Lunch at Zabu Mingalar Monastery

The venerable Zabu Mingalar Sayadaw of 99 years of age

Lunch is served at Zabu Mingalar Monastery to the senior Sayadaw, who is 99 years old and has been in robes in the Sagaing Hills for more than seven decades! Still agile and quick of mind, he leads the younger monks and novices in the typical Buddhist recitations prior to the meal. The table setting is also unique, in that it is set in a circular fashion with a Lazy Susan in the middle. As the Sagaing Hills are perhaps the most fascinating and important place in Burmese Buddhist history, one can only wonder what knowledge and experience are stored inside the venerable Sayadaw's head. The Zabu Mingalar Monastery are on the hills above the Ayeyarwaddy River, offering a breathtaking view of Mandalay to one side, and the pagodas and stupas of Sagaing to the other.

Lunch before it is served

Fruit is served to visitors as monks eat their lunch

Digging A Hole in Kalaw

Water is a fundamental human need, and in the lush pine forests around Kalaw in Shan State, villagers band together to dig reservoirs that can be used for local monasteries. This clip shows several volunteers in the process of digging their own pit, to be used for some of the remote and secluded monasteries around this beautiful region. U Aye, a local benefactor and fountain of dhammic energy in the region, was helping to organize this undertaking. He can be seen directing the efforts. The video also shows a man hacking away a small branch. This is considered to be auspicious to place at the site of the new reservoir.

Planting the auspicious tree...

Sain Pyin Gyi: Where It All Began

This precious stupa and Buddha statue is hundreds of years old, and on the site where Ledi Sayadaw ordained as a young boy

"…beyond the conventional radar, this is the heart of yogi tourism, where foreign meditators, carrying tourist cash dollars, come to explore the heartland of their spiritual souls. For some this is the area ‘where it all began." Chindwin, David Lambert

Located in Dipayin township, Sain Pyin Gyi is the village where Ledi Sayadaw was born (1846) as well as where he first ordained as a full monk (1866). Saing Pyin Gyi can be translated to mean “many scattered bison,” suggesting the vast wilderness that must have existed here some time ago. Indeed, Sayadaw U Nyanissara lists the other wild animals that roamed here during the mid nineteenth century: barking deer, antelope, reindeer, hyena, wildebeest, and goat. Now, however, it is a community of over one thousand homes.

Here a major project is being undertaken to save for all posterity all remaining works by Ledi Sayadaw that have not yet been inscribed by stone. Once finished, serious meditators from around the world can come and pay their respects to the great monk.

Prior to his birth in the Katoe Quarter, a great rainbow appeared from a tamarind tree growing on his parents’ land, which then swooped into his family’s home and went back out again, bathing the sky in a brilliant radiance. In words chiseled in stone at the very site and rendered from a Monywa talk, Ledi Ashin Kelarsa Agga Maha Pandia has described this as a “miraculous, nay, auspicious event.” The event was later accorded its own name, referred to as “Indra’s Bows,” among other names. U Candima acknowledges that “from a modern perspective, this rainbow display is hard to believe. There were, however, many witnesses.” 

U Candima goes on to share that news of this rainbow quickly spread throughout the village, and “learned people predicted that the child would take delight in the Buddha’s Sasana when he came of age. They added that the child would master the Tipitaka and would devote his life to selfless service in missionary work.”

Following the great rainbow, the boy was given the name Maung Tat Khaung, which can be translated as “one who will climb up to the very top”. Maung Tat Khaung’s parents were simple rice farmers in a typical small village that revolved around agriculture. In pre-colonial Burma it was also standard for monasteries to look after the basic educational needs of the community’s young men. 

This is the very tamarind tree that a rainbow passed through on the night of Ledi's birth, an omen that many interpreted to mean that great things would come to the boy. Today, only serious meditators are allowed to meditate around it.

