In
‘Burma, The Land of Pagodas’ as my grandmother wrote, we will find pagodas
wherever we go. Pagodas play a memorable part in the life of a Burmese
Buddhist. We have been taught that wherever we visit, we will have to go to the
great pagoda of the place first and raise our hands in prayer and make a wish
that our trip be safe and sound. Yes, pagodas and what they meant to Buddhists
has been the subjects of my grandma’s article.Many earthquakes have wiped out
the physical structures of the pagodas of past and present, but no natural
disaster can wipe out the love and pride we have for our pagodas.
At
Present
 |
| (Photo – credited to Moemaka Media Group – the pagoda ground was cracked by the earthquake on recent day.) |
I heard in the early morning of
11th October in 2012, the latest news of the earthquake that
destroyed many of the houses and pagodas of Mandalay, near the town of Shwebo.
The quake happened north-west of Burma. Another earthquake hit again in the
very evening at Shwebo. I saw the scene in the TV the pagodas were shaken by
the earthquake. The news told a number of religious buildings and pagodas had
been destroyed. Many people were frightened and I saw some houses were fallen
to the ground.
Back To The Past……
Back To The Past……
My
grandmother wrote a letter to her grandchildren (It’s to us.) in her book
‘Colourful Burma’ about the loss of the pagodas of Bagan. When she heard the
news about the earthquake which destroyed many of the pagodas of Bagan in 1975,
she said she could not go to sleep until she had written a letter to us. I saw
it from her book ‘Colourful Burma’, her letter was published as her diary in
the last chapter, but I was too young and too stupid to understand the feeling
behind the words; ‘Will you ever know what you have lost, my children? Will you ever know
what Bagan means to you?’ But as the letter goes, when my grandparents
taught us ‘Anawrahta of Burma’, we learn to love and take pride in Bagan and
its glories.
Of
course I did not know that when I was young, I only knew she loved Bagan and
she taught me to love Bagan too. Later on, I realized that we have thousands of
pagodas built during more than ten centuries of history and their stories told
our Burmese kings and his great men of Burma. My grandmother also wrote about
pagodas and their legends in her book ‘A wonderland of Burmese legends’. Our
‘old granny’s love songs to pagodas’ were still alive in my heart.
At Present..
Now,
to the present. I watched the news about the earthquake that destroyed many of
the pagodas of Shwebo, Sagaing, Sintku in central area of Burma. The photos of
pagodas destroyed by earthquake make our heart broken. But earthquakes were
natural disasters and we could do nothing. We cannot foretell when or where it
will happen. Now I can understand what my grandma must have felt when she wrote
that letter: ‘A Letter to my grandchildren.’
Epilogue
Even
though the earthquake destroyed many pagodas in Bagan in 1975, my grandmother
said how generously and spontaneously contributions were pouring in towards the
repairing of the destroyed stupas. Even as the dark cloud fall over us, happy
blessings can shine through darkness like the stars. Seeing the deed of the
many Burmese Buddhists who were giving all they can….I feel hopeful thinking of
their good deed and this good spirit of generosity still to pass on to us – the
heritage of wonder and pride. I believe this good spirit of generosity for the
Burmese Buddhist, will gain good fortune in the future.
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