TONE TONE AND FRIENDS III

Tone Tone’s friends continue their discussions.

Friend: Take a look at these Azusa Nibban Zay flyers. Need donations for Azusa construction, again!

Monk describes Temple as “Azusa – Bodh Gaya.”

Bodh Gaya

Friend: Wait a minute! Why tag “Bodh Gaya” to Azusa Kyaung?

Friend: I dunno. Didn’t Mt Tant Kyi Sayadaw already name it “Thondara Rama Brahma Vihara”?

Friend: U Ayethaka floats this “dual name” for some months already. He uses it more often nowadays. Nobody is objecting, that’s why. People bear with his antics.

Friend: Before, U Ayethaka calls it “Azusa Kyaung.” Now, he switches to “Azusa – Bodh Gaya”  Pretty soon, he will just call it “Bodh Gaya”!

Yadayar?

Friend: No surprise! He even switches his own name to “Ah Shin” Ayethaka.

Friend: Sounds like “Sr General” Than Shwe, promoting himself.

Friend: Sounds more like Ne Win’s “yadayar chay.”(indulgences). Remember, Ne Win changed City names and currency denominations to 45’s and 90’s.

Friend: Should a monk believe in Yadayar?

These were barred by Buddha and still are barred by Vinaya as low animal like knowledge. It’s a Vinaya offense.

Overrule his boss

Friend: Why take a new one “Azusa – Bodh Gaya”?  Why overrule his boss?

Friend: Who has the right over the names? His boss or he or who?

Friend: Of course, he has no right. Probably, he wants to show his “power.” “I am the boss!”

Friend: The upstart! His boss is stuck in Myanmar. Perhaps, he thinks he doesn’t have to kowtow to Mt TKT Sayadaw anymore.

Plain & Boring

Friend: You all are just guessing. However, I don’t fault you. The monk won’t offer a reason for using “Bodh Gaya.”

I have a guess, myself!

Friend: Let’s have it!

Friend: May be wrong, but here it is! I think he got tired of calling it “Azusa Kyaung.” Too boring for him. No splendor in it. His big ego demands something big, something extraordinary!

Holier than thou!

Friend: Your guess is as good as mine. Ego!, Ego! “Ssu htet ssu, lu soon kaung.”

Heard about rivalry among monasteries and monks. Get “One up” over all other monks in US.

Friend: Reminds me of two ‘ko yin” aides. They were walking behind their Sayadaws. Each was bragging that his monk could walk faster.

Hearing their comments, the monks started walking briskly. Soon, the two monks were racing each other! Lol!

“R ka di” cling to fame is a monk’s bad trait.

Big Guy

Friend: I know what you are saying. Each year, other monks came to Azusa. Because of him, they got extra Nawa Kama and travel fare. They all owe him a favor. “Big guy and small guys, thing” creeps in, sooner or later, perhaps.

“Golden” crow

Friend: Well, I have another theory. Remember, how fawning trustees address him. “O, (dear) living god!, it’s your phone ta go/super normal powers. We now have this grand temple.”

Friend: Ah la la! Intoxicating praise, indeed! Must have gone to his head!

Friend: True, property wise, other monks with smaller properties cannot outshine him. No comparison! Mt Meru and plum seed!

Friend: Yes! They say, “A crow perched on a golden hill is dubbed a “golden” crow.”

Basking in Azusa property’s brilliance and glory, why not take it to next level? Why not “Azusa – Bodh Gaya”?

Why only he?

Friend: I object! Raising oneself by stepping over other fellow monks is bad enough. But why use “Bodh Gaya,” the sacred place where Buddha attained enlightenment?

Sacrilege!

Friend: Other fellow monks are not using it? Would all follow his lead and also call their temples Bodh Gaya’s?

Friend: To me, this name upgrade sounds like Daw Kyaing Kyaing, Junta’s first lady. She commands people to address her as “Mare Taw”/royal queen and her daughter as “Thamee Taw”/royal princess.

Friend: LOL! Vain people do copy from other vain people! Trying desperately to force and impose themselves on others. Bad monks are no exception.

Ethics

Friend: I don’t think other good monks would call their temples Bodh Gaya’s. My opinion: They have higher ethics.

They are not too happy with him using it either. “Mine is Bodh Gaya but yours isn’t” is a “put down” on them. However, they keep the slight to themselves. They just bear with it.

Friend: I beg to differ, my friend. The good monks shouldn’t bear with it. That’s where they’re wrong. They do have a right to tell him to desist.

It really casts a bad reflection on their monasteries or temples… as inferior.

Nobler?

Friend: Larger properties do not necessarily mean their residing monks are nobler. Conversely, smaller monasteries do not mean the monks inside are less noble.

How about the Forest monks? Their monasteries are the individual trees. Because of their sacrifices like Buddha, most Buddhists consider them  far nobler. Some “materialistic” monks got it all wrong. They don’t practice what they preach. Money! Money! Money!, all the time!

Some monks may get carried away with clingings to properties. This is against Buddha’s teachings.

I do think there still are other reasons.

More Nawa Kama Donations?

Friend: My guess. He wants people to visit his Temple. More traffic means more “Nawa Kama” (personal moneys) or, as some would say more  “Ngar Wa” Kama.

I think by implying that Azusa temple is “as grand as” Bodh Gaya, he hopes to achieve this purpose. By uplifting the temple, he is uplifting himself also.

Good Guess

Friend: Yes, you have a point. Naive people got impressed! Why go to any other local Burmese Temples?

Why go to India and visit Buddha’s place of enlightenment? You have one Bodh Gaya nearby?

After all, there is the Azusa Banyan tree, supposedly from the sacred Banyan tree’s descendant’s pedigree seedling.

A brazen claim

Friend: Indeed! In his flyer, he has the audacity to claim that the Banyan tree is “Ssu thaung pyait” or magical. He boldly claims the tree that “can FULLY grant your wishes.” What a brazen claim!

Claims without any basis are lies!