Question: Hello Sayadaw! I want to ask about doing good deeds in Thabarwa which is serving or helping others compared to meditation but because meditation is personal. Sitting here is not helping anyone. So how does it equal taking care of patients and other good deeds?

– “The more you meditate, the more you can keep your mind to be stable and pure. In this way, the more you are able to stay with that stable and pure mind, the longer you can do with a stable and pure mind. Besides, a stable and pure mind will make fewer mistakes, so that’s why it is really powerful. Volunteering only with an unstable and impure mind has limits, can not do long-term, only for short-terms. Most of the international volunteers can do good deeds with limit, limited activities, limited time. Because they are not meditators so they can not control their mind. Their mind is not stable, not pure. Besides, they make mistakes because of the unstable and impure mind. That’s why their actions are not complete. In this way they cannot get complete results.

I am a meditator that’s why I can do many things. I can do all the time for over 18 years now as a monk continuously. I make less mistake because of the power of meditation. I know what is right, what is wrong. In most actions I can understand good and bad, right and wrong. That’s why many people rely on me because I can understand more and I can do more. So volunteering only is not complete. We use the power of the mind. Most people use the power of knowledge, medicine, money; for the meditators we use the power of a stable and pure mind. That is really amazing.

In the new Thabarwa center – 9 acres project, there will be 150 beds Dhamma hospital with international standard and meditation center. It will be about 12 stories, two buildings. Without the power of the mind we cannot do. We are not rich, we don’t have money, we don’t have power and authority, but we use the power of the stable and pure mind. Many people will not think like this because they are using and relying on money or authority. That’s why they may not think to do like this. But if we are using the power of the stable and pure mind, we can think about it and we can get success in this project. Because we will keep that project in the mind until it finishes. If the mind is not stable we cannot keep the project all the time. In that way, we cannot get success. This is the power of meditation – the power of mindfulness and detachment. We need to detach because most people may not believe, may not think it is possible. So if we cannot detach, we cannot continue the project for sure. There was nothing like this before, international hospitals are mostly for business, not for merits, not for free, not for good deeds. It costs a lot but it is very useful. That’s why we should do it. Not many big hospitals in this area. Thanlyin and also Kayan Thone Kwa don’t have big hospitals, only in Yangon, but always be crowded with the patients. So we should try to make a public hospital for the most needed people in this surrounded area. It should be the biggest teamwork with the donors, doctors, technicians… We can think about this because now at the moment, there are also many volunteers for patients. We have been doing good deeds for many years like this that’s why we can take the next steps for the future.

We accept mental patients here in this center by not using much medicine. We use the power of mindfulness and detachment for the mental patients. There are many mental patients here but they became better after a long time. Because they became meditators slow and steadily. They became volunteers by doing as much as they can. They became donors by donating as much as they can. That’s why they are what they do. They are doing good deeds that’s why they became volunteers, donors, meditators. So this is changing life for sure. We need to be patient, we need to endure, we need to believe in the power of practicing mediation. Here we emphasize on meditation in daily activities. Now many people are busy by volunteering in different places, different projects. So I emphasize mindfulness in daily life. It will take time but I am patient to teach every day. If they are patient, they can learn every day and then they will be able to be mindful of their daily activities. It is difficult, it is not traditional but it is essential.

We’ve already got the land for the new Thabarwa center. That is a big project especially for me new Thabarwa center already have in the mind. That’s why whatever we do and whatever good deeds I have been doing now and before and future, it will create the new center. By teaching like this, this is a good deed for the new Thabarwa center also. It intends for that project. Because you are here in the old Thabarwa center you know about the weakness of this center. So it is difficult to change the old Thabarwa center to be clean and disciplined. Therefore, instead of changing the Thabarwa center to be a new one, we will remain the old Thabarwa center like the ancients, like the antiques, like the old buildings in London. So we should keep the old Thabarwa center and then we will establish new Thabarwa centers with a system, with the latest technology, system.

Only by practice, I am not attaching for the new Thabarwa center but I am not rejecting. I try to be using-only. Old Thabarwa center is essential that’s why it needs to continue by itself but it will develop all the time. Besides, the new Thabarwa center is essential for the new Myanmar country also, for the new world, new countries, new ideas, new meditation centers, new volunteering centers. There will be many difficulties like this virus but we can detach. If we cannot detach we can do nothing. Now we can detach that’s why we can continue to do good deeds together. Most of the people are doing nothing by staying. They are doing good deeds by themselves not with the others.”

“[Now we are facing the difficult period with the Corona virus] But in the villages, it is safe. In Myanmar, there are many private areas, private villages without connection with the cities. I know many places. That’s why we are safe here, in this country. We can choose one of the places to survive in the worst condition. But they are not much familiar with the foreigners. That’s why for the foreigners, It’s not easy. But at the present, there is a new Thabarwa center, I’ve never been there. It’s near the village with 70 houses with trees and three small houses, our little nuns from this center are staying there. So for those who want to stay in the forest, the foreigners, you can go and stay. There is water but no electricity, you can use solar energy. There is food for you to cook by yourselves and you can stay there for one month by yourselves with the little nuns. It’s 24 miles on the highway to Mandalay. Some volunteers want to be separated by themselves, we can think about that place. You can test by staying there. You can go and see it.

In Thabarwa center we also have the ambulances. We don’t have many problems with the police. If you want to meditate by yourselves, that’s good, at least one month, for those who need privacy. In this situation, we can use that place. We will also try to find another place. That is also Thabarwa center, that’s why it’s safe. I was asking Thabarwa center in Bago, but three days ago they had stopped, no visitor, no foreigner, even no Burmese because of their restriction. There is also a monastery which donates us the land. Some international volunteers already being there for fasting, a good place by the lake. But most people think about safety, if there are many visitors, the virus can spread to them. So even some of the famous pagodas they closed totally for one month, two months.

In our surrounding villages, there are also some workers come back from Thailand. Because of the virus so they will also stay at the school in Good Will village for 2 weeks quarantine. There may be three Burmese who recently came back. Now the local people in this area are asking my permission to spray the roads. Because this is a crowded area with many old and sick people so they worry. In Good Will village, there are just many young people so not dangerous like Thabarwa center. We have many old and weak people, that’s why if the virus is here, we are not safe.”