Blog

  • Myat Htoo မြတ်ထူး

    Myat Htoo မြတ်ထူး

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    University Days

    U Myat Htoo
    • Attended I.Sc at Mandalay University
    • Graduated with Civil Engineering in 1968
    • Joined Faculty
    • Moved to the USA
    • Worked for CalTrans
    • Spouse : Daw Hnin Maung Maung / Ma Ku
    • Children : Three sons, One daughter
    • He is now GBNF

    Activities

    SF Bay Area Alumni Group
    • Founding member of RIT Alumni International
    SPZP-2000
    • Master of Ceremonies for SPZP-2000
    • Wrote about the SPZP-2000 experience in the Post Reunion series.
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    U Myat Htoo (Right)
    NorCal RITAA
    • Founding member of NorCal RITAA.
    • Chair of BOD (Board of Directors).
    • One of the hosts for NorCal RITAA meetings. He would invite the attendees to take a boat ride on the nearby man-made lake. Would also arrange a karaoke session.
    • Past President of Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA)
    • President of Theravada Buddhist Society of America (TBSA) for a decade. Led the procession for the scattering of ashes of Sayadaw U Silananda into the San Francisco Bay near the Golden Gate Bridge.

    Lost Neikan RIT

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is lost-neik-ban.jpg
    • Wrote a parody on “Pyauk Sone Nay Thaw Neikban Bon” (the song by Sai Kham Leik and Sai Htee Saing).
    LA Reunion
    • Played the Ukelele and sang the song described above at the 2015 Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles.
    Ukelele

    Donation

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is donation-2.jpg
    • Donated Life Vests to 20 teachers in the town of Paletwa in Chin Special Division, Myanmar.
    • The teachers risked their lives daily crossing Kaladan river to teach children on the other side of the town.
    • One teacher was killed in a boat mishap in surging waters during heavy rains. A life jacket would have saved her life.

    Golden Jubilee

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is myat-htoo-ma-ku.jpg

    On May 20, 2018, the BOD (Board of Directors) and EC (Executive Committee) members of NorCal RITAA threw a surprise party to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of U Myat Htoo (C68, Chair of BOD) and Daw Hnin Maung Maung (Ma Ku, “Nyima Lay”).

    According to Saya, he was the youngest in his family and wanted a younger sibling (preferably a sister).

    He found an innocent 9 year old neighbor (and family friend).

    Ten years later, they tied the knot.

    Memories

    With Saya DAG
    Meeting
    Pon Tu
    Gathering
    Lunch meeting
    Library
  • Ohn Khine အုန်းခိုင်

    Ohn Khine အုန်းခိုင်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Highlights

    Ohn Khine
    • Offered me rides during my visits to Yangon especially to attend meetings for SPZP-2012, SPZP-2016, HMEE-2012, and to selected 69er Breakfast Gatherings.
    • Spouse is Sayama Daw Khin Swe Aye (Winnie, ChE70)
    • Younger sister is Sayama Dr. Khin Swe Myint (Physics).
    • Other Names : Ohn Gaing & Gaing Gyi
    • Matriculated in 1964 from St. Peter’s High School, Mandalay.
    • Admitted to 1st BE in November 1964.
    • Graduated with Mechanical Engineering in 1970.
    • Founder & moderator of the Google Group “Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65”.
    • Maintains the GBNF list for the Class of 70.
    • Joined HIC (Heavy Industries Corporation).
    • Volunteer for SPZP-2012, SPZP-2016, SDYF, Shwe YaDu & HMEE, Reunion &Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe for the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65

    Publication

    • U Ohn Khine and I compiled the CD Supplement for HMEE-2012.
    • Translated Section One of HMEE-2012 into English.
    • Summarized Section Two of HMEE-2012.
    • Co-authored “RIT Days” article with U Zaw Min Nawaday (EP70).
    • I edited their joint long article and published in “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”.
    • It was also reprinted in the Golden Jubilee magazine by the Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65.

