N 123…..This Ailing World

Would you agree if I say that the world we are living in is ailing….Beside ailing physically  it is also ailing mentally. If one looks around one will see troubles and conflicts and struggles everywhere. And all these are caused not only by nature  but also by men.

The earth we are living in had been green and healthy. The population is not so thick as it is now and so the basic needs for men and also animals are sufficient then. But now the population has overgrown so much that shortages are arising in everything from food, water and even  the air which we breath freely.

The ozone layer which shields the earth and its environment from the sun’s harmful 

Ultraviolet radiation is depleting which resulted in a big hole millions of square kilometers wide. This is caused by wild fires, burning of fossil fuels, use of chlorofluorocarbons, eruption of volcanoes and other factors.Beside nature,humans also have a hand in the causing of this destruction .

One big problem the earth is facing is pollution. Major kinds of pollution usually classified by environment are air pollution,water pollution,land pollution and plastic pollution.Some kind of pollution can be caused by natural events such as forest fires and volcanic eruptions, but most pollution are created by human activities. Establishments of great number of people caused pollutions of all kinds and have become problematic that cannot be overcome.

And then there is the most destructive element of climate change. 2023 was said to be the hottest year, but 2024 is no better and even more hotter. Our country is encountering a very hot summer with some cities being among hottest places.People in some countries including Myanmar are dying because of heatstroke.

Because the temperature is increasing glaciers at the North Pole and ice covering some peaks like the Himalayas are melting ,which will cause seas and oceans to swell, and accordingly make islands and cities and towns sink underwater .Because fresh water is stored in the ice,the world will also lose its fresh water supply.

These are only some problematic factors the earth is facing now. There are also many ,many other threats it is facing and has to overcome such as floods earthquakes,powerful storms,tornadoes, landslides, wildfires,tsunamis, heavy snowfalls, heatwaves,water shortages,drying of rivers and streams,extreme heat or cold, and so on.

Beside having to face these natural disasters nations of the world are not enjoying peaceful and joyful lives. Buddha said human beings  who are full of greed,anger and ignorance cannot have a peaceful life and cannot go to a better place in the next life.However many nations and people are being like that and they are acting accordingly. As a result  the world is full of wars, like Russia- Ukrainian,Israel -Hamas,

Myanmar’s ethnic minority plus PDF against military junta war.Beside these there are many wars in different parts of the world, which are fought between the countries’own citizens or with other countries.

In Myanmar citizens are suffering much. Citizens are killed by bombings, caught between gun fightings, killed intentionally by soldiers, houses destroyed or torched 

that people have to leave their homes and their livelihoods and flee to live in forests and mountains without shelters and adequate food or medicines .Economic and education situation in Myanmar will not be able to rise again for many years .

Even if a country doesn’t have wars every single country has its own problems,such as political instability,economic stagnation,over population, religious tension ( India ) ,provoking countries with missiles and A bomb while it’s people live in poverty (North Korea ),mounting debts countries are facing,severe weather threat,trash and sewage dumpings, drug related problems,pornography which is on the rise, sexual abuse of women and children,gender inequality,famine,money laundering and scamming, gun control, epidemics. Mental instability are on the rise these days, that we are seeing mass shootings or stabbings in schools,universities,and people in crowds. These are only a few . There may be many more if you come to think about them.

A country or say an institution is stable and grow if the leader or administrators are able and have good intentions.But what we are seeing now are that  many leaders who are in power and leading the country are power hungry,greedy, don’t care about peoples wishes, bear jealousies,and don’t think about the country’s development.(Our country Myanmar )

So the results are not good either on the physical situation or the activities of men on the world. Many factors are leading towards bad outcomes.The famous Sayadaw Dr. Nandamalar Biwuntha preached (according to the Buddha’s teachings ) that the world will come to its end when there is sexual misconduct like committing incest , which are committed by lowly men and we are hearing about.

In my opinion the world is facing bad situations than what is good. Because everything has its beginnings and ends the world may come to its end some day.Like Buddha’s teaching that the world will end someday if people misbehave , there also is the word Apocalypse in the Bible…which means final destruction of the world.

What is your opinion about me?  Will you dub me a pessimist? If you say so, I think you are not wrong. I don’t have much hope for our country to become stable again to be on the road of recovery . Neither for the world which is deteriorating in many ways.

If it keeps to be like this,our world is not far from its end……

9th May 2024

Credit to the net for some facts and photos…..

