New vision of grassroots influence Xiao Xiake (Travel Expert)
In Mandalay for one day, he has visited a total of 15 Buddhist temples in the urban area and the four ancient cities. It is time to return to the urban area of Mandalay. I did not expect that the day's schedule would be so smooth. It was only about five o'clock when I left Ava. I planned to return to the city to prepare for Bagan the next morning. However, there is another very famous Buddhist temple in the city that must be visited, that is the Mahamuni Buddhist Temple. Paya), but I originally planned to visit the monks performing the face-washing ceremony of Sakyamuni Buddha early the next morning, but it was not yet dinner time. I could pass by this Buddhist temple before returning to the hotel from Ava. Of course, I came to visit. As for whether I have to get up early tomorrow morning to watch the face-washing ceremony, let’s see again!
The relative positions of Mahamuni Buddhist Temple, Mandalay Railway Station and Mingalabar Restaurant
Mahamuni (Mahamuni) is a merger of two words. Maha means huge and great, Muni means saint, which of course refers to Sakyamuni; and Sakka means powerful in Pali . Mahamuni is Mahamuni, representing the temple dedicated to the great and powerful saint: Buddha Sakyamuni. Why is this Buddhist temple named after Buddha? It is said that in 554 BC, the Buddha led 500 monks, including his disciple Ananda (Ananda), who was called the Buddha's Attendant, to Dhanyawadi City in the Kingdom of Arakan to preach Buddhism and was warmly welcomed by King Sanda Thuriya. The invitation to the Buddha to give a sermon aroused enthusiastic responses throughout the city, and the king sincerely begged the Buddha to leave a statue of the Buddha for future generations to visit. After the Buddha meditated under the bodhi tree for seven days, he took seven drops of sweat from his chest and melted them into bronze. After finishing, he exhaled and consecrated the bronze. Buddha was very happy and "infused his spiritual essence into the image", or "made the image full of vitality and sanctity" and predicted that the Buddha statue would remain on earth for five thousand years. As long as people see the Buddha statue, they will see the Buddha (English Wiki).
Of course, most of these stories are legends. It is quite difficult to say that Buddha traveled from India to Myanmar in about 2600. Transportation in ancient times was quite difficult. However, didn’t Confucius, a contemporary of Buddha, also travel around the world? But that is no longer important. It is said that Buddha left five holy statues in his life, two in heaven, two in India, and one in Myanmar. When the holy statue was cast and the Buddha breathed for this statue, this Buddha statue became the "Buddha consecrated" holy statue of the Buddha himself. But isn’t this Buddha statue in Rakhine Province?
That was because the Arakan area was conquered by the Konbaung Dynasty , so the icon was later moved to Amarapura, the capital of the country at that time, and later moved to the current location of Mahamuni Temple. The Mahamuni Buddhist temple became a major pilgrimage site and the great holy Buddha statue was deified in this temple. It is highly revered in Myanmar and is the focus of many people's lives as it is considered to represent the only true image of the Buddha. It is no wonder that this temple in Myanmar is comparable to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon . The Buddha statue at Mahamuni Buddhist Temple is about 4m high. This Buddhist temple was first built in 1785, and King Mindong moved the Buddha statues here when he moved the capital. In addition, at four o'clock in the morning every day, the monks of this temple hold the Buddha's face-washing ceremony. The monks sincerely wipe the face and teeth of the Buddha statue. The ceremony usually lasts nearly an hour. In the temple, many believers paste gold on the giant Buddha every day, but only men are allowed to do so, and women can only worship outside.
This Buddhist temple has such a high status, so we arrived before six o'clock in the evening. This temple was built in a prosperous area of the city. Perhaps the prosperity of this area was brought about by this temple. The driver stopped in front of an exquisite white gate, but I saw an open building on the side of the road. The roaring sound attracted me. It turned out to be a small gymnasium. In the center of the gym, there were three pairs of mixed men and women or six boys standing in a circle, demonstrating their skills in playing football and catching the ball. There were many spectators in the surrounding bleachers. This may be Burmese-style entertainment, but the focus of the trip was to see the Buddha statues consecrated by the Buddha himself, and to understand whether this Buddhist temple was unique. So I didn’t watch the performance for long before entering the Buddhist temple.
