Before moving to Myanmar, if you had asked me what my impression of Buddhism was, I would have said something about peaceful monks, meditation, and karma. Peaceful.
Living here in the city, it seems Buddhism is anything but peaceful. Buddhism seems to entail mega phones and chanting. LOTS AND LOTS OF ENDLESS CHANTING.
There is constant chanting. Sometimes they drive around with cheap mega phones or loudspeakers and chant or read. Occasionally stopping the share their message with those around. Other times they set up these red arches over a side street with speakers and assault our ears with chants and music. I can't really explain how loud it is. It's so loud you cannot watch TV because it's impossible to hear. It's so loud you cannot hear someone speaking directly to you. It's impossible to carry on a conversation at the dinner table with your family. This doesn't happen in every neighborhood, but it happens quite frequently in my neighborhood. There was a 6 week period in December and January a pavilion was set up on the street behind our apartments. They chanted or sang constantly from 7am to about 3am. EVERYDAY.
It was crazy making.
We considered cutting the cords to the speakers.
I can't say I really believe in Karma, but I have seen a few things happen to even out the score in life. I would like to believe that the universe balances itself out. From my experience here in Yangon, most people are Buddhists and believe in Karma. When I had swarms of ants coming out from behind the tile in the bathroom turning the walls black, the maintenance team came to re-grout the tile to keep them out. I asked about killing them and they recoiled in horror.
They won't kill an ant or a cockroach, but it seems they will happily run you over with their cars and not even blink an eye. I don't understand this. That the cockroach life is so much more valuable than mine or my son's.
I decided to write this today because there is a truck and a loudspeaker parked right outside the balcony of my apartment and it's so loud I can't think.
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