Thamanya Sayardaw passed away

DVB ( 2 December 2003 )

Bhaddanta Vinaya, one of Burma's most respected Buddhist monks passed away on the early morning of 29 November.

Bhaddanta Vinaya, 93, is known as Thamanya Sayardaw or the abbot of Thamanya Hill Monastery that locates 100 miles east of Rangoon in Pa-an Township, Karen State.

He died on the way back to his monastery from a Hospital in Rangoon, where he had undergone treatment for a week, according to Nan Khin Htway Myint, a MP of Karen State.

His body was taken to the monastery and thousands of people are flocking to Thamanya Hill to pay their last respects, she added.

As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi revere the abbot very much she visited Thamanya Hill in 1995 to pay homage to the Vinaya after she was freed from six years of house arrest.

She visited him again in June 2002 after being released from 19 months of detention.

But it is unclear now whether she would attend the funeral of late abbot.