The Librarian, the Monk and Our Common Cause

Daw Nyo Nyo Win is a major donor to Ashin Dhammapiya and his monastary, Nyar Kyan Pyan Yeiktha, she is also a terrific driver and wheeled us 20 kilometers in dense Yangon traffic with Nascar skill. We met last year on my first brief visit to the Yeiktha, but we never conversed as the Sayadaw was absent; this time Daw Khin Hnin Oo, Yangon University Librarian, was our interpreter. She had firmly cornered me at our Roundtable to arrange a meeting will Ashin Dhammapiya, who was interested in our project. Her passion for the monk overwhelmed my trepidation about visiting yet another monastery or library; her patter of background information filled the car as we drove.

As a young monk, the Sayadaw had mastered the tripitika, passing all five ordination exams before most monks have passed two. Given his intelligence and skill in recitation, his sponsoring Sayadaw invited him to serve Burmese in Malaysia and create a monastary there in the 1980s, a task he fulfilled. Then he was directed to assist Burmese in California and create a pongyi kyaung in the Bay area. For 18 years he served Burmese in that region, first in San Jose, then Fremont, and created monastaries that continue to flourish. At San Jose State he also completed a BA in religions studies and an MA in philosophy, then entered the Buddhist Institute near UC Berkeley where he completed his doctorate.

While other Burmese monks have successfully conducted evangelical Buddhist missions, what distinguishes Ashin Dhammapiya is his mastery of the scripture and continued study of comparative religions, combined with extraordinary skill in serving the needs of his donors. He still responds to his monastaries in Malaysia and California, but has moved back to Yangon to build capacity in his Yeiktha to help orphans and needy youth in the Yangon area. His response to Cyclone Nargis was urge his donor communities to help people in the Delta. His prestige as a senior member of the Sangha [Order of Burmese Buddhist Monks] gives him entre with the military and civil authorities to bring medical and supply teams into towns and villages. His teams of doctors & nurses with emergency food from donors saved many lives, which further elevated his status among Burmese. Social service on this magnitude is not characteristic of the Sangha, it reminds me of the radical Social Gospel promoted by Walter Rauschenbusch late in the 19th Century, which compelled many Protestant pastors to turn from preaching to serving the emergency needs in their local congregations and regions. What do you think?

Ashin Dhammapiya is not alone among Burmese monks in turning from teaching Three Baskets of the Vinaya, to acting with Mettha [compassion]. Last January the Sitagu Sayadaw endorsed our Library recovery project; however my meeting with Ashin Dhammapiya ended with a compact between us to work closely in selecting local library committees to assist in rebuilding libraries and restocking shelves with appropriate books. We found common cause in the integrity of our work. I feel considerable relief that our cash infusion in the local communities will be carefully monitored by donors to Ashin Dhammapiya. The link from U Thaw Kaung to his replacement at Yangon University, Daw Khin Hnin Oo, to the monk she most admires, to villages and towns throughout the delta helped through initial recovery by teams associated with Ashin Dhammapiya: this all give legitimacy to Nargis Library Recovery and Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation, it establishes trust that comes from our common cause.