Sein Sein - Shumawa Magazine Short Stories (3)

"The school water-pouring ceremony is accompanied by the monk's ordination," the news was being shared with joy from every household in the Anyasu neighborhood.

"I'll serve you some rice and some snacks," the people who wanted to eat and drink happily continued to say.

"The Diamond Party is still in peace..."

Young men and women, yearning for pleasure, happily spread the news to each other, unable to speak enough or hear enough.

The time was... during the Japanese war, during a brief lull in the war. The place was... in Anyasu Ward, 6-mile compound, Kamayut, Yangon.

It seems like a rule among Buddhist Burmese people that when they make a donation, they do so quietly, with a dry, unwelcome attitude.

When it comes to donating money to build a school for a monk, they don't want to finish it even though the school has been completed and the monk has been attending for a week. They still want to hold a water-pouring ceremony for the school and a ceremony to invite the monks to the school. It is a Burmese custom that they are satisfied with a small event such as a donation.

It is possible to assume that this is the attitude of the ancient sages who never left their hands to give alms. However, it is sometimes encountered that the feasting and feasting are dominated by the joy of eating and drinking rather than praising, and it can only be said that it is a custom that humans naturally desire. However, it is only a way to show that people who do good deeds, fill their stomachs, and make their minds happy cannot give up their stubborn character.

Even though they are going to hold a school inauguration ceremony, the school is not a huge brick building. It is not a two-story school with a corrugated iron roof. It is not a small school with thorny bushes and bamboo shoots. It is not a spacious one-story school.

The actual school... was just a small school with a thatched roof, bamboo walls, and wooden floors. It was like a small waso tent that monks used to build and donate for waso in his time.

The person who built the school was Sayadaw U Ottama Sara, who was well-known in the country for his religious work. The person who donated the school was the ward leader, the Sayadaw's cousin, U Lun Ram, a great benefactor. U Lun Ram led the construction as a community project, so it was just a small school for the benefit of the villagers.

Because the Mu Su Pe Su volunteers kept asking for a water pouring festival, saying that they wanted to hold a water pouring festival for this community welfare, the village leader, U Lun Ram, had to give in to the monks and not the Buddha. He had to organize a water pouring festival for the community as a public welfare.

The school was named Sujanakari School and the neighborhood was called Aung Chantha. The story of how the school came to be in that neighborhood is also a timely one.

During the great era of war... when nothing was stable, a group of relatives from Kamaryut farm took in a monk who had come from the upper reaches and built a tent for him to stay in for a week. It was inside the farm.

When it was impossible to distinguish between death and life, Sayadaw U Uttamasara patiently stayed with the intention of honoring his relatives and friends on their journey. He ate food from his relatives, preached the Dhamma, and taught them, and spent the entire Lent in the service of the Buddha.

After the rains had stopped, enemy planes would come in droves. They would bomb Rangoon and its surroundings. The cold military base became hot and active. Then the military department in the city would take over the forest land and evict the people living in the land. No one could refuse the military order. They had to demolish their own houses and move to the vacant land they had been assigned.

When the Daks moved, the monastery was left behind. It was impossible for them to carry their own monastery on their backs like the monks on a puppet show, so Maung Pu and his family had to dismantle the monastery, load it on a cart, and leave the area.

When the northern U-Yan was taken over, all the people living in the compound moved, some to the west, some to the south. The abbot's extended family moved to the southern compound, so the monk, who was dependent on the laypeople, also followed the laypeople.

People build their own houses and live in them. But monks cannot build their own houses and live in them. The monk thought that this was different from the monks on the puppet stage.

The monk on the puppet stage said, "I don't want to live in your land of fortune... I'm confused, I'm going to move to Inwa." His student carried his backpack and moved. If he crossed a tree, he would reach Inwa. When he arrived, the student who had carried his backpack just sat down. How easy is that?

In my case, it's just thatched roofs, poles, bamboo slats, and walls that I've loaded with carts, so I can't do anything. People have to build their own houses, find food and drink, and no one has any free time. They shouldn't bother with the temples, they should live in harmony.

There is no need to spend money on hiring a carpenter to build it. Since King Indra's Vandakambala will not be built for me, the Visutyun deva will not come and build a monastery that is ready in a moment. What should I do in this situation?

The monk, who had traveled all over the world, looked at the image of a tree and bamboo and thought.

He has local knowledge. He is also full of scripture knowledge. He also understands the situation of the time and place. He does not want to cause trouble to himself or others, and if he were to go somewhere else, then these Daka Daka women would be sad.

I thought, "If there is a way for you to live comfortably and not be tired, it would be good." I thought, and then I looked for a place to live. In the old days, I saw people living in empty houses like creatures that had come from the sea. I thought, "If I could live like this, it would be good."

Not far from the Dayakas, there was a small English building, deserted. There were no locked doors, and it looked as if someone had taken it away. However, thinking, "It's only temporary," he took the building and went to school with a good grade.

“Your monk is very modern,” the monks praised. When their friends, monks, came to visit, they would say, “Your monk’s house is a beautiful place.”

Some skeptics say, "Is it because the monk is visiting the English continent without knowing the Buddha?"

The monk was not there, the Englishman had fled. I don't know where he is. I don't know whether he is dead or alive. The houses and the buildings are all in ruins. If workers, coolies, hired workers, and ordinary people can still live on whatever buildings they find, why can't someone like me?

The monk, who understood the times and the local situation, boldly climbed onto the English Continent and ruled over it. To show that the monk was a monk, he had written the word “school” in both Japanese and Burmese characters above the stairs. Now, who wants to say anything? Isn’t it a school? If a monk lives there, it must be a monastery, according to the Vasanattha... On the upper floor, there was a Buddha image, a bookcase with the scriptures, and students were taught, worshipped, and played the brass zither.

In this way, he lived peacefully and happily throughout the winter and summer. Although he was peaceful, he did not escape the sound of sirens, the sound of airplanes, and the sound of bombs. He even escaped the sound of bombs and machine guns.

"It's all good, sir," the teacher commented, "even though I had to move out of the barnyard, it's still a good place for me."

That's right. There's just a bamboo hut there. This place... is a brick building built by the English, the fugitives and the Daks. It's clean and spacious. I'm still happy to be here. I hope that Maung Pu won't disturb me here. I thought I'd stay longer.

However, that assumption was incorrect. After a summer, Maung Pu and his friends arrived. They were not from the military, but from the post-war support company. They were taking over every good place by pointing fingers. After seeing the building where the monk lived, they were impressed and ordered to occupy it. They asked to move to another place, but they were still grateful for the initiative.

They were allowed to arrange the date without being evicted immediately. The 3rd day of the first lunar month of Waso was the last day. The school had not yet been built, and there was no more support building, so at 12 o'clock that day, the students and the monks carried all the school furniture, including the literature and the scriptures, and set them aside for a while to stay overnight.

Hmm... Moo Pa and Moo Pa, in their old lives, were they the forest officials who ordered the felling of the forest that was full of trees? That's why they thought it was a conspiracy.

The monk thought this while sitting with a sheet of paper spread out beside the piled books and school furniture.