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Buddhist monk takes up arms against the Myanmar (Burma) junta
(RFA, 6/15/21) "F the government," would a monk ever say that?
One Buddhist monk, Ven. Kaythara, has gone from preaching peace to practicing war, from living by the primary rule not to kill to disrobing, returning to lay life, and learning how to kill.
The Buddhist monk has undergone armed training to fight with the popular resistance against the military junta in Burma (renamed "Myanmar" by the dictatorship), giving up his vows to abstain from killing in response to the government killing peaceful protesters and other totalitarian abuses.
The former monk is now going by the name
George Michael, left the monkhood and took up arms in response to the arrests and killings of fellow monks, who joined protests against the military coup that overthrew the elected government in February.
Ven. Kaythara, 33, became a monk when he was 20 years old and had been involved in humanitarian work. He served as head monk of Dhamma Darna Monastery in Hlaingthaya township, an area dominated by garment factories on the outskirts of Rangoon (Yangon), where he oversaw an orphanage.
In the early days of the military coup, Ven. Kaythara said he had actively participated in peaceful protest marches.
“We’ve been organizing the protests in Hlaingthaya since February 6,” he told RFA in an interview.
“Since then we marched on the streets to protest every day until
February 14th [
Valentine's Day], when the authorities began to crack down on the protests.”
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