    Memories

    U Ba Than’s Soon Kyway

    OK 1
    OK 2

    SPZP-2012

    OK 3

    HMEE

    OK 4
    OK 5
    OK 6

    Posts

    • Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65
    • HMEE
    • RIT Days (1964 – 70)
    • SPZP


  • Pu Zaw Pwe ပူဇော်ပွဲ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Souvenirs from SPZP
    SPZP-2000 Organizers
    SPZP-2000 Sayas
    SPZP-2000 EE Sayas and Alumni

    PZP ပူဇော်ပွဲ

    Pu Zaw Pwe is a Noble Tradition that is practiced in Burma.

    Thet Kyee PZP is for paying respect to the Elders. The age requirements vary.

    Saya PZP is for paying respect to the sayas and sayamas. Some use the term Acariya PZP.

    Thet Kyee PZP သက်ကြီးပူဇော်ပွဲ

    In some places, a Senior Day is held. Transportation, Food, Entertainment and Photo-shoot are provided for Old people of all races and creeds.

    Thet Kyee PZP may be held in conjunction with a Festival, e.g Thingyan or Thadinkyut. Buddhists may also pay respect physically to the Elders.

    MES organized Thet Kyee PZP for Senior Engineers and Architects.

    The All-Mechanical Gathering also had a program to pay respect to Thet Kyee Mechanical Engineers.

    Acariya PZP အာစရိယပူဇော်ပွဲ

    Examples :

    Combined 1st BE Intake of 64 and 65

    M72 (and some other Disciplines)

    ICST/UCSY

    Saya PZP ဆရာပူဇော်ပွဲ

    RIT Alumni International hosted the First RIT Grand Reunion and SPZP in San Francisco, California in October 2000. The term SPZP was chosen over Saya Ga Dawt Pwe so that Alumni of different Faith can pay back the Metta and Cetana of their mentors. I am honored to be a Core Organizer of SPZP-2000. I wrote the poem “SAYA PU ZAW PWE”. It was published in the RIT website and the Commemorative Issue of the RIT Alumni Newsletter for SPZP-2000.

    Singapore hosted SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 and SPZP-2010. Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War) and team published Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for the SPZPs. My poem was reprinted on the Back Cover of SDYSS-2002. I wrote a poem “SWE DAW YEIK” for SDYSS-2007. I wrote an article “EE Sayas : A Sad and Short Clip” for SDYSS-2010.

    Yangon hosted SPZP-2004, SPZP-2012 and SPZP-2016. Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine was published for SPZP-2012 and SPZP-2016. U Saw Lin (GBNF) was Chief Editor of SDYM-2012. Saya U Moe Aung was Chief Editor of SPZP-2016. Several Distinguished Authors (e.g Ma Sandar, Maung Sein Win — Padeegone, N Jar Thaing, Aw Pi Kye) also served as Editors.

    Due to the pandemic, SPZP-2020 was canceled.

    Some of the Organizers and Volunteers of the SPZPs are GBNF. They include Saya Allen Htay, Ko Saw Lin, Ko Aung Moung, Ko Than Sin Myint and Ko Robin.

    Several Sayas are GBNF. They include U Ba Toke, H Num Kok, U Soe Khaw, U Khin Aung Kyi, U Thit, Dr. Mg Mg Win, S Arya, S Kyaw Aye, U Soe Lwin.

    Sayas U Ba Than, U Aung Khin, Dr. Aung Gyi and U Min Win are 90+ years young. Many of our sayas are 80+ years young.

    We hope to see SPZPs in the not so distant future (after the Calamities have ended).

  • Han Sein ဟံစိန်

    Han Sein ဟံစိန်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Ah Pho Gyi အဖိုးကြီး

    Han Sein 1
    • Graduated with Civil Engineering in 1969
    • Excellent athletic and social skills
    • Prisoner of Conscience
    • Now GBNF

    RIT Selected

    RIT Crosslake Swimmers
    • Swimming
    • Water Polo
    • Diving
    • Basketball

    Tone Kyaw တုံးကျော်

    • When 69ers compiled the Contact List in 1999, he was inadvertently listed as GBNF. The compilers were unaware that he had been sentenced by a Kangaroo Court to 20 years.
    • He was released after 17 years, but he lost his family.

