Today I went to the Shwedagon Pagoda for my sixth time in my life, and about third time this visit.  I came back and then headed with Joakim, my Norwegian friend I made here, to go to Pansodan Gallery.  It was a nice day spent outdoors walking and also sitting in the shady spots of the temple to connect with myself and someone new.

While at the gallery, Aung, the owner of the gallery, got a gift from a friend.  The gift was a flower portrait made of jade, and also an old book written in 1949 called, "Shwedagon: The Sacred Shine".  The preface's first paragraph touched me very much as it showed a level of romanticism of the author with the temple, so I felt like sharing it with anyone who ended up on my site:

"One who was born near the Shwedagon, out of sheer familiarity with the sight in his daily rounds, may not feel the existence of such a majestic symbol of the unity of Buddhist world; but when one abroad and comes back home he feels the sight so much that even the silhouette of the golden stupa against the blue sky would draw gladdening tears from his eyes through sheer emotional satisfaction of being back again on his own native soil."
 — Tun PE, Minister of Information, 3rd December 1948

—
Naureen Nayyar
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