The first nation we visited in 2020 was Myanmar, formerly called Burma and a new addition to our list of visited countries. Our two-week stay focused on the large city of Mandalay and the surrounding area. During that time we toured six Buddhist monasteries and learned quite a bit from one of our guides about the opportunities Burmese people have to serve as monks or nuns. Eighty-eight percent of the population of 54 million is Buddhist, including about 500,000 monks and 75,000 nuns.

Shwe In Bin Kyaung Monastery – This beautiful teak building, commissioned in 1895 by a pair of wealthy Chinese jade merchants, stands on poles made from tree trunks. We were quite intrigued by all the intricate carvings and pink dragons near the base of the stair banisters.

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Shwenandaw Monastery – Like other Myanmar monasteries built in the late 1900s, Shwenandaw was constructed using a great deal of teak. The wood carvings on the walls and roofs display Buddhist stories and legends. King Thibaw Min wanted his meditation place to be even more beautiful, so he instructed artisans to add gold to many of the wood carvings and adorn the structure with glass mosaic work before completion in 1878. As you might guess, most of the gold or glasswork within reach of visitors has been rubbed off or removed. We noticed the ornate sign with gold-color lettering in front of the building displaying the structure’s other name: Golden Palace Monastery. 

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Atumashi Monastery – King Mindon, who founded his new capital in Upper Burma at Mandalay in 1855, built Atumashi Monastery two years later. It turned out to be one of his last great religious construction projects. The building was a huge, grandiose structure with a grand staircase entry and five graduated rectangular terraces. The design was very different from monasteries built during that era with typical wooden spires of decreasing size. The original building burned down in 1890 and the monastery was not rebuilt until 1996 with the use of convict labor. Historians say that the new monastery does not convey the graduer and magnificence of the original structure. Of all the monasteries we visited, Atumashi was the most unique and the most elaborately finished with a great deal of gold paint and intricate stone carvings in good condition. But of course the building is about 100 years newer than many of the other monasteries we explored.

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Maha Aung Mye Bom Sun Monastery – We took a one-day tour of the four ancient cities just outside of Mandalay with our guide Go Pa and driver Ba La. This monastery stands in the ancient city of Inwa. We crossed the Irawaddy River in a small boat and then rode 20 minutes in a horse cart to reach the monastery. Queen Me Nu had the monastery built in 1818 as a residence for the royal Abbott, believed to be the queen’s lover. The building was built with masonry rather than traditional wood construction and is nicknamed the “brick monastery.” The exterior stucco ornaments include a peacock, symbolizing the sun, and a hare, which represents the moon. Unfortunately we did not locate these decorative features in person, but one of the photos below includes the peacock. Our guide explained that the brick tunnels underneath the structure include a direct, somewhat secret passageway to the river.

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Bagaya Monastery – Like the Shwe In Bin Kyaung Monastery, this structure is also supported by teak posts. Bagaya, built in the first half of the 19th century in the ancient city of Inwa, includes 267 posts, the largest of which is 20 meters high and 3 meters in circumference. Teak is said to be the national treasure of Myanmar and its value is comparable to gold. We saw many beautiful wood carvings on the walls, doors, and furniture in this traditional-style monastery. And we walked past the very small, but empty classrooms where young monks are educated.

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Mahargandaryone Monastery – The most notable and well-known feature of this monastery in the ancient city of Amarapura is the silent walk of 2,000 or so Buddhist monks and nuns to the dining hall for lunch each day. Like hundreds of other tourists, we found a spot on the monastery sidewalk to watch. The monks and nuns carried large black or silver bowls in which to put their food, and Buddhist pilgrims plus international visitors gave them food and money as they walked by. 

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Novitiate Procession – Go Pa, our ancient city guide, said many Burmese children serve as Buddhist monks or nuns at least one year-long term in a monastery. He served at least two different terms as a young boy and said fewer girls become nuns because they do not want to shave their heads. While we were in the ancient city of Inwa we watched a colorful, joyous novitiate procession through the city that would conclude at a monastery for the ordination ceremony of boys and girls under 20 who will begin their first service as a nun or monk. The lavishly decorated horse-drawn carriages carried novices in beautiful, regal-looking clothing and their family members, some of whom were also dressed festively. 

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