Than Than Tint - True Mingalar and the New Generation

The Dhamma of Auspiciousness is the good way, good conduct, and good qualities that lead to prosperity in the worldly realm. Most people only understand that when they say Auspiciousness, they only understand that there is good fortune. They consider that only what is good to see, hear, smell, eat, and touch is auspicious, auspicious, and good. That idea has existed since the time of the Buddha and has been accepted by people. The Buddha did not recognize such assumptions as true auspiciousness, but as he said, “Sabbaththa sothigaccsanti, tatesamangalamottamam,” he considered that only good ways, good conduct, and good qualities that lead to prosperity everywhere are true auspiciousness. Therefore, at that time, all humans, devas, and brahmins were arguing without really understanding the true meaning of auspiciousness that the Buddha meant.

Because of this ignorance, they do not consider good qualities such as being able to avoid evil and foolish people as blessings, but rather as mere words. In fact, if one is endowed with good qualities such as being able to avoid evil and foolish people and being pure, one can prosper and prosper everywhere, as the Buddha has assured.

The ancient sages, who knew that the 38 auspicious qualities and virtues were the cause of prosperity and success in both worldly and spiritual matters, first taught the auspicious teachings (Mangala Sutta) to their disciples after they had completed their studies.

A person who has thoroughly understood the Dhamma of Auspiciousness understands and understands, “It is necessary to avoid wicked and foolish people, to associate with good and virtuous people, to offer offerings to those who deserve them, to live in a place where one can gain merit, knowledge, and wealth, to prosper, to do good deeds in advance, to be prosperous in the future, to control one’s body and mind from going to the wrong direction,” etc.

Furthermore, I came to understand that as someone who wants to prosper, they need to be literate, knowledgeable, have a career, be disciplined, and have good relationships.

In this way, if one truly understands and practically implements the comprehensive guidance of the Mingalar Dharma in education, economics, society, religion, etc., they can achieve levels of prosperity and success to the extent that they follow it.

The elders of the YMBA Association, who understand the value of the Mingalar Dharma as a guide in education, business, etc., hold the Mingalar Examination every year throughout the country. It is very beneficial for the sustainability of Buddhism. It is good to be grateful.

The writer of this letter also knows the great value of the Mingalar Dharma, so he has been organizing the Mingalar Dharma exam in collaboration with the YMBA Association to spread the Mingalar Dharma in his native Lay Ein Su Village (Maubin Township) and surrounding villages for 28 years.

It has been observed that in this effort to spread the Dharma, it is more successful if the monks, village elders, and teachers in each village cooperate and support it, but it cannot be successful if these individuals are not interested and do not support it.

The young monks and nuns in the village should take the lead in spreading this blessed Dharma. Only if they do so will the children and youth of today, when they grow up, become teachers and nuns and support, protect, and maintain their village monks and nunneries. This is because they have been close to the monks and nunneries since they were young, they know the grace of the monks, and they know the value of the blessed Dharma. If the monks and nuns do not teach the children and youth the blessed Dharma, they will not be close to the monks and nunneries, they will not be grateful to them for not teaching them, and they will not be grateful to the monks and nunneries because they think that the monks and nunneries are not grateful to us, and they will not support and care for the monks and nunneries in their villages and neighborhoods. Then the Buddhist religion will become lower and lower, and the gap between the new generation and the religion will grow, and the religion will fade, and the religion may disappear completely.

In fact, if capable monks and nuns do not teach and impart the Dhamma that they should know and understand, they are only weakening their own religion, failing to fulfill their responsibilities, and breaking their own rice bowl. The six precepts of the monk's ethics, which are "forbidding evil, encouraging good, showing love, preaching, expanding and clarifying, showing Nibbana, these six, monks, do this," include the responsibility to teach good things, teaching auspicious things, teaching cultural practices, etc., and not carrying out these responsibilities contradicts the name they have taken as "religious servants."

Therefore, monks and nuns should realize that it is not enough to just give them alms and make arrangements for the children and young people in their villages and neighborhoods to be taught the Dhamma by themselves if they are capable, and by those who are unable to teach themselves. In Myanmar, monks should be like monks and lead from the front in the right way, while laypeople will support them from behind. However, patience is required.

