A Buddhist Monk Protects his Community

The following story was submitted by a local resident who has requested anonymity for safety reasons.

I would like to tell you how the 67-year old abbot of this monastery is an open-minded and progressive monk. He has led the community’s development and founded a school that offers free basic education starting from kindergarten for children of the low-income families and poor farming households. Because of his compassion for the poor and his balanced attitude toward different political parties from 2010 to 2015, members and leaders of the then-ruling party, Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the opposition NLD, both respected him. This respect continued after the change in government in 2015. He openly criticizes any leader or party that does anything he sees as bad for the community. After the coup, armed military commanders who were sent to administrate the township kept their distance because of his history of open and brave criticism of the previous authorities! Even during these early days, they ordered their troops not to harm or harass him. During the previous military regime (1990-2010) and the decade of democracy (2010-2020), this Sayadaw was selected by the generals who ruled the Sagaing Region and elected by his fellow abbots to serve as an executive member of the regional Sangha Nāyaka (the leading monastic society). However, he refused the position because he did not feel he needed any accolades, and instead continued performing the regular tasks suited to an abbot of a rural monastery, which is to enlighten the people to Buddha’s teachings and educate their children, while he also served the community in other ways. He strictly follows the Buddhist monastic code and adheres to meditative practices such as the Buddhānusati-bhāvanā (the practice of recalling the Buddha’s qualities) and Mettābhāvanā (the practice of sending loving kindness to all beings). He has dedicated his life to educating villagers for 37 years at this monastery.

After the outbreak of armed conflict in areas around his monastery, he was urged by the villagers to leave the monastery out of concern for the safety of himself and the welfare of monastery’s young novices. My family and I frequently asked him to leave as well, but he has never abandoned his monastery. Whenever we told him he should leave, he simply kept quiet and gave no excuse. It always surprised us how he could stay calm with so many violent incidents happening near his monastery. I suppose this is the result of so many years of ethical living combined with meditative prowess. Actually, some villagers told us later about mysterious supernatural incidents surrounding the abbot and his practice. The local Buddhists in this area worship a Nat (a type of celestial being) that is said to have guarded the area since the Bagan Dynasty. This Nat temple sits under a big old banyan tree in the monastery compound, and according to the villagers, some monks who previously resided there died or became insane soon after starting to live there. The villagers believe this was because the Nat dislikes monks who do not obey monastic disciplines. However, the current abbot always remembers to send Metta and share his merits with the Nat. The villagers admired him for this, even though they secretely had expected he would also suffer a similar fate as his predecessors. But he has now been at this monastery for 37 years! More recently, local people have said that during the armed conflict of the past two years, some troops who raided the villages west of the monastery did not dare to return to the town, and decided to stay at the monastery instead. However, when they got close to the monastery, they became disoriented and were unable to find it. This apparently happened three or four times! The captain of the squad told a betel-seller this story and he told the villagers. Another time, members of the local defense force were traveling toward the town on the road in front of the monastery when they met some military troops. They had no weapons with them and were very frightened. They hid on the side of the road and none of the soldiers saw them, despite the soldiers passing extremely close by and not being very well hidden. I was told these mysterious stories by the villagers when I visited last month.

Recently, I made a phone call to the revered abbot to ask about violent encounters to the west of his monastery. He said he and his novices were safe for now, and although troops had crossed through his monastery compound, they were left in peace, at least up to now. As previously, we again insisted that he leave the monastery, move into town and stay at the monastery where he had attended for his monastic education as a youth. It would be safer here. But this time he answered us, and honestly, his words surprised us. In his gentle voice, he said that if he abandoned his monastery, the soldiers, “who are used to burning [homes and buildings], will surely take the things [they want] and set the monastery alight!” It was his presence that he saw as the protection. Our gentle Sayadaw is still serving the community! We could also assume from his response that he had already witnessed the undisciplined and inhumane manners of these thugs, and indeed there have been news reports of monasteries in other areas that were burned down by the military. Indeed, a recent report in Myanmar Now described how a well-known scholar monk who was a disciple of Sitagu Sayadaw was killed by the military during a raid on Depeyin Kwell village in Sagaing township. Just yesterday, another local news outlet, Khit Thit, reported that an 80-year-old Buddhist nun named Daw Seik was burned alive. After ending the call with the revered abbot, we could only pray for him to be safe and healthy, but we are, of course, worried!