A young monk sits next to bowls and waits for the beginning of an Alms round in which monks will accept donated food.

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Monks can be seen throughout urban and rural Myanmar. The monks in this image live at a small monastery on the Bagan Plain in central Myanmar. They are cleaning up the dirt grounds around their monastery to complete their late afternoon chores. The Theravada tradition of Buddhism is practiced by 89 percent of Myanmar, the most religious Buddhist country when measured the proportion of monks in the population and money spent. Monks are venerated members of the country. Burmese parents see their most important duty to make sure their sons are admitted to the Buddhist Sangha by performing a shinbyu once they have reached the age of seven or older. The young monks are expected to stay at a monastery immersed in the teachings of Buddha for three months or more and at least for the duration of the Thingyan water festival. When young men reach age 20 they are given another opportunity to become a full fledged monk perhaps for life.

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Size: 3447px × 5170px
Location: Bagan, Myanmar
Photo credit: © Robert Dodge / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: alms, asia, asian, bagan, bowl, boy, buddhism, buddhist, burma, color, culture, dusk, head, kingdom, monastery, monk, myanmar, oriental, red, religion, robe, shaved, spiritual, sun, travel, waiting, young