http://burmavoices.com/2010/04/ashin-issariya-35/#more-108
Ashin Issariya’s Voice
King Zero went to a government school, but his school was closed in 1988. “My father asked me if I wanted to go to the monastery, because he wanted me to be educated. I did and joined the monastery. I became a novice at the age of 14. I stayed at the village monastery for three years and studied the Dhamma and Pali. I then went to another monastery, where I stayed for four years. After that, I moved to Pago monastery, where over 1,000 monks live. I lived there for three years. I then started studying at the Yangon State Sasana University. This is a university for monks. Apart from the Dhamma and Pali, we also studied subjects like philosophy and history. I wanted to achieve a higher education.” King Zero studied at this university for two years.
“I met another monk, Ashin Sopaka, at university. We started a library to encourage education and to speak about the (political) situation in our country. This we felt was necessary, as many monks did not know about it. I have always been interested in reading and writing articles. Some of my friends were members of the NLD. I spoke about all this to my fellow monks. Many of them were afraid and thought it was dangerous to be involved in these sorts of things. The first library was started at Sasana University in 1999. Many people were afraid to join, though. I gave information – in secret – about politics and publishing. And sometimes I went to the NLD office. ”
“In 2000, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited our area and we went to meet her in Dala town, but we were stopped and blocked from seeing her. I was there with Ashin Sopaka. We went back to university. They discovered our library and closed it. People had talked about it, that is how we were discovered. We had to sign an agreement that we would stop with the library.”
At university there is a rule that when you fail to take your exams, you are expelled. “We did not take exams and lef university.”
King Zero went back to his village and set up a library there. He then moved to Mandalay and stayed at Masoyin monastery. This is a well-known monastery with over 3,000 residing monks. “I studied Pali language there. I wanted to go to a private Buddha university to study and met a professor who agreed to help me. At a private university you have more freedom, it is not government owned. If I would go there, I could organise more activities. I went and studied English and Sanskrit, among others. I studied there for 7 years.”
King Zero published books and articles and collected many CD’s and books about politics.
“In 2000 I met another monk called Ashin Kovida. We discussed politics and became friends. He became my English teacher.”
In January 2003, a library was opened in Mandalay. The Best Friend Group of Literature, as it was originally founded by Ashin Issariya and Ashin Sopaka at Sasana University, was known by this time as The Best Friend. The library had many books and also provided free language classes: English, but also Japanese and French. Both monks and laypersons attended the library. In 2004, a second library was opened in Mandalay, near the Eindawya Pagoda. And in Sagaing there was one, too. Every library offered classes on different subjects and political discussions. In total, The Best Friend opened 12 libraries inside Burma.
“In January 2007, U Lin Lin introduced me to Ashin Gambira. This was in Yangon. We met in secret. Ashin Sopaka was in Mae Sot at the time. We sent messages and tried to meet. I went to Mae Sot secretly and talked about the organisation of a movement from the inside and outside.”
“We organised a STOP-sign sticker-campaign. These stickers were put up inside the country. Many people were interested. The STOP-sign was even drawn on banknotes! We also had stamps with the sign. In March 2007, I visited Bangkok and India to meet people. I met many political leaders and read many books. I took back many books and information. I went back to Burma and started to meet and talk with friends. We went on organising the uprising.”
“In September of that year, Ashin Gambira came to Mandalay to meet us. This is when the monks were beaten in Pakokku. We discussed what to do and issued a statement: we requested an apology from the regime for the treatment of the monks. If this apology would not come by a certain date, a Pattanikkujjana (alms boycott) would start.”
King Zero was being watched though and moved to Yangon where it was safer for him. “I shared information and talked to people in the monasteries in Yangon, Sagaing, Pago etc. Every night, I visited monsteries and put up the stickers. Many people were enthousiastic. Ashin Gambira spoke with the foreign media a lot.”
“We knew we had to prepare for something to happen. We issued the statement saying we wanted an apology by September 17. If not, the alms boycott would start. Many monasteries joined in this call for a Pattanikkujjana. We did not get an apology. On 18 September, we recorded a Pali version of the Pattanikkujjana on MP3. We sent this to Ashin Sopaka in Thailand and told him it had to be distributed to the foreign media such as RFA and BBC. The media should be told that the monks had started.”
And they did. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese monks started to march the streets of Burma and chanting the Metta Sutta on loving kindness. Many people joined the monks. It became known as the Saffron Revolution.
A
Burmese migrant/refugee could land in prison for many different
reasons. The people from Burma come from a disastrous education system
to Thailand without knowledge of any laws. So they might break laws
without even being aware of it. In addition most Burmese can not
understand the Thai language and thus don’t know what is talked about.
If they are asked by authorities to sign something, they just sign it
without knowing what they agree with. There are others who knowingly
break the law of course.