N 122   My Recent Connections with Books

I am an amateur translator who  does according to my wish. As I have written before I had translated more than 10 books and produced them with my own money , except for the last one, which is  “From a mountain in Tibet “.

Because I say recent I will have to start from this book. In 2022 October while visiting Bangkok I went to  Kinokuniya bookshop as usual . I didn’t have a special book I wanted to have in mind, so when I saw this book I chose it because Tibet is a place I am interested in plus another mind broadening book.

I read the book and found it interesting ,that I finished it before I got back to home in Taunggyi. I decided to translate it ,and finished it in time before I left for Chiengmai, where we were going to live temporarily. Before leaving I met with producer U LO and he said he will produce it without even reading it.So, I said to myself…. just let us wait and see if it will become true.The time is the beginning of March 2023.

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I had been warned that to make a book would take some time .It was June when he asked me to write a preface for the book and send me the cover of it. So it was assured that it will become a book. But the book came out about the end of August. 

I heard it sold well and that  he will have to do a second edition.I was glad for the producer because he did not lose money . As for my work I asked for 50 copies of it, some of which I sold and some given to friends as present.

In the meantime I had been looking  for a book which I had wanted to translate. I heard about it from the venerable Sayadaw of Kham Buddhist Spychology Institute in Taunggyi. The author is Sao Noan Oo ,daughter of the late Sawbwa of Lawksawk,and friend of Sayadaw. Sayadaw didn’t have the book and neither the author ,who is living in England. I looked for it in Amazon page and found out that there  was only one old copy with the price tag of 52 $ . It would be 150000 kyats not including the shipping fee by Myanmar currency and I think it is not worth the price. So I gave up about acquiring the book. Oh…. the name of the book is My Vanished World. 

But my daughter’s friend who is also a Facebook friend of mine  Thuzar Khin from The Netherlands ,wanted to give books to me as present  ordered it along with some Silk Road books ,to be sent to me in Chiengmai. So before long the book got into my hands.Just going through it for a while I decided to translate it and finished it after some time.

During this time I contacted the author ,who is living in England for permission to translate and produce it ,but at first she was reluctant ,because she was afraid the translation would be incorrect or faulty, especially if it was translated by a Burmese translator. I assured her that I myself is a Shan and know Shan customs well and even the spoken language of Shan peoples and Sawbwas well and that I usually do direct translation . So in the end she gave me permission to do so.

But a Burmese translator who had the book in hand, and knowing that I was doing it ,translated the book quickly and advertised the date of the circulation .My producer told me that he would produce it if I wish, but that wouldn’t be proper with a country with only a handful of  readers. Besides that the book is not written in favor of the military of Ne Win’s era, which had suppressed the Shan people and where the Sawbwas had become victims and faced a tragic end.Our family decided it was not a proper time to produce it now ,but to wait for sometime when we can do it freely.So my draft would be lying in a drawer by itself for the time being.

I had been wanting to translate another book about the Silk Road.Despite the many books Thuzar and my daughter Nge bought for me I chose to translate “Journeys on the Silk Road “ which I found in the internet. I didn’t hope it will become a Burmese version book, but I have to do something to pass the time ,while I am able to do it. I did it  only about half a day  and it took three months to finish it. I don’t like it much because it is not particularly  about the Silk Road but mostly about the explorer Aurel Stein.Whether it will come out as a Burmese translation depends on the producer…..

During this time my producer who had published two of Jung Chang’s books wanted to publish another one, which is Empress Zishi. Some years ago I had translated that book because a producer asked me to do so. I finished it and submitted it to him , but he didn’t like it and did nothing about it. Maybe he didn’t like my direct translation and it is not a flowery one. I didn’t ask to get it back, so the script is in his hands the whole time.But now my producer said he wanted to read it and to get it back from him. 

At last I got back the script and passed it to my producer who had interest in it. It was heartening for me when I heard him said he will start computer typing it. So if it become real my work would not go to waste.

I had written about my connections with books. I am living an idle life in Chiengmai now with nothing special to do.I have to look for things to occupy my body and mind the whole day. It is thankful that I like reading,  listening to news and music watching documentaries from  You Tube .Facebook is a thing that consume our time without us knowing it , but I don’t read every detail of every post .I just scroll through it. Dramas from Netflix cannot capture my mind now because I cannot find something I like as before.

