was to visit the famous and historical temple of Borobudur. After spending few days in Yogyakarta I visited the temple today(22 April, 2016).
I started early at 8 am and reach the temple in 50 minutes. There was no queue and I bought the ticket and went inside. The 20 US dollar ticket comes with three options of welcome drinks; tea, coffee or water. I chose tea and had my tea. Soon people in groups arrived at the ticket counter and the hall was filled instantly. It was crowded and noisy. I quickly sipped my tea and walked towards the site. There was a large number of students visiting the temple. When I was near the staircase of the temple some girls came to me and wanted to have picture with me. I said yes. Then after walking for few more steps another group of girl, few boys, then again girl group…. continuously came and asked for photo together. I agreed with all of them. Interaction with the students made me happy and joyful. I said good bye to them and climbed the 10 story stupa. On each and every story of the stupa there were students waiting with a set of questions. Most of them were girls and they had the same set of questions. But their uniform was different which means that they are from different schools. They said that they are doing this to practice their English. Usually they are in a group of 4-5 students. One asks the question, another writes it down and the other one take photo and so on. Some of the girls were very active, some shy and some very friendly. I spend time with at least 8-10 groups. Initially it was good and interesting to interact with them but after interacting with more than 8 groups it was very disturbing. The number of people on the stupa grew soon and it was very crowded. I wanted to take some personal time to go around the stupa but the students followed me again and again. Not only me they were doing the same to every foreigner they could see and I saw one of the western lady shouting at them. Though I had a good time with the students as well as going through the stupa it was very noisy and disturbing. I wish the stupa is at least made hazel free so that people like me who comes one in my life can enjoy and satisfy oneself at the historical monument. After a long flight via Kuala Lumpur I arrived in Yogyakarta from Taiwan. I was very tired and exhausted. For one week I had a busy and tight schedule in Taiwan and the day I started for Taipei to take my flight I had to leave from Kaohsiung early in the morning.
I didn’t put any checked in luggage to get down from the airplane and straight away take a taxi to my hotel. In Jogjakarta I was one of the few passengers who was passing through the arrival hall immediately after getting down from the aircraft and walking in the hot son for about five minutes from the aircraft to the terminal. On the gate of the arrival hall two custom officers were standing on each side of the door – one lady and one gent. The lady asked for my passport and I handed over it to her. She further passed my passport to another person and he directed me to put my bags, shoes, jackets and everything that was in my hand through the scanner. I did accordingly. As soon as the bags passed through the scanning machine another officer took my bags and asked me to follow him. I did. He opened my bags and took out everything from it. My clothes, toiletries, books, computer and snacks. He checked everything including my purse. I had a bundle of books. Every page of more than 10 books were checked one by one. He asked me questions like why am I travelling to so many countries, which countries I traveled, whom did I meet and how many days I spend and why I spent so many days and so on. I asked the reason to him. He said because of ‘drugs’. I said I am a Buddhism monk and I don’t even smoke. He said he doesn’t trust anyone and it is his duty to check each and every foreigner. When he did not find anything from my bags he asked me to follow him again and leaving my bags there on the table itself. There was a small room just behind the X-ray machine. I waited in front of the room as there was already another person inside. After waiting for about seven minutes a person comes out of the room with another customs officer. Then I went inside and the officer asked me to take off all my clothes. I did. He didn’t find anything and after thoroughly checking my body he asked me to leave. I spent almost one and half hour at the airport undergoing checking. It was a tiring day and extremely exhausted. I have been travelling for the last 25 years in different countries and such an experience is for the first time. Later I saw that every foreigner was scrutinizing and checking thoroughly. I understand that it is their duty. But after scanning and ransacking every items of me they shouldn’t have humiliated by asking to remove every clothes from my body. Fulfilling one’s duty is appreciable but following appropriate way is also necessary. It is pity that people do not trust each other and a strong sense of mistrust has developed among one another and I became one of the victims of such mistrust on my first visit to Indonesia – the land of Borobudur. Namu Amitha Bul~~~~ “For everyone who asks receives; and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”.
