Day Five. Saturday,13 September 2014

I have never known that the Shans’ Underworld is strikingly similar to that of the Greeks. And that, like it, I need to have some coins when I go to pay the ferryman who will take me across the river to the other side.

But that is exactly what the Venerable Aggasena Lengtai MA, is telling the listeners this morning.

If you think that isn’t Buddhist, the other presentation by Dr Khammai Dhammasami isn’t either: saving ghostly relatives by reading texts that are exclusively dedicated to them and the likes. There are about 8 funeral texts, known as lik Sutta  stories with a focus on the Buddha’s teachings, according to him.

“While it is supposedly meant for the departed, in actuality, it is for those who are still living,” he says.

Well, I have never thought of it that way. I used to think the reading of them was a terrible waste of time, because our dear and near relatives had already gone out of our reach upon their passing away.

The next is the presentation by Alexandra Green of Shan Collections in the British Museum. The audiences I remember are captivated by her power point display of the artifacts.

Then comes Dr Jotika Khur -Yearn from SOAS who is working on Shan manuscripts found in research libraries in UK, US and Germany.  

Well known researcher Susan Conway is the next speaker. But as she is unfortunately engaged in the States, it is Dr Srilaksana who takes over the reading job on her presentation: Conserving Cultural Identity in a Shan Context.

The last one is myself taking again on the current peace process.

What we have been doing is part of the 28^th Conference of the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the UK, shortened to ASEASUK 2014, with 19 other panels running across 5 parallel sessions, 13-14 September.

We have one more panel in the afternoon on Burma’s constitutional politics with 3 speakers:

§  Herve Lemahieu on Myanmar’s constitutional reform process (“Constitution is not the ultimate guarantee to democracy”)

§  Andrew Mcleod on the role of Constitutional Tribunal of the Union of Myanmar

§  Matthew Walton on religious protections in law and constitution in Myanmar

Matthew, who is known to many by his Burmese name U Tha Noe, is a contributor to Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN).

We end the day by walking on the beach watching the tide rising and admiring sand sculptures which include the Buddha, Pisa and Vishnu, among others.