 

Many will criticize me that as an old woman I am not fulfilling religious duties for the benefit of next life. But I think I  have been good ,living according to Buddha’s teachings ,not committing any sins, give charities and alms as much as I can. I am not saying that I am not doing any religious duties. On the contrary  I am doing as much as I can as a good Buddhist ,and never forget, but bear in mind the three gems which are Buddha, Dhamma, and Sanghas , that  my next life will not be that bad ,but a good and satisfying one… 

 

 . . N 121  Continuation of Visiting Hometown 

•     U Sai had asked a friend U Maung Maung for some help to cross the border, to keep our car while we were in Taunggyi,and so he came for us at about 9 and we were driven towards the Thai Myanmar border. 
•     The crossing point was crowded with cars and peoples, many with bags and luggages. We got down from the car and went into the Thai immigration to get our passports checked, take photos and give our fingerprints.Then to the Myanmar immigration and got checked again . There was no problem until now. But after waiting sometime and my daughter and grandson didn’t appear we had to call her and learned that there was something wrong with their passports. They had gone to visit Singapore in October and though the departure seal was on their passports there were no records in the computer. Anyway they were released after waiting more than half an hour.
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• After that we went to UMM’s house and stay there for a short time. As our Tachileik plane will leave only in the evening,we have some time to visit some places in Tachileik. So we did what any Buddhists tourists might do, visiting temples and pagodas. 
• After Maesai, Tachileik is untidy and dusty. The one main road is crowded with cars and motorcycles and cannot drive fast enough. The bad condition of the roads also made driving slow. But we learned that only the main road is crowded while the other roads are not that much. Business seems to thriving . I saw many gold shops with aluminum barriers that is a sign of unsafe  condition.Comparing with Thai towns  and cities there are much municipal works to be done here but I doubt no officials are interested in doing so.

        We visited three pagodas. The Shwe Dagon replica pagoda , the Thuwanna Theingi  pagoda and Loi Yun Kham pagoda.All are situated on not very high hills

and all are gilded  and shiny with its gold and own designs.The Shwe Dagon pagoda is exactly like the Shwe Dagon, the Thuwanna Theingi pagoda is built on a boat, Loi Yun Kham pagoda is a small Thai design pagoda. Beyond this pagoda there is a place with big and small figures of men and beasts and other beings which a monk commissioned for them. People come to take photos with these figures ,so the place looks more popular than the pagoda itself.

After 3 we went to the airport . Traveling by plane is convenient for domestic travels

because they don’t take long.Let me narrate one incident we encounter on our way back. One passenger near me enquired about the flying time from Heho to Tachileik and when he was told about an hour he was amazed.He kept murmuring oh… only a little time, oh…. so fast.It would be his first time on a plane.When we landed he was still saying oh….really , like he even couldn’t believe it. 

Something about Taunggyi……the weather in Taunggyi is cold.We had to face it with warm clothes,wearing socks the whole time and sleeping with many layers of blankets. But it is hot if we go out in the daytime. I think winter in Taunggyi is not as cold as it used to be,when we had   to warm ourselves with coal earthen stoves, because there were no electric heaters then.Cherries are only budding , so we will miss the blossoming season this year and also for how many years to come ,nobody knows. About the town itself we can say it is bustling with a grown population buildings and traffic jams now that it can’t be said to be a cool and pleasant town.

The two weeks of my stay in Taunggyi went swiftly by.I saw the three friends who are all I have, ate with two of them twice and visited one whom I think was not very well.Visited relatives at Golden Valley-once and had lunch with friends Ko Aung -AAT at Shan Queen there. Went coffee shop hunting which my daughters like very much but ended at Ayetharya vineyard. Oh… nearly forgot to mention another one which we went to: The Pine coffee shop at Payar Hpyu.

I went on a day trip to Kalaw once. It is a popular visitor’s destination now and I had not really been there. I went and pay homage to the Bamboo Buddha and spent some time at a coffee shop (even in Kalaw  and not long after lunch ) We got to visit the Myin Mati cave,the Byaik mountain and  the new viewing deck which is beside the road near Aungban as new places I have never been.

While at home I sorted out old clothes for donations.My daughters also did the same. We got altogether 13 sacks, so with some cash a friend went and donated them to the needy for us.There are still many clothes and things which need to be discarded and we haven’t finished all this time.So they will have to wait for our homecoming  next time. I entertained guests who came and visited me but there were not much .Apart from these activities there are not any really interesting things done which are worth mentioning. But I have some regrets because I haven’t gone to some places I intended to go, like our Loikong farm and checking on trees we planted to see how many survive.

