"What's So Special About the Sagaing Hills?"

Regarding the recent news about U Sarana undertaking an intensive research trip in the Sagaing Hills, some readers who have not been to Myanmar have asked, "what's so special about this area, anyway?"

This is a fair question, and one that would require a book to answer-- or, perhaps, the upcoming Shwe Lan Ga Lay.

One cannot find the words to adequately describe such an unusual gem as these Hills. It is noteworthy that it has played critical roles in the genesis of the two major Burmese Buddhist practices that have been exported from Burma: Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayagyi U Goenka. It was in Sagaing, at Thameikdawdaya Nunnery just after World War II, in 1947, where Sir U Thwin beheld Mahasi Sayadaw speaking for the first time. He was transfixed listening to the sermon, and later remarked that “[Mahasi Sayadaw] was teaching with utmost dignity in a tranquil state of mind without any distraction….This eminent teacher is the savior I have been searching for.” Conferring with Prime Minister U Nu, Sir U Thwin invited Mahasi Sayadaw to the newly opened Sasana Yeiktha in Rangoon, asking him to be the lead teacher here. It was from this this center where the Mahasi movement swept not only Burma but the entire Southeast Asian region in unprecedented ways, an unparalleled Dhammic movement that had its origins in a humble Sagaing nunnery.

Similarly, U Goenka has suggested that Ledi Sayadaw learned Vipassana meditation deep in the Sagaing Hills from an unknown master. Although there are questions about this speculation, it is extremely significant that this region would be chosen as the origin of Ledi's Vipassana practice, for it is a region especially known for patipatti-minded monks. Ledi would be asked on two separate occasions to return to the Sagaing Hills to drive away plague epidemics, and was successful both times, according to one monk biographer. He also spent the last couple years of his life in a monastery near the Ayeyarwaddy River (although passed away in Pyinmina), where pilgrims can still today go and meditate just beyond the peaceful flowing river. It was also here where he was given the highest award by British colonials. (by this time, however, Ledi was legally blind, having exhausted his eyesight from his continual reading and writing) Also, perhaps U Goenka's greatest contemporary Dhamma friend in Myanmar was Sitagu Sayadaw, who played a critical role for the spread of U Goenka's teachings within Myanmar. And Sitagu Sayadaw, of course, established his famed Sitagu Academy just at the foot of the Hills-- and is now building a massive Vipassana Center much deeper into the Hills in the model of Borobudur in Indonesia.

Until just a generation ago, tigers roamed the dense forestation of the Sagaing Hills, and some monks even today bear tiger scars upon their bodies from attacks that occurred during alms rounds-- talk about unwholesome kamma for the great beasts! Countless arahants have been produced from these Hills, and the surviving stories of their challenges and ultimate successes make some of the most inspiring reading available to meditators today-- it is histories and stories such as these that U Sarana hopes to further track down.

The Tigers of Sagaing

The view just outside the fortified structure described below

Historically, Burmese ascetics have regarded the Sagaing Hills as an ideal spot to practice dhamma. This is because for many centuries it was a lush jungle-laden series of rolling hills, allowing the monks (for in past years nuns and lay people did not engage in such practices to the same extent) to concentrate fully on the practice and development of insight. To this day, there are as-yet uncounted caves, pagodas, monasteries, kutis, and other sites showing the living Buddhist practice community that Sagaing has been over the years.

In recent years, much of this tropical forest region has been peeled away by expanding roads and communities, pushing the ascetic's practice deeper into the hills. Areas that one could only reach by trekking are now accessible (some entirely) by vehicle.

The entrance to the fortified building that protected monks against tiger attacks

However, as recently as a generation ago, nature still held sway. In fact, monks were under constant threat by tiger attacks during their alms rounds.  These pictures show a structure that was built as a means of protecting the monks from such tiger incursions.  The building was situated between eight very small monasteries, allowing easy access to all. The walls were built to be considerably thick and the structure was further fortified by sealed rooms that are unlike what one would find at any other Burmese monastery. When tigers were known to be in the area, monks from all eight monasteries would retire at night to sleep in this bunker together, returning to their own grounds during the day for practice.

It is also worth noting that the monk featured below mentioned that his own teacher was once personally attacked by a tiger on his alms walk, and the claws ripped into his abdomen. Fortunately, he survived the attack, and left with scars to show it.

The ceiling of the upper story chamber today, so loose that it is no longer safe for anyone to enter

An entrance on the upper story of the fortified building