After attending the maechees conference for two days it was a moment for me to reflect and retrospect. The word of bible come to my mind. “For everyone who asks receives; and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” Matthew 7:8. To knock on the door one needs to things. One is the courage. Courage to look forward with hope and faith. Courage to work continuously even the situation around me at the present moment is unfavorable, dark, downhearted and hopeless. Second is the support and help of others. When I have no hope and energy every attempts I make it becomes unsuccessful. Everyone needs the help of one another. Someone may feel that a person known to me does everything by himself/herself without taking any help of others but in reality that can’t be true. Children and parent, student and teachers, junior and senior, young and old, men and women, friends, neighbors, relatives, even sometimes enemies – all need the help of each other at one or the other given point. So Master Sot’aesan said ‘today I am a receiver and tomorrow I will be a giver, today I am giver and tomorrow I will be a receiver’. Our life is a cycle of giving and receiving help from each other. I was also in the same situation. When I was not able to meet the maechees in Thailand I was so disappointed and hopeless. Even I thought of packing my bags and quitting the GIST project. Every attempts failed either due to some issues or the other. Language problem became another obstacle. There was no hope and a ray of light. Though the sun in Bangkok was shining bright and luminous with 30 plus degree Celsius it was a dark and long night for me. When I was in such a situation I took some long breath and thought for few moments. After falling into deep thought I realized that I should take the help of others. So I wrote about my situation on the basecamp and other social medias. By doing so people suggested different ways and encouraged me to explore other ways and methods. Especially Gretchen even asked me to approach in a totally different way, like not fully revealing my identity and background. In fact I realized the same while I was on field in Myanmar and I was already adopting the very method suggest by Gretchen. When I got the help from people new approaches and methods came on the way and it paved the way for meeting new people. APLP alumni’s help was the most crucial and I got in touch with one of the maechees with the help of NOK. NOK even failed to get in touch with my target and she suggested me to meet the maechee that she came to know. She send a message in the late evening but I called the maechee right away, though I know that it was too late to call her at that time. The maechee on the other side who received my phone was very calm and quiet and asked me to call the next morning at 9am. The next morning I was just waiting for the clock to strike at 9. Exactly at 9 am I called her and requested her to give some time to meet her and insisted to do so on the very same day. She asked me to come to her office at 1pm. I prepared myself and run to her office. When I reached at her office it was only 12noon. I was so excited that I reached one hour in advance. The weather outside was very hot. I took shelter under a tree and waited outside for some time. But it was too hot and I moved in to the building and looked for her office. I located her office and waited outside her office. At 12:50pm I sent a message to her that I am already at the venue and waiting for her at office. She came out of the office and gave me a warm welcome. She was a lecturer at the Mahachulalongkorn University. After speaking to her for some time she said that there is a conference of maechees and all maechees are going to be at one place. When I asked her whether I could join it, she said yes. I asked her about Maechee Pratin Kwon-on, the president of the Thai nuns Institute, she said that she will be there at the conference place but due to her ill health she will not attend it and it would be difficult to meet her. One the day of the conference I accompanied her and she introduced me to many of the maechees. When I kept on asking for Maechee Pratin Kwon-on she said she will pass a word to her through her secretary. Whenever I meet her in the meeting I kept her reminding of my meeting with Maechee Pratin. At around 6pm she called me and said that Maechee Pratin Kwon-on is ill but she will be glad to meet me. I rushed to her Kutthi (residence) and she was bed ridden. Despite her ill health she warmly welcomed me and spoke to me for about 20 minutes. Though short meeting I was able to hear personally from her stories, activities and endeavors. I had lost all my hope but due to the help and support of many people and my courage, I finally succeed in meeting Maechee Pratin Kwon-on. After meeting her, many of the maechees told me that it was nothing but a miracle for me. Meeting with Maechee Pratin is now almost next to impossible. She doesn’t meet any outsider especially a stranger and above all a male. So to quote the bible “For everyone who asks receives; and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”. Thanks to all the people who supported me to make me this connections. After the rendezvous I traveled by bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok via the Poipet boarder. Few years back I traveled from Bangkok to Cambodia and I was supposed to go through the Poipet boarder. I took a van from the Suvarnabhumi international airport and the van dropped us on wrong place, another boarder instead of Poipet. Since then I had a wish to travel through Poipet boarder.
