Salaween.blog
A travel journal through culture and history. – blogging since 2014
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Catégorie : english text
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In 2002, a trip to Sri Lanka changed everything. Between sanitized hotels and authentic encounters, I discovered my love for Asia: crowded trains, hidden temples, and resilient humanity. This journey awakened in me the call for immersive travel, far from mass tourism. Today, I still live in Asia.
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A chair needs four legs; faith needs all voices. Today, we walked with women who’ve kept ancient traditions alive—Theravāda bhikkhunīs, Catholic nuns, and Hindu swaminis—carrying wisdom as old as their paths. Their message was clear: spirituality isn’t gendered. It’s balanced. As the Kularnava Tantra teaches, ‘Without Shakti, Shiva cannot even stir.’
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In 1662 in Ayutthaya, Spanish Franciscans and Theravāda Buddhist monks met beyond the limits of doctrine. Their dialogue, grounded in asceticism, poverty, and mendicancy, revealed a surprising sense of mutual recognition and spiritual respect within an Asian crossroads rich in cultural and religious exchange.
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This text recounts my encounter with the bhikkhunīs, fully ordained Buddhist women. Combining personal narrative, ancient history, and contemporary realities in Thailand, it describes their origins at the time of the Buddha, their disappearance, and their modern revival, as well as the struggle of figures like Dhammananda for the recognition of nuns.
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On September 13, 60 participants—students and faculty from Payap University and local community members—walked through Chiang Mai’s Wat Ket neighborhood. This interfaith pilgrimage brought together temples, churches, mosques, and shrines, creating a day of shared learning, dialogue, and spiritual connection.
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At first, the Buddha just wanted to teach, not pose for statues. He was represented only through symbols. Centuries later, the inspiration came… from ancient Greece!
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As an indigenous people of Southeast Asia, the Mon received Theravāda Buddhism from Sinhalese monks. Between the 6th and 11th centuries, they became cultural bearers, spreading the faith, writing, and arts. Their legacy deeply inspired emerging kingdoms. Discreet facilitators, they gradually faded, leaving a lasting mark on civilization.
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Un lapin blanc aux yeux scintillants bondit depuis le sud. Devant lui, le Doi Luang s’élève, majestueux, couronné de brume. Ce sanctuaire sacré irradie un silence chargé de mystère. Le lapin ralentit, sentant qu’ici, le voile de l’avenir va se lever devant lui.
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Vilanka, king of the Lawa with a broken heart, tells a historical destiny often overshadowed by a queen who took all the spotlight. Amid mountains, legends, and thrown spears, his story blends ancestral pride, betrayals, and struggles to preserve the soul of a forgotten people in Northern Thailand.
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Sagaing, the once-forgotten former capital of Myanmar, is now a peaceful town, home to nearly two thousand monks and nuns. But that’s not the story I want to tell you. Instead, I’d like to share a travel anecdote — a personal journey across these sacred hills, drawn from three visits through time. And while you…
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