So when the day for our return arrived, we said goodbye to friends and relatives and to our hometown  and departed through Tachileik, Maesai, to Cheingmai. The border crossing, the retrieving of our car took much time and the 4 hours drive was tiring because it was at the end of the day. But at last we arrived back to our 2nd home safe and sound.

     N.     121        Visiting hometown 

It’s been over 9 months that we’ve been in Cheingmai, so during the Christmas holidays we decided to visit our hometown. For our past trips between Myanmar and Cheingmai we come directly to Cheingmai from Yangon and vice versa. Now we hear that we can cross the Thai Myanmar border at Maesai, which is the northernmost point of Thailand into Myanmar because we have long term visa. After crossing the border we will reach Tachileik where we can board a plane to Heho which is only  25 miles from our hometown ,Taunggyi.

        But to get to Maesai we have to go by car which takes 4 hours. We  a family of 5 took our family car, and reached Maesai at noon. I had arranged to meet Sai Aung Kham , a relative to take us places around Cheing Hsen an old town near Maesai. So after leaving our baggages at the hotel we went to have lunch at a Shan restaurant .

         From the restaurant the view is nice. Far away across fields and plains we can see low mountains . One distant mountain we saw is higher than the others and SAK  told me that it is the Nang Norn  mountain which got famous because of the rescue of the boys trapped in the cave for many days . The cave they were trapped in is under the mountain. 

       After lunch I took some photos with the background .When I called Sai Ollie to come and take photo with me he came and lie down on the bench beside me. I posted the photo in FB ‘s my story with the text Nang Norn, Sai Norn , expecting few people to know its meaning. True …..even my daughter Nge  who is a Tai didn’t grasp the meaning. Norn is sleep in Tai and Thai. So as the lady sleeping on top of the mountain ,so is Sai Ollie who is lying down beside me.

        The first place SAK took us is the venue where the 60th birthday commemoration of  Merng Pone Sayadaw Jao Khuva Woon Jum will be held. We entered through the magnificent gilded gate into a vast compound where the road is lined  neatly with lamp post and prayer flags. We stopped at the big Buddha where the scaffoldings are still on and cement flooring was still in progress . I enquired about the height of the statue and was told it is 300 feet. We were also shown the pavilion where sermons by the khuva will be given. There are also other religious buildings which are donated by devotees and come into existence because of his benevolence.

     We departed to visit  the famous Golden Triangle, a place not to be missed for people visiting there.I was eager to see the great Mekong river again . It is a little crowded with people from Myanmar, Thailand and tourists. We even had to wait for our turn to take photos at the gate. I had been here about seven years ago, which is an experience I shall never forget and I also had written about in my blogpost No 56/57 Mekong @ Golden Triangle. 

      

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       The  difference between 7  years ago is distinct on the Laos side. When we last visited  it there were only low buildings and stalls selling souvenirs and fake designer handbags.But now the place is unbelievably full of high rises and concrete buildings and the place is said to be rented to China for 99 years . The buildings are used as casinos  ,restaurants and bars and nightclubs.To extort money from fun loving people.My thoughts went to the kyar hpyant  or money scamming business done in the eastern border of Myanmar. Because nothing is done to eliminate it, and many Chinese people lost their money through it the Chinese government took action by themselves.We still don’t see the end of it but I hope these evil doings will come to an end forever. 

       This place on the Thai side is the same as ever. The big elephant and the big golden Buddha is the same as before . So after some gazing at the great Mekong ,some resting, many photos we departed for another place which SAK said an old Buddha was earthed.Cheing Hsen is an old town which has its own history. It is one of the old Cheing towns along with Cheingmai, Cheingrai, Cheinghung,etc. I would like to explore Cheing Hsen as an old town if there still are some signs of history. But the only thing I saw is  the remnants of the old  wall that can be seen along the road as we drove on.

       

        When we arrived we pay homage at the unearthed Buddha image which the head is missing. When they unearthed it was not only the Buddha statue but also with the brick building which housed the image,because the old brick walls are still with the statue. There also is a Lanna style temple complete with dragon railings and another one which is joined by a bridge. We cannot resist taking photos there ,so after taking some we left there to head back to our hotel and rest……

X7