A Glimpse Of the Burmese Monastic Life, The Mahagandhayon Monastery, Amarapura

A Glimpse Of the Burmese Monastic Life, The Mahagandhayon Monastery

7/15/2017

Comments

Benefactors from around the world are engraved on stone tablets shown outside the Monastery’s fences.

Monks eat their meals in silence. They are not allowed to converse with each other during meal time.

The Elder Monks Gather Together And Dine

When I was visiting Mandalay, I had a local friend, Min Min as my tour guide. One of the places he took me to was the Mahagandhayon Monastery in Amarapura, on the outskirt of Mandalay. The monastery is the country’s most prominent monastic college, founded in 1908. Mahagandhayon accommodates thousands of monks and nuns to study Buddhism within Myanmar. Monks who are studying in this monastery line up for their lunch time at 10:30 daily and this sight is the most attractive activity for tourists. The line-up last around 30-45 minutes as each monk receive their food portion from locals whom prepared it beforehand.

This monastery, like many other Buddhist monasteries relies heavily on donations and patrons to sustain its operations. Many benefactors from local or abroad supports the Mahagandhayon Monastery. The patrons would be acknowledged through listing of their names on tablets shown on the exterior of the monastery’s buildings. From my brief time there, I got a glimpse of their self-controlled, regimental lifestyle. Later on, I found out that monks are allowed only 2 meals per day and lunch being their second and last meal. They would only get to eat again in the early morning the next day. This fact was quite shocking to me, knowing how hard it would be if it were for me to adopt their lifestyle. I had even more respect for the monks’ lifestyle and very much admire their discipline.

As for now, Happy Jetsetting! ✈