Monastic protests in Burma

The best coverage of the current protests in Burma is unsurprisingly coming from The Irrawaddy team. Their rolling update of events across the country is available here.

Tuesday, 18 September, is the day the “The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks” has specified for commencing the “patam nikkujjana kamma“ (refusal of alms) from members of the country’s military government. There are also new reports of large protests at monasteries throughout Burma. From north to south, from Kachin state to the Mon territories, the Sangha appears to be restless.

This is, of course, not the first time that Burma’s monks have demonstrated against the current military government. For a scholarly account of the last major period of monastic agitation see this 1993 article by Professor Bruce Matthews. New Mandala readers hoping to learn more about the history of monastic protests in Burma may also find these references useful.