vaga#2/1 this is how a Buddha could possible be born
Mandalay 2018
Part I
I was in my hostel in the town of Kalaw, in the country Myanmar also known as Burma, this will be explained later, I had to stop typing as I heard music and chanting coming through loudspeakers in the street for all the people to hear. In some places, the Monasteries broadcast their Sutras for all to hear. In both, the morning and afternoon and there are other monasteries with their readings of "Sutras" that last 5 days and nights in a row, and up to a month without stopping, and yes, I came across those. But this was different music, it was more of a parade. I went out onto the balcony and I found this ... The images of the procession are poor because of the distance that I was from them, but the story is worth it, and it is worthwhile learning something about this country and the profound aspect of their Buddhist Culture.
I wondered:
What is it all about?
IT IS, "THE PRINCE"
???
With great difficulty due to the language barrier, I discovered after two days what it was about. "The Prince" is when a child goes to the monastery to be admitted. In this case, there were three "Princes" and as you can see they must have been about 5 years old.
The photos were taken from quite a distance away, and they were already inside the monastery.
It is a tradition that the family, with great pride, takes them on a pilgrimage through the town to the monastery. With a lot of music, dancers, family, children, friends, and all very elegantly dressed, they carry offerings, and they go back and forth celebrating with great joy.
Usually, they do it on horseback where " The Prince " goes. The boy who was able to answer my questions told me that he was also a "Prince ", but they were poor and could not rent a horse and a lot of music, so he did it on foot. The wealthiest families do it on elephants.
How wonderful it was to see them, as you can imagine ... ...
!! So young !! Why?
They answered that, although there is no age requirement, it is preferred for them to go for two years to study the Buddha's scriptures at the age of 5 years to become immersed into the life of a monk, and then they are admitted to a monastery.
At 5 years?
They are not alone, but it is a life without any love from their mothers and the faces of the children are fixed. I cannot imagine doing something like that to my children at that age, to leave them without birthdays, without a mother's touch, only with a very strict regime of the monastery at their young age.
With great luck, I came across this "school" inside a monastery and which in turn is inside the pagoda. A pagoda is a classical monastery, which is rare because today's monasteries are unattractive and have poor facilities. This one was tall, with impressive pillars, over 12 meters high, huge and dark, it must be more than 150 years old.
The Head Monk's corner has everything: books, small altars, tea, old photos of the world and various maps. It would have been interesting to take a photo of his objects, his needs, both intellectual and domestic because it was clear to me that he lives with deep reverence for his religion
This photo of a child Buddha is not the one I wanted to use, I took it from Wikipedia because the one I took was more interesting ... I lost it on the phone... it was a child Buddha made of white marble and in a "type of chapel" to respect him.