“Now we need to control the center, not much activity, not much going in and out together with the others . We stay by ourselves and practice meditation, in this way the virus cannot spread, and it will decay by itself. In the village there is privacy, not much people and activities, not much problem with the virus. But in the cities and Thabarwa center, many people and activities therefore the virus could spread fast and be active in the city and the center. Now we will start reducing the number of people and activities to be less, but we will emphasize on doing only and not doing only. It will take at least 2 weeks or 1 month. First 2 weeks are very serious. From today, we need to be altogether still and practice in silence. Whatever we do, we do it slowly and steadily. We need to reduce our activities again in the future. Finally, we stop. Just meditation in a sitting position. That’s the best, that’s the safest for all.

Some of the Government staff will cooperate with us, they will come tomorrow to participate to control the activities. But they understand about Thabarwa center, so we can decide by ourselves, they will support us to have less movement here in this center. Especially during the first two weeks that is the most dangerous time for the country. Now we have to practice how to be in harmony with the virus, not to fight each other. We should be careful not to invite virus in the center. If the virus is here, we cannot move. Many people worry about the center even the government officer, so we need to be careful to solve the problem of the mind, not because of the virus in the center but because of the virus in the mind. We should do this. Solving the problem in the mind is my responsibility, I have been doing this for over 18 years. I have many experiences in solving many problems from the mind. That is why many people may not understand my decision, teaching and activities; because it is for the mind not for the person. So if you see from the side of the person, you cannot understand. Only when you see from the side of the mind, you can understand my decision, my teaching and my activities but I’m not rejecting to solve problems of the lay people. We can work together, both can work together in the center. Some people are taking care of the material only but I will teach the others, I will teach to all but only some people will follow to emphasize the mind. In this way, the center the act in the daily activities of Thabarwa is complete for both body and mind.

Alms-round will also reduce one or two months later. Those who go alms-round, should stay by themselves not live together with the others who are not going out. Myanmar monks stay together and separate from others. The virus is relying on us. If we go, the virus will go. If we are all together, the virus can be together with us in the group. So if we do something, the virus can do and the virus can survive. Only when we try to stop, the virus will stop. But for Thabarwa it is very difficult, most of the people cannot rely on themselves. That’s why there will still be activities, there will still be going here and there but we must be careful. We should do only the most needed things. It is best if we are able to be doing only and not doing only. In this way the virus cannot survive because that technique is too advanced for the virus. The virus cannot understand the truth. Relying on the truth is the best we can do and we are safe for sure.

To be a good leader is very rare in this country. That’s why we cannot hope to have more good leaders, skillful leaders in this country. I’m trying to solve this problem by teaching through practice. I allow them to try to be a leader, a good leader by practice. That is the way I have been using to solve these problems. But even if I allow, most of the people dare not do as a leader. They may stay by themselves, they may not work for others, may work only for themselves. That is common in this country. Many good people, many skillful people but they don’t want to be a leader, especially in religion in doing good deeds. That’s why there are many complaints about the leader but it concerns the followers also. Most of the followers are not mindful, not much knowledge, strong attachment, really difficult to deal with the public, that’s why not good followers and not good leaders; the same. I’m trying to solve this problem by practice, by doing good deeds together, by opening more and more Thabarwa centers. Always more people have a chance to train by themselves as a good leader. The longer the Thabarwa center is, the better leaders will appear in the future. So we need to be patient. I know the weakness of the leaders, they are short tempered, they don’t have enough knowledge, they are not very intelligent, but we are grateful to them. They dare to doing for all. Most of the people dare not doing for all. So this is the truth about the people here. But leaders are changing, the minds of the leaders are changing all the time. It became better and better compared with the past experience. If you work in their place, you can understand that. Many leaders of the old and sick people cannot endure so they stopped their duties by themselves. So something is better than nothing. In this way, I accept, I forgive, I endure many mistakes. So it is really difficult to do something in this country.”

Question: Actually I think that it is fine to do good deeds but it’s not going to protect us against the virus when we are exposed. It is wrong to say that we are protected. The virus doesn’t care if we do good deeds, we should follow what other countries are doing. What do you think?

