South East Asian Trips

Shwedagon Pagoda

Then King Banya U (AD 1353-1385) and his descendents reconstructed and enlarged it and raised it still higher. Queen Shin Saw Pu, the grand daughter of Banya U, had the pagoda enlarged and raised. She was the first Queen who donated and gilded the pagoda with gold equal to her weight. Her heir and son-in-law King Dhammazedi also continued to donate gold equal to his weight and that of his queen. He cast a huge bell 8 cubits in width at the mouth and 12 cubits in height. It was placed in a hall at the southern entrance of the pagoda.This huge bell was stolen by Filipe de Brittoe Nicote, a Portuguese merchant who later conquered Thanlyin.

He intended to melt it down and cast it into cannons. He was unable to achieve his plan, as the bell was lost in the Yangon River . Later Myanmar artisans claimed the bell and placed at the Shwedagon. Numerous Myanmar kings also made major developments to the pagoda and the surrounds, installing new Htis (Glorious Crown), gilding the pagoda and building rest houses and prayer halls,

Maha Wi Zaya Pagoda

This was built in 1980 as a replica of Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung Oo (Bagan). It is near the Shwedagon Pagoda, and the site is on the hillock where Queen Shin Saw Pu used to meditate and recite prayers whenever she visited Shwedagon. It contains relics of Buddha donated by the king of Nepal while visiting Myanmar . The construction design is mixed with modern and classic. There is a picture on the ceiling showing the positions of the constellation at the beginning of construction,

Sacred Tooth Relic Pagoda

While the Sixth Buddhist Synod was convening in Yangon in 1955, the People's Republic of China sent a good will mission of religious delegates along with a Genuine Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha. This Sacred Tooth is sheltered in the Kwang Yi Su Temple in Beijing . It was sheltered in Maha Pasana Cave for respect and devotional admiration of the monks, laity and the venerable abbots of Buddhist countries who were attending the Synod.

In April of 1994, the Chinese religious delegates visited and presented two replicas of the Sacred Tooth for religious devotion and worship in Myanmar . The Dhama Pala hillock in Mayangon Township , Yangon (just a few hundred yards from Kaba Aye Pagoda) and the Shar Taw village in Amarapura Township , Mandalay Division were chosen and two Pagodas were constructed enshrining the Tooth Relics. These pagodas are reproduction of the Ananda at Bagan,

Lawka Chantha Abhaya Labha Muni Image

The famous stone sculptor of Mandalay , U Taw Taw, found a significantly large marble rock measuring 37.8 feet x 24 feet x 11 feet and weighing 500 ton. The marble, flawless and of high quality, was found in Zakyin village, Mattaya Township , 21 miles north of Mandalay .

U Taw Taw requested permission from the leaders of State to carve this marble rock into a grand Buddha image. The Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior General Than Shwe gave guidance and granted permission for it to be conveyed to Yangon for public obeisance as a Buddha Image accord with religious tradition. The image was conveyed along the Ayeyarwaddy River in July 2000 on a 'Yadana Shwephaungdaw' (a huge raft decorated with jewels and gold) and taken to Mindama Hill, Yangon on August 2000,

Ah Lane Nga Sint

The name means a five-storey tower on the precincts of the pagoda. It indicates the five stages of the non-physical worlds,

Mai Lamu Pagoda

The interesting feature of this pagoda is a number of huge Buddha images and legendary figures such as spirits and mythical creatures associated with the Okkalapa city of that era. The pagoda was named after Mai Lamu, the mother of King Okkalapa, who originally founded Shwe Dagon,

Bo Ta Thaung Pagoda

Located on the Yangon River bank, the Bo Ta Thaung has for centuries been a navigator's landmark just as the Bu Paya was in ancient Bagan. Bo means a military officer and Ta Thaung means a thousand military personnel or vanguards, which were said to have constituted a guard of honour when the Buddhas' relics were personally received by King Okkalapa from India .

The pagoda was hit by an allied forces bomb in November 1943, and was rebuilt from public contributions in 1953. The removal of the debris afforded authentication of the origin of this pagoda because the excavations revealed a relic chamber and a stone casket inside it, shaped like a pagoda, and quite a variety of treasures such as precious stones, ornaments, engraved terra-cotta plaques, gold, silver, and brass and stone images. As many as 700 images were found.

One terra cotta plaque is of great historical significance because one side bears the image of Lord Buddha and other a Pali inscription in the evolved Brahmin script of South India . The script had been adopted by the Mon.

The new pagoda, built of reinforced concrete, closely follows the destroyed original and its height is 131 feet 8 inches. It retains the ancient motif and hollow inside so that people can enter.

Another unique feature is the showcases that have been worked into the walls all round to house the many relics that were unearthed during the excavation. In the centre, the exact spot of the old reliquary, is a well-like hollow which will be the depository of the sacred relics,

Maha Pasana Guha

Maha Pasana Guha or the great cave was created simultaneously with the Kaba Aye Pagoda in 1952. It is a replica of the Satta Panni cave where the First Buddhist Synod was convened over 2500 years ago in Rajagah now known as Rajgir in Bihar of India. The Maha Pasana Cave has six huge concrete pillars and six entrances to mark the Sixth Great Synod.

It is 455 feet in length and 370 feet in breadth. The assembly hall inside is 220 feet in length and 140 feet in width. About 2,500 members of Sanga and 7,500 laities can be seated in raised seating in the Maha Pasana Cave . The Congregation of the Sixth Buddhist Synod met here in 1954, and this is also known to be one of the mid-twentieth century historical land marks of Buddhist religion,

Kaba Aye Pagoda

Kaba Aye, meaning World Peace, was built to commemorate the Sixth Buddha Synod in 1954, held in Maha Pasana Guha (Cave) within the same compound.

The pagoda is 34 meters in height and 34 meters in circumference at the base. The pagoda has five entrances and hall space containing five Buddha images. There is also an image of the last Buddha (Gautama) made out of pure silver weighing 500 kilograms. Relics of the Buddha and two of His Chief disciples are also enshrined in the pagoda. There are concrete buildings for the accommodation of the reverend monks of Buddhist countries and learned monks of Myanmar well versed in the Buddhist. The scriptures are now used for monks studying higher-level religious instructions,

Nga Htat Kyi Pagoda

Nga Htat Kyi Pagoda is a sitting image of Buddha located in the Ashay Tawya Kyaung Tank,

Chauk Htat Kyi Pagoda

This pagoda with its reclining image of Buddha is on Shwegonedaing Road, opposite the Nga Htat Kyi Pagoda

Koe Htat Kyi Pagoda

It has a 65 foot high sitting image enshrining relics of the Buddha, and is located in Sanchaung. There is also a reliquary inside the image of the Buddha,

Around YANGON

Kyaik Khauk Pagoda

This replica of Shwedagon, on the way to Kyaik Tan, is situated in Thanlyin on a hillock. King Asoka, after the third Buddhist synod in India, sent three monks to this part of the world. One of the youngest monks, Shin Thawmara reached Thanlyin to propagate the Sasana. He was helped by a hermit named Khawlaka who resided on the hillock entered Buddhism and who became a monk called Shin Khawlaka. Shin Khawlaka and King Sula Thirimar Thawka of Thaton built the pagoda enshrining hair relics of the Buddha donated by King Asoka of India in 124 BE.

Ye Le Paya

This pagoda is on an islet in mid-stream. The seventh king of the Pada Dynasty founded this pagoda in the third century BC. Originally the pagoda was only 11 foot in height. Pilgrims and visitors are ferried across to the pagoda and on the way they feed shoals of long river catfish, some of which are a meter in length.