Oh come on.. what do you expect? These people, if they can, they will happily buy and bribe their ways into heaven, or nirvana even.
I’m sure you’ve been to Doi Inthanon. Recently, there’s some controversy about building an observatory on the very summit. The issues is with environmental impact. Well… just a few kilometers before the summit and in areas of similar ecological importance, there are two of these conspicuous monuments to .. well.. you know who. Of course these structures miraculously do not affect the environment. Ever.
Re: Dhammakaya temple. Try Google Earth for a sense of scale of how big these things are.
Your temple reminds me of the wat built atop the hillside in the small town of Thaton where one catches the long-tail boat for the ride down to Chinag Rai along the Kok river. Once a very sleepy small town that was literally at the end of the road, the wat was once a very modest and very pleasant temple compound overlooking the river perhaps 30 meters above the town. Even before the road was extended and paved to Mae Salong, the temple began a huge expansion that had no correlation to the average income of the townspeople and certainly no correlation with the neighboring minority villagers. By the early 1990s I had already dubbed the now greatly expanded facility the “wat Hilton”. To this day I have no idea where the money came from or what was the perceived investment for such a grandiose facility.
Today in the space age in the 21st century India still has “Inner Lines”…indeed sad….
It still continues with the legacy of the Raj … despite time having moved on…even after 60 years plus after independence…
So Nehru wanted to create tribal zoos by continuing with the “Inner Line Concept”!!!
The MEA dealt with these belt(s)…so they were not part of India….great ….we do support the Chinese claims & justify many aspirations for breaking away from the Indian Union…
Has the culture of these simple folks survived with:
– Chrisianity & Hinduism creeping in, shouldering out nature worship.
– Hindi-iasation and consequent loss of their languages.
– Dominating influence of visual media.
– Inevitable change with roads, upcoming dams & near total deforestisation.
– Saturation of alchoal bends.
– Massive ongoing presence of security forces?
Please Powers that Be …it is time you erase “Inner Lines”..
Least do away with the massive non productive beaurocracy that is siting plump “managing” inner line, restricted areas & protected areas permits….just have it net processed instantaneously.
Part of me shares your sentiments (ignoring the egomaniac part from my architectural training). I see it as indicators, symbols of decadance and decline in Buddhism – even if some are beautifully crafted (high points in material culture but otherwise… I don’t know – maybe the construction of the Borobudur precipitated similar decline of the religion in Java).
I suspect that this is a phenomenon tied in very closely to the urban mindset and physical scales of mega-projects, malls and highrises. A consumption mindset where bigger is always better – more bun (merit) for your bucks. And Andrew is right that this mindset has long pervaded, through the medias, the rural folks – and they want to be affluent like us urbanites, and rightly so.
So we’ll likely see more, and much more, of these extravagant mountain-top monuments. These are extreme misappropriation of the tradition of building temples, which is considered to gain the sponsors the highest merit. In the ‘sufficiency economic’ pre-modern times, this is highly valid as, in building a temple, you are also building a community center, a school, a market, a public park, a hospital, an orphanage, public housing, dogs home etc…etc…
You should check out the Dhammakaya temple near rangsit. I was brought there by a friend who just said that we were going to visit the temple where her family goes. I was expecting some standard Thai temple but when we drove into it i was shocked. Main central dome building that looks like some kind of football stadium sized alien space craft with the dome made from 40 tonnes of gold !!!! The main building is not finished yet so they all go into a temporary airplane hanger style meditation hall with television screens, large donation booths, everyone wearing white and garish monuments that look like they were from soviet era Russia. Check out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48102&l=ca7b4&id=504515707
for pictures and a more detailed investigation of it is written in “Religious Movements in Contemporary Thailand: Buddhist Struggles for Modern
Relevance” by Suwanna Satha-Anand
Asian Survey, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Apr., 1990), pp. 395-408.
As I have said on several other pages tonight. I feel that now is the time for the rebel groups to show the world who the good guys are. The rebels should try to get food and supplies to the needy. They should help rebuild homes and fix broken bodies. THEY SHOULD CONTACT RELIEF AND AID GROUPS TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUPPLLIES TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE COUNTRY BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. Win the hearts of the people and show the world how bad they really are. Protect the innocent and punish the guilty. Come on rocky m. now is your chance. I am praying for all of you. I know things seem to only be getting harder, but god has given the world a reason to look in your direction. Now you must capture it attention.
Now I am hearing of the cyclone that ripped thru the coastal regions of Burma. What will the SPDC do now? I hear they are not allowing anyone to bring in aid or they are at least restricting the ammount of people and aid allowed in. What is the real story? What are the ethnic rebels doing about this situation? I hope they support the needs of the effected people. I pray they find a way to get food and other nessary supplies to the needy. I WOULD LIKE FOR THEM TO ASSIST AID WORKERS IN GETTING SUPPLIES IN TO THE COUNTRY. This will win them large amounts of public support and media coverage. This will show they can help the people of Burma dispite what the SPDC is doing to try to stop them. The world is watching, show the world who the good guys are. The rebels should get as much positive attention as possible. Come on Rocky Mya it is time to move. Save the innocent punish the guilty.
