Trouble in Burma

Posted by Mari Nicholson Sep 28, 2007

Trouble in Burma

Burma is a Buddhist country with between 80% and 90% of the country venerating the monks. Most of the population choose to enter a monastery for at least a week during their lifetime but many of the monks were given to the temple as children to be brought up by olderr monks, mostly because the parents were too poor to look after them themselves.

There is a monastery in every village and the monks are the spiritual leaders. They also provide a rudimentary education for those in their care and for others in the villages and towns. In return for this they are given alms by the people - they don’t beg - and this giving of alms means that the giver is gaining spiritual credit.

Therefore, for the monks to refuse to accept alms (they say they will refuse to accept anything more from the military) is to deny the generals and their soldiers the chance of making merit. This is probably the worst penalty they could inflict on them.

This is not the first time the monks have been involved in politics. Their history is studded with resistance to authority although it is estimated that only about 10% of the temple monks are active in politics. With more than half a million in the monkhood, they form a major challenge and the problem for the authorities is that the action of these spiritual men may embolden the population to rise up against their rulers in earnest.

If they can continue to defy the Generals, if the people continue to support them as they have been doing, then it is very possible that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from house arrest in an effort to calm the situation.

But is it too late?