Myanmar's Buddhist Monastery Offers Spiritual Bootcamp for Art Historian

ARTDAILY
By Kelly McNamara

British art historian, Rupert Richard Arrowsmith recites the teachings of Buddha during an ordination ceremony.

MYANMAR---Pre-dawn wake-up calls, days of silence and hunger may not be everyone's idea of a holiday, but for tourists seeking spiritual sustenance Myanmar's monasteries offer help on the path to Buddhist nirvana. The search for inner peace is unlikely to appeal to those who take a more hedonistic approach to vacations -- booze, beaches and bikinis are definitely out. "When you first start it is a bit like running into a brick wall, you know, you are having extreme problems settling down and for your mind to settle," said Rupert Arrowsmith, a British art historian. He spent 45 days of total silence in the "famously austere" Chanmyay Yeiktha monastery, a peaceful compound of rooms for meditation and sleeping in the countryside near Yangon. "The new environment, different way of dressing, different way of eating... It's like some sort of military bootcamp. You've even got the same hairstyle," he told AFP. [link]