Episode #217: Bo Thanmani
Anyone who has been following the resistance to the military coup in Myanmar is probably well-acquainted with the story of Bo Thanmani. It is often shared as a cautionary tale about how things can spin out of control, even when one is trying to do something good.
Bo Thanmani is a pro-democratic monk with a history of nonviolent activism who disrobed to become a PDF leader after the coup, and who was later alleged to have committed war crimes by ordering summary executions. People have used the event—whatever the actual facts behind it--to symbolize their own political agenda: outside observers have used it to paint a picture of a lawless and undisciplined resistance; the military has used it to try and discredit the opposition; other resistance groups have used it to emphasize the need for all parties to respect the basic rule of law.
To try and understand what really happened, there is perhaps no better person to ask than Bo Thanmani, himself, who appears as a guest on this episode. Before getting into this controversial event, he shares his background as a monk, and how he came to advocate for a federal democracy.
Born as Tun Oo in a poor family, he became a novice at the age of 13 as he had no other means of getting an education. He was given the monastic name, Ashin Sopaka, and later, Thapyay Aye Sayadaw, after the Yinmabin village where he became abbot. Bo Thanmani is his nom du guerre, which he adopted after he quit the monkhood.
As a monk, he learned both the Mogok and Mahasi practices of meditation, but came to prefer the latter for its focus on observing the breath. He found this a helpful tool for knowing his mind and exploring the mind-body connection, observing discordant thoughts, and ultimately, finding a sense of inner peace amid constant change. He also incorporated mettā, or loving kindness, meditation into his practice, which he appreciated not only as a way to enhance his own well-being, but also to radiate thoughts of good-will to the entire world.
As Ashin Kovida similarly shared in an earlier podcast discussion about how learning English led him to see the world in new ways, Bo Thanmani’s learning of English exposed him to different social and political perspectives, too; and before long, he began questioning military rule. He traveled to Europe to study methods of nonviolent resistance to oppressive governments. While in Germany in 2011, he decided to undertake a bold journey: traveling over 1,000 kilometers on foot from Cologne to Berlin to bring attention to the ongoing conflict in his homeland. He called it his “Peace Walk.” As pedestrians aren’t allowed on highways in Germany, he often had to make his way through dense forests. Carrying this same idea over to the US, he embarked on another Peace Walk, this time from the United Nations complex in New York City to the Burmese Embassy in Washington, DC. There he organized a protest against the military regime’s human rights violations. He wanted to replicate the Peace Walk a third time, in Thailand, intending to walk from Bangkok to Mae Sot. However, the Burmese military put pressure on their Thai counterparts to shut it down, and the Thai police often intimidated him as well as any others who tried to join him. “I wanted to make awareness of the Burma situation,” he says, describing the rationale for these walks. “My country was so long a military regime, since when I was born, [so] I wanted to make awareness of our civil democracy movement. It seems that the world's not really paying enough attention yet. We feel that our country is ignored and [the international community] does nothing!”
Additionally, in 2008, the Italian association Società Libera presented him with their “Peaace Prize,” and several years later, he secretly went to Burma through Thailand, and along with four other young monks, they organized a protest in the main temple of Mandalay, which was the first demonstration after the Saffron Revolution.
On the day of coup, Bo Thanmani was residing at his very remote monastery, so it took some time for the news to reach him. He soon made plans to join a peaceful protest in Monywa, the nearest urban center, and stayed there over a month. He took on a leading role in organizing and giving speeches against the military takeover. Around this time, a good friend of his, a teacher, was shot, which shook Bo Thanmani to his core. “I was very upset. We tried many things to protest peacefully. [After the shooting], we realized that nonviolent protests and the nonviolent way, it is impossible to change the country! We wanted to finish this military regime, so the young people, they started to get some weapons and started to fight. That's the beginning of the fight against the regime. [The military] did not respond while we were protesting peacefully! If they would respond by peaceful means, by discussing together with the protesters, so many people would not die and it would not happen like this chaotic situation.” Bo Thanmani was furious that some members of the international community—and particularly the United Nations, which had long supported his peaceful advocacy— all but turned their backs when innocent Burmese were being slaughtered in broad daylight.
Through all the work in his past activism, Bo Thanmani had always hoped that the soft power of nonviolent resistance would be enough to eventually uproot the regime; indeed, his actions, such as his Peace Walks, were a testament to his strong belief in non-violence. But the mass killings in the weeks after the coup led him to conclude, tragically, that nonviolent resistance alone would not work. He now believes that some combination of peaceful and violent resistance are needed, comparing it to the way a computer needs software and hardware to operate. “Armed struggle is like the hardware,” he notes. “And people's power, like protesting or demonstrating, is [the] software. So if we can use wisely these two powers, soft power and hard power, then I believe that sooner or later, our revolution will be over.”
Bo Thanmani’s evolving beliefs led him to a place where he had to decide whether or not to stay in robes. He knew he couldn’t take on the role of regional coordinator while still a monastic because of the responsibility involved in overseeing active resistance groups. “We have a responsibility to protect the people, and if the international organizations such as United Nations doesn't protect our people, then we people must protect ourselves! That's the decision to participate directly in hard power. So because of this decision, I thought it is not a good to be a monk, because for a monk, the arms or weapons is not a fit. So that's why I have decided to disrobe.”
