An Allied soldier picked up a sledgehammer and smashed it at the pagoda on Nantianmen Mountain, and after posting it on the Internet, it went viral on the Internet in Myanmar. This hammer made the allies the target of everyone.
The main ** in Myanmar reported on the incident, and the pro-military ** spared no effort to publicize it. The spokesman of the Myanmar Army, Zo Myint Tun, even characterized it as a religious insult, and the heat of the incident even exceeded that of the Burmese army's collective surrender in Kokang a few days ago.
The incident sparked collective outrage among Burmese monks, with more than 100 monks and hundreds of people taking to the streets in the Mandalay area with signs in hand. Even after the Allied forces issued an apology, a large number of monks took to the streets in Yangon**.
Then the military spokesman recorded another shout**, even with Chinese subtitles, elevating the incident to an insult to Buddhist believers around the world and violence against religion.
The spokesman of the military ** made a speech.
Why can a small stupa make such a big wave in Myanmar? What will be the negative impact of this incident on the Allied forces?
The Allies quickly issued an apology, but the trees were quiet and the wind did not stop. Some grassroots propagandists and supporters still propagate that the Allied Army smashed the "Zhenhan Tower", under which the remains of thousands of Allied martyrs were buried, and that the "dragon vein" of the Han people was suppressed.
What is the truth of the matter?
Myanmar is known to be a Buddhist country. During the feudal dynasty, both the Burmese and the Shan dominated Myanmar, and they vigorously promoted Buddhism, making Buddhism the mainstream belief of the Burmese people. In fact, there are lessons to be learned from the past when it was derogated.
During the British colonial period, they forcibly promoted ** religion, attacked the Buddhist sangha, and wanted to spiritually enslave the Burmese people, and then break the resistance. The colonists deliberately entered the temple without shoes and humiliated the Sangha with various actions. Eventually, the monks rebelled, and they founded a Buddhist defense organization, the Buddhist YMCA, which grew rapidly.
The monks carried the banner of opposing aggression and demanding national independence, and resisted the British colonists. The eminent monk U Udema and others distributed leaflets and mobilized the masses to hold demonstrations, which led many monks and ordinary people to join the independence movement.
Another high-ranking monk, Wu Wei Shala, was arrested for participating in ** activities and eventually died after 66 days of hunger strike in prison. His death provoked an even larger anti-British wave. Both U Od Del Ma and U Wai Sala are considered national heroes by the Burmese.
Sun Yat-sen, who was still carrying out revolutionary activities, once visited Wu Oudemar and asked him in person for advice on his experience in carrying out the struggle for national independence, and later invited him to visit various parts of China.
U Nu, Burma's first post-independence prime minister, was also a devout Buddhist, and in 1961 he enacted the National Religion Act, which made Buddhism the state religion.
However, due to colonial reasons, there are quite a few people of the Kachin and Karen ethnic groups who believe in ** religion. U Nu led to the further deepening of the Kachin resistance group, which originally had little appeal, to establish the Kachin Independence Army in this context and gained many supporters.
The rulers of Burma insisted on strengthening the status of Buddhism at the cost of provoking religious conflicts, in order to gain the support of Buddhism so that various undertakings could be carried out smoothly. This also illustrates the extent of the influence of Buddhism in Myanmar.
Monks**. In 1962, General Ne Win came to power in a coup d'état, imposing a strict policy of separation of church and state, imposing many restrictions on Buddhism, which was also met with strong resistance from the monks.
Later, when the student democracy movement broke out in Myanmar, Buddhists did not hesitate to join the student camp and stand up for them. The monks refused to accept alms from the servicemen and their families.
This is because Buddhism believes that giving alms to monks is the best way to accumulate merit other than being a monk. Refusing alms from soldiers and their families prevents them from accumulating merit, and it also shows that the monks consider the soldiers to be unqualified, which undermines the legitimacy of their rule.
In the end, Ne Win had to use the military and police to forcibly disband some groups of monks involved in politics, and searched more than 100 temples to force the monks to give up resistance.
Ladies and gentlemen, how tough the Burmese monks are - they don't want your charity, it is you who are hurt, and you even use violence to force me to accept your alms.
To this day, Buddhism is still very influential in Myanmar. Nearly 90% of the Burmese population is Buddhist, and the main faith of the Burmese, Shan, Rakhine and Chinese living in Myanmar is Buddhism. It can be said that Buddhism has penetrated into all levels of Myanmar society and permeates all aspects of Burmese life.
According to some data, there are more than 400,000 professional monks in Myanmar, more than 20,000 temples, and more than 100,000 pagodas. Villages in Myanmar tend to be centered around temples, which are the tallest buildings in the village, so that every villager can see the spire of the temple. Ordinary people worship Buddha statues in their homes, and even if they are poor, they will place offerings in front of the Buddha statues.