– “But you should understand that fear, worry, greed, anger, ignorance are the causes of the virus for sure. If we are not angry with the virus, if we are not afraid of the virus or if we know about the virus, understand what is the cause of the virus, in these ways, we can be free from the virus, if we don’t know about the virus, we can be attacked by the virus. Because knowing about the truth is the power of …the virus doesn’t understand truth. So it will try to survive only for itself, if the virus doesn’t keep precept, it will kill the human being for sure. So if we keep precepts, we cannot be together. This is the way to prevent the virus indirectly. If we are killing, we are sure to be killed. In this way, we can be attacked, we can be killed by the virus. If we are not destroying the belongings of the others, our belongings will not be destroyed. In this way we can be free from the virus. The virus can destroy the whole business, the whole activities, even the lives of many people. If we have different views, if we can endure, if we are patient, if we understand the truth, we will not be together with the virus. If we are not killing, we will be together with the people who are not killing. So the virus cannot be close to us. This is the way to solve, to prevent the virus by doing good deeds continuously. We may have kill in the past and because of mistakes in the past we can be attacked by the virus but if we are serious about doing good deeds now, we can be safe. This is the way I teach people to prevent the virus. If you try, you can understand.”

Question: I think physical distancing is the best to prevent this virus. We can also take the medicine and sleep well to strengthen immune system.

– “If you are taking medicine, your immune system may not be good for sure. So if you feel sick, try to be mindful and then the immune system will fight the suffering. In this way, the immune system can be stronger. If you are feeling headache, you should not take medicine easily, try to be mindful, in this way the power of the immune system will be stronger. No medicine now is working against the virus, that’s why in that case, only if the immune system is really strong, we can survive for sure. We will not be killed, the virus will be killed by our immune system. Many people in developed countries are relying on medicine, taking medicine all the time, that’s why their immune systems are not working. That’s why many people are killed because their immune system is weak. They survive by taking medicine. This is good for old viruses and disease but for new diseases, they cannot be effective, they can do nothing. They need to wait for medicine to appear. If we meditate, we can reduce relying on medicine, money. In this way, we can endure. Besides, the government officer suggests wearing a mask, not to protect ourselves but to protect others. There may be viruses in our body we may not know because we are healthy and young but not to spread to others. So this is their suggestion also. If you are hungry, we should be mindful, and then the hunger will disappear, if we feel tired, we should be mindful, we can be refreshed by ourselves. This is using our immune system to be stronger. If we feel sleepy, we should not sleep, we should try to fight against the sleepy mind. In this way, we can endure not having enough sleep. As we practice like this, we may need 2 hours for sleeping. Some people here cannot endure the noise of the children or dogs because they never endure. That’s why they are in trouble with noise but if we endure, we can endure noise. Noise may not be a problem. This is the practice to endure more and more. We should practice both in silence and noise. Some people cannot endure if they are silent. We’re afraid of that alone. If we endure the silence, silence or being alone may not be a problem. This is the way of practice. This is self practice to be patient, to be endurable. If we could practice like this we are sure to survive in this virus attack. We can survive without food, without enough sleep, without medicine, we can survive with doing nothing. I’ve been invited by patients all the time. I have to visit many hospitals, clinics. Therefore my immune system in my body has to fight all the time with the virus or the disease because of dealing with the patients. That’s why I don’t need to worry for myself. Here in this country, not much chemical, not much pesticide used everywhere. We have to deal with the virus or insects all the time. Therefore the immune system is strong for the people here. For westerners they use a lot of pesticide, medicine, so their immune system is not healthy. That’s why there may be a lot of death. When the virus is new, no medicine. Maybe in developed countries, they are using a lot of chemicals, pesticides so they are always destroying the virus, insects that’s why they are attacked by insects and viruses. In return so many people died in developed countries. Most of them are rich, their immune system is not good. They are cause and effect. For the poor people, they cannot use medicine so much, they cannot use pesticide, so they don’t need so much for the virus. Like a goodwill village, there are people, many children but they are not much worried for that good will village. A lot of the old and sick people, foreigners here in this center, many people worry about this center. We are trying to solve this problem by doing good deeds. This is the best we can do.”