King Pagan built the Kyauktawgyi Temple on an island in the Taugthaman Lake in 1847, inside there are many very fine mural paintings showing temples and pagodas from throughout the Burmese Kingdom.
Decorative Mosaics in the Temples and Pagodas in Myanmar
One of the most interesting of the many art forms I came across in Myanmar was the mosaic work, which is often a mixture of small mirrors and stained glass or coloured stones that adorn the temples and pagodas throughout the country.
Sutaungpyai Pagoda, Mandalay
The Sutaungpyai Pagoda, which is situated right on the top of the Mandalay hill is a really wonderful temple to see, with very beautiful and complex mosaic glasswork covering the pillars, walls, ceilings and shrines.
Sandamuni Pagoda, Mandalay
Yesterday we saw the Tipitaka had been carved on marble slabs at the Kuthodaw Pagoda. Right next door at the Sandamuni Pagoda, there are slabs which contain not just the Tipitaka, but the commentaries and sub-commentaries as well.
Kuthodaw Pagoda, Mandalay
The World’s Largest Book stands upright in the grounds of the Kuthodaw Pagoda. It has 730 leaves and 1460 pages; each page is approximately three and a half feet wide, five feet tall and five inches thick.
Mahamuni Pagoda, Mandalay
The Mahamuni Temple or Pagoda is a complex of structures located along a road from Mandalay leading to Amarapura in the southwest. The temple has a central shrine and is framed by an extensive grass lawn. The arcades leading to the main shrine have, as in many temples and pagodas in Myanmar, kiosks selling religious paraphernalia such as incense, candles, rosaries, flowers, robes, sandals etc., and various restaurants and tea shops.
Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon – 2
The Shwedagon Pagoda, also known as the Golden Pagoda, is a 98-metre gilded stupa located in Yangon. The pagoda lies to the west of Kandawgyi Lake, on the Singuttara Hill and dominates the skyline of the city.
Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon – 1
Today I start posting photographs from my recent trip to Myanmar. All the albums are now online and can be accessed from the Myanmar page of my Photo Dharma website, but on the blog I will also offer some more personal recollections than is possible there.
Climate Change – One Planet, One Chance
Climate change will affect rainfall, temperature and water availability for agriculture in vulnerable areas. The danger is that extreme food insecurity episodes will become more common.
Skyscapes at Vivekavana
The skyscapes we see from my monastery at Vivekavana can be pretty awe-inspiring. Night after night we see brilliant sunsets over Penang Island, with an ever-changing array of colours and formations.
One Person’s Bones…
It normally astonishes people to find out nearly two people die every second around the clock, or 105 people every minute – on average, of course – and these statistics are now around 2 or 3 years out of date, so the figure must be higher by now.
Royal Wat Chetawan, Kuala Lumpur
In 1956, Phra Kru Palat Vieng, a veteran member of the Sangha and an old time resident of Kuala Lumpur initiated the idea of building a sizeble Buddhist Temple close to the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur.
The Sinhalese Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur
Recently I had a short stay in Kuala Lumpur, and I took the opportunity to do some more photography while I was there. The first place I visited was the Sinhalese Cemetery which now lies alongside the Cheras Highway.
Sakyamuni in a Modern City
This is a poster I made earlier in the year. I had the photograph for quite some time, and the idea to make it into a poster, but couldn’t find an appropriate verse until I came across this one again from the Dhammapada which fits perfectly with the idea I had.
Colour Spectrum Photography 2: Hubble’s Universe
I doubt if there are many people around who haven’t seen the beautiful photographs of our universe taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope camera measures not only visible light, but also the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums.
Colour Spectrum Photography 1: Russia, in the early 20th Century
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) was commissioned to document the Russian empire, and he did so in an ingenious way and managed to get what are effectively colour photographs of his subjects by using a form of spectrum photography.
Mural Walls at Bayon 3: Soldiers and Elephants at War
The video is made from three murals from the East Wall at Bayon at Angkor Thom. Scenes: the 1st mural shows the Khmer army marching from East to West; the 2nd from West to East; and the 3rd shows the Chams marching to meet them and engaging in battle.
Moral Uplifting Society, Bukit Mertajam
This is a collection of photographs from the Moral Uplifting Society in Bukit Mertajam. The Society is ecumenicist in outlook, and there are pictures of Confucius, Buddha, Lao-Tze, Jesus and Mohammad hung over the main shrine.
