Donations continue throughout the Sagaing Hills

The hard times persisting throughout Myanmar have a kind of trickle-down effect. Even as lay people struggle to remain safe and survive, the nature of Burmese Buddhist society is such that the nation’s monastics depend on the generosity of the lay communities, as they are restricted by their monastic discipline from seeking their own livelihood or even providing for themselves in any material way. This reciprocal relationship has certainly been tested throughout the years, from weathering bad kings to the British colonial period, and from World War II to successive dictators more keen on enriching themselves than providing for their people. Myanmar even managed to get through the COVID pandemic with this traditional relationship intact, and people finding a way to continue to support their monks and nuns even through the fear of infection.

However, nothing on record has proven to be anywhere near as disastrous as the current coup. In the past, when a local region was unable to provide for its community of monastics, large donation drives were organized in other parts of the country, and sometimes even happened through a national effort, all at once! But because the military has taken such brutal measures to punish anyone organizing, volunteering, or even donating for any purpose at all, and because the Myanmar economy has collapsed almost entirely, there are few options left in finding a way to keep the Sangha well-provided for.

Still, the donation that Better Burma has received from the community of foreign practitioners has been an extraordinary aid in those places where local support has not been possible— such as the Sagaing Hills, where a recent dana excursion visited various forest monasteries to make sure that they were adequately equipped with basic food stuffs, all purchased through your donation!

Yogis who earmark their funds towards monastics are able to see their donation reach nuns, monks, and novices in Myanmar who now need it most. For those practitioners who have benefited from a meditation course, pilgrimage, or other mindfulness training that has found its way to the West, this is a precious time to give back, when it is needed more than ever before.

We send a huge ‘thank you’ again, to those who meditators who have continued to express their generosity, selflessness, metta, and support at a time when so many monastics are struggling to get by. Thank you!