Reverence

I visited several monasteries and nunneries during a past trip to Mandalay. On this particular day, I had followed several women in the complex around a corner and came upon these nuns bathing. Their bodies were wrapped in long, brilliant red skirt cloths known as htameins. Their skin was a burnished gold that picked up highlights as it became moistened.

It was a private, beautiful moment; these women bathing together. What struck me was the softness of the water falling onto their bodies and how the cloth darkened to deeper red tones as it became saturated. It was a ritual that didn’t demand reverence, but was something to revere.

It was mostly quiet, this communal act of washing. There was the sound of water poured from vessels and quiet, small splashes. I found joy in that the scene was unique, but the image made is not exploitive. It is purity in its most expansive form: clear, cleansed, communal, fluid, and offering release from weightedness.

Perhaps that is enough. Perhaps that is everything.