The largest stone Buddha in the world, currently being built in Naypyidaw, the military funds of Myanmar, is said to be able to withstand winds and earthquakes measuring up to 8.8 on the Richter scale at a speed of 193 kilometers per hour.
According to state media reports, the enormous 25-meter Buddha, which weighs over 5,000 tons and was etched from more than 20,000 tons of granite, is almost finished after three and a half years of construction.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the State Administration Council ( SAC ), is also evidently excited based on reports of his June 29 visit to the construction site.
During his page visit, Min Aung Hlaing boldly declared that the project will be built completely” without foreign specialists” and has employed over 150 workers, including those from the Myanmar Engineering Society and Military Engineering Corps.
According to state media reports, the Maravijaya-carved image depicts a very typical Buddha present” with 32 wonderful features and 80 little characteristics of the Lord Buddha.” & nbsp,
The goal of the monument was portrayed as calm in a document that covered the first part of its assembly in October 2021, just as numerous conflicts were raging in Myanmar following the February coup that year that established the SAC.
The Buddha image is being constructed with the intention of demonstrating the success of Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar to the rest of the world, preserving the nation’s peace and tranquility, helping to develop the area through the appointments of local and foreign visitors, and advancing position growth.
Actually before his tragic and terrible revolution, Min Aung Hlaing had taken a keen interest in the enormous monument’s construction. He is said to have often stopped by significant council stages of the statue.
He saw the” Unnalon Holy Hair installation,” for instance, in May. The third part of the image was transmitted and installed on February 13 at the fortunate hour and date of 2:43 am. The statue’s conclusion appears to be a bet on the defense ruler putting his spiritual fortunes on it.
Given that his junta is in charge of a sharp reversal of advancement gains over the past ten years and that hunger levels are once again hovering around 40 % of the community, this may lead many people in Myanmar to question his spending priorities.
Giant Buddha figures are not uncommon in South Asian Myanmar or Theravada Buddhist nations.
The Maha Bodhi Tahtaung in Monywa, which is home to a 90-meter-long reclining Buddha with 31 surfaces inside as well as the second tallest Buddha monument in the world, has some of the largest Buddhas in Myanmar.
( The Statue of Unity in India, which stands at 182 meters tall, is the tallest Buddha statue in the world. )
In Bago City, the popular Chaukhtatgyi in Yangon’s Bahan municipality, and the Mon State capital of Mawlamyaing, there are also enormous reclining Buddhas, all of which serve to highlight the long history of religious building and support for the Tibetan clergy, or sangha, in Myanmar.
The Lawka Chantha Abhaya Labha Muni, also known as Kyauk Taw Gyi Pagoda, which was carved in 2013 from 700 tons of stone that were winnowed down to 400 plenty when finished, will be dwarfed by the Maravijaya Buddha. The monument was so large that it needed to be transported by particularly constructed barges and railways.
While enormous religious statues are ubiquitous in Myanmar, so too is the defense rulers’ pursuit of celestial absolution for widespread crimes. Min Aung Hlaing is merely the most recent autocrat to support spiritual building initiatives in the fervent belief that creating enormous Buddhas will result in their good reincarnation rather than their return to the” eager spirit realm ,” where they belong to be incessantly tormented by their numerous victims.
There are increasing reviews of SAC officials engaging in yedaya, or Myanmar dark secret, which is also frequently used by centuries of religious generals, in addition to the construction of enormous religious institutions.
The State Law and Order Restoration Council( SLORC ), the current junta regime’s clear inspiration, visited Myanmar with a Buddha Tooth Relic that had been taken from China in the middle of the 1990s. To increase their spiritual well-being and appease the Tibetan priesthood, that oppressive regime constructed beautiful temples, apparently using forced prison labor.
The government and dharma haven’t always gotten along. In the recognized Buddhist council, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, there have occasionally been friendly, about parasitic relations, particularly with traditional or ultranationalist monks.
Activist priests staged people marches to protest declining living standards and the then-military regimes’ fatal socio-economic policies at other times, including in 1990 and 2007. These protests were met with antagonistic opposition from the two energy centers.
The rise of the Buddhist monk-led Patriotic Association of Myanmar, or Ma Ba Tha, which contributed to an increase in anti-Muslim persecution and at times open violence, put the relationship between the military-controlled central state and Buddhist clergy to the test during General Thein Sein’s 2011 – 16 administration.
The most well-known pro-military priest is Sitagu Hsayadaw, who was revered throughout the nation up until his backing of the Ma Ba Tha led to some unrest. To the dismay of many in Myanmar, Sitagu expressed help for the coup shortly after it was staged and continues to approach up to Min Aung Hlaing, as Myanmar Here’s director Swe Win noted earlier in 2023.
Aung San Suu Kyi has reportedly been urged by senior National League for Democracy ( NLD) officials to step down from politics and work to bring about peace in the nation by the powerful Ottama Thara of the Thabarwa Monastery in Thanlyin township, which is close to Yangon’s commercial capital.
In the intensely spiritual but horrifyingly aggressive conflict areas of Sagaing and Magwe, some monks previously associated with Ma Ba Tha are then reportedly supporting SAC-raised death squads like the Thwe Thouq( blood drinkers) and terrible militias such as the Phyu Saw Thee.
State media frequently reports that despite the monks’ purported ignorance and possible because of their alleged support for the SAC, the anti-coup resistance has targeted them for assassination. Some monks are also known to play their standard roles in health, education, and humanism while also participating in covert assistance for resistance initiatives.
Even though the revered monastic disbanded the Ma Ba Tha in 2017 and apparently urged the government not to step a revolution in January 2021, the beautiful funeral arrangements for the past chairperson of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, Bhamo Hsayadaw, who passed away at the age of 94 on May 25, were another sign of his spiritual compulsions.
At the June 6 death, Pallbearers included Min Aung Hlaing, Vice Senior General Soe Win, and other top SAC authorities in an apparent effort to accumulate good works to balance out their numerous combat crimes.
The silicon sculpture of Bhamo Hsayadaw will feature cutting-edge synthetic teeth to represent his distinctive smile, the creation of renowned sculptor Aung Kyow Tun, as if to emphasize the surreal aspects of these spiritual performances.
However, Min Aung Hlaing’s enormous Buddha statue in Naypyidaw won’t be looking over kindly on him or his junta as Myanmar suffers from a brutal multi-sided war, serious army violence, natural disasters, and heartbroken economy.
In fact, in March, officials abruptly covered the granite statue’s face as stripes appeared around its eyes, causing the Maravijaya picture to appear to cry. It was hardly a good omen for an religious dictator looking for religious pardon for his numerous, well-documented karmic crimes.
Separate scientist David Scott Mathieson focuses on conflict, charitable, and human rights issues in Myanmar.