Mandalay: A Temple, Lots of Gold, and Factories

 I've written about Buddhist piety and the belief that laudable works will improve one's karma. Birds, an interest of mine, have a role in the karma business. Vendors capture wild birds (incurring bad karma) and offer the passer-by a chance to release them, for a price. I turned loose a barn owl and a small accipiter that I didn't recognize. So I got to   examine a couple of raptors in the hand and ramp up my karma in the bargain. The freed birds didn't fly very far (the owl landed in a cornfield, the accipiter flew into a nearby woods) and I have a feeling they were recaptured later that day.

Devotion to the Mahamuni Buddha took a form more familiar to me. This statue is found in a temple in Mandalay. The statue was put in place around the turn of the nineteenth century and has become the object of extravagant devotion. The photo shows a young man applying gold leaf to the statue. The statue reminded me of a Christmas tree decorated by pre-schoolers, with heavy ornamentation as high as the people can reach.

These photos show the progression of the decoration of the statue. The fingers of the Buddha's right hand are now fused (see above) as the spaces between filled with gold. Six tons of gold is the estimate of the mass of the adornment, doubling the original weight of the statue.

This photo shows devotees applying gold leaf to the left leg and arm of the statue. Based on their dress I'd say they are middle class guys (women aren't allowed to approach the statue). I think the gold is donated anonymously. I don't see how you could put your name onto the leaf, especially if another person comes along five minutes later and covers it.

This lady is at work in a laquer factory. She is washing the gold leaf from the box. Gold stays where a fixant has been applied. Her accessory thumb is not slowing her down! The gold in the wash water is recovered at the end of the day.

This lady is spinning silk fiber into thread.

Here a man is at work on a manually powered loom, weaving silk threads into fabric.