An image of the President of India Ram Nath Kovind presenting Banwarilal Satya Narayan Goenka with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award from at the Valedictory Session of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Varanasi. He is the first person of Indian origin from Myanmar to receive this honour.
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award is the highest honor given to Non Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIOs) who have achieved the following:
"Better understanding abroad of India; support to India’s causes and concerns in a tangible way; building closer links between India, the overseas Indian community and their country of residence; social and humanitarian causes in India or abroad; welfare of the local Indian community; Philanthropic and charitable work; eminence in one’s field or outstanding work, which has enhanced India’s prestige in the country of residence; or eminence in skills which has enhanced India’s prestige in that country (for non-professional workers)."
Banwarilal Satya Narayan Goenka is the son of the lay meditation teacher S.N. Goenka, and the only son who still resides in Burma. The sons have played a more controversial role in the organization of late, as debates have taken place and divisions have widened in the final years of the elder Goenka's life and following his passing.
Myanmar has produced a bonanza of enlightened beings and wise, discerning teachers, many of whom we called upon when writing the Meditator's Guidebook to Myanmar. However, so few of their stories and so little of their knowledge has spread beyond the border. That is why we have the exciting news that are looking to develop a podcast, in which we can interview many of these great figures straight-away, and bring the content immediately to eager yogis without delay. While the information may be slightly rawer than the book form, it will be immediately accessible for all, allowing us to bring the depths of Burma-Dhamma into the public domain far easier than ever before.
We hope to interview monks, nuns, meditation teachers, historians, scholars, writers, meditators, public figures, and many more. There are so many stories to tell from the background of Dhamma in the Golden Land, and so many paths to explore.
But our one disclaimer, and plea for help: while we may be avid listeners of podcasts, we know next to nothing about producing them! Any yogis with a background in podcasting who would be willing to lend a hand in the set-up would be greatly appreciated, so that we can deliver the best production possible to those who will benefit.
As many readers may know, all the work accomplished by the Burma Dhamma blog and facebook page, as well as the past and upcoming work in creating the Meditator's Guide to Burma (Shwe Lan Ga Lay), has been a volunteer effort made with the pure volition to share hard-to-find knowledge and information about Dhamma practice in the Golden Land. Given the difficulty of finding and verifying information in a country with such a tumultuous history, this has been no easy task. An added challenge is that most volunteers are householders who do not have endless resources to give in sustaining the precious work, and funding for future efforts has long since dried up.
At the moment, the first part of the Meditator's Guide is completed, and Part II is coming out very soon. A much longer and more in-depth look at the rich Dhamma history and geography of Myanmar, it will give unprecedented access to sites and Sayadaws. However, the exhausting work of this piece all but completed, there was no plan on the horizon for how it could continue-- until now.
Out of the blue, a modest donation surprisingly came our way to continue our Burma-Dhamma exploration for the benefit of all readers and meditators. Before, we had realized that one of the challenges with producing the guide was that a very small team was working with marvelous content while the meditator community waited to see what we were so excited about... and waited, and waited, and waited as the process deepened and extended. So the idea came to go a different direction... a lighter, more modern touch by exploring the world of podcasting.
While this donation will not fund the podcast in perpetuity, it will at least allow us to get it off the ground. Our hope is that if the content can be seen as adding value and inspiration to those looking for knowledge on the Buddha's path (specifically as shown in Myanmar), further contributions can be forthcoming and the project can deepen and develop. For now, we are delighted that this new media will soon be brought to yogis everywhere!
A Western couple sponsors a meal for the revered Pa Auk Sayadaw.
With the country opening up, discussions are now ranging from democracy to capitalism, from investment to trade, and from city planning to trash management. However, one area not explored to the same depths is the Buddhist act of inner contemplation. For the opening up has also meant a renewed interest and ability in foreigners being able to access the Burma Dhamma!
In past years, even those coming for purely Buddhist reasons were looked on with suspicion for being undercover agents, and some Western monks were forcibly disrobed and forced on the next plane out. Even Sayagyi U Ba Khin lamented that the military government would not give visas longer than 7 days, if that, preventing him from teaching meditation in English to those with clear eyes and full hearts and who couldn't lose with such instruction... and yet lose that precious opportunity they did, as the doors were closed to them. But this couple, like so many others, now has that very opportunity to come not just for days, not just for weeks, but for literally months and years, with meditation visas easier to attain and more and more practice centers and monasteries only too happy to sponsor. So... what's holding you back?
Wunna Nyunt kindly shares the following story:
"My two grand fathers. My dad's father U Chit Shein (left) Commissioner of Taxation - Burma and my mum's father U Chit Tin (right) CEO of UBSC (Union of Burma Buddha Sasana Council) who was also a meditation teacher.
Never met U Chit Shein who passed away before my parents were married. But I've been told both men were upright men who valued honesty, integrity and hard work.
They both worked under Sayagyi U Ba Khin and were both meditation students of Sayagyi.
Such big shoes to fill - both in terms of work achievements or the religious achievements.
Grandpa Chit Shein
The memorable story that dad told me about grandpa was - even as the Commissioner of Taxation, grandpa had to borrow money from some of his relatives when times were tough. They called him "akhun mingyi" - double meaning of his title - loosely translated as "hollow or empty commisioner" and grandpa just simled at their teasing.
