15 - A Shin-byú-bwè in Burma

Summary

“I know what a shin-byú-bwè is. It's a ceremony of initiating a Burmese Buddhist boy into the monkhood as a novice. I myself have taken part in it, and have also seen many of them in several parts of Burma. There would be no difficulty in tackling this problem.” So ran my thoughts when I undertook to give this talk. I was, however, soon disillusioned. I found myself in the position of a man who had married in haste and regretted at leisure. As with many things in this world, this subject is not as simple as it appears: there is more to it than meets the eye.

I will approach the subject by dividing it into two parts: an introductory statement to throw light on the meaning and purpose of shin-byú-bwè; and a description of a shin-byú-bwè itself in which I was one of the candidates for novicehood – shin-laùng in Burmese.

Different suggestions have been put forward as to the origin of the initiation ceremony. One which I am inclined to accept is that it is a re-enactment of the future Buddha's renunciation of the world. Prince Siddhattha, who later became a Buddha, lived for twenty-nine years, in the Indian city of Kapilavatthu, a life of great luxury and ease, with all imaginable comfort. At the age of sixteen, he married a beautiful princess, and had a son. Thirteen years later, he saw the Four Signs: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk; and realizing the futility of life on earth, he renounced the world.

He left the palace on his horse, accompanied by his faithful servant, in the middle of the night. Helped by the deities, he managed to get out of the walled city unheard and unnoticed. On the way, Māra, the counterpart of Satan, intervened and told him to return to the city as he was to become a universal monarch in seven days' time.