In Myanmar country, the majority of population about 89% follows Buddhism. This branch of Buddhism adheres most closely to the oldest texts in the Buddhist tradition and generally emphasizes a more rigorous observance of the monastic code than other schools of Buddhism. Myanmar is home to a wide range of incredible Buddhist architectural styles. This is primarily due to the eclectic nature of Burmese Theravada Buddhism, which incorporates elements from a range of sources.
The sheer number of Myanmar Buddhist structures dotted across the country leaves a lasting impression on visitors. Many monuments are exquisitely beautiful. All reflect the legacy of Burma’s Buddhist merit-making tradition. Building temples, shrines or stupas is seen as a way of improving rebirth conditions and compensating for transgressions committed in the present life. In addition, raising funds for a pagoda to be built earns the sponsor respect and status in the current life.
The structures of Burmese temples are not only influential in a spiritual as well as religious life of Burmese people. However, they will influence in politically and socially too.
Background of Myanmar Buddhist
Myanmar is one of the most devout Buddhist countries in the world. The particular color of thousands of pagodas and temples is the gold. In Myanmar, the shapes of countryside are various. The smallest temples are set under the graceful old tree, the huge pagodas and temples are built by many places.
Buddhism was followed by the Burmese people getting attached and adapting Buddhism as their religion. As the time went on, many rulers ruled over the land with the influence of Buddhism increasing as it went on. It appeared from the Shan dynasty. After that, there are many Buddhist temples built with Pagoda style architecture. Burma is also famous for numerous Buddhist temples called Pagodas. Many types of Buddha statues are kept to pay to respect the Buddha in these Buddhist temples. Almost the temples are in tiered structures. Following the description, the shape of a pagoda of Burmese landscapes will be painted white or covered gold. Almost regions in Burma are built many Buddhist temples.
In the opinion of Burmese people, the temple plays an important role in their life. People come here to pray. They bring flowers and burn incense sticks,… on the important events as cremations and Buddhist holidays. In the morning, the monks walk through the streets with a bowl and local people will give them the foods.
Other important places in Myanmar Buddhist are monasteries which are the house of Buddhist monks. In each year, numerous monks come to these monasteries. The Buddhist teachings and principles are passed on by the senior monks in these Burmese monasteries.
Lay people accumulate merit by making offerings to the Buddhist monastic community, or Sangha. There are many donations to temples and monasteries. Different to other countries, in Myanmar, the Sangha can distribute their opinion on the state power of government.
Additionally, the growth of meditation movements is a unique aspect of Buddhism in Myanmar. The meditation practice was reserved for monastic elites. However, under British colonialism, meditation was taught to lay people, a practice that continues into the present day.
Burmese style temple architecture
Buddhist temples are among the most beautiful structures in the country. Burmese temples have many distinct features of typical Burmese temple architecture.
1. Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon
The elegant Shwedagon Pagoda is Yangon’s most famous landmark. The pagoda is tall 99 meter which located in the top of a hill Yangon dominates the area. After dark, the pagoda is covered by many lamps. The very impressive pagoda, also known as the Golden Pagoda, is Burma’s most important Buddhist pilgrimage site. The main stupa is kept the three previous Buddhas.
Thousands of pilgrims stream daily around the precincts of Myanmar’s most splendid religious monument – Shwedagon Pagoda – a structure of otherworldly beauty. The temple here is often seen as a symbol of Burmese Buddhism and national pride. The gigantic golden stupa rises out from the cityscape of Yangon making for a sublime spectacle.
It is tempting when you first arrive in Yangon to head straight for the mesmerizing gilded spire on the horizon. If you can, resist the urge until early evening when the warm light of sunset transforms the gold-encrusted pagoda and its many smaller shrines. Surprisingly, you’ll also find fewer tourists during the early evening, and so will share the site primarily with local worshippers.
The complex can be entered through four different gateways, each approached via elegant flights of covered steps. Whichever stairway you use, be sure to remove your footwear at the bottom of the steps, and remember which one you entered through.
2. Kyauk Htat Gyi Pagoda, Yangon
Not really a pagoda in the traditional sense, the Kyauk Htat Gyi is actually a tazaung (pavilion) housing a colossal reclining Buddha. Although the 70-metre long sculpture is bigger than the reclining Buddha of Bago (see below), it is not as well known or as highly venerated. Nevertheless, it is a truly impressive sight. This Buddha is highly decorated too, with coloured lips and eyes, as well as exaggerated earlobes. The pagoda enclosure also houses a centre devoted to the study of sacred manuscripts. The 600 monks who live in the monastery annex spend their days meditating and studying old Pali texts.
3. Shwemawdaw Pagoda, Bago
Bago’s outstanding attraction is the Shwemawdaw Pagoda. Its stupa can be seen from around 10 kilometers outside the city. Richly gilded from base to tip, the pagoda has many similarities to the Shwedagon, and is in fact even taller than its more famous cousin, standing at 114 metres high. In 1930, the Shwemawdaw was hit by three earthquakes that almost completely destroyed it. However, after World War II, it was rebuilt by unpaid volunteers to stand higher than ever.
