The boy's slippery head looked like a missing tooth

Cueball of boy — Shot in Yangon, Myanmar

A young boy was sitting on the side of the road in Yangon. His head was literally shining with smoothness. He must have shaved his head methodically every day to maintain this smoothness. The boy must have been ordained at a young age.

In Southeast Asia, where Theravada Buddhism is widely practiced, it is believed that if one family member is ordained, the rest of the family will also gain virtue. For this reason, it is not uncommon to see young boys who have been ordained. The interesting thing is that being ordained does not necessarily mean that you will spend your whole life in Buddhism. There are many people who return to the world, and many of them have been ordained at one time or another. Although this boy seems to be ordained at the moment, it does not mean that he will remain ordained for the rest of his life.

In Japan, where Mahayana Buddhism is the mainstream form of Buddhism, there are not many people who think of being ordained as such. I think this is one of the differences between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

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