Ladies and gentlemen are venerable speaker has arrived lets listen to his words. And. The organizers appreciate his words even more than his commitment to. He is unusually outspoken for among. Hes a member that is in our country you know the monks have long had a lot of influence on the people. Play the most important part and most changes in the country. Indeed when like the peepholes teaches. That. The. Earth. Dont make trouble now. We monks i
dont convince that buddhism is developing with democracy. According to the buddha. Theres a set of teaching in this that questions things and thats allowed to be a question that. You might receive and that is exactly what buddha taught to get done that was in a lot of that i dont want to and thats why were convinced buddhism can only benefit from democracy i dont he hes well cynical. People think that once theyve cast their vote everythings Done And Dusted if they think theyve done all they need to do but theyre not exactly humble. They want this and they want that most of them dont even know whats happening in their own country are not so bad so far the government hasnt been able to do much for our economy but it hasnt even told us why that is am i right. What about our
dignity is that a sign of intelligence. With. Preparing the people of myanmar for a new democratic era thats how to wants to support the woman who led the country to freedom. But i prayed very much for her and it worked. I respect and trust her. If i had to id be willing to die for her. The monks have repeatedly demonstrated their commitment to society and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the Burmese People. And at times theyve had to pay a high price. For. September two thousand
for a saw in my view the revolution of Two Thousand And Seven was the final blow. Many blows were needed over the years to sell this big trade. After this last one the tree of the dictatorship came falling down. Or you know. In Two Thousand And Eleven million mark took the first tentative steps towards becoming a Free Market Economy and a Consumer Society but half a century of terror and economic isolation had turned the country that was once the richest in the region into one of the poorest in the world the monks are trying to help people to get ahead. Unload everything take it to the house who taught peter is helping to his activism isnt limited to his bellicose sermons to compensate for the lack of health care in Two Thousand And Ten he helped set up
a foundation that aims to provide easier access to medical treatment. If it were possible wed prefer to just follow our calling as monks to be honest weve all had enough of all this but its our tradition thats a project can only be successful if the monks get involved. So were forced into this work and we also view it as r g o t to look after the people because we depend on them to know they feed us and pay for. With. The symbiotic relationship is a fundamental factor in Burmese Society the monks guide the people by providing them with a religious education while the people pay for their maintenance. And
the alms ritual that takes place in the streets of man mark every morning is a reminder of this connection between the population and the monks. The monks are freed from material needs and can dedicate their studies wholly to spreading buddhist teachings thanks. For the children of the poorest families entering a Monastic School is often the only way of climbing the Social Ladder they then continue their training at the buddhist universities while some monks are happy to lead a modest life in a monastery others become influential people in Burma Society the socalled venerable ones. Like the monks in Thailand Cambodia and laos the Bernese Monks PracticeTheravada Buddhism which is much more traditional than the zen buddhism known in the west. In contrast to the democratic. Who were late isnt politically active instead he focuses on spreading buddhism to this and he has settled in a rural area far from the towns and cities where the majority of the Bormio Population still leads an isolated poverty stricken life and. This place in the south of rockin state is home to many chine one of
a hundred and thirty five ethnic minorities recognized by the burmese constitution. The chin who have suffered persecution and harassment from the dictatorship in the past have a completely different language and culture to those of my own mars Largest Ethnic Group the bomber. The young monk settled here because of the change of religion they are mainly christian and is a missionary of the Buddhist Monks living here are just like the old christian missionaries and the spearhead of an ambitious Expansion Plan that has been supported by the Military Government since the ninetys. And all going to go not are going to come up. When i came here the villages gave me
