A Beautiful Trip into the War-torn Countryside
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all who have supported our efforts to provide relief to those affected by the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. Your generous donations have enabled us to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable communities. Recently, our team leader visited three locations to arrange much-needed donations, including support for displaced children, nuns in a remote nunnery, and meditators affected by the conflict. Below is his detailed account of these visits, where he reflects on the challenges faced by those seeking refuge, and the fulfillment he felt in providing essential supplies like water, clothing, and educational materials. Your contributions have made these acts of compassion possible, and we are deeply grateful for your continued support in these difficult times.
“I told my brother that there are lots of ‘leaf-hide-fruits’ (‘little known person of talent’) in the Sasana of our country. It’s true!”
I am writing this email with the delight of having completed our donation for the nuns living in difficult circumstances in the rural countryside.
Today, we went to three sites to arrange the donations: the first monastery now houses the children who fled the war zones, and the Sayadaw is trying to help them find classes they can attend to keep up their education. We heard the news about these vulnerable children of the internally displaced families from our friend who is a teacher and helping the war-affected children. We heard that the children in this monastery are in need of some clothing such as Pa-soes (longyis for boys) and school uniforms (white shirt and green longyi). They also need notebooks and school textbooks. The teacher said that there are also many other war-affected children from Northern Shan State, in the other monasteries nearby, as well. We know one of them and its abbot: hence, we are planning to go and help the abbot and the vulnerable children in his monastery soon.
Second, we went to Shwe Ledi Monastery to meet Ven. Jotika, a Ledi Vipassana meditation teacher. He told us that the lay-meditators who are now staying there come from the war zones from the northern part of Sagaing Region. They have come and taken refuge in his monastery and he taught these people to take meditation retreats while they stay here. We also visited a nearby nunnery whose head nuns studied monastic education under the current Mohnyin Sayadaw. We sadly heard that this small group of nuns fled from a nearby village of Mohnyin Monastery since there were the raids by the junta’s forces. They are living in a slope of the hill behind the Shwe Ledi Monastery. The monastery’s abbot gave them a small place to live so that they could continue their study of Buddhists text and scriptures. We also heard their hardship as well in some detail, it pains me to say. On the way back, we went to the targeted nunnery (that we aimed to help) in a remote area where the nuns have newly relocated and they desperately need of drinking and utility water.
I would like to report about this nunnery. I feel true heartfelt bliss to have donated and helped them for their drinking water and utility water. There are 9 nuns residing in this small area of land and they are living in a very small shoddy bamboo hut. Since it is located on a slope of a hill and far from the main road, we stopped our car at the end of the gravel road as the way to the nunnery is too narrow to drive and its shoulders were fully covered with tall grasses and bushes. As it was also raining, it was slippery and hence we walked there from where we stopped our car. After a few minutes on foot, we arrived in the nunnery and started to notice the poor living conditions of the nuns who 8 out of 9 are young. We saw that they make a tank with waterproof canvas to store water and drink from. We saw only very little water in it! We heard that a local man helped them build the bamboo hut and he also helped them to make this water tank. It costs 25,000 kyats (approximately about $5 now) for a trip of a small water boxer to transport water from the nearest village. For drinking water, the grocery store that sells purified drinking water in the village, so they can come and pour it in the 2 bottles that the nuns have. [Yes, we witnessed only 2 bottles!] Since they could not buy many (empty) 20 litter plastic water bottles, they can order a few bottles and the shopkeeper woman came and pour water from her bottles to the ones in the nunnery.
We witnessed the hazard of mosquitoes for these helpless nuns as it is in a rural forestry area. We were even bit by mosquitoes while we were speaking in the porch of the hut and hence, the nuns invited us to go in and we listened to their Dhamma chanting inside, closing all windows and the door. I was so deeply heartfelt to see their vulnerability. They are truly helpless! We saw some desks where they study. There’s only one dim lamp as far as I looked around. How they would keep surviving! My team and I were truly happy to give this service for this noble donation to help this kind of the nunnery. I was even thinking about helping them with my own money later if I could get a chance again. The head nun is a quiet person and she did not talk very much but she and her young nuns were motivated by our help. We could see the smiles of young nuns. When we went out of the hut, the Head Nun rarely said to us with a smile, “You did a big help for us.”
We heard about this nunnery from a friend who was a yogi (meditator) at their original nunnery. She urged us to go and see the conditions of their newly relocated nunnery. She also talked to us about the head nun who studied at a very famous Buddhist school in Yangon, but unfortunately, she could not reach higher monastic education because of her health problems. But now, she is very enthusiastic to teach the younger nuns, treating them like they are her younger sisters. Since she wishes to fulfill the Paññā Pāramī (the perfection for wisdom), she did not give up teaching them the basics by herself so that they may be easily able to advance into their further studies. This beautiful elder nun did not send them back to their homes or to transfer them to any other nunneries until they learnt the basics well, that she herself was taking the times to teach. She does not wish her young nuns to experience those hardships as she faced when she was young. Anyway, during these difficult days, most of the monasteries and nunneries in the cities and towns do not accept young nuns who do not come with sufficient basic knowledge. So, this Sayagyi does not hesitate to teach them the foundation studies by herself, even while they are facing so many of these terrible hardships during this time of conflict in our country.
In the peaceful times, when she was residing in the former area, she could send some adult nuns to go and keep their further studies in some big nunneries in Mandalay and Yangon. We also learned that she sent these young nuns to the nearest school in the village for their basic education so they have laity education so that they would have a future in life if they chose to disrobe. Even when we were there, we saw a pair of nuns who were in fact coming back from school and tuition class (a private extra-class that was taught by a school teacher; in this case the teacher was volunteering and not charging anything). We also witnessed and could guess how well the head nun taught the young nuns the Buddhist basic literature: we did not expect in such things in a remote area, and how amazed I was to hear that they could fluently chant the Suttas and even in good pronunciation in Pali! [We know and we can guess how the young nuns in a nunnery was well taught: by listening if they could recite the Buddhist Parittas (Protection Suttas) in a good tune, fluency and pronunciation.]
Anyway, we were really pleased to have helped them and we donated adequate funds for their drinking water and utility water. As we felt ar-nar-de (we were awkward or we did not want to make them in discomfort), we did not closely take photos of their hut and the environment of the nunnery, where they make a water tank with waterproof canvas. I did take other photos and they were happy to allow us and wanting the foreign supporters overseas to see how they were being helped with such joy! I asked them if they have enough mosquito nets, they said that they sleep in only two big mosquito nets. The head nun expressed that the nuns need blankets as well. At the end of their chanting, I thanked them and encouraged them not to feel despaired or downhearted, saying the example of our venerable Maha Bodhi Tahtaung Sayadaw who lived poorly in a small thatched hut covered only in its two sides during his youth working hard on his meditative practices but who finally became a well-known monk founding the big monastery. On the way back, I told my brother that there are lots of ‘leaf-hide-fruits’ (that means ‘little known person of talent or performance’) in the Sasana (monastic orders) of our country. It’s true!
As I cannot wait informing and sharing this merit with you all how blissed we felt today until the next morning, I have just written down this report. May you all attain this merit of our service for your donation.
