Than Shwe Shuns Politics in Speech to Buddhist Summit

The three-day World Buddhist summit in Rangoon continued Friday under a mantle of tight security. A resident in downtown Rangoon said in a telephone conversation that the government appeared to be worried about the prospect of protests on the edge of the controversial gathering.

More than 1,000 Buddhist monks from around the world are attending the summit. A number of government leaders from neighboring countries were at Thursday’s opening.

Monks at the opening of a world Buddhist summit in Burma amid pomp and ceremony.

For the junta, the summit’s religious nature appears to outweigh any political significance, and junta leaders at the meeting have made little mention of Burma’s deepening political and social crisis.

In an address to the opening session, for instance, Sr-Gen Than Shwe kept to religious themes, saying “the timeless teaching of Lord Buddha is very relevant and essential to save humanity (from) craving, desire and suffering.”

In today’s times, he said, “the world is witnessing numerous conflicts and crimes. All those evils result from greed (lobha), anger (dosa) and delusion (moha). We should rid the world of the roots of all evils and sow the seeds of goodwill, tolerance, kindness and altruism for the sake of peace and prosperity.”

Than Shwe recommended the Lord Buddha’s fourfold message of loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy and equanimity (upekkha). They were the best path for humanity to “peace and harmony.”

In contrast, Than Shwe told visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday that his government is not ready to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thaksin said the junta chairman had told him in private talks that Suu Kyi could not be released because on three previous occasions when she had been freed from detention “difficulties” had arisen.

Prime Minister Soe Win also prompted controversy in his own speech to the meeting, by saying: “Myanmar is a country, which received the teachings of the Buddha in his lifetime. According to religious chronicles, the Buddha visited Myanmar three times.”

Some Burmese Buddhist scholars reacted to this quickly. Khin Maung Soe, a Burmese writer who studied Buddhism told The Irrawaddy that during the time of Buddha there was no Burma or Myanmar nation. According to history, Buddha travelled only within India. “There was no historical record that he had been to a land now known as Burma,” the writer said.