a dog called rice to eat it was almost an animal. They didnt visit me so i was alone most of the time. I thought a lot about the purpose of my mission at that time. All i had left in my learning this was meditation and i started thinking about the strategy i could use to get people to the monastery and. Then you know. Then i had an idea that i could go to the city and buy sweets to give to the children in the village and. After that more and more parents and other people came to the monastery. Thats how i was able to win the villages over and convert them. And if theyre going to do you know. Converting people is a big challenge for the monks in this village eighty percent of the residents are catholics or baptists to win them over the monks offer whats most sorely lacking here access to education. He went on and on. In these remote areas most families dont have the money to send their children to school and. Thats why i turn to the free religious schools in mandalay and rangoon so the children can attend a secondary school. But i dont you know. I mean youre going to. Hear from. In these villages where everything is lacking the monks sometimes do a lot but they always expect something in return this is the real aim of their mission the comprehensive spread of buddhism in all its fullness. Spreading buddhism in a christian region is a long process thats based largely on symbols thats why the construction of Pagodas Monasteries and other religious sites is the missionaries most important
work but winning the peoples hearts and minds is much harder. Who are lay is one of the few monks in the region whos fluent in chin. Close links with the villagers forms the basis of his mission strategy. Over the years the war lay has found the place he had hoped for in the chin villages of rockin state. He doesnt just have a goda a Monastic School and several places of worship. He has also managed to send seven
hundred fifty children to religious schools in the cities. Who were Lay Works For The Department for the promotion and propagation of society all burmese monks are members of this institution which was founded in the early ninetys. It comes under the auspices of the Ministry Of Religious Affairs and culture and is based in Rangoon Or Leis Master the Venerable Mara is its president he runs six hundred missions throughout the country. On the twenty seventh of march we organize a ceremony for the conversion to buddhism during which donations for an Order Nation Room were collected in the village of. Well you have to look after them well otherwise theyll convert to buddhism today but well become christians again in three days time. Johnny boy. But the converted the conversion ceremonies are often just the. We started in Two Thousand And Eleven and the converts didnt revert to christianity the people on the mountain and Border Regions will convert to get something but as soon as we dont have anything left to give them theyll switch religions again. We give them an education to promote our religion its good to give them an education whether they
convert or not education can improve their thinking and their conduct in some places where the schools only teach in chinese or quranic language they can learn bermejo and now monastic scholars. Official language they need to know if. You can say thats our missions only benefit the buddhist religion and. They also promote peace and development in these regions. If buddhism could reach the hearts of people there would be no war. Everyone would live in peace. Buddhism as a bringer of peace in the eyes of the monks theres no doubt about it but the army has a very different game it sees the buddhist Missionary Zeal as an effective tool to
expand burma is rule over the countrys many ethnic minorities. Thats why the army started funding this missionary work in the early ninetys it wants to push forward with burma if occasion which it wants to use to consolidate its power over the minorities. One hundred thirty five officially recognized ethnic groups with around one hundred languages and dialects were arbitrarily grouped together as one country. Maher is a mix of peoples alongside the Largest Ethnic Group the bomb are people in mar is home to the shan the current the chin the rock and a large number of others particularly in the Border Regions. Ever since its independence in One Thousand Nine Hundred Forty Eight the republic of the union of myanmar has seemed an impossible undertaking. To g. s Father General and son a National Hero in the war for independence didnt live to see that he was assassinated. After that the country went through a series of rebellions and guerrilla wars that were put down with increasing bloodshed. And youre going to. See that you know. The rise of Social Networks has given new war lays missionary work a new dimension he writes about the events hes hosting and has no Trouble Finding Donors who are willing to pay for a new Buddha Statues and monasteries burm if occasion is progressing ever more rapidly in the south of rockin state but a few dozen kilometers further north its long ground to a standstill. Thanks
these mountains hide an entire region that has been sealed off by the army its a no go zone for foreigners around a million muslims in this region bordering bangladesh a currently facing unparalleled persecution. The rowan jo was formerly a Berm Maize Ethnic Group but are now stateless having been struck off the list of ethnic groups by law in one thousand nine hundred eighty two. Even though they have lived in rocking for centuries they are now seen as Illegal Immigrants from bangladesh. Their situation abruptly worsened in Two Thousand And Twelve when buddhists in the state attacked them after monks had spread false rumors about rapes on social media. The situation quickly escalated their rowing joe were driven out of the towns and their villages were burned down this was the start of a mass exodus to neighboring countries