The elders and parents in the village and neighborhood should also support and encourage the monks and nuns in their village and neighborhood to lead the spread of the Dharma and Buddhist culture. If they are not busy with their family responsibilities and village and neighborhood responsibilities, and are avoiding it, then if the children and youth in their village and neighborhood are not polite, selfish, and rude, then only their elders should be worried. When those young people grow up and become adults, they will be the ones who will suffer. Therefore, the elders and parents in the village and neighborhood should think about the future and the welfare of the people, and support and encourage the young people to be polite and civilized, even though they are not busy with work.

Teachers are also key figures in educating young children. The school is the place where children gather in a village or neighborhood. These children are under the care of teachers. If teachers can teach these children the Dhamma for just 15 minutes a day, the children will become more educated one day. Even when these children leave school, they will respect and appreciate the teachers who taught them to be educated. Only then will both the teacher and the students be happy.

Children and young people are like wood. Monks, monks, parents, and teachers are like sculptors. Only when a sculptor can carve a piece of wood with his hands and work hard will it become a masterpiece of art and become useful. If a sculptor does not work hard and does not carve it, it will remain an ordinary piece of wood and will end up as a firewood and a rotten tree. Wood will not increase in value on its own. Therefore, to make wood valuable, the sculptor is responsible for carving it. He only needs to have the skills and the desire to carve it. Similarly, only when monks, monks, parents, and teachers, who are like sculptors, teach and arrange for the teaching of auspicious teachings and cultural knowledge, will children and young people, like wood, be able to make valuable efforts for the benefit of their families, villages, neighborhoods, and the country as they grow up.

In this way, if the three great leaders in the village and neighborhood, namely the monks, elders, and teachers, work together and lead together, the children and youth in their villages and neighborhoods will be well-behaved and well-mannered, and when they become adults, they will be able to fulfill their family, village, and national responsibilities without any fault, and establish a peaceful and stable life.

If each village and ward can do this, the whole of Myanmar will be peaceful and prosperous. With this in mind, the following poem was born in the heart of the writer of this letter.

Big three for the village

For a village to prosper, three things are important.

The venerable monk, you have succeeded as much as you can.

The monk must spread his own religion.

The village elders are responsible for improving their own village.

A teacher must spread his knowledge.

The monks, the village elders, and the elders gathered together.

They need to fulfill their responsibilities and lead.

If these three leaders lead, the entire countryside will continue to prosper.

Let's unite the three major powers to develop Myanmar as a whole...

(2)

As mentioned, monks and laypeople have made great efforts to spread the Dhamma. They have written and compiled books on the Dhamma for the benefit of future generations. There are more than 60 books on the Dhamma (as collected by the author of this letter). They are still being written and compiled.

The author of this letter has compiled and published a book, “Says on the Dhamma,” which collects the conclusions, opinions, and sayings of monks and people who describe the benefits of the Dhamma. I gave the book to a monk friend who was studying for an MA degree in Sri Lanka. He read the book and asked, “Why is it that today’s youth have such weak religious awareness despite the excellent Dhamma exams and cultural courses being held?”

The readers are critical of their own religion regarding the answer to that question. In terms of one part of the reader's view, there are many reasons for the lack of religious awareness, including the fact that there are still few centers for answering religious questions, that the religious teachings are not studied or taught as much as they used to be, that the three great leaders, monks, elders, and teachers, do not organize or create the necessary conditions for teaching and learning, and that even after studying, they do not put them into practice.

Therefore, they think, “No matter how good the modern scriptures are, they are not as good as the teachings of the Buddha on how to achieve prosperity and good manners, which he preached over 2,500 years ago, and they are not as complete in essence as the teachings of the Buddha.” (They say that they are the ones who

Most of the youth of today are better educated and knowledgeable than when the writers were young, but they are becoming weaker in terms of religious awareness and morality. This weakness is also due to the negligence or inaction of the above three leaders. Parents are not enough to just give their children a formal education. They should also provide them with opportunities to gain knowledge, skills, and access to religious literature.