BUDDHISM AND BURMA

After several weeks here I am confused as to what I think about Buddhism. It’s a huge part of the national make-up – there are monuments and temples everywhere and a constant stream of people making offerings or praying. It's integral to people's everyday life.

There are also monasteries everywhere and hundreds of thousands of monks – every male is expected to spend time as a monk at least once during his life. Every morning monks walk through the community with their donation bowls and will stop at houses, shops, restaurants etc. We were told that they are not begging – they are giving people the opportunity to donate. So when people give them something there is no “thank you” and there is often no acknowledgement at all.

Also it is strange to see an adult put something in the bowl and then kneel and bow with hands held together in prayer – when the recipient is a boy of less than 10 years old……

I don’t know a whole lot about Buddhism but it’s always seemed to me to be the most reasonable of the major religions – more of a philosophy/way of life with no god required. Although I think they do believe in reincarnation. One of our guides explained that they have three principles – donation, morality and meditation – and, from a practical point of view, the first is the easiest so that’s what people do “to gain merit” – they give food to monks and they give cash to temples. Practically every temple we’ve been to has large glass boxes for donations – and they are generally stuffed with notes. One even had a board showing (in burmese and in english) its monthly takings in various categories  - it was early March and February’s figures were already there, they must have an on-the-ball accountant. Their average takings were a little over £30,000 a month. And this is a poor country.

The guide also told us that within the “donation” category there are three sub-rankings – first, donations to the temples, second to monks and third to needy people.  Hmmmmm……….

It seems that over the centuries a huge proportion of the national effort and resources has gone into temple and monument building and maintenance – and still more are currently being built. Couple that with the fact that, in a population of around 60 million, there is a military of over 1 million and probably a similar or greater number of monks (neither “productive” and so being supported by the working population) then it’s no surprise that the vast majority of people are relatively poor. And likely to stay that way.

But, and here’s the kicker, people generally seem to be really happy – we get smiles and welcomes wherever we go, and although most of the villages are incredibly poor by European standards there seems to be plenty of food and the climate is such that you don’t need a lot in the way of clothing or heating or substantial housing.

Another interesting thing is that, alongside Buddhism, many people also believe in “nats”. These are the spirits of real historical people (allegedly)  - 37 of them – who have various spheres of influence and who require different forms of offering to intercede. They are represented by figures with relevant attributes.

One who was mentioned specifically was a guy from the 11^th century who, in life, was a bit of a drunk – so his effigies are strewn with bottles of local rum, offered by people seeking his assistance.