    Did not lose heart စိတ်ဓာတ်မကျ

    • Active in 69er Gatherings as a photographer
    • Happy testing Special Effects on his camera
    Photographer
    • Leader in Latha Township
    Latha Ah Pho Gyi

    Byadi & Marana ဗျာဓိ မရဏ

    • Covid partly caused his demise.

    Condolences

    Tin Aung Win wrote

    We miss you, Mr. Photographer.

    David Myint Thein wrote

    Gone But Not Forgotten, may his soul rest in peace !

  • Celebration in Aug 2016

    Celebration in Aug 2016

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Soon Kyway

    • Ko Maurice Chee (M75) organized a Birthday Soon Kyway for me at Dhammanda Vihara in Half Moon Bay.
    • Several sayas and alumni brought food and gifts. Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi could not attend, but he ordered a party tray for the gathering.
    • Charlie and Diana Tseng brought two Birthday Cakes for the August born.
    • On behalf of the RIT Alumni worldwide, Saya U Myat Htoo (GBNF) presented the Alumni Appreciation Award to me
    Award
    U Myat Htoo & U Hla Min
    • U Myat Htoo served as President of TBSA (Theravada Buddhist Society of America) for over a decade. I served as a a Vice President.

    Birthday Greetings

    U Tha Aung (M79) and Daw Kinsa Maw-Naing (ChE79)

    • Hosted mini reunions in Canada
    • Volunteer as SPZP2016 representatives.
    • Sayamagyi Daw Tinsa Maw-Naing was my English teacher in I Sc(A).

    Dear Ko Hla Min,

    Happy Birthday and to say thank you for all your efforts in keeping RIT alumni connected globally. Even though we don’t have much to say, we always follow your updates.

    May you have a happy healthy long life and lots of ku-tho.

    with metta from Tha Aung & Kinsa

    Saya U Htun Aung Kyaw (ChE67, SPHS61)

    Happy Birthday Ko Hla Min and cutie pie!
    I appreciate all you hard work and dedication to RIT Alumni newsletter.
    Sorry I cannot attend the event.

    Birthday Card

    • Ko Maurice printed the electronic greetings on a large card.
    • He also brought a blank card to be filled by attendees (who had not e-mailed greetings)
    Birthday Greetings

    Thanks for your appreciation

    Dear Sayas and Colleagues,

    It is truly amazing to be appreciated by sayas and alumni. he following are some examples.

    • Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and Daw Emma called from Canada to wish my Cutie Pie and me. They also sponsored “Tohu Thoke” for the attendees.
      Sayagyi sent Ko Maurice his congratulatory message for me to be read at the soon kyway gathering. See the following section for details.
    • Saya U Tin Htut flew in from Southern California.
    • Ko San Lin (M 87, “Maung Lu Pay”) took “time off” from work to attend the soon kyway.
    • Ko Kyaw Myint (M 83) delegated his “Flower shop” to his assistant to attend the soon kyway.
    • Ko Myint Soe (M79), who recently had knee surgery, requested Ko Aung Myint Oo (EC 84) to give him and his spouse a ride to the soon kyway.
    • Due to tight multiple schedules, Angelina and Ko Benny Tan (M 70) came in separate cars so that Ko Benny can have more time with his sayas and colleagues
    • Saya U Tin Maung Nyunt (M 60) will celebrate his 80th birthday in December, 2016. Saya only drive local short distance, so he asked Ko Thein Naing (Patrick) to give him a ride.
    • Daw Mu Mu Khin, spouse of Saya Allen Htay, had tears in her eyes. She said that Saya would wish to be at the RIT mini-gatherings. She gave me silk neck ties that were bought (but never worn) by Saya Allen. She shares the birthday on August 18 with my grand daughter.
    • Ko Maurice ordered a cake to celebrate August Born including Daw Mu Mu Kin and Ko Myint Swe (EP 74).
    • Ko Maurice hand crafted a custom “birthday greetings” card with extracts from the birthday greetings from the RIT updates. The messages from Saya Dr. San Hla Aung, Ko Tha Aung, Ma Kinsa Maw-Naing came in too late to be incorporated into the gigantic card.
    • Ko Maurice spent countless days organizing the event. Following the tradition of his late father Uncle U Wah Kyu, Ko Maurice also prepared custom birayani (dan bauk).
    • Ko Charlie Tseng (EC 70) and Ma Diana Tseng (ChE 71) ordered two large birthday cakes for me.
    • The full list of food donors and sponsors are maintained by Ko Maurice.
    • Ko Johnson Lim (cousin of Ko Robert San Lin) needs a human walking “cane” (his beloved spouse). They are regular food donors at most events.
    • Daw Kyu Kyu Lin (T75) rarely attends gatherings. She made an exception this time. She brought “Kyee Oh See Kyet”.
      She also gave a ride to two Textile grads: Ko Than Htay (T75) and Ma Bibsu (T76).
    • Saya Daw Khin Khin Chit Maung also rarely attends gatherings. She made an exception this time. She and Saya U Myo Min fetched Saya U Tin Htut (Daw KKCM’s elder brother) at the air port and also brought him to the Half Moon Bay monastery.
    • Ko Gordon Kaung (M 83) and Ma Lillian Kaung (EC 83) drove 2+ hours from Napa. They also brought a bottle of iNapa Premium wine and also some desserts.
    • Saya U Myat Htoo (C 68) spent a decade or so as President of TBSA (Theravada Buddhist Society of America) at half Moon Bay monastery. It was a sort of “welcome back” for Saya and Ma Ku (Daw Hnin Maung Maung).
    • Saya U Maung Maung (George, ChE 66) is a Past President of Northern California RIT Alumni Association and a founding member of RIT Alumni International.
      He and Daw Eng Eng (sister of Saya U Myat Thwin, ChE 66) brought samoosa.
    • There were a few young and not so young alumni at the event. They include Ko Soe Thu (C98) and Ma Thandar.
    • Saya U Nyo Win (M 65) and spouse were caught in the traffic.
    • Saya U Thein Aung (Met 72) and Sandra (M 76) brought their daughter.
    • Dr. Myint Thein (M 73) talked about his “Htaik Htar” Daw Nyo Nyo Win (T 73) and provide examples of “Applied English” (e.g. “air cut” for stroke).

    Uzin Chan Min

    • Rowed for the Institute of Economics. His crew members include U Htin Kyaw (Peter) and U Soe Thinn.
    • Attended the computer classes at UCC in Rangoon.
    • Became a monk at Dhammananda Vihara (Half Moon Bay) after his retirement.
    Uzin Chan Min & Attendees
  • Sayadaws ဆရာတော်များ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    U Lokanatha (ဦးလောကတနာထ) Italian Buddhist Monk

    U Lokanatha
    • Mr. Salvitore was working as a Chemist in the USA.
    • He a book present from his supervisor for Christmas. A chapter was “Dhammapada”.
      After reading it, Samvega (sense of urgency) crept in.
      He quit his job.
    • Left for Burma to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. Became “U Lokanatha”.
    • Wrote “I became a Buddhist. My supervisor remained a Christian.”
    • Was from a devout Catholic family. Elder brother was a Priest.
    • My paternal grand mother offered a monastery for U Lokanatha in Bawdigone (ဗောဓိကုန်း Windermere), Rangoon.
    • Sayadaw practiced Dhutanga (ဓူတင်ဆောင်) .
      Preached & took Dhamma Dhuta (ဓမ္မဒူတ) missions to India and Ceylon.
    • Passed away in Maymyo (မေမြို့) in 1966.

    Ashin Ananda

    (အရှင်အာနန္ဒာ)

    Rev. Friedrich Lustig (Latvian monk)

    Rev Lustig 1
    Rev Lustig 2

    Fled Communist Rule

    • Rev. Friedrich V. Lustig’s mentor was the Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia and Lithuania. When the Communists invaded their country, they sought refuge in Burma. The government provided them a monastery in the “Ah Le Pyit Sa Yan” of Shwe Dagon Pagoda.