This time after the rendezvous it was the perfect time to fulfill my wish. During my last journey to Cambodia there was only van or bus service between Poipet and Siem Reap but now it is also available to and fro from the Battambang. As Won- Buddhism has a center in Battambang I dropped by the center for a day and met the two sisters – (the nuns) who are working there for the last 15 years or so. I explained the two sisters about my GIST project. They listened to me very carefully and it became a topic of discussion about the life of nuns in Cambodia, their own life and the treatment they get from the people in Cambodia as a nun. Again it seems that it is a common practice in Cambodia to considered nun as low and unimportant practitioners compared to the monks. Nuns are called Duon Chi in Khmer language. They keep eight or ten precepts. In Cambodia the woman join the nun’s life at a later stage of their life – after fulfilling their family duties. When they are free from their children’s education, family responsibility and sometime when they are growing old and there is no one to look after them, have some family disputes and so on, then these women join the religious life. They stay in the monasteries and usually not go for alms-round like the monks. But their brother monks are so compassionate to share the food that they get during the alms round. So joining the monasteries as nun carries more of negative image than a pious life. Women are socially considered week and joining the monasteries is not charismatic. The two sisters of Won-Buddhism are quite different from the Duon Chis. First they get as much respect as the monks in Won-Buddhism. Second, they are fully ordained, educated and active in their religious aspiration. Third, they are equally potential to achieve enlightenment like the monks. Fourth, they are equally capable to do so. Apart from their spiritual endeavor one of them is a Daekwon-do master and she is teaching Daekwon-do – the Korean martial arts for more than 10 years in Cambodia. Some of her students won the gold medal on national level in Cambodia. Recently one of her students is selected as national team player and he is now representing Cambodia on international stage. So the two sisters are not same as the Duon Chis in Cambodia who have to be submissive all the time to the monks and should be confined to their limited role. The two Won-Buddhist sister are not confirmed to one limited goal and they are active in every aspects of life. They are running and giving free medical treatment to patients, teaching Daekwon-do, Korean language, meditation and dharma teachings. Despite their multi layered role in the society the general people always consider them in the same way as the Duon chis. People also call them Duon Chis. These two sisters always try to correct them and tell them not to call them Duon Chis. Even if they are taught hundred times they do not come out of their practice. After many struggles now the two nuns call themselves Won-Buddhist ‘loksong’. Actually ‘loksong’ is a masculine word and it means monks in Khmer language. Won-Buddhism do not discriminate between man and woman and all are called Kyomunim. So now they tell people either to call them as ‘kyomunim’ or ‘loksong’. The imprint of nun’s negative image are so strong that they are not adjustable to call these sisters in a different way or give them equal treatment to the monks. They not only call them as Duon Chi but also treat them as Duon chis. Gender doesn’t make any difference in spiritual practice. People should be educated and taught that loksang and duonchi are not two different people. They are just names. Both of them are spiritual seekers and gender has nothing to do with the spiritual advancement. To abstain from sex and sexual misconducts is one among the five basic precepts or rule in the traditional Buddhism. Attraction to any gender is strictly prohibited in Buddhism. Monk’s life should be free from dating and sex. Some people are transgender. I personally feel that transgender is a different issue. Transgender are not attracted by the opposite gender or sex but they prefer to live a life of their own choice, a life in the opposite gender style. They choose to be so because they feel more comfortable and joyful. There are many arguments. Whether transgender should be allowed to become a monk or not? Whether this falls under the precepts or not? Should it fall under the five precepts or not is an individual concepts. In the five precepts the main point is getting ‘attracted’. Attraction produces ripples in the calm and peaceful mind of a practitioner. Transgender are neither attracted nor addicted by the opposite gender. Every individual is free to choose his or her own life. Most of the people, except few countries, live in democratic nations where one enjoys complete freedom - freedom of life, speech and conduct. Today I was talking to a person and came to know about the transgender matter in Thailand. It is an interesting fact that Thailand where 94% of the populations are Buddhist has a very free and fair treatment for the transgender. I am told that Mimi Tao is a successful transgender who was a Buddhist monk. This 22 year old transgender is said to be well known in Asia, today appearing from major advertising events to world known fashion shows. This beautiful girl was a Buddhist monk born in a rich family in Thailand. Her name as a boy was Napantaao(?). She shaved her heads and lived as a Buddhist monks observing