by
Tun Min
Before I was transferred to
Yangon University of Education, as an assistant lecturer serving at Sagaing
University of Education, I had to live and work within the campus. Our
university is situated in Padamyar Quarter which is at the foot of Minwun
Mountain Ranges and is about a half hour drive from downtown Sagaing. During
the regular semesters, I have to teach several subjects to student teachers of
different year levels everyday. I am also responsible for carrying out other
duties including invigilating exam halls, checking exam papers, supervising
M.Phil students and doing some clerical work at my department.
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| Dama-Ku Pond |
During the first half of the
previous October, I was busy teaching B.Ed correspondence students.
Fortunately, there was a public holiday on 5th October to
commemorate the Full Moon Day of Thadingyut. Therefore, one of the senior B.Ed
students who had not gone back home after his exam, and I enquired about going
to the famous Taung-Fi-Lar Hermitage and Dama Ku Pond. Surprisingly, although
the place is a historic one, there were only a handful of people who have been
to that place. What is worse, some people I have happened to talk with have
never heard of Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw, a monk well-known for his integrity and
wisdom during Nyaungyan Period of Myanmar history! From my point of view, lacking
knowledge of this famous name is considerably understandable to those living miles
away from Sagaing. However, it should be a known fact for the local people and
for those who have lived in this town for a couple of years.
One of my colleagues told me
that we can reach Taung-Fi-Lar by following a street named Pawdawmu Pagoda
Street in Padmyar Quarter. My student and I drove our respective motorbikes out
of our university campus. After about 5 minutes, we reached Pawdawmu Pagoda
Street. When we got to a shop near the end of the street, we asked one of the
young men gathering there how we could reach Taung-Fi-Lar Hermitage and Dama Ku
Pond. According to him, we have to turn left and then right, next keeping
straight and passing a village named Taungnyo. After following the street till
the end, we turned left and continued driving. Before we turned right, we saw a
one-storey monastic school with a signboard embossed in the sign Taung-Fi-Lar
Monastic School at the side of the street ahead. After motor-biking from
that place for about a couple of minutes, we beheld Taungnyo Village welcoming
ahead. We also marveled at the sight of a huge Buddha image in a sitting position
still under construction at a hillock ahead. When we have driven up round the
hillock, we reached Dama Ku Pond. The pond is surrounded by grand brick
structure. On the southern side of the pond stands the statue of Ven. Taung-Fi-Lar
Sayadaw, which shows the linkage between the pond and the great monk. On
the eastern side of the pond, we can see the magnificent Buddha Image under
construction. 
After we had observed the place
for several minutes, we resumed motor-biking down the hillock to reach Kyauktar-Hlaekar
Street. We continued along the street for a minute or so, and reached the main
gate to Taung-Fi-Lar Spur. From there, we could see the footpath that leads to
Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda. Since there is a motorway through the gate, we kept
motor-biking along it. After a while, we reached a junction where there was a
sign “To Padamyar Zeti (Ruby Pagoda)”. Indeed, we continued motor-biking
following the direction, my student in front and me at the back. The street was
zigzagging up and we had to honk at every turn in case there was another
vehicle coming down from the opposite direction. After about four turns, we got
to another entry gate saying “Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda” and we parked our motorbikes
near the gate. We entered it and walked along the path that led to Taung-Fi-Lar
Pagoda. The sceneries on both sides of the path were so breathtaking that I
took photos with my camera as if I were a tourist visiting there. When we
reached the end of the path, there was a small brick stairway that led to the
pagoda.
