Support for Mogok’s Displaced Monastics
In the once-peaceful town of Mogok, now scarred by escalating conflict, the monastic communities are facing unprecedented hardships. As clashes between the TNLA and the military junta continue to disrupt daily life, many monasteries have been forced to evacuate, leaving behind everything in search of safety. The monks and novices who once devoted themselves to study and meditation now find themselves displaced, struggling to maintain their spiritual practices amidst the turmoil. Against this backdrop of uncertainty, one of our dedicated local donation leader has stepped forward to offer support. In the following essay, he shares his recent experience of reconnecting with the Nyaung Thone Bin Monastery and its abbot, detailing the urgent need for aid and the profound impact of these donations on the monastic community.
I would kindly like to request you with my Metta (loving kindness) to publish this news about the hardship of the monastics in Mogok, the famous Ruby Land of Myanmar. Soon after I heard the news about the combat in Mogok starting in mid July, I started to call the monastic communities and my friends there to check if they are safe. However, I could not contact any of them until just recently. Thankfully, I’m now in touch with the abbot of a Pariyatti (study) Monastery in Mogok. He and his monastic disciples including novices evacuated the town and the monastery. His monastery is a reputed Buddhist monastic school where over 100 monastic students, the novices, were studying Buddhist monastic education. The monastery is well known among the Buddhist monastic communities and laity sponsors as it has produced a number of outstanding Samane-kyaws (novice scholars) so far, since it was established a few decades ago. The late founder of the monastery was a reputed Buddhist monastic scholar and an executive member of the State’s Sangha Nāyaka Council. He was well known as a “Bodhisattva” and many Buddhists in Myanmar know him well.
Since he was a young novice, he wished for being a Bodhisattva and his childhood story was well known and interesting. Please allow me to tell you some of it. Before he became a novice and when he was a Phoe-thudaw (a white-robed acolyte), he frequently visited the pagoda in his native village’s monastery and his childhood teacher, the abbot of the monastery, asked him,
“Hey, Ma Ohn’s son. Why do you visit the pagoda often?”
The young kid answered, “I wish to become a Buddha, my Venerable!”
The abbot told him, “If you want to be a Buddha, you must wear a monastic robe for your life. Would you?”
The kid quickly responded, “Of course, Bhante.”
Thus, he became a novice under the teaching of the abbot of his village monastery. The wise abbot sent him to a reputed monastic school in Bago named ‘Bago Myoma Monastery’.
Once again, when he was studying there in Bago, another interesting and amazing event happened to him. Please let me tell you this story as well. The young novice used to donate all the monastic things (such as monastic sandals, umbrellas, robes, etc.) that he received from laity donors, to other novices and monks in the monastery who needed them. Therefore, his teacher Venerable Bago Myoma Sayadaw called and asked him, “Novice Tejo. You donated your properties to the others. Right?”
Novice Tejo: “Yes, Bhante.”
Sayadaw: “Oh, how generous you are! Why? What do you wish for, by the way?”
Novice Tejo: “I wish to be a Buddha.”
Sayadaw: “Wow!”
The abbot was surprised by the young novice’s answer and thus, he requested him, “Alright, my beloved novice! Please, take a basket, call an attendant and go for an alms-round in the town. But, you go alone for sure! You may take an acolyte, though. Please, come back if you have alms-rice half the basket, alright?”
The novice went alms-round with an attendant around the town and soon he came back with alms-rice full of the basket. The abbot was surprised and very pleased to see this, and said, “Oh. So fast! And, the offerings full of the basket! You must become an outstanding monastic! So, since you’re a bright student, I must help and teach you how to wish for Panñādhika-Bodhisattva (Wisdom-strong Future Buddha).” Since then, the novice-to-be-Nyaung Thone Bin Sayadaw had always wished to become a Buddha as his teacher taught, for the rest of his life every time he had done a donation and a merit. In brief, this is the stories about the Venerable Nyaung Thone Bin Sayadw who founded Nyaung Thone Bin Monastery (Novice School) in Mogok. He was well respected by the political leaders and state’s leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In her administration, she visited the monastery for its Shin-1000 Dhamma Hall Opening Ceremony where 1,000 novices were ordained as Buddhist novices. After all, the most reverend Sayadaw passed away two years ago.
So in closing, I am deeply grateful to have recently established contact with not just any Sayadaw, but one from this revered lineage. This connection is particularly meaningful, as it opens the door to collaborate with a monastic network that we now know we can trust entirely to be able to work with as we hopefully will go on to support wider donation efforts for those suffering peoples now in need. With this trusted alliance, we are hoping to organize donation events that will bring much-needed support to these esteemed communities. I promise to share more details soon, and in the meantime, I humbly ask for your continued support and metta as we embark on this important endeavor!