This did not mean that Bo Thanmani lost his faith in the power and importance of nonviolent struggle, and he is careful to point out that he never became involved in direct conflict. Still, the decision is one he still clearly continues to wrestle with. As someone who always took care never to harm a living being— which is no easy task with insects crawling all over tropical Myanmar—this was a radical step indeed, siding with armed resistance groups engaged in operations against the military. “I don't like brutality. I don't like killing. I like the Buddha's teachings of kindness, compassion, mettā. That is my belief. I was a monk, and I studied a lot of the Buddha's teachings, and his teachings are in my mind and my whole body. The armed struggle is against the Buddha's teachings, and I believe in nonviolence… step by step, I want to step back from the armed struggle. Some people who believe in this struggle, they will go on their own way, and I want to go on my own way, which is nonviolence. I believe in nonviolence.
In his new role, the CRPH (the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) appointed him to oversee the administration of his township, which comprises 168 villages. As they formally reject the legitimacy of the military regime, this was essentially a parallel governance structure created to provide services and safety that the junta had long abandoned. Bo Thanmani describes walking into a situation in which there was much discord, and many young people who were impatient in their desire to bring the fight to their enemies; it was his job to establish harmony and collaboration amid the goal of taking down the military regime. “I'm using some method of the Buddhist teachings,” he says, describing how he navigated sensitive dynamics. “I use the power of mettā, which is a very powerful method to solve the differences. I said not to forget the mettā, and from the base of mettā we must work together.” Bo Thanmani also read biographies of Lee Kuan Yew, Ho Chi Minh and Nelson Mandela, drawing unique lessons from each that he found relevant to his situation.
Initially, resistance groups asked his permission before carrying out an operation, but after appointing an assistant, all requests now go through him. Bo Thanmani also clarifies that his role has largely been to provide emotional support for the defense forces, as well as finding them food, medicine shelter, but not to be involved in any decisions related to their actual operations.
All this leads to the controversial incident that Bo Thanmani found himself embroiled in. It stems from a March 2022 allegation that the Yinmabin PDF (YMB-PDF) had engaged in abducting, robbing, torturing, and even killing people without just cause, including fellow resistance fighters. Although Bo Thanmani admitted in an Irrawaddy article that unlawful killings had been committed by groups ostensibly under his control, in a later interview with Myanmar Now, he denied having any personal responsibility in the deaths. And in a subsequent interview with DVB, he defended his leadership even more strenuously, casting doubt on his accuser, the Union Defense & Liberation Alliance (UDLA).
In this interview with Insight Myanmar, Bo Thanmani adds new details as he once again recounts these events. He clarifies that these murders were in fact carried out not by the YMB-PDF at all, but by a different defense group, known as Saya San. He adds that the NUG confirmed this through their own independent investigation, and although there is no formal mechanism by which they can punish Saya San, the NUG no longer recognizes it as an aligned PDF group. Bo Thanmani further alleges that the false claims against him were initiated by Bo Nagar, the leader of another PDF group, the Myanmar Royal Dragon Army, in Pale Township. “I never killed,” he affirms. “It is not my way to kill someone. I am a strong believer of nonviolence. Still, I believe in that! And I also believe in the Buddha's mettā power, loving kindness power.” Although what actually happened regarding those deaths remains unknown, Bo Thanmani asserts that allegations of his complicity were spread widely in the media, adding that he has not had an opportunity to speak in depth about the situation until now. At the same time, while emphatically denying that he gave the orders to kill, he admits some responsibility because Saya San was a group operating under his aegis. “I tell you that I believe in the Buddha's teaching,” he says. “And the Buddha's teaching is always impermanent. So accusations are also impermanent. I don't know whether the international media or international readers will really believe or not if I am the murderer of these 10 people, but I tell you, I can swear, I never ordered, and I never sent someone to kill.”
Moving on from this incident, Bo Thanmani describes that there are now fewer military incursions into his area, which allows him to focus on his real passion project, which is providing educational opportunities. “For those children, I want to give them hope, the hope is the future. And the hope is this ‘Revolution University.’ The idea is that we also want to fight against the [government] university systems, where the students have no freedom and cannot discuss freely. If the students can have a new idea they can create, and that is our dream.”
In closing, Bo Thanmani returns to the subject which most animates him, Buddhism, and describes the current state of the faith following the coup. “I see many meditation centers [in Myanmar], and they are very strong and very effective, but Buddhism in Myanmar is weaker and weaker. It is just traditional belief. To preserve Buddhist teachings, it is very important to practice. Without practice, it would not survive. Building the Buddha images, it is not really following the Buddhist teachings, it is not really practicing Buddhist teachings. Numerology and superstition, it is totally against the Buddha's teachings!” He explains how the military has destroyed a great many monasteries and pagodas while killing monastics in the process, and is deliberately sowing hatred and enmity throughout the country, which is diametrically opposed to the core of what the Buddha taught. “If they were intelligent, they wouldn’t do such a military coup! It is a shameful thing that they are doing,” he adds.
Still, he is hopeful, noting that this crisis has had the silver lining of allowing the people to see which monks have stood by them while upholding their professed Buddhist values, and which have become military supporters, choosing comfort and privilege over ethics and practice. “Because of this military coup, people see clearly who is right and who is wrong, and who is a right monk who is a wrong monk. Because of this, in the future, the monks who are highly respected by the people will take their place, and they will organize more systematically in the country. Those monks who are not right, especially who are supporting the military, there will not be a place for them in the future.”
Looking to the future, Bo Thanmani anticipates that there may very well be fewer monks and devout lay Buddhists in Myanmar… but he’s ok with this. “There will be only pure Buddhists and the monks who really love the Dhamma, and who really want to practice meditation. Those monks will remain in the future. So I don't concern with that.”