Since I am a son of Buddha, I mediate conflicts by teaching loving kindness in accordance with his dhamma, and I also provide monastic education to conflict-affected children and youth in order to foster reconciliation within communities…. Let us work together to build ASEAN into an epicentrum of harmony to foster peace, security, and economic prosperity.
~ Venerable Dr. Sobhita, President of International Buddhist Education Center, Myanmar
Remarks by Venerable Dr. Sobhita, President of International Buddhist Education Center, Myanmar
Delivered to the inaugural ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference
Jakarta, 7 August 2023
Good morning and mingalabar (“hello”) to all of you: to the Honorable President of the Republic of Indonesia; the young Indonesian middle school students who just told us about character education; representatives of ASEAN Member States and religious bodies; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I am honored and privileged to be here today at this important summit, to help “build consensus regarding shared values” of peace and prosperity.
I am a Buddhist monk from the Sagaing region of Myanmar, which has undergone many tragic experiences of violent conflict. I come here in the hope that I may seek concrete avenues of cooperation with my fellow religious leaders to bring peace to my hometown.
Since I am a son of Buddha, I mediate conflicts by teaching loving kindness in accordance with his dhamma, and I also provide monastic education to conflict-affected children and youth in order to foster reconciliation within communities.
My organization, the International Buddhist Education Center (IBEC) is headquartered in Sagaing, Myanmar, but also works to promote reconciliation among the Myanmarese diaspora through centers in Thailand, Nepal, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Last year, I attended the inaugural G20 Religion Form (R20) Summit in Bali, as well as the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, to appeal for your help in healing the pain of the Myanmarese people.
As ASEAN Member States have worked to facilitate a process of dialogue in Myanmar, I would like to stress that there is nothing more important than focusing on the needs of younger generations and children within the country. My center provides not only shelter, but also a place to learn for children afflicted by conflict, and I am trying to mobilize awareness of the need to protect places of learning from attack and disruption.
At this very moment, IBEC is hosting over 6,300 students through our community-based monastic education networks in Sagaing as well as ethnic states such as Chin, Kachin, and Karen, where conflict has disrupted schools.
Buddhist pagodas on the Bagan Plains, Pagan, Mandalay.
I would like to use this opportunity to appeal to international leaders and the ASEAN Chair — Indonesia — to please help us. Help us by reinforcing the idea that schools must be kept safe, by using discussions about children’s education to call for a humanitarian pause to conflicts, and through mediation and confidence-building measures.
At the same time, I call upon my fellow citizens to push for a cessation of violence against innocent civilians, religious leaders, schoolteachers, government staff, and children. I would like to urge all concerned parties — do not disrupt children’s education. Protect schools.
Finally, I would like to request that international leaders, colleagues, and friends help us to reopen the schools in Myanmar, so that future generations may live in peace and prosperity. All parties should come together and work to make schools “zones of peace” that can be expanded, step-by-step. The international community must help us to achieve this. Shaming, blaming, pressuring, and sanctioning does not help, but rather makes our people suffer and leaves our children without education and hope for the future.
It is my aspiration that ASEAN lead this initiative. I believe that the crisis in Myanmar can only be resolved through constructive dialogue, positive partnership, effective collaboration, and — most important of all — through shared values of peace and reconciliation championed by our religious leaders in the region. Let us work together to build ASEAN into an epicentrum of harmony to foster peace, security, and economic prosperity. Thank you.
Dhammayangyi Temple, Myanmar. Photo credit: Vyacheslav Argenberg