Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Ashin Agga Dhamma of the International Burmese Monks Organization greets a visitor.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Retired educator Stephen Poppick and his wife May are devout Buddhists who visited the ABMA many times while it was based in Utica. When it became too inconvenient for the monks to continue living upstate, Stephen helped find a house in Bed-Stuy to turn into the Metta Parami monastery for a nominal rent. He also provides other help to the monks, such as choosing an ESL class.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
U Pyinya Zawta is Executive Director of the ABMA and was featured in the 2009 documentary Burma VJ. Ordained at the age of 20, he has been imprisioned multiple times for his support of the Burmese people against the government. His monastery in Yangon cared for many neglected HIV/AIDS patients from surrounding villages.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Nay Tin Myint has lived in Elmhurst for two years after six months living in Mae Sot, Thailand. As a student leader for the National League for Democracy in the 80s, he was arrested and given a life sentence for speaking out on human rights and democracy. He served 15 years of this sentence, including 7 years of solitary, and was moved around to a total of 5 different prisons to prevent his discovery by human rights activists.

He and other student leaders were tortured, and many of his comrades committed suicide. Nay Tin Myint's faith helped him through this time; he meditated day and night until his release in 2005.

In 2007, before the Saffron Uprising, he took the bus out of Yangon, walked through the jungle, and emerged in Thailand. He lived in the NLD headquarters in Mae Sot until he was quickly resettled to the U.S. as a special case.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Guest monks from around New York City helped bless the new monastery. We'd already been inside but this was the official opening, following the chanting monks led by Ashin Agga Dhamma of the International Burmese Monks Organization.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
U Agga Nyana prefers to go by Agga, a strangely casual idea to older Burmese. His parents put him through his first temporary novicehood at the age of 6, and he chose to return at age 10 in order to get a better education. He greatly prefers Brooklyn to Utica, where he felt he never got to explore the area on foot.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 @ 3200 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Outside the new Metta Parami monastery in Bed-Stuy, home for the monks of the All Burma Monks' Alliance, an organization that struggles for democracy in Burma and the release of imprisioned monks. Leaders of the Saffron Revolution in 2007, many monks of the ABMA fled Burma to Mae Sot, Thailand soon after the government crackdown. The three monks of this monastery were re-settled to Utica in January 2009 and moved to Brooklyn in August 2010, where they have easier access to the U.N., the capital, and other well-connected monks.

All Burma Monks' Alliance

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Fundraiser for a new meditation center.

Posted on October 16, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Neopan 1600 | Arista Private Reserve RC
Ashin Vimala, photo enthusiast.

Posted on October 16, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0)