Rice and Shine: Nourishing Souls in Mandalay
We are honored to introduce this account of our recent visit to a Mandalay monastery, made possible by the generous contributions of our foreign donors who earmarked their donation for this cause. Their unwavering support has enabled us to provide essential resources to those monks, nuns, and novices now in need. In these trying times, the kindness and solidarity of our international friends have been a beacon of hope.
Despite the challenging times in Myanmar, I felt a strong desire to give to monasteries, recognizing their vital role in preserving our cultural and spiritual heritage. The current hardships have only heightened the importance of supporting these institutions, which provide education, spiritual guidance, and community support. Giving to monasteries is a way to ensure their continuity and help them navigate through these difficult periods. This commitment led me to visit an ancient monastery in Mandalay, where we made a meaningful donation.
We visited an ancient monastery which has existed since the time of the King Midon who founded Mandalay as his capital city. He constructed a majestic teak house for his childhood master, the very first Shwe Kyin Sayadaw who was the founder of the Shwe Kyin Monastic Sect in Myanmar. The grand teak monastic building is still existing until now though most of the other ancient buildings in the city and the King Mindon’s Palace compound were burned down to ash by allied bombing during the World War II.
We donated two rice sacks to this monastery. One of the assistant monks received the donations in an old building which was donated by Namsang Chao Pha, the former ethnic ruler of Namsang township and the surrounding areas about 150 years ago.
The supervisor monk of the refectory made a rejoice speech for all the donors of the donation. He said that this type of alms-rice donation is not a one-time donation but it is truly everyday-donation for the breakfasts of the monks residing in this monastery. The late abbot, his childhood teacher, who passed away in his 100s ten years ago, told him that this type of raw rice donation usually helped the monasteries and monks during the war time.
With a sense of humor, the abbot told him about his young novicehood memories how they had to cook the raw rice that was donated by the lay people and that he did not know how to cook rice in his first-time experiences when they hid in the safe places during the World War II and civil war after the nation’s independence. In those hard times when they had no lay-attendant to help them, they had to cook by themselves and make the confession for the monastic code that they are not allowed to cook or prepare for their own food. The late abbot told him in humor that they had to repeat it everyday during those hard times of the warfare.
However, he explained to him that the raw rice donation is really fruitful to the donors because it can solve the hunger of the monks. The refectory’s supervisor monk also gave us his own examples that it was hard for the monks to go alms-round during the pandemic and it is hard again for them because of the financial crisis in the country.
He said, “Even a bunch of water spinach is doubled, so we do not go alms-round every day. You know, the rice price is over 100,000 kyats nowadays, so some houses do not offer alms-rice. Instead, they offer 100 kyats or some small banknotes, like that! So, we feel Ar-nar-de (meaning, we don’t want to make any burden for them) and we do not go alms-round to a quarter more than two times a week. We are really happy to receive the raw rice donation that would really help us for our continual performance of monastic duties. In the other hand, I truly wish for the peace restoration of the country soon.”
Our visit to the monastery and the heartfelt donations we made have not only strengthened the local monastic community but also underscored the deep connection we share with foreign meditators who have generously contributed. Their support exemplifies a global sense of solidarity and compassion, bridging distances and cultural differences. It’s inspiring to see how these contributions help sustain the spiritual and educational efforts of the monasteries, ensuring their resilience during these tumultuous times. We are immensely grateful for the unwavering support of our international friends, whose generosity continues to make a profound impact on the lives of the monks and the broader community.