Buddhism and Social Work: Monks as Social Workers

Social work means different kind of works intended to benefit mankind consist of individual charity, teaching, training as well as political activities in working for a better society. As being Buddhist monks, monks should involve in social actions for the development of society but they should understand the situation in involving social action and what kinds of social works are suitable and appropriate for Buddhist monks and how monks can help to society.

Some people believe that Buddhist monks should live only in the temples and pray many hours a day, rather than involve themselves in daily life. But monks have in fact been engaged for a long time, just in an unsystematic way. Monks have built schools, orphanage center and hospitals, but nobody realized that it was social engagement.

 

Here I would like to mention about Kukkine orphanage center or Tejedarama temple in Bahan township Yangon where I was staying for many years and how the monk organizers provides for homeless children and how the abbot trains their mind. Social work is actually difficult more than what we can imagine and thought. Social workers help people overcome problems and make their lives better.

 

Tejedarama temple or Kukkine orphanage center also provides many things for orphaned children and make sure for their life. Kukkine center is a peace place to stay for hopeless children from different parts of Myanmar. This center makes to save the life of hopeless children and gives bright hope to them physically and spiritually as well.

 

I do really appreciate our abbot for this hard job and I understand how hard this work for him, the founder abbot does not have strong budget but he has very strong minded to overcome all difficulties in order to run this center. The founder abbot works to help children and assist people in managing their daily lives.

The purpose establishment of this center is to provide the impoverished and orphan children of Myanmar with love, a comfortable accommodation, good education, spiritual enrichment, and physical development.

 

And To help them obtain a higher education.
Nurture them to become good leaders to their communities when they graduate from schools.

To develop a self-reliance and lead the community.

To serve communities as they take turn to feed those orphans.

 

And the founder abbot intended to develop the children confidently  surrounded by unconditional love, respect, compassion and dignity, leading them to earn a decent living and be productive in their community.

And also to cover them from street life, abandonment, and victims of maltreatment, and to provide them to have the safety place and live positive sense of life and to care their educational and intellectual that train them in hopefully way, and to care their health with physically need.

 

I am going to conclude this writing by praising of our abbot hard working and devote most of his precious times on this social work. To up lift their moral and living standard by helping them meet their spiritual and physical needs both.  One day, when they become mature and earn proper education or have efficient qualification to stand on their own feet, they will lead their own communities in some development projects not just only to support their own families. This is why children are seedling for future; we all have to give them good fertilizers.