Pagodas and Processions

Our other big stop in Inle was the Phaung Daw Oo Paya. Yup, another pagoda. Getting kind of pagoda’d and monastery’d out already. But this was the biggest, most important one in the Shan State. Five ancient and revered Buddha statues live here. But you would never, ever know that is what they were. You see, there is a tradition here in Myanmar (at least I think it is only here because in my limited travels I have never seen it happen anywhere else) where one of your options for doing good deeds as a Buddhist is to buy little pieces of gold leaf and then you apply them to a Buddha. Over and over and over again, person after person, day after day, year after year and eventually you end up with an amorphous blob of gold with a Buddha buried somewhere deep inside.

 

(in full disclosure this is not my picture because all the buddhas were not at home)

What was especially important about this pagoda and these Buddhas is that we unintentionally found ourselves right in the middle of the Phaung Daw Oo Paya Festival where for 18 days four of the five buddhas travel by boat all around the lake to all of the different villages to return home in time for the Thadingyut. That is the Festival of Lights for New Year that celebrates Buddha’s return from the celestial sphere.  All five of the buddhas used to make the trip but one year the barge sunk and they could only recover 4 of them from the bottom of the lake. The fifth one miraculously found its way back to the Pagoda on its own so it gets to stay there all the time now.

Anyway, on our way north out of the lake the day of our departure we were fortunate enough to pass the procession coming south … three lead boats decorated with parasols towing the royal barge carrying the Buddhas as people lined up on the shores to pay homage. Pretty lucky, that.

 

We aren’t sure what we will see for the actual Festival of Lights. The full moon occurs on the night of 27^th when we are back in Yangon. So we upgraded our hotel room to a Shwedagon Pagoda view room for that night in anticipation of some festivities. It appears, however, that the biggest celebration is on the full moon DAY which rumor has it (and the Burmese people should know) is the 28^th. That day we fly to Sittwe which - again I am told – is predominantly Christian so the Light Festival will not be such a big deal there. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, let me just make a quick, personal observation of how Buddhism promotes Capitalism. It is mind-boggling all the stuff followers have to buy to comply with their responsibilities. From the food offerings, the special coconuts and bananas, the flags, the alms for the monks, the donations for the temple renovations and maintenance and the gold leaf to say the least. I’m not even figuring in the trips to the astrologer to help you name your baby (oh, oh, there are no surnames here, btw) or pick your spouse, etc. And I am sure that is just the tip of the iceberg. However, at least this is capitalism for the masses because all of the vendors and manufacturers and providers are making money off of the industry. Who knows what would happen to the economy without that.