By WAI MOE
Tens of thousands of Burmese pilgrims crossed into Thailand this week to attend celebrations marking the 46th birthday of a monk who was once a close spiritual adviser of Burma’s ousted prime minister and military intelligence chief, Gen Khin Nyunt.
Mongphone Sayadaw Ashin Bhaddanta Nanasamvara is now abbot of Wat Weng Kaew in Chiang Saen, on the banks of the Mekong River in northern Thailand. He moved there from Burma after the fall of Khin Nyunt in 2004.
His followers in Burma, mostly from Shan State, have been travelling in their thousands to Chiang Saen annually since 2007 to honor him on his birthday. The celebrations last about one week.
The Burmese pilgrims spend at least 5,000 baht (US $143) travelling to and from Chiang Saen, some from as far away as Rangoon, an arduous journey of more than 1,000 miles, taking a week or more to cover.
The Shan Herald Agency for News said people from half of the 56 townships in Shan State travelled to this year’s ceremonies, including well-known Shan traditional singers.
The Burmese abbot is also well known in Thailand, and many Thai Buddhists also attended the birthday celebrations.
Ashin Bhaddanta Nanasamvara was born in Thailand and when he was 11 he entered the monkhood at Mongphone Monastery in the Burmese-Thai border town of Tachilek, where he eventually became abbot. He returned to Thailand in 2004, after the fall of Khin Nyunt.
Khin Nyunt and other high-ranking military officers were frequent visitors at the monastery.
“Before Khin Nyunt was arrested and ousted from power, he came and paid his respects to Mongphone Sayadaw at least once a year,” Sein Kyi of the Shan Herald Agency for News told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “High ranking intelligence officers and military were also among his followers at the time.”
Sein Kyi said Kyaing Kyaing, the wife of junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe, had tried to coax the abbot back to Burma.
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