"But This Time the Army will Lose the Fighting."
Sayadaw U Jatila is not just a meditation master who carefully follows the monastic Vinaya while overseeing his monastery’s operations. He is also a well-read student of history. And so when the coup was launched last year, he saw the writing on the wall that darkness would eventually come to find his once-peaceful town. As many monks have remained quiet or even bought into the military’s propaganda of nationalist Buddhism, U Jatila remains an ethical force arguing for human rights and democracy, as showcased in his recent podcast interview with us. As he is now picking up the pieces from all that the the military has burned and destroyed, we also ask that listeners consider a donation which can go towards supporting his efforts.
“I already predicted this fighting will be very serious; the blood will be flowing like the river.”
“I read about World War II, the Chinese communist revolutions, the Russian revolution, other countries; I read about the United States’ freedom from the British, the slave movement during the time of Abraham Lincoln. And so, for me, I always read the news. This is happening; this is nature.
I knew, because the Myanmar army wanted to get their power, so it made sense what they would do. They have their army; they want to get the power from our civilian government. The people do not want to give their power, because they feel suffering. They say they have the right thing to do. The two sides happened.
Usually, I don’t use the telephone; I don’t use the Internet or Facebook; I don’t use any social media. (When they) came to report to me that army took the power, I already predicted this fighting will be very serious; the blood will be flowing like the river.
Myanmar economy will be very, very difficult. So very difficult that even the food will became short; we have shortage. So everything will be very difficult, but this time the army will lose the fighting. So there will be very serious fighting between Myanmar army and Myanmar citizens; there will be killing of the people. The economy will be completely disaster. So, by this fighting finally the army will lose.”