Comment from a Burmese in Yangon: When demonstrations against the military regine takes place, armed troops appear from no where within minutes — now, as the public and the monks labour with the clean-up of the aftermath, the military troops were slow in arriving and when they did, it was to sit and wait in their trucks for orders to act against the public should there be an unrest!
Joe Sydney is a palace stooge who knows absolutely nothing. This allegation of Handley being a Thaksin man is an old one and a false one. How much do you get paid for this silly stuff Moron Joe?
mai sung kha…. pi nongh tai. kha sai hong . now im living in Norway
im wana to have the detail contact address of tai group in norway and in london too if you have them please send to me at my personal email address [email protected] . im tai from seng tung. thank you very much for your kindness.
[…] water, food, and shelter. Not to mention medical care. The Asian Human Rights Commission says that Burma’s neighbors need to step up to the plate and help out: […]
Prime Minister General Thein Sein pays courtesy call on King Bhumibol Adulyadej
NAY PYI TAW, 1 May. Prime Minister General Thein Sein paid a courtesy call on Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Chitralada Palace in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.
Together with Prime Minister General Thein Sein, Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win, Minister for National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Myanmar Ambassador to Thailand U Ye Win, Director-General Col Thant Shin of the Government Office were present on the occasion.
Together with the Thai King were Thai Prime Minister Mr Samak Sundaravej, the Minister of Tourism and Sports and Thai Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Bonsarn Bunnag.
First, the Thai King said that the goodwill visit of the Myanmar Prime Minister would bring about the improvement of mutual trust between the two nations. He thanked Myanmar for warmly welcoming Thai Princess Sirindhorn, who visited Myanmar three times.
Prime Minister General Thein Sein said Head of State Senior General Than Shwe recalled his two visits to Thailand. He had conveyed the message of Head of State Senior General Than Shwe for the health and prosperity of the Thai King. He continued to explain the development of Myanmar and collaboration on cementing friendship between Myanmar and Thailand.
Concerning democratization process, the Thai King said the examples of some western powers stood witness to the fact that too much democracy was not good. So much talk and less work was not either. The western big nations accused Thailand of being weak in exercising democracy. The democracy being practised by Thailand was better than the one they were practising.
He added that Myanmar was rich in natural resources and close cooperation between Myanmar and Thailand would contribute to the benefits of the two nations.
I wonder what NM pundits have to say regarding this. Would the Burmese propaganda machine dare make up quotes which may potentially damage foreign relations? Or is there more…
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Protection from all kinds of danger
It is absolutely despicable what the junta are doing. Impounding flights sent as aid, blocking visa applications, and refusing to help its own people.
Hope these ‘good Buddhists’ rot in hell and are reborn as bacteria inhabiting dog feces.
Protection from all kinds of danger
Maybe he has been adrift in the Andaman Sea for some time… Hope there can now be a good current to take him home.
Fools and their money
Oh come on.. what do you expect? These people, if they can, they will happily buy and bribe their ways into heaven, or nirvana even.
I’m sure you’ve been to Doi Inthanon. Recently, there’s some controversy about building an observatory on the very summit. The issues is with environmental impact. Well… just a few kilometers before the summit and in areas of similar ecological importance, there are two of these conspicuous monuments to .. well.. you know who. Of course these structures miraculously do not affect the environment. Ever.
Re: Dhammakaya temple. Try Google Earth for a sense of scale of how big these things are.
Anthropological talk-fest in Kunming postponed?
Obviously the participants received a letter yesterday which confirmed that the conference was postponed. Don’t know the details yet.
Horror in pink
I think it is weirdly coincedental this article came out on my birthday, November 13th.
Fools and their money
Your temple reminds me of the wat built atop the hillside in the small town of Thaton where one catches the long-tail boat for the ride down to Chinag Rai along the Kok river. Once a very sleepy small town that was literally at the end of the road, the wat was once a very modest and very pleasant temple compound overlooking the river perhaps 30 meters above the town. Even before the road was extended and paved to Mae Salong, the temple began a huge expansion that had no correlation to the average income of the townspeople and certainly no correlation with the neighboring minority villagers. By the early 1990s I had already dubbed the now greatly expanded facility the “wat Hilton”. To this day I have no idea where the money came from or what was the perceived investment for such a grandiose facility.
“Arunachal Pradesh…exotically yours”
Today in the space age in the 21st century India still has “Inner Lines”…indeed sad….
It still continues with the legacy of the Raj … despite time having moved on…even after 60 years plus after independence…
So Nehru wanted to create tribal zoos by continuing with the “Inner Line Concept”!!!
The MEA dealt with these belt(s)…so they were not part of India….great ….we do support the Chinese claims & justify many aspirations for breaking away from the Indian Union…
Has the culture of these simple folks survived with:
– Chrisianity & Hinduism creeping in, shouldering out nature worship.
– Hindi-iasation and consequent loss of their languages.
– Dominating influence of visual media.
– Inevitable change with roads, upcoming dams & near total deforestisation.
– Saturation of alchoal bends.
– Massive ongoing presence of security forces?
Please Powers that Be …it is time you erase “Inner Lines”..
