Photo: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing pays homage to Abbot of Myanmar Theravada Buddhist Centre in Moscow<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Adapted from a post by Lee Min Soo)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many Therav\u0101da Buddhist countries in the world.
But Myanmar, undeniably, is\u2026 special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In most countries, respect for religion coexists with reason.
In Myanmar, however, the boundaries are more creatively drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask a question to a monk? Risky.
Print a Buddha image incorrectly on a coffee cup? Dangerous.
Play a remix with Buddhist references in a nightclub? Potentially criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But preach violence in saffron robes?
Pose with weapons?
Encourage war in the name of protection?
That, strangely, remains within the acceptable spectrum of devotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Figures like Ashin Wirathu\u2014who openly deliver threatening rhetoric\u2014continue to command reverence.
Narratives invoking kings like Dutugamunu are retold, not as history, but as moral justification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, the paradox deepens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A respected monk such as Ashin Wayaminda reminds us of a simple karmic principle:
good causes bring good results; bad causes bring bad results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet in today\u2019s Myanmar, one cannot help but wonder:
what kind of results are expected when wealth derived from suffering is transformed\u2014not into schools, hospitals, or reconstruction\u2014but into towering pagodas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, often portrayed as a devout donor, may indeed go down in history as one of the country\u2019s greatest religious benefactors\u2014at least in terms of concrete and height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But history has a long memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When bombs fall on villages, when homes are burned, when entire communities are displaced\u2014
and later, grand religious monuments rise from the same soil\u2014
the question is no longer about devotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It becomes a question of moral arithmetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even more curious is the role of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those who suffer the consequences of conflict
are often the same individuals seen bowing in prayer at these newly built pagodas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faith?
Resignation?
Or simply survival?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And just when one thinks the contradictions have reached their limit,
a new proposal emerges:
education in Myanmar should be led by monks, as suggested by Ashin Revata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One hesitates to respond.
Not because there is nothing to say\u2014
but because, in Myanmar, silence is sometimes the safer form of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, even graduates of institutions like University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Harvard University readily admit the limits of their knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Myanmar, however, a different confidence prevails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graduates of insular systems\u2014whether military academies or narrowly framed religious institutions\u2014often speak with absolute certainty on every subject: politics, economics, science, and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, in its own way, impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then again, who would challenge them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One carries a gun.
The other wears a robe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And between the two,
the space for truth becomes very, very small.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photo: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing pays homage to Abbot of Myanmar Theravada Buddhist Centre in Moscow (Adapted from a post by Lee Min Soo) There are many Therav\u0101da Buddhist countries in the world.But Myanmar, undeniably, is\u2026 special. In most countries, respect for religion coexists with reason.In Myanmar, however, the boundaries are more creatively drawn. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,133,130,16,132,25,123,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-human-rights-constitution-federal-democracy-social-nets-minority-rights","category-motivation","category-opinion","category-satire","category-science-it-ai-military-war","category-story","category-thidagu-sitagu-sayadaw-wirathu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4954,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions\/4954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}