Update from Ingyinbin
The following report was made by our local volunteer team, and concerns how Webu Monastery in Ingyinbin has been faring. Webu Sayadaw was one of the most revered Burmese Buddhist monks of the 20th century, and presumed by many to be fully enlightened. If not for Webu Sayadaw’s encouragement, Sayagyi U Ba Khin would likely never have opened his International Meditation Center, and the worldwide teaching mission of S.N. Goenka would never have gotten off the ground. For those meditators who have benefited from a spiritual practice through Vipassana meditation, consider earmarking a donation to support Ashin Mandala in Ingyinbin, or if you are in Myanmar, via Wave at 09942359202.
Webu Sayadaw is well-known to both Burmese Buddhists and foreign Dhamma practitioners alike. He was one of the greatest icons of Vipassana meditation in the 20th century, and there are many stories about him and his successful meditative path. However, while many know of the time he spent in Kyaukse in the south of Mandalay, where his practice came to its highest fruition, most people don’t know that his meditation practice actually started in his native village, Ingyinbin, in the north of Shwebo, the former capital city of the Myanmar Kingdom of the 18th Century. In the biography written by Maung Kyaw Nyunt (Myanma Alin Editor), namely, “ကျေးဇူးရှင် ဝေဘူဆရာတော်ဘုရားကြီး ထေရုပတ္တိနှင့် ကျင့်စဉ် (The Most Venerable Webu Sayadaw’s Biography and Practice Path)”, the young Webu-Sayadaw-to-be was ordained in 1924 at the Ordination Hall in the Ingyinbin village monastery, where he also started to lived a life of solitude and renunciation.
Moreover, Webu Sayadaw frequently returned to Ingyingbin village to periodically reside there, and there is a meditation center which he founded in that same village monastery. In the aforementioned book, the author notes that “[it] is divided into two complexes as done in Nyaung Lont Taw Ya monastery: Pariyatti (school of studies) in the eastern part and Patipatti (mediation center) in the western part.” A number of foreign Dhamma practitioners have visited there, following some traces of this great, venerable master on pilgrimage trips, such as those led by Insight Myanmar..
Recently, our local volunteer called Ashin Mandala, who has resided in this sacred site for years and is well-known by those foreign yogis who have visited there. The news was not good. Ashin Mandala explained that the region had become a combat zone, with local militia defending against the inhumanely brutal Myanmar military, and many villages in the countryside being targeted by the military, including some nearby being intentionally burnt to the ground in what the military terms “clearance operations,” to denude the countryside so defense forces have no shelter. He confirmed that villages in the north-west and north of his area of the village of Ingyinbin were really suffering and hit hard. He said, “Just our village is left.”
Ashin Mandala also spoke about covid 19, which hit the monastery hard. The monastery’s Chief Abbott, the Sayadaw, came down with a very bad case of it. Although many people were too scared of catching it themselves to take care of him, Ashin Mandala made up his mind to do so, no matter the consequences. While some treatment was available at the nearby Ye-U Public Hospital, the supply of medicine and oxygen was inadequate, as has been experienced elsewhere in the country, and so sadly, he could not save his teacher’s life, and the Chief abbot passed away at the age of 87. Finally, after he received some help from a Vietnamese yogi and an English yogi, he was able to save the other monks residing and studying Buddhist literatures and Vipassana meditation techniques at the “Victory Land” of the most Venerable Webu Sayadaw from a similar fate.
And as if that were not enough, Ashin Mandala and the more than 100 monks (down from 200 after the covid outbreak of 2020) at that historic meditation monastery have also been experiencing a shortage of alms-food because of the pandemic and the coup. At first, he was able to obtain alms-food from local alms-rice donors, but that could not be sustained, as the nearby villages have been devastated as mentioned above by the military’s “clearance operations.” A strict adherent of monastic disciple (Vinaya), Ashin Mandala has never asked anyone for help, even though he knows many foreign yogis. Even last month when our volunteer called him, he did not ask for donations. However, this time, he felt obliged to transgress this small rule for the benefit of all the monks residing there. He opened up about the troubles that the monastery has been facing. We were able to arrange for a small contribution of alms-food for this sacred site through our volunteer, who was so happy to be able to help this sacred site of Webu Sayadaw
Ashin Mandala expressed his sorrow for the Burmese people’s suffering in these difficult times, and he is sending Metta to all people. He mentioned that the political crisis should be solved following the teachings of the Buddha, quoting from a book written by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing, a famous Dhamma lay-practitioner and influential author of many well-known books on Dhamma and biographies of the greatest arhats and monks in Myanmar's history. However, Ashin Mandala admitted that he does not know anyone who could reach and reason with the evil military leaders. He expressed regret that even amid his own difficulties, international yogis cannot come to Myanmar and study Vipassana with him during these days of the pandemic and coup.
At that point, Ashin Mandala stopped the phone conversation with our volunteer, as it was almost the time for all young novices and monks to pay homage to Buddha, chant parittas and meditate. He wrote later, "It is an alarm for all international meditators who have benefitted the fruits of Dhamma (Insights) from Webu Sayadaw's meditation tradition." He concluded, “There is no more urgent time than right now to help tend and water the roots of the Dhamma tree, the Sanghas."