Rohingya and Rakhine are Brothers

Toward a peaceful existence...

786 symbol is used as a substitute for Bismillah “In the name of Allah” or “In the name of God”. Information like this directly insulting Islam has shown up in government material from Burma

(SITTWE (Akyab) Myanmar) - I was grown up playing in the monastery's surroundings, I had a lot Buddhist friends who thought of me as their own brother. When we were young we did not know any difference because we shared the same place, we had many similarities, and we did not realize that anything set us apart. We spent a peaceful life like two real brothers.

When our house was burned by the Rakhine, I lost my family and I had no shelter. At that time, my Buddhist friend, Kyaw Zan Tha, provided me protection, and kept me in his house. I stayed one week in his house safely. During those days, we had a peaceful discussion as follows:

Aung Aung Oo: We have been living together for a long time. Why do you think us your enemy?

Kyaw Zan Tha: If I think as enemy I suppose to kill you.

Aung: Rakhine burnt our house and I lost my everything. Now I am hiding here, if someone recognize me I will be killed. Who divided us?

Kyaw: I think dictators are playing a game.

Aung: I believe that Bangali Rakhine whom you called Awakyunetha, Rakhine racists, and hardliners of Government are doing these horrible events.

Kyaw: You are right. There are many video propaganda which influenced most of Rakhine and hatred took place in their hearts especially monks’ preaching affects them too much.

Aung: Do you remember we read Gospel of Buddha together? What did Siddhartha Gautama say? Did he teach Buddhists hatred, racism, and extreme nationalism?

Kyaw: No. I remember Buddha’s stanza:

"Arise from dreams and delusions,
Awaken with open mind.
Seek only Truth. Where you find it,
Peace also you will find."

Aung: To be a real human you need to accept reality; you are real Buddhist that I trust you. I still remember Buddha’s saying:

"My son asks for his inheritance. I cannot give him perishable treasures that will bring cares and sorrows, but I can give him the inheritance of a holy life, which is a treasure that will not perish."

THE Buddha said: "Three things, O disciples, are characterized by secrecy: love affairs, priestly wisdom, and all aberrations from the path of truth. Women who are in love, O disciples seek secrecy and shun publicity; priests who claim to be in possession of special revelation, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity; all those who stray from the path of truth, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity.

"Three things, O disciples, shine before the world and cannot be hidden. What are the three? The moon, O disciples, illumines the world and cannot be hidden; the sun, O disciples, illumines the world and cannot be hidden; and the truth proclaimed by the Tathagata illumines the world and cannot be hidden. These three things, O disciples, illumine the world and cannot be hidden. There is no secrecy about them."

Kyaw: What makes people doing evil?

Aung: Shall I tell Islamic perspective or Buddhist perspective?

Kyaw: If possible, both please?

Aung: According to Islamic perspective, all evils come to you when you follow your desire instead of following God’s commands. Islamic Fundamental principals are based on justice and sincerity which means Muslim should do everything for God’s sake.

THE Buddha said: Killing is evil; stealing is evil; yielding to sexual passion is evil; lying is evil; slandering is evil; abuse is evil; gossip is evil; envy is evil; hatred is evil; to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things, my friends, are evil.

" Desire is the root of evil; hatred is the root of evil; illusion is the root of evil; these things are the root of evil.

" Abstaining from killing is good; abstaining from theft is good; abstaining from sensuality is good; abstaining from falsehood is good; abstaining from slander is good; suppression of unkindness is good; abandoning gossip is good; letting go all envy is good; dismissing hatred is good; obedience to the truth is good; all these things are good.

" Freedom from desire is the root of the good; freedom from hatred and freedom from illusion; these things, my friend, are the root of the good.

Kyaw: Buddhism is based on suffering, what is the origin of suffering?

Aung: Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; disease is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow and misery are suffering; affliction and despair are suffering; to be united with loathsome things is suffering; the loss of that which we love and the failure in attaining that which is longed for are suffering; all these things are suffering. It is lust, passion, and the thirst for existence that yearns for pleasure everywhere, leading to a continual rebirth I It is sensuality, desire, selfishness; all these things are the origin of suffering.

Kyaw: What lead annihilation of suffering?

Aung: The radical and total annihilation of this thirst and the abandonment, the liberation, the deliverance from passion is the annihilation of suffering. It is the holy eightfold path that leads to the annihilation of suffering, which consists of right views, right decision, right speech, right action, right living, right struggling, right thoughts, and right meditation.

Kyaw: Gautama also encouraged justice. Buddhism was founded against caste system.

Aung: Yes. Buddha said:

"My doctrine is pure and it makes no discrimination between noble and ignoble, rich and poor. My doctrine is like unto water which cleanses all without distinction. My doctrine is like unto fire which consumes all things that exist between heaven and earth, great and small. My doctrine is like unto the heavens, for there is room in it, ample room for the reception of all, for men and women, boys and girls, the powerful and the lowly.

Kyaw: You believe in only one God who is invisible. We have thousands of statues that make us strange your religion. We have no God like you believe.

Aung: Buddha said:

All things are made of one essence, yet things are different according to the forms which they assume under different impressions. All things originate from one essence, so they are developing according to one law and they are destined to one aim which is Nirvana. Nirvana comes to thee, Kassapa, when thou understands thoroughly, and when thou lives according to thy understanding, that all things are of one essence and that there is but one law. Hence, there is but one Nirvana as there is but one truth, not two or three.

Kyaw: Do you believe Gautama as one of the Messengers of God including Moses, Jesus, and Muhammed?

Aung: Of course! Ananda, suppressing his tears, said to Gautama, the Blessed One: "Who shall teach us when thou art gone?"

And the Blessed One replied: "I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax, and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure; such as I now proclaim."

Kyaw: Do you think Muhammed is Ari Metteyya?

Aung: The Blessed One said: "He will be known as Metteyya, which means 'he whose name is kindness.' According to Quran Muhammed is Rahmatul Lil Aalamin which means mercy for the Worlds.

Kyaw: Buddha said “This is the Middle Path which the Perfect One has found out, which makes one both to see and to know, which leads to peace, to discernment, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.

Aung: The Quran mentions that Islam is the Middle Path which lead you to Paradise.

Kyaw : Muslim women use veils on their heads which Buddhist do not like.

Aung: The Blessed One , Gautama said: "Guard against looking on a woman. If ye see a woman, let it be as though ye saw her not, and have no conversation with her. If, after all, ye must speak with her, let it be with a pure heart, and think to yourself, 'I as a samana will live in this sinful world as the spotless leaf of the lotus, unsoiled by the mud in which it grows.'

Kyaw: You are talking like a real Buddhist.

Aung: I am Muslim and Islam includes practical life of Gautama.

Kyaw: Then Why are we fighting?

Aung: I have already told you the reason; look at following pictures and you may figure out the reality.

Awakyunetha Rakhines claim that they are Aryan, they are the most superior than Rohingya, they are proud of Neo-facism.

You can see this in the Government Intelligent Website, Myanmar Express; they are trying to make a riot between Buddhist and Muslim that help them to keep their power longer.

Yours Faithfully
Aung Aung Oo
Chin Pain Road
Kun Dan Quarter
Sittwe(Akyab)
Myanmar.