Myanmar

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Myanmar is a complicated country to govern. Upsetting the balance there is likely to cause the death of a great many innocent people.

Upsetting the balance of power in that beautiful country is like to start a long lasting, multi-sided, civil war.

The present regime their is imperfect, but it is preserving the nation and lives of its peoples.

"The generals" are willing to talk, are open to change for the better, and are able to follow through on well considered compromise.

Myanmar Connection: Nats

Nats

There were lots of nats in Myanmar long before the 37 Great Nats. A nat of the Great 37 is a bit like a saint or a martyr. such a nat was often a person highly honored and love in life, who died violently.

Other nats may be quite different and highly varied. Some may seem or be little interested in a human connection. Still the represent an energy which may exercise an important influence on a person. In thinking of a nat it may be helpful to recall hearth spirits and wood spirits. Its often best to have them not interested in you. It is very important not to have them against you.

King Alaugsithu

Perhaps later we can find time to peruse history forward and back word from the reign of the Great Nat King Alaugsithu AD 1112-1167.
He was king of Pagan. He had Malaysian connections. He followed king Kyanzittha the pious irrigation systems builder who reigned about AD 1084-1112; who was preceded by King Sawlu 1077-1084 who adopted and Arab.
I believe that Alaugsithu was fathered by Sawyun, a sun of King Sawlu.

A Myanmar Connection

Phongyi

My understanding at the moment is that in M a phongi is much like a bando monk. Bando is and ancient Hindu Buddhist system of non-violence. It is also a system of empty-hand self-defence sometimes used in defense of Buddhist temple schools. The discipline may not always be empty-handed.

Still the bando monk system, well pursued, is based on principles of non-violence and is used as a way of developing the body, mind, and spirit to achieve harmony with oneself, with others, with nature.

Bando monks are storied to have disarmed an opponent with a naked blade while the monk's sword remained sheathed. their high purpose was to do minimum damage to an opponent.

Myanmar

Hello, If you are reading this I suspect that you are a person who can enjoy even bits and pieces of history.

That seems to be what I am doing here; presenting bits and pieces of world history.

I detect a tiny urge within me to take this blog a bit more seriously. Before I act on that urge, I hope I can develop a bit more focus. At my age, I may not live long enough for that to happen. Then again, I might.

One of the areas I which I find myself maintaining some interest is Southeast Asia, SEA. Myanmar is an important part of that region.

Myanmar isn't a large country, but it is, I think, bigger than Spain. If you had an atlas, you might find Myanmar between Bhutan and Laos. Its longest boarder is with China. It has long had important connections with Sri Lanka and India as well as with China. It had less pleasant ones with the English.

Myanmar was called Burma for a time.
If you are old enough, you may remember:
"The Burma Road" or
"Burma Shave."

Human presence in what is now Myanmar goes back over 30,000 years. However, our knowledge of history there starts getting misty as late as AD 1100.

I will like need to amend or correct some of the following, but it will serve as a starting point. About 1120 AD there lived the great king Alaungsithu. How great he was might be measured in part by the fact that he became on of the 37 Great Nats. Nats may make an interesting part of another story.

At this time the people were already well acquainted with the teachings of Buddha and had found them very good. They already had well developed ways of celebrating and of beautifully presenting the percepts, the law, and the sacred discourses of those teaching. Village groups were well practices in their parts of such presentations. These same villagers also knew the merits of the spirits and other beings. The Nats, of course, were deserving of such merit.

I may have misheard the monks, but I understood that the time of this particular great King, much like the time before him and the time after him, was not entirely peaceful. It was a time when objects, images, and relics were, moved, hidden, lost, found, looted, and liberated. It was a time much like the times before, after, and during WWI, WWII, The Iraq War.

It may have been around AD 1359 that wooden images were giving off rays that helped in the relocation of four Golden Buddha images near Inle lake.

I may be a bit confused about the story the monks tell of this time centering on about 1359 AD. The important part of the story begins about 1120 AD and continues to about 1815 AD. A lot of history can accrue in over half a century! I'll try to fill in some of it as we go along. You may find it necessary to search "tags" to keep up. For the monks, the important part of the story is the teaching of Buddha, the piety of the people, and the return of sacred images and relics to their rightful places. The history kept by the monks extends well beyond what they considered most important. With a little luck we may make opportunity to explore those interesting times and maybe even find out how those things of then are effecting us now.

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What can we learn about Myanmar and Burma?

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