Myanmar is known as the "Land of Pagodas", and there are stupas on almost all the hills that are slightly higher. After the outbreak of Operation 1027, it can also be seen in the battles** released by various civilian forces, and many of the highlands defended by the Burmese army also have pagodas.
The construction of stupas or temples is considered an important act of accumulating merit, and wealthy people often do not hesitate to donate large sums of money to build magnificent temples and stupas. The famous Erawan Buddha in Kokang was donated by Liu Abao, one of the four major families.
In conclusion, Burmese monks have great influence in society. Successive Burmese leaders have also mostly been close to Buddhism in order to gain popular support. Whether it is Aung San Suu Kyi, who is pro-Western, or Min Aung Hlaing, who is not in the West, after taking the throne, he often visits Buddhist monks. In order to show that he is a devout believer in Buddhism,Even if they are the head of a country, they should still kneel respectfully when they see a Buddhist monk.
After the smashing of the pagoda, the Myanmar military reacted quickly. The spokesman of the military ** spoke very seriouslyTo say that such an act has nothing to do with federal affairs is to insult Buddhists and, more importantly, to the entire Burmese nation. Then he shouted to the believers all over the world.
This move can be described as fighting poison with poison. Because of the defeat of the Burmese army in northern Burma, militarily it could not find an effective way to deal with the civilian forces, and politically it was under great pressure, and the morale was demoralized. The act of smashing the pagoda just allowed the military ** to find a place to divert contradictions.
Previously, Mindiwu's propaganda called the military ** a "coup regime", did not recognize the legitimacy of Min Aung Hlaing, and called on the people to rise up and resist. Nowadays, the military has also elevated the act of smashing stupas to religion and religion to consolidate the basic plate of Buddhism and the Burmese people and enhance their own cohesion.
Because in the current situation, Buddhists and the Burmese can only rely on the military to stop the people's armed forces. After the incident fermented, not only did the monks march in the streets, but many young people also expressed their desire to join the Tatmadaw army. I am afraid that even the national unity, which is also opposed to the army, does not dare to agree with the actions of the allies.
If the incident attracts international attention, it will be more beneficial to the Myanmar military. Because most of the Buddhists are concentrated in South Asia, Southeast Asia, especially India, has historically had a good relationship with Myanmar. At a time when the military is suffering from internal and external troubles, if these countries turn to the military and give them some assistance, they are likely to help them tide over the difficulties.
The act of smashing the stupa is undoubtedly discrediting oneself and setting up a stronger opponent for oneself. If the situation develops further, it is very likely to fuel anti-Chinese sentiment among the Burmese people, and it is the Chinese people as a whole who are threatened.
In this incident, many Chinese have made it clear that they oppose the Allied army's smashing of the pagoda.
On the short ** platform, there were many voices of Burmese Chinese denouncing the allies. In the procession, Chinese can also be seen. Some young people even said that if the allied forces continued to attack Lashio, they would join the Burmese army.
On the one hand, there are already many believers in the Chinese community. On the other hand, under the continuous offensive of the Allied forces, the anti-Chinese sentiment in Burma is growing, and the Chinese must make a stand in support of the ** army in order to protect themselves.
Fortunately, the Allies had a lot of experience in propaganda. Immediately issued a statement apologizing and explaining that this was not the policy of the Allied forces, but the actions of individual fighters, and that those involved would be punished. This very timely statement clarified the misunderstanding of the Burmese public about the Allied Army, and to a large extent defused the turmoil.
As a matter of fact, it was impossible for the Allied top brass to instruct soldiers to destroy Buddhist facilities, because there was nothing to be gained in doing so.
In addition, Peng Jiasheng, the founder of the Allied Army, believed in Buddhism. When he was still in charge of the government, the "Rule of Law**" column interviewed him. In the program, it was said that in Peng Jiasheng's living room, there was a huge word "Buddha" hanging in **. Peng Jiasheng also invested 2 million yuan to build a huge reclining Buddha statue in Kokang. At the beginning of last year, the Burmese monk Mai Phong arrived in northern Myanmar, and Peng Deren, who rarely showed up, also personally came forward to welcome him.
The reclining Buddha funded by Peng Jiasheng.
So why is this happening? In fact, the war has developed to the present, and the problems of the Allied forces have begun to appear.
At the beginning of the war, the Allies continued to forcibly recruit troops on the territory they occupied, many of whom did not join voluntarily. Especially after hitting Lao Cai, many of the former Bai family's militia groups have joined the Allied Army. The team is rapidly expanding, and it will naturally absorb people from three sects and nine ranks.
These people went to the battlefield without much training and education. It is difficult to say how deeply they understood the revolution, and fighting the war was nothing more than a task assigned to them. It is normal to have misunderstandings about the decisions made by the upper echelons, or even simply venting personal dissatisfaction.
