In Myanmar, "great joy from giving."
The following reflection was written by a meditator in the vipassana tradition of S.N. Goenka, and is in our gratitude series.
So many positive experiences in Myanmar since first going there in January, 2000…
From strangers paying for my bus fares… to having meals paid for when traveling by complete strangers that I had never spoken to before…to having a man run after me after I had bought something small at a stall near the Shwedagon and saying his mother wanted to give me a gift of sandalwood mala beads. I was often in a yogi uniform (brown skirt and white top) and the Burmese love to see foreigners come there for Dhamma.
Once I was traveling to Aunglan by bus and the bus driver kindly sat me next to a young woman who he found out spoke English and who could help me. She invited me to stay in her village, something that I probably would not have done with a stranger elsewhere, but this invitation just felt full of trust and safety. Her brother picked us up on his buffalo cart and we went on a dusty track to her village. There her family, who couldn’t communicate with me, treated me to food and gave me the best spot in their home to sleep, complete with mosquito net. Here was a village off the beaten track, where many had never even seen a foreigner before and being unable to communicate with language, and yet they offered me the very best of their hospitality. Then after the woman took me to the monastery I was headed to the next day, she came to bring me food there, despite it being more than an hour from her home…and remarkably, she and her family clearly got so much pleasure from doing so.
On other occasions, I visited friends in Yangon who had small businesses and who, along with any employees that they had, always fed monks who came by. It seemed natural to prioritize this over their business, and the monks were always treated with the highest courtesy and reverence. I had a close nun friend who had been living in Singapore for a number of years, and when she returned to Myanmar, her lay supporters put her up for months at a time. Anywhere she stayed, she seemingly had many people wanting to feed her everyday. In this country, so many nuns and monks are supported like this, the generosity is so touching. It is delightful to witness the pleasure the people get from it.
And in the monasteries, themselves, I have witnessed incredible generosity, especially in Theinngu where I spent longer periods of time over the past seven or so years. Once, on a 10-day retreat there, one of my roommates, on hearing that I was staying for the Vassa, gave me a wad of money, followed by two of her friends. All told, she and her friends gave me $100 and she topped it off by gifting me a brand new white blouses that she hadn’t yet worn!
On my first Vassa retreat, I had a Japanese roommate; we were the only 2 foreigners there. And every day, people came to us with food offerings—you could keep food in your room there, and the rooms had a fridge, but in the end we had to ask everyone to please stop, as we couldn’t eat it all. Even Sayadaw participated in this thoughtful kindness, arranging for us to have vegetarian hamburgers since they were concerned that we might not like Burmese food.
As other foreigners visiting Myanmar have said, being singled out for treats, that the Burmese get great joy from giving.
On one occasion, I visited the Shwedagon Pagoda on the way back to the monastery I was staying at, and had a nasty fall. Over the next few weeks it seemed to get worse; my nun roommate told the monks, one of whom immediately said that I had broken my ribs. They insisted on getting a supporter to drive me to the hospital and even paying for all the treatment. They said, ‘However much it costs, we will pay for you.’
Before the pandemic and coup, Thae Ingu put on back-to-back 10-day retreats throughout the year, except for the Vassa, when they run a longer retreat. The retreats are not advertised, but always very over-subscribed, hosting up to 500 people a time in various sites and centers around Myanmar. The teaching is intense, and the chief Sayadaw and his second give teachings throughout the day, as well as answering questions and checking the students’ experiences. With this schedule and the other duties they take on, they get very little rest or self-time. There is a team of about sixteen nuns and a few monks who help run the retreats, along with lay supporters. Their aim is simply to bring freedom from suffering to other human beings, and in this pursuit they work extremely hard and selflessly. They live very simply, and ask for nothing in return. Of course, they are funded by the very generous donations of the Burmese people, but still, they ask for nothing.
This happens in all Dhamma communities, and in Myanmar there are so many meditation centers, monasteries and nunneries. During national holidays, the monasteries are full, and meditation centers far out-number supermarkets or any type of entertainment facility there. Simply put, a large percentage of the Burmese people live very ethical and wholesome lives, and whose main aim is for people—both themselves and others--to become permanently free from the suffering that endlessly plagues the world in one form or other.
In “normal” times, Myanmar could offer so much wisdom to the world. Even now, amid the horrendous horrors of military rule, many Burmese teachers are still tirelessly putting out online teachings and meditation sessions to help the Burmese people, as well as others around the world. The very highest manifestation of human nature is on abundant display in Myanmar…as well as, sadly, the baser ones. Hopefully, in time, more of the world will get to experience and benefit from the highest. I hope that many around the world will be able to see this side of Myanmar, and benefit from it in unimaginable ways.
Myanmar touches my heart.
With Metta
Sheila Kirwan