In front of us lay Taung-Fi-Lar
Pagoda which was built by the well-known Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw. Next to the
pagoda, we could see Taung-Fi-Lar Hermitage. We paid our obeisance to the
pagoda and said prayers. Subsequently, we enjoyed the picturesque sceneries
around the pagoda. Not so far below in the south, we beheld International
Vipassana University in colourful looks along with the breathtaking view of dark
green mountain ranges where glittering pagodas, monasteries and nunneries are
distributed, and a splendid part of the Ayeyarwady River often referred to as “the
life-blood of the Myanmar people”. On the west, we could see Kaung-Hmu-Daw
Pagoda donated by King Thalun as well as other glittering pagodas. When we
looked down, we saw Kyauktar-Hlaekar Street which leads to Hlaekar Village
where spirulina, a highly useful medicinal source, can be extracted. (Note:
One who may come from downtown Sagaing may also get easy access to Taung-Fi-Lar
by following this street.) On the northwestern side, we could see Sagaing
University of Education where I am currently posted. While enjoying the
sceneries, I was eager to know where exactly the famous Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw had
dwelt in. I was wondering whether he had really lived in the hermitage that we
currently saw. Fortunately, I had a chance to pay my obeisance to and talk with
the current Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw. I asked him several questions about the first
Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw. When I asked where exactly the first Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw
dwelt in, he took me to the northern side of the compound to point at a place
with dark green trees near the last junction that we had passed through.
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| Picturesque views from the spur where Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda is situated |
Hereby, it is deemed appropriate
to give an account of the famous Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw and Dama Ku
Pond. Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw was a Buddhist monk who was well-known decades
before and during Nyaungyan Period of Myanmar history. Although his real title
was Ven. Muneinda Gawsa, he was also famous by several other titles
including “Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw”, “Shin-Ta-Hsu Lu-Ta-Yauk (One
monk and one man)” and “Dama Ku Sayadaw” in Myanmar history. He was born
to a family in a town named Salin in Minbu Township, Magwe Region in 940 ME. He
was adopted by the governor of Salin entitled Thadoe Raja alias Mingyi
Hnaung who novitiated him at 13 years of his age. When the latter was
transferred to Pyay (formerly known as Prome), he asked the novice to accompany
him. Two years later, the 15-year-old novice became famous by the name of “Thamanae
Kyaw (The Famous Novice)” since he composed a profound piece of Buddhist
literature named Vesandra Pyoh on the second last birth story of the
Buddha.
When Yan Naing Hmu, the
son of Mingyi Hnaung, ascended the throne by killing his father in 959
ME, the former had the famous novice ordained. Then, he became newly known as Pyay
Pazin Kyaw (the Famous Monk of Pyay). Over a decade, when King Anauk-phet
Lun conquered Pyay, he joyfully took Ven. Muneinda Gawsa to Innwa,
the capital, along with him. In Myanmar history, the king is recorded to
proclaim that he got one monk and one man on his conquest of Pyay. By the
phrase “one monk”, he referred to the famous monk Ven. Muneinda Gawsa. In
977 ME, Min Ye Kyawswar, the younger brother of King Anauk-phet Lun
and the then governor of Salin, requested his brother to permit him to venerate
Ven. Muneinda Gawsa. Min Ye Kyawswar donated the monk a grand
four-storied monastery on the riverside of Sagaing. In 991 ME, when King
Thalun attained kinghood, he venerated the same monk. In 996 ME, Ven. Muneinda
Gawsa, two other famous monks and their followers went on a journey in
search of the Two Sacred Footprints of the Buddha in Sagu Township, Magwe
Region, whose whereabouts had remained unknown for over a century. After
passing through various obstacles, they re-discovered the whereabouts of the
Two Sacred Footprints of the Lord Buddha. On his return, he visited Ven.
Shwe-Oo-Min Sayadaw who was an ascetic dwelling in the forest and
practising the Dhamma. Over his brief verbal exchange with the latter, the
former got enlightened that he needed to practise as an ascetic like Ven.
Shwe-Oo-Min Sayadaw. Thus enlightened, he did not return to his grand
monastery but went to Tiriya Pavada Mountain alias Taung-Fi-Lar
(the mountain lying on the opposite direction), where he burnt down his own
tome on Vinaya Nisaya (about the principles for the Buddhist monks to abide by)
that he deemed unnecessary since one earlier tome on the same theme had been
written by Ven. Shwe-Oo-Min Sayadaw, and later enshrined the ashes
gained as relics in the Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda on Taung-Fi-Lar Spur. He built a
hermitage near the spur and practised an ascetic life.
