Kyun Pin Sayadaw: "They Use Muslims for their Political Advantages."
Much has been reported lately about nationalist monks, the 969 movement, Ma Ba Tha, and the anti-Islam agenda. While much of this is true, it ignores the the many other Burmese Buddhist monks who strongly believe in human rights and democracy. As evidenced by our recent interview, Kyun Pin Sayadaw U Jatila is certainly one of those! He unequivocally comes down on military propaganda pushing an anti-Muslim perspective, along with prominent monks, for their own political advantage, and clearly states that this is not the kind of country he wants to build. If you would like to support Sayadaw’s mission, please consider a donation earmarked to his group.
“There are many, many, many members of the monks, Sayadaws, supporting the democracy movement, freedom of the speech.”
“Some of the politicians, they tend to use powerful Muslims for their political advantages. Myanmar is also a Buddhist country, so some of the monks are very powerful. They use the Buddhist monks for their political advantage, too. There are some monks supporting the army leadership because the politicians and armies are using them for the political advantage. These kinds of things, for me, it's no surprise, because in Myanmar there are many monks supporting the democracy movement. Even if they have to go to jail.
For example, my Upajjhāya [Pāli word for ‘monk preceptor’] Sayadaw, he was in prison for 10 years, because he supported democracy movement. So many monks, they have to go to jail for supporting the freedom of democracy. This includes the Tipitakadhara Saydaw [one who knows the whole Tipitaka Pāli Canon]. Many, many, many Sayadaws have the experience of going to the jail to support the democracy movement.
So, that's why the international press, Chinese newspaper, Time magazine are important. When they have the articles, then many people come to know. Otherwise, the Myanmar military says it had no idea; they say that he is there for supporting the army dictatorship. But when we have the numbers in Myanmar, there are many, many, many members of the monks, Sayadaws, supporting the democracy movement, freedom of the speech.”