Natural Health

Perspectives of Buddha country

There’s an old saying that if you visit Burma (now Myanmar) once, you are sure to visit again three times. I have no memory of my first visit, only a sepia photo of myself aged two with my grandmother in Rangoon (now Yangon), the capital of Burma, where my grandfather had established a business in 1890. He exited Burma 50 years later, following a military coup.

Last month I was there on visit # 2 with a large family group, which had planned the nostalgia trip. For me it was more than a nostalgic ‘roots’ visit, because ever since I attended a ten-day Vipassana meditation programme in India in 1990, I have been curious about the country in which the Vipassana philosophy originated. This meditation technique has kept the Buddha’s priceless teachings alive for future generations when they were lost to India, until the great Vipassana guru S.N. Goenka brought it back to India in the 1970s. Vipassana proved to be a turning point in my life. The complete silence for ten days which this school of meditation mandates was pure bliss. For those wanting to know more log onto www.dhamma.org.

There’s much in contemporary Myanmar to remind one of India. The cities (Rangoon, Bagaan, Mandalay) are Kolkata and Mumbai clones and rural Myanmar replicates rural Goa, especially parts of Inle Lake where time seems to have stood still. Nor has time affected the fisher folk of Inle as they manoeuvre their very basic but elegant canoes across this spectacular 60-mile long lake, casting nets so utilitarian that it makes one reflect upon the virtues of getting and spending and the much-hyped global consumer revolution. As we rode a motorised canoe with water plantations on either side, gazing at blue mountains in the distance, the pristine vista made me feel completely relaxed and in tune with nature and the universe.

The big differentiating factor which separates the Myanmar landscape from that of its giant neighbour is the 3,000 pagodas which embellish the country. There are thousands of monasteries and becoming a monk is a very real career option, with the Buddha being revered so passionately. The compounds of pagodas are tranquil playgrounds where mothers with children meet and senior citizens snooze in the shade. The pagodas also have plenty of room inside at the feet of the Buddha, for people to congregate in the shade away from the hot sun. Although in terms of IMF and World Bank measurement criteria the country is rock bottom, even the poorest donate to the pagodas and the people exude calm and serenity while rural and urban environments are spotlessly clean.

Myanmar’s duly elected woman leader has been under house arrest for the past 16 years. The daughter of the country’s martyred hero and leader of its independence movement Aung San Suu Kyi is commonly referred to as "the lady". Our knowledgeable tour guide, when we were far away from government spies and informers, filled us in about her and other realities of this beautiful, tortured country. Obviously the military dictators know her house arrest can’t go on forever. So to distract the citizens they resort to gimmicks like moving their headquarters inland into the hills for protection, painting pagodas red and changing left hand drive cars to right as per dictates of astrologers, who claim these gimmicks will help the junta retain power.

A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the lady obviously has great inner strength and courage to resist the temptation of joining her sons in the UK, in favour of living confined under hopeless house arrest. Endowed with a wealth of natural resources, Burma’s population is being denied the benefits of development by its military rulers. Not that Indian politicians don’t do the same, but they do what they do with the broad consent of the people. One wonders about the irony of lack of official compassion, right action and all the good the Buddha preached in a nation so devoutly Buddhist.

True, Indian cell phones don’t work there and neither is one permitted to send or receive e-mails. But if Myanmar miraculously experiences liberalisation Indian style, women won’t walk around with sandalwood thanaka patches on their cheeks to keep cool during the hot season. They might even stop making their own palm jaggery, served traditionally as small round balls — substitutes for factory made sweets. I’ve often advised my customers to break up palm jaggery into small pieces and store them in jars for children. At least in Myanmar this advice is widely followed. Another useful lesson learnt in Myanmar is how to make frangipani salad from the flower so commonly found in the country. Here’s how: Pick only fallen yellow and pink flowers and immerse in hot water for a couple of seconds. Slice and mix with onion, garlic, tomato, sesame, roasted powdered peanuts, fried onion, cold-pressed oil and salt. Very good for the heart.

On the spiritual side, having spent almost two weeks at the Buddha’s feet, I hope it reduces anger and irritation which have been diffusing my energy. Will it happen? Only time will tell. But now I believe more than ever that we needn’t become monks to live our lives as per the Buddha’s teachings. We can do so right here, right now.