the precepts / rules very strictly. One day she decided to live a different life and immediately left the temple to work in a bar. From the bar job she gradually took the path of the transgender. But her journey to be a world famous transgender was never easy. One of the worst experience that she faced during a trip to a program in Singapore was that she was forced to sleep in the public toilet. However it is said that she determined herself to overcome every obstacles and tried hard to let it go easily. Due to her commitment today she appears in the famous shows in New York and other European stage. So this the story of a former Buddhist monk who choose the life of a transgender and now leading a successful life. I am also told another story of a transgender becoming a monk. I am not able to get some detail information about him as it was happen couples of years ago. I am told that a young man undergone surgeries to become a transgender. After leading the life of a woman she felt that it is not an easy life as a woman in Thailand and decided to change herself to a boy again. She took the second surgery. Then after all these experiences she/he found that life is nothing and then decided to live the life of a monk. So now the he transgender is a pious Buddhist monk leading a peaceful and happy life with a bunch of hormones that he requires every day to be in a normal shape. So will they, the transgenders, achieve the ultimate spiritual goal? Also in Thailand it is considered that a woman is born because of bad karma and man because of good karma. If a man get trans-gendered to a woman then will his karma will be short cut? And on the other way if a woman get trans-gendered to a man then will her bad karma will be reduced? * Photo acknowledgement : https://www.google.co.th/search?q=mimi&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS654US654&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZjeGcuqLLAhUMHI4KHXYpBooQ_AUIBygB&biw=1920&bih=917#tbm=isch&q=mimi+tao&imgrc=Vv-6HKqLhVvCMM%3A Taxis are very expensive in Yangon. Public transportation is extremely bad. There are no buses connecting every corner of the city. Even if it is, then it is difficult for a foreigner to use it. All the information on the buses are in Burmese language. The driver, conductor and passengers speak only Burmese. The bike taxi service which is less expensive and available very easily, like in Mandalay, Sagaing and Bagan is banned in Yangon. All the cars used for taxi are second-hand imported cars mostly from Japan. 85% of the cars in Myanmar are from Japan. Out of these Toyota made cars exceeds more than 50% of the market followed by Honda and Nissan. Myanmar people prefer Japanese cars because the cars match the whether condition in Myanmar (according to the yesterday’s taxi driver) and spare parts are price competitive and easily available. Korean cars like Kia and Hyundai are also gaining popularity among the people because of their unique design and constantly upgrading features. European cars not fuel-efficiency and expensive and hence Burmese people don’t like them. Myanmar is following left hand side drive. But Japanese made car are right hand side drive. So one can easily see that more than 80% of the vehicles on the road are right-hand drive. If we take a taxi most of the taxis (more than 95%) are left hand drive. So getting in and out should be from the left hand side door and the driver is on the right hand side. It is very dangerous to board the taxis and even buses from the left-hand side. Vehicles run with high speed and sometime it is very prone to accident. All the second hand buses and mini trucks from Japan and Korea are dumped into Myanmar. There are some from China but very few. It is said that Japanese government laid the road in Myanmar free of cost with a condition that all the second hand cars and vehicles from Japan should be purchase by Myanmar. The Myanmar government bought these second hand used vehicles at cheap price and resoled in Myanmar at high price. More than 60% of the buses, mini vans and trucks running on the streets are the second-hand from Korea. There are sticker in Korean language in and out on the buses. Even some of the buses have the fare list of Seoul city, advertisement of private hospitals and education centers in Seoul. All in Korean language. Some bus have the sign of ‘direct bus from Seoul to Busan’. Most of them are very old vehicles generating large volumes of fumes. The pollution in Yangon is becoming worst day by day with vehicles and dust. The countries in Asia who had economic achievements like Korea and Japan are targeting other countries in Asia which is still far away from the economic development – like Myanmar – to dump their waste. I wished that countries like Japan and Korea, based on their experience and knowledge should take the lead to preserve and protect the environment in other countries. It may be good to sell off the second-hand cars and unused vehicles to the economically poor nations but they are not only selling their second-hand cars and automobiles, they are also selling their consciences. The great value of Asain countries – the conscience is over powered by money. It is sad that the economically strong nations in Asia is leading Asia with conscience verses money. I have spent almost two weeks in Myanmar. I landed in Mandalay and directly went to Sagaing - the home for the Buddhist monasteries and nunneries. I also visited Ping Oo Lwin and Bagan during my stay in Sagaing.
