|
abroad: U Paññasiha in the U.S., U Uttara and U Sîlâsâra in India. U Sîlâsâra and U Pa?ñasiha were especially gifted at their studies. So presumably, they too are already giving Dhamma talks and interviews in English. These three all have worldly academic degrees, too. U Uttara's English is not bad, either. These three are all living abroad of their own accord.
There is yet another who was part of that first group studying English. He has now returned to lay life. His name: Maung Hla Myint. His monk name: U Vannita. Because he passed the Mandalay Thâmanay Kyaw test and the Cetiyinganadhammâcariya test, those titles are appended to his name. Officially, he would be called U Vanntalinkarabhiwamsa. At Sayadaw's behest, he has translated into English the Abidhamma in Daily Life written by Amarapura Mahagandayoun Sayadaw, the two volume How to Practice Vipassanâ written by the Mahasi Sayadaw, and a New Translation of the Paritta written by Thapyekan Sayadaw. After that, he lived in England at Sayadaw's behest and studied. He is now acting as Sayadaw's English translator at the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha when necessary.
In Sayadaw's garden, he also found a few little trees which went bad after they had fully flowered and were bearing fruit almost ripe enough to eat. Sayadaw must be sorry that those precious little fruit trees came to no avail. Yet, Sayadaw did not toss out the little trees which went bad but took them back again and kept tending them. Highly respected people, both monks and lay people, speak in honor of this spirit as deserving of esteem.
Sayadaw had the young monks under his tutelage study English so that when the time came, they would be fully endowed with all that would be necessary to work for the benefit of the Sâsana at home and abroad. He wanted them not only to be fully proficient in scriptural study and meditation practice, but also to become proficient in English to work for the benefit of the Sâsana. Sayadaw especially perceived that they would need to travel and work for the benefit of the Sâsana abroad.
As they work for the Sâsana abroad now, Sayadaw's students are finding out the utility of English for themselves. Therefore, they themselves continue to strive. Sayadaw's students advise the future generations of 'younger brother' monks, too, of the need to strive to become equally proficient in English. Other Myanmar Sayadaws who are living and working effectively for the Sâsana abroad, as well, give similar exhortations.
They all say the same thing, "Abroad, the Mahâyâna has had more success at becoming popular than the Theravâda. One of the main reasons is that the Mahâyâna practitioners excel the Theravâda monks in the matter of English proficiency. If more Theravâda monks became proficient in English, the Theravâda teachings could become more widely disseminated. Of the Theravâda monks, there are still very few from Myanmar who are proficient in English. There are more Sri Lankan monks than Myanmar who are proficient in English. Although at present the Sri Lankan monks do not have the potency that their counterparts in Myanmar have in scriptural study or in meditation practice,
|
|