Tell Me About Myanmar The Land of Myanmar
Myanmar (Burma) is one of the poorest but at the same time one of the most fascinating countries of Southeast Asia and these two seemingly opposed attributes are more over connected. The country is poor because for decades its government fiercely protected it from almost each foreign influence, which is also the reason for its fascinating character. Traveling to Myanmar is not only a voyage into a different geographic region, but also a voyage into another time.
How far back into the past one travels depends of course on the destinations one chooses inside Myanmar. If you compare the Burmese capital Yangon (Rangoon) to the Thai capital Bangkok, the voyage may take you 30 to 40 years back into the past. On the other hand, a visit to backwash hill tribes can equal a voyage into the middle ages!
In the native tongue Burma's name has always been Myanmar. In 1989 the Burmese military government issued a decree that the country be known by the name of Myanmar among the international community. Since then in official publications and in diplomatic exchanges only Myanmar is mentioned referring to the country, which so far most people had been accustomed to calling Burma. But unofficially the name Burma is still very much in use.
The Religion of Myanmar
Buddhism is the national religion of Myanmar and consequently about 85 % of the population are Buddhists. But like Thai Buddhism Myanmar Buddhism is strongly intertwined with spiritism.
Myanmar was the first country in Southeast Asia where the words of the Buddha were spread. Buddhism has been taught since the first millennium of Christian reckoning by Indian merchants, who entered the Ayeyarwaddy delta for trade purposes.
But Buddhism became the dominant religion of Myanmar only after King Anawratha ascended the throne of the Burmese Kingdom in Bagan in 1044. King Anawratha was converted to Buddhism by a Mon missionary by the name of Shin Arahan.
As in Thailand, which was considerably later converted to Buddhism by Mon missionaries, in Myanmar a Buddhist temple is always the center of the village community. Like in Thailand, Myanmar Buddhist temples are the traditional places for education; and again like in Thailand, every male Burmese is expected to temporarily don the monk's robes at least once in his lifetime usually as adolescent.
The Myanmar Ministry Of Religious Affairs
The objectives of the establishment of the Department of Religious Affairs are to effectively carry out and function the following matters:-
(a) All people living in the Union of Myanmar have to take faith freely in any religion which they believe and to practise it freely.
(b) As 89.280 per-cent of population of the whole country taking faith in Buddhisam, it is to purify, perpetuate and propagate the three kinds of Sasana of the Buddha namely, Pariyatti, Patipatti and Pativedha.
(c) To promote and cultivate moral conduct and character of people by preserving and promoting traditional and cultural heritage of Myanmar.
Taken From AsiaTour.Com, Myanmar.Com, And Lonely Planet.Com.
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