Least do away with the massive non productive beaurocracy that is siting plump “managing” inner line, restricted areas & protected areas permits….just have it net processed instantaneously.
Chandan
Ji Ungpakorn on the abolition of lèse majesté
I hope soon or later, all Thai people would open their eyes and stand up for themselves.
Fools and their money
Thanks Andrew and Nick.
Part of me shares your sentiments (ignoring the egomaniac part from my architectural training). I see it as indicators, symbols of decadance and decline in Buddhism – even if some are beautifully crafted (high points in material culture but otherwise… I don’t know – maybe the construction of the Borobudur precipitated similar decline of the religion in Java).
I suspect that this is a phenomenon tied in very closely to the urban mindset and physical scales of mega-projects, malls and highrises. A consumption mindset where bigger is always better – more bun (merit) for your bucks. And Andrew is right that this mindset has long pervaded, through the medias, the rural folks – and they want to be affluent like us urbanites, and rightly so.
So we’ll likely see more, and much more, of these extravagant mountain-top monuments. These are extreme misappropriation of the tradition of building temples, which is considered to gain the sponsors the highest merit. In the ‘sufficiency economic’ pre-modern times, this is highly valid as, in building a temple, you are also building a community center, a school, a market, a public park, a hospital, an orphanage, public housing, dogs home etc…etc…
Fools and their money
You should check out the Dhammakaya temple near rangsit. I was brought there by a friend who just said that we were going to visit the temple where her family goes. I was expecting some standard Thai temple but when we drove into it i was shocked. Main central dome building that looks like some kind of football stadium sized alien space craft with the dome made from 40 tonnes of gold !!!! The main building is not finished yet so they all go into a temporary airplane hanger style meditation hall with television screens, large donation booths, everyone wearing white and garish monuments that look like they were from soviet era Russia. Check out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48102&l=ca7b4&id=504515707
for pictures and a more detailed investigation of it is written in “Religious Movements in Contemporary Thailand: Buddhist Struggles for Modern
Relevance” by Suwanna Satha-Anand
Asian Survey, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Apr., 1990), pp. 395-408.
Burma cyclone
As I have said on several other pages tonight. I feel that now is the time for the rebel groups to show the world who the good guys are. The rebels should try to get food and supplies to the needy. They should help rebuild homes and fix broken bodies. THEY SHOULD CONTACT RELIEF AND AID GROUPS TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUPPLLIES TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE COUNTRY BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. Win the hearts of the people and show the world how bad they really are. Protect the innocent and punish the guilty. Come on rocky m. now is your chance. I am praying for all of you. I know things seem to only be getting harder, but god has given the world a reason to look in your direction. Now you must capture it attention.
The Republic of Kawthoolei and Thomas Bleming
Now I am hearing of the cyclone that ripped thru the coastal regions of Burma. What will the SPDC do now? I hear they are not allowing anyone to bring in aid or they are at least restricting the ammount of people and aid allowed in. What is the real story? What are the ethnic rebels doing about this situation? I hope they support the needs of the effected people. I pray they find a way to get food and other nessary supplies to the needy. I WOULD LIKE FOR THEM TO ASSIST AID WORKERS IN GETTING SUPPLIES IN TO THE COUNTRY. This will win them large amounts of public support and media coverage. This will show they can help the people of Burma dispite what the SPDC is doing to try to stop them. The world is watching, show the world who the good guys are. The rebels should get as much positive attention as possible. Come on Rocky Mya it is time to move. Save the innocent punish the guilty.
Burma cyclone
Comment from a Burmese in Yangon: When demonstrations against the military regine takes place, armed troops appear from no where within minutes — now, as the public and the monks labour with the clean-up of the aftermath, the military troops were slow in arriving and when they did, it was to sit and wait in their trucks for orders to act against the public should there be an unrest!
Anthropological talk-fest in Kunming postponed?
Might be that people are having trouble getting the visas. Seems China is being very selective in issuing visas.
The King Never Smiles?
Joe Sydney is a palace stooge who knows absolutely nothing. This allegation of Handley being a Thaksin man is an old one and a false one. How much do you get paid for this silly stuff Moron Joe?
The King Never Smiles?
And who are you?
Presumably the real Joe Sydney can write properly English without capitalizing the beginning of every word.
Report on Shan conference in London
mai sung kha…. pi nongh tai. kha sai hong . now im living in Norway
im wana to have the detail contact address of tai group in norway and in london too if you have them please send to me at my personal email address [email protected] . im tai from seng tung. thank you very much for your kindness.
The King Never Smiles?
So Sorry Everybody ,Paul Handley is Taksin Slave,Please Don’t Worry About His Article. He Just Know a bit Asia Legend.
Time for Burma’s neighbours to step forward
[…] water, food, and shelter. Not to mention medical care. The Asian Human Rights Commission says that Burma’s neighbors need to step up to the plate and help out: […]
Time for Burma’s neighbours to step forward
The New Light of Myanmar reports:
I wonder what NM pundits have to say regarding this. Would the Burmese propaganda machine dare make up quotes which may potentially damage foreign relations? Or is there more…