Our visit and donation to a Tai monastery

offering to the head monk



The monastery compound

_Buddha image made of bamboo _

Buddhist Ordination building

Dear friends,

This morning, my mom, my sister and I went to Lumbani Buddha monastery to join and contribute to my aunt's birthday donation to the monks in that monastery. Myanmar new year is coming in this month and it is our culture and tradition to visit monastery to support monks and Buddhism with alms and other requisites.

For the past two years, because of Covid 19, Buddhist monks and novices no longer received alms in morning routine in which they went out in procession in bare foot to receive alms from the people. Instead, they had to rely on the donation by people who visited their monasteries and the reserved food and donation stock from the previous years. So, it is important that people visit monasteries to offer the requisites to the monks, who play the important role to support Śāsana , "the Buddha's teachings".

So, my aunt chose one monastery in the outskirt of her town, Hopong, southern Shan state, Myanmar, for her donation and we contributed her with some donation. The monastery we visited is a Tai (Shan) monastery. What makes Tai monasteries distinct from others is Tai monasteries usually have Buddha image woven from bamboo strips as you can see in one of my photos.

Since last year, Myanmar people are under the increasing burden caused by Covid 19 and the last year Feb coup. The regime is in constant suppression on those who oppose them especially the PDF (people defense forces), who could not tolerate their actions and took arms to fight against them. With the increasing prices, the declining economy caused by Covid 19 and the coup, you can imagine how much Myanmar people have to be struggling nowadays. And I would like to request global citizens to support Myanmar people like they support those from Ukraine. Thank you for reading and your support

@princekham
9th April 2022