What is the difference - history lessons and learning from history

There is a saying, "if you don't learn from history, you are bound to repeat it". I do not remember who said it but it is so true. When I was a young boy I hated history lessons because it involved tests and continuous efforts to learn all the difficult historical names, places and yes, dates. It was so tough for me. As a young boy I was more interested in having fun and playing. That was why I took the science combination when I appeared for the Matriculation exam. (this is like the Tenth grade in the USA, I think).

As I grew older, I became a voracious reader. I became interested in philosophy, politics, science, astronomy, physics, chemistry. At the same time I was also interested in arts subjects such as poetry, literature and yes History.

This time I had a new way of looking at history. I was now more interested in getting lessons from reading history. I was not reading history for the sake of passing exams. Furthermore, there was no teacher telling me, "you have to read this book, this is the prescribed text book."

I was my own teacher and I became my own task master. I first started reading about Burmese history, and read all the history books in the Burmese language that came my way. My favorite book in the Myanmar language was U Kala Maha Yazawin. Then I came across the Glass Palace Chronicle or the Hman Nan Yazawin. The prose was so good. As a young boy my Burmese was not that great, to put it mildly. However, as I grew older, I acknowledged this weak point and began reading more and more books in the Myanmar language, especially books written by well-known authors whose command of the Myanmar language was considered to be excellent. I also read the Bode Dawin written by famous Buddhist monk U Wiseitta. The Bode Dawin is about the life of the Buddha. His prose was superb.

So my point here is this. As you grow older, it does not matter whether you are able to remember names or places. What matters is this. You need to be able to draw lessons from the kings and from their lives. Of course, no country is perfect and Myanmar is no exception. There will always be good kings and bad kings. The thing is to learn from the bad mistakes of the bad kings and to learn from the good points of the good kings. That is what I mean by "learning from history".

Enjoy your history lessons.

Km

A real sagarwaing (discussion circle) with relatives and friends

I was fortunate to have attended the birthday party of my wife's aunt. She is over 80 now but still sharp and keeps a good memory (of the past and present). After the party all the nephews, nieces and some friends sat down for coffee and fried rice with pebyoke (steamed beans, Burmese style, yummie). You know, fried rice with pebyoke is our breakfast dish in Myanmar (or Burma is you prefer, it does not matter to me at all).

As we sipped our coffee and gulped down spoonfuls of the delicious rice (cooked by our aunt), we showed this blogspot about "Myanmar History lessons". One of my nephews posed this question to me, "where did the Burmese come from?". That was how our very interesting topic started. I told him that I have put all the good references on this blogspot. He said, "Uncle, I can't wait till I have read all your books, tell me something right now, please."

So I started the story of how our Myanmar people came from some where from the China mainland, in search of rich pastures. At one point we were driven farther and farther away from the most populous regions by other competing tribes of clans and gradully ended up going up on the Tibetan plateau. There we integrated with the Tibetans and assimilated some Tibetan words. By the way, the present day Myanmars/Burmese belong to the Tibeto-Burman group (according to historians and anthropologists).

Then our conversation drifted to the founding of the first Myanmar Empire by King Anawrahta (Aniruddha according the Pali version of his name) till the dynasty ended during the reign of Tayoke Pye Min (the king who ran away from the Chinese). He was also known as "Shwe Nan Kyaw shin" (because he spent a majority of his time beautifying his palance). [so one history lesson is this - if a ruler neglects other things and spends too much time on less important things, the country may be invaded by foreigners).

My point in writing this particular blog posting is this. It is really fun and refreshing for three three generations of relatives and friends to talk and discuss about our history. Really fun and refreshing.

Wish I could have more opportunities like this one.

This is what I would like to call in the Myanmar language: "yarzawin sagar waing".

A discussion circle about history.

... and the nice coffee and the fried rice with the wonderful steamed beans (Pebyoke) made this event memorable.

What are the coolest books on Myanmar history

Here are some books that I wish to recommend to new students of Myanmar history.

1. The Glass Palace Chronicle (U Pe Maung Tin and Professor G.H. Luce)
2. Burma (D.G.E Hall - publisher: Hutchinson University Press, London) - comments - a good scholarly work but a little biased.
3. Mahayazawingyi - by U Maung Maung Tin (publisher: Yadanamon Press, Fourth Printing, 1989. In Burmese language) - comments - one of the best in the Burmese language written by a Myanmar citizen with a Myanmar viewpoint.
4. Mahayazawin - by U Kala
5. The River of Lost Footsteps by Thant Myint-U (publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
comments - one of the few scholarly works on Myanmar history written by a Myanmar author with excellent access to good sources; in some places the author sounds like a foreigner rather than a Myanmar person.
6. Rajadhamma Thingaha Kyan by Maung Tin (publisher: Sabei Oo Press, Second Printing, 1983) - comments - the one and only book on Myanmar political theory and philosophy written by Yawmingyi U Pho Hlaing who acted as Myanmar's de facto Foreign Affairs Minister during the reign of King Bagyidaw and served King Mindon and King Thibaw, one of the best foreign ministers in Myanmar history. A must read for foreign service officers who are serious about their careers.

Note: This list is not comprehensive. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Myanmar History Lessons blogspot

There is a saying "those who do not learn history are bound to repeat it". How true.

As a young boy I was always fascinated by history lessons. I was interested in all types of history, both world history and Myanmar history.

So here it is, my contribution to the people of Myanmar and friends of Myanmar, wherever you might be.

You can make history lessons boring or you can make history lessons really interesting.

We have to start somewhere, so this is where I have started.

At least, I have stopped talking about the need for good history lessons.

At least I have done something about this.

Welcome.

Kyaw Myaing

Recommended link: www.aungzay.org