Tuesday, April 5, 2011

House of angels


Myanmar is the most religious Buddhist country in the world in terms of the proportions of monks and nuns in the population and also proportion of income spent on religion (reference report). It is like medieval time of Europe, except it was 5th – 15th century then, and now it is 2011 in Myanmar.  But of course, there is nothing wrong, it is just a comparison.
There is a Burmese saying that the death of a son or spouse, a loss in business, indebtedness, and/or unfulfillment, all lead women to become nuns.  However, the lives of Burmese nuns are not as grave as the saying suggests. While they must endure physical hardships, institutional discrimination, and a life subservience, most nuns say this is more than offset by the contentment they achieve in their quest for religious salvation and enlightenment and indeed, most nuns, known as thilashin in Burmese, never leave the nunnery once they are ordained.
And inside the assembly hall taking picture of all the little nuns, some may see life imprisoning, but they are all angles.

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