Like Yangon’s Shwedagon, the Shwemawdaw’s main terrace can be approached from four different directions by covered stairways. There are not as many brightly coloured tazaung or zayat (resting places) here, but there is a small museum containing some ancient wooden and bronze Buddha figures salvaged from the ruins of the 1930 earthquake. Marvel at the pagoda’s full height in person as part of Insight Guides’ Myanmar Highlights trip.
4. Shwethalyaung Buddha, Bago
On the other side of Bago lies the Shwethalyaung Buddha. Said to depict Gautama on the eve of his entering nibbana (nirvana), the reclining Buddha is revered throughout Myanmar as the country’s most beautiful. Measuring 55 metres long and 16 metres high, it is not as large as Yangon’s more recent Kyaukhtatgyi, but as a result of its quality and long history, is much the better-known and loved of the two.
5. Maha Muni, Mandalay
The Maha Wizaya Pagoda in Yangon is represented for Myanmar Buddhist which is a very elegant structure on top of a small hill opposite the famous Shwedagon pagoda. The structures of pagoda adapt both of traditional and modern style. It is also referred to as “The General’s Pagoda”.
A striking feature of the image’s body, rising to 3.8 metres in height, is its coverage of pounded gold. So many leaves here have been pressed on to it as offerings that they now form a 15cm-thick layer extending all the way around the back. The Buddha’s face always retains its gleam, as it is polished lovingly twice each day at 4.30am and 4.00pm by the monks.
6. Bodhi Tataung, Monywa (Mandalay)
Among the most surreal sights in Southeast Asia are the two vast Buddhas – one standing, one reclined – on this hilltop to the east of Monywa. The first is a vast, 116-metre standing Buddha – the Laykyun Setkyar – said to be the second biggest of its kind in the world. Stairways twist through 16 storeys inside the colossus, enabling visitors to climb through a series of galleries depicting lurid scenes of demons torturing human souls. The corridors lead to various windows from which visitors can survey the entire site.
At the foot of the standing giant sprawls an equally huge reclining Buddha, measuring 95 metres from head to toe. Tens of thousands of smaller Buddha statues rest in neat rows under Bodhi trees radiating from the 131-metre Aung Setykar Pagoda, on flat ground at the bottom of the complex.
7. Pho Win Taung Caves, Monywa (Mandalay)
To the west of Monywa, the Pho Win Taung cave complex consists of a cluster of 492 prayer chambers hewn from three sandstone outcrops. Most were excavated between the 14th and 18th centuries, but with their peeling plaster murals and time-worn Buddha images they feel much older, like an apparition from the Central Asian silk route.
If you are making the trip here, you will need a decent torch to admire the caves’ decorated interiors. Some were elaborately painted in geometric designs rendered in earthy reds, browns and blues. Others lead to colonnaded walkways lined with meditating or reclining Buddhas. The fact that the site lies well off-the-beaten-track adds to its allure as one of the best Buddhist sites in Myanmar. Be prepared for a complete lack of facilities, as well as troupes of pilfering monkeys.
8. Shwezigon Pagoda, Bagan
The Shwezigon Pagoda, found within the more built-up Nyuang U area of Bagan, ranks among Myanmar’s most revered Buddhist shrines. The prototype for all Burmese stupas, it was built after the rule of Anawratha at a spot designated by a white elephant to house the empire’s most sacred relics. Visit in the early evening when the sun is beginning to set. If you time it right, you’ll see the last of the day’s sun radiating against the stupa’s golden decoration, before turning it a glowing red colour. The site is often relatively tourist-free at this time too.
9. The Swe Taw Myat
The Swe Taw Myat paya or “Buddha tooth relic pagoda” is one of Yangon’s recent places of worship. It is a symmetrical building with four entrance portals in the main structure. Construction was funded with donations of Burmese people and Buddhists from all over the world. The pagoda was keeping Buddha tooth relic, believed to be one of the teeth of the Gautama Buddha who died some 2,500 years ago. And it included two ivory copies, one of which is still enshrined in the Swe Taw Myat today.
10. Golden Rock Pagoda, Kyaiktiyo (Mon State)
Forming one of the most ethereal spectacles in Southeast Asia, the Kyaiktiyo ‘Golden Rock’ Pagoda crowns a ridge of forested hills in the far north of Mon State. During the pilgrimage season from November to March, tens of thousands of devotees climb daily up to the shrine, regarded as one of the country’s most sacred, for a glimpse of a modest, 7.3-metre stupa mounted on top of a lavishly gilded boulder.
The hour-long climb to the hilltop temple can be arduous in the heat, and the journey to and from the starting point of the walk in an open-topped truck is less than comfortable. But the effort is rewarded with the chance to see the magical boulder bathed in the delicate, rose-coloured light of dawn or the afterglow of sunset, when crowds of ecstatic pilgrims and monks illuminate flickering candles and incense sticks as offerings.
