U Maydini is a Burmese monk from Meggin monastery in Okkalapa on the outskirts of Rangoon. Along with U Gambira, he led his fellow monks on a march through the city last year during the Saffron Revolution. U Gambira is currently on trial in one of the Burmese government’s prison courts. Meggin monastery provided refuge and free treatment to AIDS patients from across the country until soldiers raided it, beating monks and shutting down the monastery. In this interview, U Maydini tells RFA what compelled monks from his monastery to march against the government and how life has changed for them since a crackdown ended the Saffron Revolution:

The Sangha, the order of monks, had walked saying prayers of compassion on the street. Do you call that disturbing the peace? Is that an act of destroying the country? The passing of the most severe sentences unjustly against the monks for reciting prayers is not only bad for Buddhism but it also amounts to destroying the life of a Buddhist monk.

It is so difficult to be ordained as a monk that often one in a hundred people cannot become one. As you know, we have HIV patients in our monastery. Most monasteries would not accept these patients, but our Sayadaws [abbots] would live with them without any discrimination and closely care for them. So I have to say that their compassion is of the highest order.

Just as we desire peace, we also desire justice.

U Maydini

If the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) government does not accede to the demands made by us during the Saffron Revolution; if the SPDC doesn't implement the demands made by the nations of the world and the United Nations; and…if they don't acknowledge the demands made by the politicians and instead do what they want to do…the situation in the country will become worse. The country will be further faced with the problem of starvation.

The cost of living of the people will become worse than before. When we…asked for a solution to the problem of the high cost of living, the SPDC did nothing. They resorted to violence and conducted arrests in any way they liked. But doing these things…without adhering to rules and reasoning…will prevail only for a short time. In the long run, it's not good for the country. If they go on doing what they want to do, the country will fall down a precipice, and I see the people of Burma becoming so poor that there will be nothing left of them to be picked up.

What we demanded wasn't for us nor for our families, but for the alleviation of all of the problems and difficulties facing the people of Burma. The whole order of monks must continue to do what needs to be done. All of the Sangha desires peace. Just as we desire peace, we also desire justice. If there is no peace or justice, I believe, on behalf of the whole order of monks, that all of the Sangha will do whatever needs to be done.

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