That sorry reminded me of a story I've read in Burmese history where a high ranking government official passed away and didn't have any family to inherit his estate. So his assets were catalogued and repossessed by the King. After looking at the asset list, the King asked his wiseman how it was possible that a man of such station owns very little. The wiseman answered - those who work for the crown that do not take bribes and work with integrity live modest lives even if they held the high position through multiple generations.
In those days, Commissioner of Taxation reports to Accountant General's office where Sayagyi U Ba Khin was the first Accountant General of Burma after its independence in 1948.
As Sayagyi was holding meditation courses for members of his office staff, Grandpa Chit Shein sat a meditation course taught by Sayagyi at IMC Yangon.
I am sure there are stories about his interaction with Sayagyi U Ba Khin, but I don't know very many people alive these days who could recount them.
Grandpa Chit Tin
When we were growing up, my best memory of Grandpa Chit Tin was how he tries to be the peacemaker between the rebellious grandchild and a grandmother who expects all her grandchildren to behave properly at all times. Eventhough a strict person himself, many a times where Grandpa would give me a light reprimand and shooed me away before Grandma truns her attention to me. Of course something like that sticks in a kid's memory. 😉
Grandpa worked as an accountant at the Accountant General's office and that was how he met Sayagyi.
He worked under Sayagyi as the Chief Accountant at the Sixth Council known as Chatta Sangayana (Sixth Recitation) which was held from 1954 to 1956 in Rangoon. Union of Burma Buddha Sasana Council (U.B.S.C.) was the main planning body for the Great Council.
He was one of the three office staff who underwent the first meditation course taught by Sayagyi at his office in 1951 - before the founding of IMC Yangon.
He was also a founding member of the Vipassana Research Association formed in 1951and a member of the Executive Committee of the Vipassana Association of the Accountant General's Office, which established and operated the International Meditation Centre (Yangon).
Once IMC Yangon had established, he and Grandma lived mostly at IMC assisting Sayagyi in various capacities. After Sayagyi passed away, they continued Sayagyi's work of spreading Buddha Dhamma at IMC Yangon. They left Burma in 1978, at the request of Western students, to teach Buddhist meditation to westerners."
Melissa Tun is an Australian-trained lawyer who came back to her homeland of Burma, and currently co-organizes the TedX annual talks. She wrote the following reflection on the holy Buddhist holiday of Kason.
"It was the evening of the eve of the Kason full moon, the second month of the Buddhist lunar calendar, and a day highly important to the Buddhist for it marks the birth, enlightenment, and nirvana (death) of Buddha. I paid a visit to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda to enjoy the wonderful serenity that envelopes it at night. Under various pavilions around the pagoda, there were groups of pilgrims chanting prayers, sharing their merits with other fellow worshippers. Their chants so ethereal and meditative it almost brought tears to my eyes. This land can be so beautiful surrounded by so much metta and loving kindness and yet be subjected to so much poverty and violence, desperate and abject poverty that no one deserves. It never fails to shake me to the core.
As I left the pagoda that night, I saw small children sleeping on cardboard at the foot of the stairs to the pagoda on the Eastern Moat; where a market sets up every night. They were young and bony, wearing tattered clothes and clearly exhausted from a hard day. By their side were sleeping a pack of small puppies, whose fortunes looked similarly unhappy. And a deep sense of sorrow washed over me. Sorrow for all the suffering, unnecessary suffering by those who were born into this world with a bleak life ahead. Sorrow for all the decades of wrongs that cannot be undone. Sorrow for all the quagmire and failed policies, the failures of institutions which were meant to serve the people.
When will deliverance come for those children? When will their brighter future appear? How can I be a part of making that future become a reality? Is there room in this country for those who want big bold change like me? A future that this country and all of its people deserve. A future that is much brighter, safer, secure, and full of opportunities.
As I left the pagoda that night, all I could do was pray. For a future when the children do not sell flowers on the streets. A future when the teashops will not be served by children who have had no schooling. For a future when the children do not beg at the foot of the Shwe Dagon. Am I asking for too much? A future without children flower sellers, child labourers and child beggars? Am I asking for too much for that future to come faster and to be this impatient for change?"
On November 2-4, artist Khit Bhone Mo displayed a series of paintings entitled "Saffron" at the WE Creation Gallery of the Yangon Book Plaza in Lanmadaw Township.
On the one hand, the art pieces present a highly thought-provoking, if not startling, view of the future dead in monastic robes. Although impossible to know the artist's intention, the work certainly can fall within the scope of the asubha practice recommended by the Buddha, in which the practitioner contemplates the inevitability of death. Some monasteries and meditation centers even have a resident human skeleton on premises, serving as a living (or rather, non-living) reminder of what we all shall become. However, Myanmar is not a free country, and freedom of artistic representation has been a controversial topic of late. Recent depictions of the Buddha have so angered Bamar Buddhists that the artist's own safety was at risk. In the end, it is a reminder that there is no legislative body that is able to monitor and approve artistic expression, and the choice comes down to the freedom that people in a society wish to live with.
If Khin Bhone Mo's artwork is allowed to provoke and nudge in the way that it is intended, the stark contrast of the walking dead in monastic robes-- coming after Halloween no less-- can be a reminder of "samvega" for some, perhaps a disturbing contemplation lodged in the subconscious for others. It is also an interesting case study testing the freedom that this generation of artists may have in expressing their views-- often deeply influenced by Buddhist wisdom-- to the wider audience.
