60 Rangoon Monasteries to be Relocated
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Burma

60 Rangoon Monasteries to be Relocated


By HSET LINN Tuesday, January 11, 2011


In Burma, Buddhist novices must learn their Buddhist study at monastery schools. (Photo: www.allmyanmar.com)
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RANGOON — More than 60 Buddhist monasteries situated along the banks of the Pegu River in Thaketa Township in Rangoon are to be relocated to Shwepyithar Township in the northern suburbs of the city, according to several affected monks.

Local residents speculate that the monasteries may have been targeted by the military regime because of the active involvement of many of their monks in the 2007 Saffron Revolution.

Several monks said they believe the monasteries will be destroyed to make way for a port project and road extension financed by the Htoo company owned by Tay Za and the Yuzana company owned by Htay Myint. Both businessmen are known to be close to several military leaders and are blacklisted by Western sanctions.

The monasteries affected are situated on or close to Shukhinthar Road, which runs along the Pegu River just east of central Rangoon. Also due for relocation, according to the monks, are several highly respected religious centers, including Aung Thida, Zaytawun, Myo Ukin, Mingalayama, Thae Inngu Dharma Center and Mogok Aung Nyeinchan Monastery which run a free community clinic, and Kan Zayon Monastery, which runs free English classes.

All the Buddhist monasteries and learning centers have already been informed that they are to relocate to Wahtayar in Shwepyithar Township, according to the monks.

“Ten Buddhist learning centers and around 60 monasteries are on the relocation list,” said affected monk U Agga. “Approximately 1,500 monks reside in those monasteries.”

“Speculation about a relocation began last year, but the first proof we saw was on Dec. 27 when municipal workers, military officials and the Htoo Trading Company staff came here and took photographs and surveyed the area,” said the monk.

“The naval port, the park and the Shwe Hin Thar Hotel will be in the firing line if the project goes ahead,” said a monk from Zaytawun Monastery. “However, I have heard nothing about their relocating. Only monks have been instructed to move out.”

At Aung Thida Monastery, a representative of the more than 200 monks studying Buddhist literature there said the monks are worried about their relocating to the new site as they depend solely on alms offered by members of the public.

“All monasteries rely on donations,” a senior monk said. “But the place where we are being asked to relocate to is practically empty.”
 
The monks who spoke to The Irrawaddy said they do not know the exact date of the relocation, but said they will defend their religious property as new monasteries are normally devoid of furnishings and any religious paraphernalia. 

“The State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee [the state-sponsored Buddhist monks’ organization] has not called us in yet,” a monk said. “If we are told to relocate, we will contest the decision.”

The monks said they have been informed that each Buddhist learning center will be allocated a 200-foot-wide plot in Wahtayar, while each monastery will be alloted a 90-foot-wide plot at the new site.

The monks told The Irrawaddy that the authorities will not pay any compensation nor pay for any building construction or other costs.

During the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when the military attempted to raid the monasteries on Shukhinthar Road, they were confronted by Thaketa residents, resulting in the death of one local man. Ultimately, the military staged a raid against the monks with the assistance of local navy from the nearby port on the Pegu River.

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John Wrote:
14/01/2011
This is absolutely unacceptable.Can someone contact UN, EU and International Criminal Court to sue Tay Za, Htay Myint and officials involved, so that they cannot destroy these Buddhist lycees and historial temples.We must fight the evil of greed.

Thura Wrote:
13/01/2011
This is so unacceptable to displace monks and monasteries' land/assets which were donated by citizens to concerve Buddhism. Tay Za and Htay Myint , two Chinese millionaires and devil's greed doing business with corrupt Generals will go to hell for mistreating Buddhist monks and institutions of sons of Lord Buddha.Chinese capitalism and communism is the opposite of Buddhist compassion of Myanmar-so different fr. rich nations, China or India. Stop these Chinese invasions, now.

shwe moe Wrote:
13/01/2011
Destroying more than 60 Buddhist monasteries situated along the banks of the Pegu River in Thaketa Township in Rangoon is asking God for retribution and it will happen; believe me it will happen H.E. Than Shwe, there will be plague upon all those who have their fingers in this destruction.

thu ri ya burma Wrote:
13/01/2011
Those who are going to hell with nuclear missile rocket pray,
"Buddham Saranam GUN sarmi!
Dhamam Saranam GUN sarmi!
Sangam Saranam GUN sarmi!"
Burmese people say, (Not "Sardu Sardu Sardu" but)
"Salute, Salute, Salute,.....Go To Hell!"

Free Man Wrote:
13/01/2011
I don't think religion necessarily make a person good. We all know that people abuse and kill each other in the name of religion. We all know that people help each other in the name of religion. Likewise, there are also non-believers/deists/agnostics/atheists who are as kind as believers and who are as bad as believers.

P.S. All the world's major religions share some things in common: good teachings, irrationality, myths, discrimination against women, etc.

PB Publico Wrote:
12/01/2011
I do not know which other religions these junta people belong to. But certainly, it is not Buddhism.

If they go to monasteries and pagodas, it is not for worship but for "swordship" (the worship of the weapons), a lie, a pretence, an insult to the Buyddhist religion.

If you listen to to Kyithe Layhtat Sayadaw Payagyi's Namakara worshipping verses, you would find that Dhamma and Arnar are synonymous. Dhamma has all the Arna, the law that governs all, not to be surpassed by any temporal laws made by men. Not even the previous colonial government had done anything like this. So it is the junta that has been, and still is, breaking the rule.
They are anti-Buddhist, and anti-any-religion for that matter. They are worshippers of their own evil doings, their desire to force, rob and kill. And they have no sympathy with the people. Their god is Mar Nat from Witthawaddy, or Saturn.
Now the compulsary millitarism too.

You can't take refuge anywhere, not even in a monastery, in Burma.

Terry Evans Wrote:
12/01/2011
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it.

Salai Laikhal Wrote:
12/01/2011
This is a violation of religious rights! The regime doesn't care any of relgious sanctuary at all (no matter it's Christian church, Mosque, or Buddhist Temple)when it comes to their cause.

They act like atheists. They speak like theists. But wait! They worship astrologers and pratice witchcraft.

Their biggest enemy are the Buddhist monks, and the ethnic rebels rank the second.
They don't care much about the mass people, because they can shoot!

Moe Aung Wrote:
12/01/2011
No ifs nor buts, shut up and do what you are told to do. Consultation process? Consent? Compensation? Not in their dictionary, never mind democracy so long as 'discipline' flourishes. Change? Space? Where? What's new?

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