A peaceful life surrounded by nature

Hi Folks!

How are you and how's life?

The first semester of my second year is coming to an end.

There will be a break and I am going to spend a couple of days in Mandalay and then go for a 10-day course to Dhamma Mahima, Pyin Oo Lwin.

It's rainy season here too, and our location, being at about 5200' with ranges of countless small, green hillocks up to the horizon in every direction, is covered in mist, fog, rain-clouds - and rain almost all the time!

This is my university from a different angle!

There are many, many small hillocks nearby and at least three of them have started construction to build monasteries. It's amazing - donations come in, and suddenly there's activity and before you know it, the monastery is up and running with a few novice monks!

There is one place I had visited a year ago. It was a residential school with 10 - 15 children then, and in the evening, they were playing marbles! I don't think there are many Indian villages now where children play this game!

When I went a month ago through a nice bamboo grove, it was overcrowded with - 567 boys and girls of school-going ages, from 6-7 years to teens! The place was bursting, and it seemed like it was an unexpected surge of students.

I asked the Venerable-In-Charge and he said, the northern part of the state is seeing some bloody battles between tribes, and the parents had to put their children in schools far off, basically to keep them safe.

Such things are eye-openers. Some animosities go very far back, hundreds and hundreds of years. Many have only oral languages and traditions with no written script. Not all follow Buddhism, they have their own faiths and traditions though they pay respect to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha too.  

I am told the hills around the lovely Inley lake has over a hundred tribes since hundreds and hundreds of years, each with its own fiercely-followed culture. Not all see eye to eye and not all fight with each-other. Most just want to be left alone with their customs and have no inclination toward education or a “better (read material) life.

I got an interesting question some weeks ago which I am reproducing:

‘It is quite impressive to learn Pali.
But I am having this nagging question, how come these peaceful people were so harsh with Bangladeshis. And even if the monks didn't took part they sort of supported it or didn't do anything to stop it.
Keep it up. Nice blog’.

Thank you, for the compliment. 

There are many, many layers to the politics here and we can never speak about who exactly is in charge. 

Most people would like to be left alone to pursue their spiritual path but their day-to-day material life is not so simple.

There is a fear of being over-run by population of other religion though the numbers are conflicting. It’s similar to what is happening all over the world.

It’s sad.

The method of studies here is different from most of our colleges and universities. It follows the western one, of slides, explanation and then we have to write summaries, short and long essays and give presentations, choosing topics from the list provided.

There is a good selection of books in the Library and it is both challenging and fun to study on your own without the spoon-feeding or one-way traffic we are used to!

I’m sharing some awesome pictures of this place. Sometimes, the sky is mind-blowing.

This is our Dhamma Hall, where there is chanting every evening.

 Fields and new roads being made.

 Are you peaceful at heart?

Do you take some me-time and just sit still, quiet?

Try it - or if you do it, continue it.

Have a fulfilling life, day by day, minute by minute.

See you in a few weeks.

Happy Guru-Pournima.