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| Statues of Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaws and a lady |
When Ven. Muneinda Gawsa
disappeared suddenly, King Thalun and Min Ye Kyawzwar tried to
search for him with the agreement that whoever found the monk first could
donate a monastery for him. Since Min Ye Kyawzwar found the monk first,
he had a chance to build a monastery for him as the donor of two monasteries to
the same monk. King Thalun offered Ven. Muneinda Gawsa the title “Maha
Tipitakar Linkara”.
At one time, King Thalun
sent a beautiful royal maid to the hermitage to enquire the purity and
integrity of the monk. The maid, pretending to be running away from the
bandits, asked for an overnight stay at the monk’s hermitage. Since he
sincerely thought that she was really in danger, he permitted her to do so. At
night, she tried to seduce the holy monk in different ways. However, the monk
tried to cut his shin with a nearby machete and concentrate on the sufferings
coming from the wounds all night. At daybreak, when the rumour spread near and
far that Ven. Muneinda Gawsa had slept with a maid the previous night,
the king visited the hermitage and enquired about it. The holy monk went to a
pond near his hermitage with a machete in his hand. Before the very eyes of the
king and his followers, he made a vow that the machete which he had used the
night before swim like a fish in the pond if his purity and integrity were not
yet lost. In response to such a vow, the machete swam like a fish in the water,
thus testifying his purity and integrity to the amazement of the observers. Due
to this incident, thenceforth the pond became known as Dama Ku Kan (the
machete-swimming pond) and Ven. Muneinda Gawsa alias Taung-Fi-Lar
Sayadaw became well-known as Dama Ku Sayadaw (the machete-swimming
monk). Ven. Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw passed away at the age of seventy
in 1013 ME. Such was the brief biography of Ven. Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw.
When we had looked around
Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda and the surrounding sceneries, we came out and continued
motor-biking up the mountain. After following the zigzagging narrow motorway
for nearly ten minutes, we reached the summit said to be the highest place among
the mountains of Minwun and Sagaing mountain ranges. We could see the gate
embossed with the letters “Padamyar Zeti (Ruby Pagoda)”. We parked our
motorbikes next to the entrance and went up the stairway. The pagoda is
believed to have been built with relic enshrinement by the power of King Asoka.
After paying our respect to the pagoda, we went to its eastern side where the
breathtaking view of the Ayeyarwady River and the Mandalay metropolitan areas.
We stayed there for nearly half an hour enjoying the picturesque sceneries and
then rode our respective motorbikes down the mountain ranges. We had to pass by
Taung-Fi-Lar and reached the foot of the mountain on the right of which the
original Taung-Fi-Lar Hermitage is situated.
After stopping our vehicles near
the entrance, we walked into the monastery compound where there are currently
several buildings that seem to be monasteries. Luckily, we found a monk
residing there who took us near a locked room that used to be the original location
of Ven. Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw’s hermitage. The place is now inside the
first floor of a two-storey brick building. On both sides of the entrance to
the building, there were statues of five consecutive Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaws raised
to waist-high platforms. In front of the statue of the first Taung-Fi-Lar
Sayadaw is a statue of a beautiful woman looking amazed. The monk who
showed us around also explained patiently about the five previous Taung-Fi-Lar
Sayadaws. According to him, the monk whom we met at Taung-Fi-Lar Pagoda is
the sixth and current Taung-Fi-Lar Sayadaw who is well-known for his
philanthropic deeds relating to a monastic school by the same name that he is
currently in charge of and that is situated next to our university.
We asked several questions and
the monk kept answering for twenty minutes or more. When I glanced at my watch,
it showed 5:00 PM. Hence, we paid our obeisance to him and returned home.
Within nearly half an hour, we got back home. In fact, the famous place where
the historic monk had resided is not so far from our university and may not
seem special to quite a few people. However, the trip was priceless to me. I also
determined to pay another visit to the lush green countryside in near future in
order to bask in the glory of historic personalities and the related events. I
dare say you will never regret to visit that place. Why not try a visit there
if you happen to be in Sagaing?
Tun Min
References:
Sandimar,
U, (Salin) (2017) Tha-maing-twin Tha-maing-win Tsar-hso Ashin-myar
(Historic Writer Monks). Yangon: Seikku Cho Cho.
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