a tragedy for the rowing just. Nationalist organizations a Buddhist Monks have been behind these events these openly anti muslim movements have played a big part in the violence its they who have been fueling the hatred especially via social media since then buddhist nationalism has played a central role in manaus political life or to side tara is the founder of a particularly active group of monks. Our organizations called the Patriotic Myanmar Monks Union our president is Myanmar Dharma and r i u two sides and the secretary. Mentioned you know we founded this organization to prevent muslims from invading our country. And forcing their religion upon us. And i will. Do it was an awful. Lot of i know. I am. Im scared of the threat to the buddhist religion and our culture. Since other religions have been coming into our country through immigration weve been unable to preserve our culture and you know long. Ago that you know were losing our identity to join and were doing you know. I want to protect our culture you know in my indian language sort of only as. Although it only consists of around one
hundred activists to cite tires group plays an Important Role in burma is nationalism particularly thanks to spectacular events that play effectively in the media. The. With. The with the with. The with. The woman. With the activists monks are demonstrating in the center of rangoon against a ruling whom they call bengalis in myanmar their role into are denied the right to give themselves a name theyre even denied classification as an ethnic group they are the target of extreme hatred. Boy young lady want to have parts of rock enough for themselves to found
a role in just state the problem. As soon as theyve got their hands on and. Theyll want the whole country pages you painted it out governor as you know i know youre going to be my a little the. The nationalist groups prejudices me too little resistance among the burmese population fear of migrants and Radical Islamism has merged with an older islamophobia deeply rooted in the minds of non muslim Burmese People the way the. Really not. Going to. Sit here we demonstrate peacefully we dont want to break the law please remain peaceful illegal immigration remains illegal not solo. This week one of our own sons who Cheese Ministers dared to use the phrase muslims of brocchini in a speech. Although he did not explicitly mention the row injure his words implicitly suggested that they were an ethnic and religious group this is a great affront to the nationalist monks. According to a new report by the un High Commissioner For Human Rights the bernese army is pursuing a policy of systematic murder torture and rape. Several
n. G. O. S are using the term genocide. Me and maher is facing severe criticism from many governments and the International Community as a whole. All the more so since sound suchi hasnt as yet said or done anything to defend their own engine eleven Nobel Laureates have written an open letter to the Un Security Council voicing their concerns. That when a significant all the problems in the country have been caused by the military. But the responsibility has been laid at the current governments to. The me is responsible for crime in The Civil Wars and the condition of the muslim is. Never the less people blame im sun cheese government. But our own song to cheese is really the countrys Head Of State only in name according to the constitution she herself had a hand in writing the military has held on to some of its power it still has a quarter of all seats in parliament and the important interior and Defense Ministers are also Army Officers so the military alone is actually making all the decisions about how to proceed in iraq in. Our own sons to cheese hands tied or if she sacrificed in the muslims as part of an arrangement with the generals in exchange for her new democracy its hard to say. But even if she wanted to protect the row injure shed still have to confront the nationalist monks shes stuck between the generals and religious extremists like to cite. Yon. Yeah yeah. Yeah. Since Two Thousand And Twelve we funded a position that is contrary to our own sons who cheese. A while ago the law was passed to protect race and religion and that was necessary because muslims reproduce quickly. The thirty three and now d. Members of parliament voted against it and on sons who didnt show up in parliament at all that day allegedly because she was sick. The protection of race and religion thats the purpose of the Two Thousand And FifteenLaw Limiting Interreligious marriages and targeting the countrys five
percent Muslim Population by banning polygamy it was a great political victory for radical activists such as the patriotic me and Ma Monks Union shortly before the election of. Protecting race and religion isnt just a legal matter me in my eyes Buddhist Monks missionary work is also based on this formula but its meaning is controversial because the bernese word for race can also mean nation for most monks protecting race means something more like protecting the country and its culture. But the nationalists are all about racism a racism they proclaimed loudly. That. A much more powerful group of extremists have managed to make the issue of N