Monk's words stir the spirit of Myanmar's resistance

....On a recent night, a few thousand people filled a street in Yangon,
Myanmar's largest city, sitting quietly as they waited for the monk to
arrive.

When he emerged from his SUV, people bowed their heads to the ground as he
made his way to a stage, where he sat cross-legged on a gilded chair as big
as a throne.

In large public gatherings such as these, when the generals' spies lurk in
the audience and listen for any hint of trouble, his lectures are often
built around the same lesson: Cruel rulers create bad karma. And they will
suffer for what they have done.

That's a moral not easily shrugged off by a government whose leader, Senior
Gen. Than Shwe, is intensely superstitious: He consults astrologers to make
important decisions.

The ruling generals also churn out propaganda images portraying themselves
as devoted Buddhists, receiving the blessing of sympathetic monks. If their
faith is true, they know their actions will determine their next life in
reincarnation's endless cycle of death and rebirth.

"They have to be afraid they'll be coming back as cockroaches," wisecracked
one Western envoy....


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