Promoting a Loving Diet and Lifestyle in Myanmar

Recorded by Sister Jin Fang Zheng, Taipei Formosa
Reported by Taoyuan News Group (Originally in Chinese)

Myanmar, located in the west of the Indochina Peninsula (in Asia), has a population of about 53 million people. Formosan initiates, after gathering information from various resources and consulting with the Burmese local contact person, decided to go to Myanmar’s capital city where many tourists visit, Yangon, to distribute Alternative Living flyers promoting a loving diet and lifestyle.

On April 8, Golden Year 3 (2006), a group of 10 Formosan practitioners set off from CKS (Chiang Kai-Shek) Airport in Taoyuan, carrying 40,000 flyers and Master’s full blessing. By the afternoon the initiates arrived in Yangon city and immediately met with the contact person in order to gain a deeper understanding of the local situation. At first, for security reasons, the contact person suggested to entrust the flyers to the local temples and ask the temple personnel to share the message as the main channel of distribution. However, after initiates expressed their wish to personally deliver the flyers into the hands of local people, the contact person flexibly revised the plan. Instead, he led initiates to Sule Temple at the heart of downtown. There the Sule Temple personnel highly acknowledged the content of the flyer and gave initiates full permission to distribute within the temple. Within just 20 minutes, several hundreds of flyers had been disseminated. At dawn, the contact person again took two other initiates to the most famous Temple in Yangon, Shwedagon. As soon as they arrived, they were overwhelmed by a sea of people. The flyers were warmly welcomed by the crowds. Within an hour, over 10,000 copies were gone.

The next day was a Sunday; feeling encouraged by the previous experiences, initiates formed 3 groups to simultaneously distribute flyers in different locations: the Sule Temple, the Shwedagon Temple, and other temples in the city.

Shwedagon Temple was packed with crowds on Sunday. Upon arrival, the initiates noticed that people who came to worship appeared very sincere, thus it was easy to distribute flyers. Though the police guards tried to stop the process, some monks as well as people standing by encouraged the initiates to continue the distribution. The enthusiasm of local people touched initiates’ hearts deeply. Later, the practitioners only distributed at a few spots suggested by the Temple then the rest of the flyer sharing went smoothly.

The acceptance of the flyers by crowds in the Sule Temple area was incredible. Many of them received the flyers in a traditionally respectful manner, by supporting the right hand with the left hand and using the right hand to receive. With their own initiative, many people came over to ask for the flyers. Some wanted more for friends and relatives, while others praised the contents of the flyer and expressed their wish to turn to a vegetarian diet. What impressed the initiates most was the sincere expression on people’s faces when they read the flyers. Even though many people had their hands full, none of them discarded the flyers. Some even volunteered to help with the distribution.

Local people read the flyers attentively

Although initiates who set out to distribute in the downtown area had been warned that it was considered a dangerous act to distribute flyers on the street, they still bravely carried out the mission. The response was surprising. Pedestrians as well as bus passengers were very curious and came over to ask for flyers. A driver friend even stopped his car and asked for one. More interestingly, a policeman also approached an initiate to obtain a flyer, which encouraged the initiates to distribute more enthusiastically to satisfy every extended hand and deliver Master’s love. A few homeless people and children offered to help, thus accelerating the distribution. With the assistance of local drivers, fellow practitioners managed to visit 8 temples and all of them not only allowed the initiates to distribute inside the temple, but also agreed to keep some for people to take. Thanks to the drivers’ help along the way, the initiates were able to overcome all kinds of obstacles and eventually handed out 27,000 flyers smoothly.

On the third day, April 10, the initiates decided to publish Alternative Living in a local newspaper. An owner of a vegetarian restaurant recommended publishing in a popular newspaper “Weekly Eleven” which had high quality printing. The initiates immediately visited the newspaper company and to their delight, the staff at the newspaper company was very supportive of the ideal. After some discussion, they arranged for a full page public notice to appear in the newspaper for 3 weeks so that God’s love could be propagated to every corner of Myanmar. A friend of the initiates’ driver also informed them that their actions had attracted the local media’s attention and a newspaper even reported the flyer distribution activity in Burmese. Hearing the news, the initiates were very elevated.

Overall, all the initiates who participated felt it a miracle to be able to smoothly hand out 40,000 flyers in a country whose political situation is not very stable. Though they encountered many problems and difficulties, all of them were smoothed out or solved finally. Miracles happened one after another. They understood clearly that it was due to God’s grace and guidance that they were able to complete the mission successfully.