In Monywa, They Don’t Meat Their Saviors

Over a century ago, Ledi Sayadaw gave rousing sermons in the Monywa area around the theme that the lives of cattle should be protected from colonial Burma’s burgeoning meat industry. It may have taken over half a century, but since 1985, Monywa residents have taken his advice to heart. Following the Water Festival each year, Aleyat Chantha Gyi Pagoda accepts any oxen that have been labeled with the dreaded “killing license,” meaning they are headed to the slaughterhouses. Individual donors come forward to save these animals, and their donation pays for veterinarinary care (so long as the animals are able to walk, and free from infectious diseases). Through 2017, 207 oxen have been saved in this way, and are now sent to Ingyin Myain Ngwe Taung Monastery in Thabeikkyin township, where pagoda trustees hope to construct a new building to house the oxen. Foreign yogis interested in this cause may give dāna.