ASIAN BUDDHIST ASSOCIAT10N
Spreading the word of Zen

By STEPHANIE GARTELMANN
They don't hold formal conferences or seek out media coverage of their more than 20yesrs of charitable work in Myaumar.
Rather, members of the Asian Buddhist Association puttheirtimeintotheproject itself and traversing Japan drumming up interest among grassroots Buddhist groups, nongovernmental organizations and potential volunteers. Since the association's official launch in 1983, it has built five schools, a children's hospital and three water-purification plants in the Southeast Asian country formally known as Burma, while teaching the spiritual values of Buddhism. lt plans to pursue similar activities in Vietnam, Cambodia and China in the future. It all started in 1972 in Imari, Saga Prefecture, where a group under Zen Buddhist priest Kokai Ohya held Zen workshops for cbildren. War was a recurring theme in discussions about spirituality and Japanese history and through these talks, it became clear Myanmar was in need of assistance, recalls the group's director, Shuko Kojima of Honkoji Zen Temple, Imari. "During World War II, the people of Myanmar suffered at the hands of four countries India, China, the United States and Japan. Our group wanted to start projects in countries Japan had occupied during the war. Myanmar was particularly responsive to our proposals, so our work began there," he says In Japanese Buddhism, says Kojima, ceremonies are held for the dead. "But we wanted to do something for the living," he says with a smile. The group began nearly 20 years of aid to Burma with the extension of a 1,000-year-old pagoda in 1983, concentrating its activities in Maiktila in the center of the country. At the time, Burma was crumbling under the socialist rule of Gen. Ne Win. The country's history of political turbulence goes back much further, however, even before it became a British colony in 1883. The Japanese Imperial Army occupied the country between 1941 and 1943, and Burma broke free from British rule in 1948. Sinse 1990. When the military junta annulled the results of democratic elections, Mynmar has suffered under a dictatorship whose human rights violations have led to much aid being withheld from the U.S. and Europe. Despite harsh criticism from these govemments, Japan has continued to provide foreign aid. Kojima is aware of the criticism that aid to Myanmar may bring but stresses that the association is a grassroots group. "Peace and health help villages and people to grow together," Kojima says. "We built schools to improve health awareness, but we also wanted to foster independent thinking aud help Myanmar grow. We don't approve of themilitary regime, but you can't implement changes overnight. We have to work in gradual steps." One of the starkest areas of need now and when the group started was medical treatment, particularly in rural areas. This led to the group enlisting the help of the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia, a United Nations-recognized medical NGO based in Okayama that currently provides medical aid to 15 countries overseas AMDA medical teams have been sent to Myanmar regularly since 1996 to treat villagers in remote mountain areas. Under-5 mortality is 150/1.00 in Myanmar compared to 6/1,000 in Japan. "One of the greatest causes of illness is polluted water,which is why we built the water- purification plants," says Kojima. Through its work in Myanmar, the group also aims to encourage spiritual Buddhist values over material ones which, it says. dominate Japanese society today. Kojima hopes the Japanese will eventualiy rediscover Buddhist spirituality and an awareness of their community roots. But he also feels that society's increasing mobility will continue to blur the differences among the various Buddhist sects, and possibly among other religions too. in the future "One day. Buddhist sects and even world religions may mingle the way people do at a Japanese bath with everyone doing their own thing but sharing the same 'water' " About one-third of the Asian Buddhist Association's 3,500 members are Buddnist Others are families of soldiers who fought in Burma in WWII, and some are Christian. Its nominal membership fees (between 1,000 and 10,000 per year) help finanse the group's activities, aiong with much from the core 20 members' ownpockets "W
e have learned much from Christianity, which fosters charitable action and the volunteer spirit," says Kojima, who also holds much respect for the trusted role Christianity has in some regions. "I had forgotten what a backbone of the community Christianity ean be." The Asian Buddhist Association is making its Internet debut this March, and a book looking back at its involvement with Myanmar will be released in March 2002. Its current activities in Maiktila will wind to a close, and the group will take a break before beginning new activities elsewhere in Asia. Kojima says the group is also very interested in outside opinion about its activities in myanmar and hopes to gain feedback that will help in its future activities. It looks as though the group's pursuit of bringing change to people in Asia still has a long road to travel.