Description
Golden Land-Shwedagon; 40 minutes; © 2019 The magnificent and magic Shwedagon Pagoda is the most important pilgrimage place in Myanmar that has entombed at its base a casket with 8 hairs donated by Lord Buddha obtained right after He reached His enlightenment. It dates somewhere around 2600 years ago which would make it one of the oldest Buddhist stupas in the entire world.
Shwedagon Paya is officially known by the name of Golden Zedi Daw and is the golden symbol of the city of Yangon and of Myanmar. The pagoda helped the spreading and flourishing of Buddhism in Myanmar and remained even today the most important Buddhist shrine in the country and its most important pilgrimage place.
According to the legend, emperor Ashoka, who introduced Buddhism to India in the 4th century BC, came to Myanmar and located with great difficulty the stupa that was covered by jungle and ordered to be cleared of vegetation. But the first time when the stupa was documented was in the 14th century when it was noted that it was, again, in a poor state of preservation. At that time King Binnya U ordered to rebuild this magnificent stupa to a height of 18m. One century later Queen Binnya Thau ordered to raise the construction even higher to about 40m.
The sanctity of the pagoda is given also by the fact that it houses the relics of the four previous Buddhas of the current Kalpa, named Bhadra-kalpa or the Auspicious Aeon. In Buddhism, a kalpa is an unfathomable period of time ranging from 16 million years to over a trillion years. The relics are the original staff of Kakusandha, the first Buddha of the current Kalpa, the water filter of Konagamana, the second Buddha, and a piece of robe believed to be worn by Kassapa, the third Buddha besides the 8 hairs from the head of Lord Buddha, the fourth Buddha of the current Kalpa.
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