The Overturned Alms Bowl
Insight Myanmar23 Des 2022

The Overturned Alms Bowl

Episode #139: After Bhikkhuni Vimala (they/their) learned about military coup in Myanmar, they wanted to find a way to express their feelings against it. They ultimately landed on the idea of encouraging their monastic friends abroad to take a picture with their alms bowl overturned, since Burmese monastics would likely face arrest and torture for making such a statement. “Even just a simple action like turning over the alms bowl… could get you in prisons or even killed” they explain. An overturned alms symbolizes a monk or nun’s disagreement with the actions of a group of lay supports who have done something that egregiously broke their precepts.

Their campaign received an immediate if unexpected boost from such noted monastics as Bhikkhu Analayo and Bhikkhu Bodhi, who immediately sent in images of themselves with overturned alms bowls, and many more followed.

Speaking on the subject of Engaged Buddhism, Bhikkhuni Vimala feels first and foremost, that it is essential for the practitioner to continue gaining inner wisdom through insight practice. “You have to find the truth within yourself,” they say. “But while doing so, you notice greater compassion for other people! This is what's often called ‘compassion in action.’” Bhikkhuni Vimala continues, “I think it's really important to help our fellow people in Myanmar. Because how can [people] sit quietly on a cushion and meditate, and pretend that all these things are not going on?... I think it is very important to help people to come to a place where they can practice the Buddhist teachings, and make sure that as Buddha's teachings also live on.”

Episoder(505)

Building Bridges From Norway

Building Bridges From Norway

Episode #475: “So many peoples in Myanmar who are fighting for democracy and human rights... they don’t get any title or any recognize, but they did what they believed in.” Wut Hmone Win carries a leg...

27 Jan 1h 52min

A Not So Quiet American

A Not So Quiet American

Episode #474: Scott Aronson, a career humanitarian and conflict expert, describes his years in Myanmar between 2015 and the 2021 coup as “a really dynamic but also very challenging time to work in Mya...

26 Jan 2h 1min

Liberal Dreams, Illiberal Ends

Liberal Dreams, Illiberal Ends

Episode #473: “The military was pursuing an illiberal strategy to peace, and Norway became complicit, not necessarily by design, but by its effect, it became a de facto sponsor of a strategy for illib...

23 Jan 1h 51min

Still I Rise

Still I Rise

Episode #472: “Where is my grandmother’s vote?!” asks Thiri. Her core argument is that Myanmar’s struggle today is not a failed revolution, but the evolution of a long, cyclical people’s movement, who...

22 Jan 1h 47min

The Art of Letting Go

The Art of Letting Go

Episode #471: Sebastian Copija's journey from being a Buddhist monk to embracing lay life is a story of deep introspection and balance. Monastic life had afforded him security and structure, but Sebas...

20 Jan 2h 12min

Reclaiming The Narrative

Reclaiming The Narrative

Episode #470: This episode of Insight Myanmar continues our three-part series covering the Decolonizing Southeast Asian Studies Conference at Chiang Mai University, bringing together voices exploring ...

19 Jan 1h 19min

Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons

Episode #469: “This is not simply about solving the conflict, but about understanding the conflict to begin with,” explains Bhanubhatra “Kaan” Jittiang, an assistant professor of political science at ...

16 Jan 2h 2min

The Fragile Light of Vipassanā

The Fragile Light of Vipassanā

Episode #468: Friedgard Lottermoser, born in Berlin in 1942, first came to Burma in 1959 when her stepfather was sent there on contract. What began as an expatriate posting soon turned into a lifelong...

15 Jan 4h 13min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
i-retten
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
rss-ness
dine-penger-pengeradet
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
e24-podden
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2