Rebuild Bagan

[tiltbillings]

Myanmar earthquake: One dead and temples damaged
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37172794



Do, please, take a look at this FaceBook page.


https://www.facebook.com/savebagan/?__m ... age_bubble

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

There's no need to rebuild the temples of Bagan. Burma need to rebuild Buddhism by supporting the study monasteries and meditation centres, wherever the monks are practising well. Investing in bricks and mortar in an earhquake-prone zone is not a wise use of limited resources.

[Dan74]

There's no need to rebuild the temples of Bagan. Burma need to rebuild Buddhism by supporting the study monasteries and meditation centres, wherever the monks are practising well. Investing in bricks and mortar in an earhquake-prone zone is not a wise use of limited resources.

Bagan is a World Heritage area. All the countries should chip in to rebuild it. The way we respect our past, the efforts of our ancestors who works so hard to build these temples to honour the Dhamma, will inform how we engage with it in the present.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

If people want to worship at these ancient pagodas, they can still do so. The damage will serve as a reminder of impermanence. World Heritage status is all about tourism, not about the Dhamma. Local people can make merit by repairing the damage as they wish. No one needs to be paid to perform meritorious deeds like cleaning and restoring pagodas and images. It's better to do it voluntarily.

[Dan74]

If people want to worship at these ancient pagodas, they can still do so. The damage will serve as a reminder of impermanence. World Heritage status is all about tourism, not about the Dhamma. Local people can make merit by repairing the damage as they wish. No one needs to be paid to perform meritorious deeds like cleaning and restoring pagodas and images. It's better to do it voluntarily.

I think getting materials and experts to ensure the repairs are appropriate and safe, costs money. Many locals will help voluntarily I am sure.

[binocular]

There's no need to rebuild the temples of Bagan. Burma need to rebuild Buddhism by supporting the study monasteries and meditation centres, wherever the monks are practising well. Investing in bricks and mortar in an earhquake-prone zone is not a wise use of limited resources.

It seems that for many people, a considerable shift in thinking would be required to do that.

[DNS]

There's no need to rebuild the temples of Bagan. Burma need to rebuild Buddhism by supporting the study monasteries and meditation centres, wherever the monks are practising well. Investing in bricks and mortar in an earhquake-prone zone is not a wise use of limited resources.

It seems that for many people, a considerable shift in thinking would be required to do that.

True, it would take a shift to a more pragmatic, rational choice, but often times sentimental and emotional choices take charge.

"When reason comes in conflict with emotion, emotion almost always wins."
Bhante Punnaji

I remember a documentary report many years ago about the U.S. National flood insurance program. Millions of Americans have their homes insured through this program, where the federal government rebuilds your home or gives you a check for the value of your home when flooding devastates the home totally. It is subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. In many cases the same homes are being rebuilt over and over because they are in very flood prone areas or hurricane areas. Yet the government continues to bail out these homeowners through this insurance. I am sure many times it is justified and the homeowner was not expecting the catastrophe, but in some cases it is the homes of rich millionaires and billionaires who are getting their lake and oceanfront homes rebuilt by the federal government. The end result is working class and middle class people who don't own any homes near the water ultimately paying for the rebuilding of homes of rich people through the taxes they pay. In such cases, it does appear to be a waste of limited resources to continually rebuild in natural disaster prone areas as Ven. Pesala noted.

I am not sure how prone Bagan is to earthquakes but earthquakes in general seem to be almost everywhere. Now there are some construction methods that are very resistant to medium to large earthquakes that are currently used in all new construction in California, for example.