Mingun, on the Irrawaddy river

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Mingun is a village on the western bank of the river Ayeyawaddy, approximately 7 miles north of Mandalay. It is reached by ferryboats across the river and takes 1 hour for up-river and 40 minutes for down-river. It is famous for many Buddhist shrines, monasteries, meditation centre and monuments of historical and cultural importance.

Taxi

Acacia trees

Houses are built of bamboo in the traditional style: bamboo plaited frames.

Weaver birds build the most amazingly complex nests

Weaver birds nests, woven out of grass strands and based on a knot and hop around a branch.

The fuel supply stationTaxi

Mingun Monument to The Venerable Mingun Sayadaw

The Venerable Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabivamsa (1911 – 1993) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk, best known for his memory skills and his role in the Sixth Buddhist Council

The Venerable Mingun Sayadaw in 1953, became the first monk ever to be awarded the title of Tipitakadhara, meaning Keeper and Guardian of the Tipitaka.

In 1985, the Guinness Book of Records recorded the sayadaw as a record holder in the Human memory category. The exact entry was Human memory: Bhandanta Vicitsara (sic) recited 16,000 pages of Buddhist canonical text in Rangoon, Burma in May 1954. Rare instances of eidetic memory -- the ability to project and hence "visually" recall material-- are known to science

Nerium oleander is a highly toxic ornamental shrub

Euphorbia milii (crown of thorns, Christ plant, Christ thorn) is a species of flowering plant. The sap is moderately poisonous.

Euphorbia milii (Christ thorn

In about 1970, Mingun Sayadaw established a home for old people who did not have family members to care for them.

“It is the custom there that elderly people live with their family. If they don’t have any family left, they are considered and called orphans. This elderly home, The Buddhist Home for Aged People is for orphans. Beautiful people, all; there is only one nurse taking care of more than 80 people, so they take care of each other. They live on donations from Buddhist people. And it is a happy place! Unlike so many elderly homes in the West.”

The Buddhist Home for Aged People

Burmese culture is deeply rooted in the Buddhist teachings and so the respect and veneration for the elders is thoroughly embedded in the heart of Burmese people. To have a ceremony during which the elders are honoured and showed reverence is nothing unusual in Burma.

In one of his discourses, the Buddha said that one could not repay one’s parents, even if one were to carry them on one’s shoulders for the rest of one’s life.

The glass cabinet of medicines, from all around the world, most of which had been donated by visitors.

Settawya Paya's vaulted shrine with a footprint of the Buddha;

Settawya Paya's vaulted shrine with a footprint of the Buddha;

Settawya Paya's five-level terrace, Mingun

Settawya Paya

Text: Internet

Pictures: Sanda Foişoreanu & Internet

Copyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound Sein Bo Tint - Burmese Traditional Orchestra leader