Because Mahamuni Temple is a large Buddhist temple, and large Buddhist temples usually have a shopping street running east, west, north, and south, and the intersection of the crosses is the Buddhist temple. I don’t know which entrance to enter from, but when I entered the temple, I found many large square pillars in the temple. The upper part is red and the lower part is ocher red. The combination of the two colors looks quite noble, which matches the status of the temple. After gradually entering the main hall where the Buddha is housed, the lower part of the pillar changes from ocher red to black, white and gray jade. With Mandalay as the jade trading center, the paving here should not be tiles, but jade. In addition, most of the two pillars in this temple form an arched door. When approaching the main hall, we found that there are two arched doors in front of the main hall. There are golden metal decorations on the top of the door. The patterns are carefully designed to make them look extraordinary. Many of the patterns have not been seen in other Buddhist temples before. In particular, there is a large T-shaped decoration on the last door frame entering the main hall. This is a decoration I have never seen again in this trip, and it looks majestic.
The main hall where the Buddha statue is placed is actually a large open space supported by many large pillars. However, because there are many large pillars on the left and right sides in front of the Buddha statue, it looks more crowded. In the front of the Buddha statue are several monks chanting sutras, and further back are men on seats, and further back are many women sitting on carpets. This is a common scene in Myanmar temples. I don’t know how long they will kneel and sit there in such a sacred Buddhist temple. What’s surprising is that this sacred Buddhist temple actually allows tourists like me to walk in front of the most sacred Buddha statue in Myanmar without any obstruction, so I can bet on the true appearance of this Buddha statue with close relatives. I don’t know what kind of material this Buddha statue is made of, which makes the face emit silver light, so I can’t see its detailed appearance, but its face is quite solemn and peaceful, which is quite different from common Buddha statues.
In addition, except for the face, its body is open and covered with gold foil. Therefore, over the years, many Buddhists have attached gold foil to the Big Buddha. It is said that the thickness of the gold foil layer exceeds 16 centimeters, and it can be seen that the body of this Buddha statue is covered with gold foil. What's even more special is that there is a piece of black cloth placed on the leg of this Buddha statue with the words TAIWAN, 07-01, and Chiang Ming Hung on it. It should be a Mr. Huang from Taiwan who donated a large sum of money to this Buddhist temple. It is really the "Light of Taiwan", but does the 07-01 on the cloth mean that it only appears for one day? In addition, the real-time image of the Buddha statue appeared on the TV screen at 18:15. After visiting many Buddhist temples today, it was finally evening.
When you walk out of this Buddhist temple, you can see that there are many decorations on the roof, and there is a nine-story pagoda on the roof. It is said that the higher the pagoda in Myanmar, the higher the level of the Buddhist temple. The nine-story pagoda is the highest level and has more floors than the pagodas seen before. I was even more surprised to find that there were realistic sculptures in the decoration on the door frame, including many figures, animals (such as horses, sheep), and demon-like statues. This was something I had never seen before during this trip, because only Hindu temples would place many colorful sculptures of people and animals on the top of the temple. This is almost the only one seen in Myanmar. It can be seen that the architecture of each Myanmar temple has its own characteristics, and this is the main reason why I never tire of it. After leaving the Buddhist temple, I saw two large auxiliary buildings, which may be used as conference centers or monks' residences. In front of one building is a golden statue of the king. This should be King Mindong . After all, it was he who moved the capital to Mandalay, including this Buddha statue and the rebuilt Buddhist temple after it was destroyed by fire.