Especially in the course of the war, hatred inevitably arises between the two sides, and it is also very common to take everything left behind by the enemy as an object of revenge and sabotage after the war.
Previously, when the Allied forces occupied Yang Long Village, they threw the Burmese flag on the ground and planted their own flag. There was also an uproar when the allied forces draped the Burmese flag over the dog and issued it. You must know that even the leading brother Wa State does not dare to do this, and the Myanmar flag will be raised at major events.
However, if these behaviors are not controlled, they will inevitably breed further problems of indiscipline. In fact, a large number of Kokang people have reported many problems with the discipline of the Allied forces on the Internet, but there are so many supporters of the Allied forces that their voices are often drowned out.
Nowadays, a large number of Allied soldiers have appeared on the short ** platform, and the military secrets have been leaked completely, which is also a manifestation of lax discipline. Not long ago, it was rumored that a front-line command post was bombed by the Burmese army because of a leak. However, the allies should be glad to encounter a weak opponent like Lao Burma, otherwise they will be beaten and cried every minute.
The war was still going on, the ranks of the Confederate forces were still expanding, and the Allied top brass did not seem to have the energy to reorganize the troops.
After the smashing of the pagoda fermented, the propagandists and supporters of the Allied forces portrayed the pagoda as the "Zhenhan Pagoda", suppressing the dragon vein of the Han people. It is also said that the bones of hundreds of Allied martyrs who died in the Battle of Nantianmen are buried below. I want to consolidate the fundamentals in this way. Of course, there is a very large market for this kind of agitation.
But what is the truth of the matter?
The author originally thought that the statement of pressing the dragon vein was not worth refuting at all, and probably only the old people in the countryside who had not read much would believe it. I never thought that in today's world where science and technology are so developed, this kind of strange and chaotic remarks still has such a large market.
Feng Shui Kanyu is an authentic traditional Chinese culture, and many famous works such as the Book of Changes have been born in history. But as far as the book "I Ching" is concerned, let alone a foreigner, it is a Chinese, and it is estimated that it is difficult to penetrate without ten years and eight years of skill.
The so-called pressure dragon vein is just a unique Chinese saying, and foreigners do not understand this set. To say that someone else's stupa has pressed our dragon veins is to forcibly impose our own customs and habits on others.
It is even more nonsense to say that the bones of hundreds of Allied martyrs are buried under the stupa.
First of all,With the propaganda of the allied forces, the Burmese army really did this, and it would have come out to denounce it earlier. But when the pagoda was built, they only sent a picture, and they didn't say a word about the bones, and they didn't say a word before destroying the pagoda, and they didn't come out to tell ghost stories until the matter fermented.
Secondly,Regarding the Battle of Nantianmen, the official description of the Allied forces is that "700 men were at the beginning, 150 were left behind, and 24 were finally left".
At the beginning, the Allied forces planned to use the 311 and 211 brigades to defend Nantianmen, but the 311 Brigade captured too many recruits to withstand the attack of Lao Burma, and ran out halfway, exposing the flanks of the 211 Brigade.
If you continue to hold it, you can only sacrifice the elite troops, and if you don't defend it, you won't be able to stabilize your supporters. So just like the first to guard the four-line warehouse back then, send 150 people to make sense. However, after the Burmese army attacked, 150 people were too many, and only 24 people remained, and most of these 24 people fought to the end, and most of them also went down the mountain.
How many people did the alliance army sacrifice in the Battle of Nantianmen? Their descriptions have always been hazy, but based on the descriptions of all parties, there are probably only about 100 people, and there will be no so-called "burial of the remains of hundreds of Allied soldiers".
Finally,Many people say that the pagoda on Nantianmen Mountain is the "Zhenhan Pagoda", and the bones of the martyrs of the Allied Army are buried, but in fact, they don't understand what the pagoda is used for. Large stupas are used to enshrine the relics or ritual vessels of high monks, and some small stupas have become tombs for monks.
For example, the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most famous pagoda in Myanmar, is said to enshrine eight strands of Shakyamuni's hair. Another example is the Shakyamuni Buddha tooth relics enshrined in Lingguang Temple in Xishan, Beijing, which was invited to worship in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, and was enshrined in the Obada Danti Pagoda.
In short, the pagoda is a very sacred structure for the Burmese people, how can it be used to bury the bones of the enemy.
Or, conversely, if the bones of the allied soldiers were buried under the pagoda in the South Tianmen Mountain, shouldn't they have immediately dug them up and complained to Burmese society about the brutality of the Burmese army in order to win support? Why apologize quickly?
The supporters of the Allied army are still stubborn, saying that it is Zhenhan Tower, which is actually pushing the Allied army into the fire pit.