life with Lillian
The incomparable Guru Kyabje Choden Rinpoche accompanied the 47 of us on this unforgetable pilgrimage.
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. Tere 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?
50 FENGSHUIWORLD | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
It is at the place of the standing
gigantic Buddha statues in the still maintained Stupas here, many
We explore one temple after another, soaking in the energy of the
Some of the temples are better kept than others, but each has its own very special energy.
of which are over a thousand years old.
Our guide explains. Here we are in the territory of the great Arhat U Narada, the great monk who built the tallest standing Buddha statue in the world. And even as he tells us this, the standing Buddha of Monywa comes into view, standing majestically in all its golden splendour amidst fertile rolling hills, and then, for as far as the eye can see, there are life-size Buddhas sitting under Bodhi trees. Why are they there?
Buddha itself that we are told why. Waiting for us, as if he knew we were coming, was one of the 5 Patron monks of the monastery of Monywa (there are no Abbots here, monasteries are managed by patron monks), the Venerable Eindhobhasa, who welcomed us in English. He told us he was the grandnephew of U Narada and he welcomed us into the inside “body” of the statue and answered all our questions about the impressive complex of holy objects. All round us are hundreds of life-size Buddhas with exquisite expressions, each one beautifully painted with great devotion. “My Master”, he told us, referring
to U Narada, “explained we had to create the merit to build such a tall Buddha, so he bought 25 acres of land on which he planted 1000 Bodhi trees; and under each tree he built a life-size Buddha statue sitting in meditation. Te project proved very popular and soon the 25 acres expanded to 250 acres, and the 1000 trees and Buddhas expanded to 8000 trees and Buddhas. Today there are over 9000 Bodhi trees with 9000
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