This is the 16th Buddhist temple that I visited in one day in Mandalay, and the 19th Buddhist temple in Myanmar. Each one has its own characteristics. Of course, with the status of Mahamuni Temple in Myanmar's Buddhist temples, the Buddha statues "personally consecrated" by the Buddha are of course supreme. In addition, the architecture and decoration of this Buddhist temple are indeed outstanding, and I left very satisfied. As for whether to get up early the next morning to watch the Buddha's face-washing ceremony at 5 o'clock, I finally decided to have a good sleep, because I had to get up early to watch the sunrise in Bagan the day after tomorrow, and I had to take the overnight train in two days, so it was better to have a good night's rest in Mandalay. I also considered that the face-washing ceremony would be crowded with people, and it might be difficult to squeeze in front of the Buddha statue. It was enough to experience the glory brought by the Buddha in person in front of the Buddha statue that day.If you are interested in learning more about the face-washing ceremony and other details about this temple, you can visit Wallace Wallace’s blog “Affixing Gold Foil to the Buddha, Myanmar’s Most Sacred Buddha Statue.”
When we arrived at the entrance of the Mahamuni Mud Temple, it was a white entrance with multi-layered eaves
There was an open building next to the entrance of the Buddhist temple, and it was bustling with people. I couldn't help but come in to visit
There were three male and female players each, performing football skills here
Six men gathered in a circle to perform football catching skills
In front of a large Buddhist temple, there is always a long shopping street in four directions, and at the end is the Buddhist temple
This temple is mainly colored with gold and ocher red, showing nobility and solemnity
We are about to enter the core area of the Buddhist temple, that is, the main hall where the consecrated statue of the Buddha is placed
Looking back at the long passage we walked before, after approaching the main hall, there are decorations under the big pillars. The decoration is gray-white and black
There are gold decorations on the top, and there are detailed patterns, and there are three-color jade below.
Finally I saw the Buddha statue at the end behind these two doors
The decoration on the first door has waves, branches and leaves, etc., and there is a small Buddha statue on the top.
You have to pass through this door to enter the main hall. There is a T-shaped special decoration
Looking at the decorative pattern on the door frame from another angle, it can be seen that the Buddha's face is quite bright, and the whole body is covered with thick gold foil
There are three monks sitting in front of the Buddha statue to worship. This is the closest position to the Buddha statue.
The Buddha statue is broadcast in real time in the main hall. It can be seen that it is 06:11 in the evening, and the name of someone from Taiwan appears on the banner
Looking back at the back part of the main hall, I saw that there were many ladies worshiping here
The entrance lintel inside the main hall has five layers of exquisite decoration surrounded by branches
Looking at the crowd in front of the Buddha statue from behind the main hall, there is not much space between the square pillars. Men are in front and women are behind.
After leaving the main hall, you come to a square pillar passage with three-color jade underneath.
From a 45-degree angle, you can see the staggered square columns and arches between these halls
You can see two vertical square column channels. The arch in front is quite large
The decoration on the arch can be seen as a peacock spreading its tail among the branches
Another decorative pattern above the arch, the pattern in the middle looks like a statue of a god
The decorative pattern on the ceiling, with rows of square patterns in the supports
The decorative pattern on another ceiling
A golden Buddha statue is placed in a golden Buddhist niche
From another angle, believers are worshiping here
The column seen at the back of the main hall With square columns, a wide space and believers in front of the Buddha statue
The Buddhist temple aisle can be seen with slender columns and golden wooden boards between the columns.
Under a four-column roof, three bells hang on the beams
Believers perform Buddha bathing activities here, pouring water on the Buddha.
Decoration on the door frame and eaves of the outer wall of the Buddhist temple , this kind of decoration is rarely seen in Myanmar.
There are realistic colorful statues on the door frame. There are many people and animals.
There are horses and monsters on the door frame.
The status of this Buddhist temple is extraordinary, so the eaves and roof decorations are also particularly exquisite. The various pagodas are also particularly multi-story
The more layers the pagoda has, the higher the status of the temple. It is as high as nine stories here
The temple is attached It is a building with a statue of a king in front, which may be King Mindon who moved this Buddha statue here.
There is another auxiliary building of this temple. There is a golden Burmese dragon on the pillars between the windows.
There are still common Burmese symbols on the roof of this building. Decoration, in the middle is a Buddha statue standing on a lotus
The Burmese dragon is also a bit like a Chinese dragon, but it has only one horn on its head
The roof seen here has at least seven floors of the pagoda, and there is an umbrella crown at the top