After turning ten, he entered Kyaung Ma Monastery as a novice and was given the name Shin Nyanadhaja, and here he began his study of Pāḷi and the scriptures under Sayadaw U Nanda. Maung Tat Khaung continued his studies in nearby Ye Thwet Village and received full ordination when he was twenty, having read all of the books held in the two towns near his home (and including a brief period in which he disrobed for eight months to help on the family plot). 

He studied not only from the scriptures, but also astrology and poetry, and in his later years would return to this field by composing poems based on the Abhidhamma. In fact, these poems came to be learned by the young and old alike throughout the country; people would often greet him to their town when he visited, and discuss and parse the meaning of these poems long after he left. Soon after turning twenty-one, it was said that he walked to Mandalay with his nephew to continue his formal studies at the royal capital. 

 

A painting in the very Sima Hall where Ledi Sayadaw was ordained as a boy depicts the event as it happens

This is the very Sima Hall where Ledi Sayadaw ordained as a young boy

Original book by Ledi Sayadaw

One of the joys of being in Burma is seeing items being used over, and over, and over again. Nothing goes to waste. This is seen at monasteries all the time, where new robes, once old and worn, may be seen recycled in any number of creative (and useful ways). While walking through the Sagaing Hills, a monk was encountered reading this tattered copy of a Ledi Sayadaw book. Not holding it as a relic or momento, but the book was next to his bed and used as his night time reading to inspire his practice. Termite bites can be seen throughout, and the publication date indicates 1928, which would have been just years after the venerable monk passed away.

The World Cup Comes to Burma

Like the rest of the word, Burma also has World Cup Fever. Although the games are shown between 10 pm and 4 am, cafes, homes, and even monasteries across the land are waking up to watch the games. Here, a football fan catches the action from a teashop in Kalaw.

A Visit to Webu Monastery in Kyaukse

A life size statue of Webu Sayadaw depicts the venerable monk in a palanquin that was actually used during his lifetime. This is set next to a large Dhamma Hall where Webu would preach, before which, he always played his own recording of him chanting the Maha Sumaya Sutta, which is an invitation to devas and other celestial beings.

Kyaukse has a very important place in the story of the Venerable Webu Sayadaw. It was in Kyaukse that the venerable monk reemerged after several years of intense meditation practice, the details of which even his biographers are not clear about and which may never be satisfactorily unearthed. Webu Sayadaw would go on to reside in this area for much of the rest of his life, although when the Webu Monasteries at Ingyinbin and Shwebo were established he would stay here only for the Rains Retreat. It is also believed he attained the third stage of liberation in Kyaukse, and later gained full liberation back in his native village of Ingyinbin. U Ba Khin met Webu for the first time here, and soon after he taught his first student, the train station attendant, upon Webu Sayadaw's advice.

As Webu began to get more known throughout the country, many lay supporters sought him out and monks came here hoping to learn under him, causing this center to slowly grow into its present size, a 200-acre monastery compound. U Ko Lay ordained twice at this Kyaukse center, once in 1960 and once several years later. While the old sites of significance from Webu Sayadaw’s life are still standing on the grounds, much of the original construction has been abandoned in favor of a newer monastery where monks, nuns, and lay people currently reside. Today the monastery grounds are also home to over fifty pagodas.

This is the stone stairwell leading to the San Kyaung building, where many artifacts from the First and Second Webu Sayadaw are kept. Included here are relics, paintings, original alms bowls, and other such items. 

Foreign yogis mediate inside the very cave where Webu Sayadaw spent many of his days-- and nights-- when he first came to the Kyaukse area.

A Canadian yogi ascends the stairs to San Kyaung. Above his head one can see placards hanging. One of these was sponsored by Sayagyi U Ba Khin, and his name and family and address are listed as well.

Alms Rounds in Ingyinbin

During the Pariyatti pilgrimage in 2014, a Dutch monk and German nun joined a recently ordained New Zealand monk for his first alms rounds in Ingyinbin. This is the small village in Upper Burma where Webu Sayadaw was born, ordained, reached nibbana, and passed away. Also helping out was an American yogi who himself later ordained for three months.

A local villager pays respects to two foreign monks on alms rounds