During my travel I used the bike taxi, taxi and bus. I met people in the restaurant, lapheii (tea) shop and waiting room. If someone speaks English, even little English the conversation is turn to the Burmese political situation. The issues seems hotter because of the transaction period. Every day every newspaper and magazine carries the picture of Aung San Suu Kyi – the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who won the recent election with a sweeping victory taking more than 80 percent of the seats in the Assembly in Myanmar. Every citizens of Burma are proud of her and she is the only hope for them. Taxi drivers speak very high of her and people in general speak boastingly of her. Some say that she speaks six languages and some say that she is the mother of all Burmese. Some say that she is a knowledgeable lady and some say that she is the only person who will do good for Burma. The taxi driver who dropped me today evening spoke very good English. He worked in Malaysia for six years and then came back to Burma because he missed his family. He said if the Burmese people have a hope then it is Aung San Suu Kyi. Burmese is blessed with a lady like Aung San Suu Kyi. Burmese people think that the present negotiation which is going on with the army to amend the bill will have a positive result. Even though Suu Kyi’s party – NLD has won the election she can’t become the president within the current constitution which came in to force in 2008 and bars a Burmese person married to a foreigner to become the president. Suu Kyi’s husband was a foreigner and her two sons are not Burmese national. And hence she can’t be the president. The taxi driver said that when she becomes the president she will bring change in the policies, bring more investment, host more tourist, improve education quality and change the life of the people. I heard that most of the policies in Burma are outdated (done during the British rule), educational program are extremely poor (just pay the fee and keep passing without any knowledge or skill in the field), hotels are expensive (Burmese friend said that hotels in Burma and New York are of the same), transportation are very bad, taxis are expensive (my friends told that on an average they spend 200-300 USD per month on taxi where the school teacher salaries in Myanmar is about 150-200US per month), streets are filled with second hand cars, buses and trucks from Japan, Korea, and China, pollution is becoming more disastrous and health issue are becoming more distressing serious. General people are fed-up with the Junta for their harassment and Aung San Suu Kyi will be the only person to lead all the citizens on the right track with lots of progress and development for the people. I hope and pray that the negotiation between the army and the NLD goes well and Aung San Suu Kyi gets the highest seat of the President to bring peace and development for the people. May Aung San Suu Kyi be the President of the people, by the people and for the people. The world is taking the best use of information and technology. Information and technology has changed our life in many ways. Some are used for constructive purposes and some are for destructive. And the same application can be used for either constructive or destructive. A match stick can be used to light a candle and show the way in darkness. The same match stick can be used to burn the whole house and destroy everything.
