But none of the glittering, golden shrines is more important than the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the most sacred site in Myanmar. Said to house eight hairs of Buddha, the center stupa is gold plated (no yearly repairs are needed) with 8,688 sheets of gold — 61 tons in all — and decorated with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 sapphires, rubies and other gems as well as 1,485 bells made of pure gold.

Begun in the 5th century B.C., Shwedagon has been rebuilt and enlarged over the years, and now each of the eight sides of its base have another eight smaller stupas — some 64 swirling, golden tokens of belief in all.

Kipling called Shwedagon "a golden mystery . . . a beautiful winking wonder." Aldous Huxley commented on its "merry-go-round-style of architecture." Somerset Maugham described it as "glistening with gold, like a sudden hope in the dark night of the soul."

More than 10,000 pilgrims come annually to Shwedagon. As we sat with some of them in quiet reflection, watching the changing light of sunset dance upon the pillars, it was in the realization that gold was not the only thing that made this spot special. Devotion casts its spell in many forms — as does the land once called Burma now known as Myanmar.

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