Day 49, Summer in Asia, Yangon, Myanmar
Today we visited the Sule Pagoda and Botataung Pagoda. But first, the difference between a Burmese temple and pagoda, to the best of my research and understanding.
A pagoda or paya in Burmese, and has a stupa which holds a relic chamber, which obviously, requires a relic of some kind. Visitors walk clockwise around the shrine.
The temple or ku is a place of meditation. This is not to be confused with a place of worship, since according to Theravada Buddhism, which is what is predominantly practiced in Myanmar, the Buddha was not a god. Ku is derived from a word meaning cave, when monks often retreated to study and meditated during the time of the Buddha.
A stupa always contains a relic. The Shwedagon Pagoda stupa, for example, contains 8 hairs, a staff, a water filter, a piece of robe.
The Sule Pagoda is said to be the site of Buddha hair relics.
From Sule we walked through the city to the Botataung Pagoda is also said to house Buddha hair relics. Here’s what we saw along the way.
Once at the Botauna Pagoda we were able to walk inside the Stupa to see where the Buddha hairs were actually housed.
In the evening we went out onto the streets which are always full of life, both people and doggies. We ate at The Lab, Wine and Tapas bar.
Beautiful views of stupas line the sky. This is a photo taken from our hotel. Quite something.