One of the instruments which has become part and parcel of our life is mobile phone. Mobile phone have shaped the life of people. I remember my childhood without a phone or mobile. If someone has to pass or send a message to another person in a far of place it used to take days and months. It was done either through hand written letter or by word through a person. Sometimes the message is reach to the person sometime not. Now if someone has to pass a message to the other person, even thousands of kilometers away, just press the key of the mobile handset and you are there in a second. The mobile phone which was primarily used for making call only has been upgraded with many functions and options. Internet facility on mobile handset is one of the function and it has further enhanced the importance of mobile. And it is now one’s closest friend either at home, school, office or on the street. One can live without a friend and family but not the mobile handset. Irrespective of country and people – whether young or old, boy or girl – all are busy on the mobile be in the bus, subway, metro, street and at home. Conversation between parents and children have been cut. Conversation between couple has been disturbed. The mind of the people walking on the street has been diverted thus making prone to frequent accidents and deaths. The mindfulness among the monks and nuns are stolen despite their practices and cultivations for years to improve their concentration. All this show the greatness of the mobile. Now there is a growing concern among the abbots and abbesses of the monasteries and nunneries. Mobile handset is playing important role in disturbing the mind of the serene monks, novices, nuns and practitioners. They are easily accessed to internet with all sorts of news and especially become prone to the porn sites. Mobile is also becoming a means to get in touch with the opposite sex beyond time and space. The Buddhist five and ten precepts teaches one to abstain from sexual misconduct and stay away from the opposite sex. Though sexual misconduct is of physical act but enjoying explicit things on the mobile handset may also fall under the same category. Many of the monks are becoming victims of the mobile phone and eventually they are saying good bye to the life which has had a sublime persuasion with a specific goal, utterly sustaining their physical life on the offerings and alms from the devoted people, especially the women who has been dragged with a tag of ‘bad karma’ and enforcing them swiftly to do more offering to accumulate more good merits. All this offerings are done in the name of the Buddha without any royalty. The monasteries and nunneries are not able to control the usage of mobile phone. One, because Buddha has made no mention of the mobile phones and technologies. Two, the importance of mobile has become as important as one’s own life. Today is the 3rd day in Sagaing, Myanmar.
I had an appointment at one of the nunneries at 3pm. But I couldn’t go as I was not feeling well. I had headache and mild fever. I felt that it was the signal from my physical body to take some rest. In fact I had a very tight and busy schedule in Bangkok going and visiting monasteries, meeting people and taking interview. Even on the day before my visit to Myanmar I had to return late in the night to my room from an interview. The next morning I had to get up early to leave for the airport for my journey to Myanmar. So I cancelled my meeting and took some rest. In the evening I just walked outside on the road to experience the culture and the way of life here in Myanmar. Sagaing hill is considered to be one of the most sacred places in Myanmar and there are thousands of temples, pagodas, nunneries and Buddhist places. There are more than 5000 monks and more than 7000 nuns in this area only. So on the road one can easily see the orange color monks and pink color nuns walking freely on the streets. Monks and nuns are travelling on bikes, rikshas (3 wheeler), mini trucks and other vehicles. Some of the monks are on the street enjoying cigarettes, taking tea and coffee. Some nuns are walking with chewing tobaccos – betel leaf. Some of them are walking in calm and serene but with big mobile handsets in their hand. Some are busy talking on the phone. Monks and nuns can be seen more on the streets in the evening as they are busy in the morning and afternoon at their studies. As per the vinaya (rule) eating after lunch is prohibited. So monks sate in the road side restaurant and tea stall can drink only liquid. Nuns and monks are easily seen in the market. Nuns are busy buying vegetables, meat, fish, pork and other items which are required at the monastery. We can also see them in the mobile shop, grocery shop and other shops. So the moment of the monks and nuns are very natural and free. However in the neighboring country – Thailand monks and nuns are not allowed to visit market and they can’t sit in the restaurant. I even heard that if a monk or a nun walks in the market and some one sees them in the restaurant they can call the police. So the rules for them is very strict in Thailand. The people of Myanmar are very calm and peaceful. Their respect to the monks are sky penetrating. It’s a paradise for the monks. People think that men are luckier than women and they are the luckiest if they are monk. So they are the luckiest people in the Burmese paradise with absolute allegiance and respect from the masses. |
AuthorI am a Kyomunim - an ordained monk in Won-Buddhist order with passion for monastic lives of nuns in both Therevada and Mahayana tradition. Archives
April 2016
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