    Moke Seit မုတ်ဆိတ်

    • Known as “Moke Seit Phone Gyi” for his beard. Came to our parent’s house in Windermere Road for alms.
    • After his mentor’s demise, he became Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia and Lithuania.

    Ashin Ananda

    • Shaved his beard and was ordained as a Theravada monk with the title “Ashin Ananda”.
    • Laureate Poet and Translator.
      Wrote poems in English.
      Translated selected Burmese poems into English.
    • In July 1969, he gave my poem “Men on the Moon” to Mr. Hall (USIS) to be forwarded to Apollo 11 astronauts. Gave a copy to the Guardian newspaper for publication.
    Men on the Moon (Poem)

    U Thilawuntha

    (ဦးသီလဝန္တ)

    Mon Sayadaw (မွန်ဆရာတော်)

    Dat Poung Zon Sayadaw
    Mon Sayada
    • Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung Sayadaw ဓာတ်ပေါင်းစုံ အောင်မင်းခေါင်ဆရာတော် U Thilawunta (fondly known as “Mon Sayadaw”) built pagodas in Burma/Myanmar, USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and several other countries.
    • In the ’50s, Sayadaw visited the United Nations and U Thant (ဦးသန်ု). He built the first Burmese pagoda in the Allegheny mountains near New York.
    • During his visit to California, Sayadaw would spend time with his devotees such as Russell Wolfe (Santa Cruz) and U Aung Myint (Donald, Milpitas).

    Las Vegas Sayadaw U Zeya (ဦးဇေယျ)

    • Las Vegas has some monasteries including Thai monasteries supported by members of the Royal Family.
    • Sayadaw U Zeya resided at a Thai monastery and rose up in the ranks. Gave dhamma talks in Thai, English, and Burmese.
      Several devotees offered him a monastery.
    • In May 2013, several dhamma friends in the Bay Area rented a van to attend “Htee Tin Pwe” of the pagoda inside U Zeya’s monastery compound.
    • Donated for two Nagas at the Las Vegas Monastery in memory of our parents and in-laws.

    Engineers and Architects

    Dr. Lwin Aung (A59) ဒေါက်တာလွင်အောင်

    Uzin Dr. Lwin Aung
    • Entered monk-hood after retirement.
    • Served as Professor of Architecture and as Pro-Rector of YTU.
    • Volunteers as a Consulting Architect for the construction of dhamma buildings
    • Due to health, he left monk-hood.

    U Bo Gyi (A59) ဦးဘိုကြီး

    U Bo Gyi
    • Founded “Architect Incorporated” with U Tin Htoon (A60) and U Aung Kyee Myint (A60)
    • Later joined PWD along with his partners
    • Designed the Mausoleum for Daw Khin Kyi, and was shunned by the higher authorities.
    • Hobbies : music (piano) and modeling (sculpture)
    • He is now GBNF.

    U Han Nyo (Met60) ဦးဟန်ညို

    • He helped conduct meditation retreats in Southern California and Mexico.

    U Myo Tun (A69) ဦးမျိုးထွန်း

    U Myo Tun
    • Ashin Pannagavesaka
    • Won prizes for essays under the name “Errol Than Tun”.
    • Made dhamma duta mission to Vietnam
    • Was Dhamma Librarian for Moulmein Pa Auk Tawya Monastery.
    • Edited some of Pa Auk Sayadaw’s books.
    • Taught English to Dhammacariya Sayadaws

    U Aung Chaw (C69, SPHS63) ဦးအောင်ချော

    U Aung Chaw
    • Ashin Ukkamsa
    • Resided in Sagaing
    • Later moved to the Irrawaddy Delta region
    • Met him in 2018 when he came to Yangon. Attended some breakfast gatherings by the 69ers. Kyaw Win (SPHS63) offered soon to Sayadaw at Shwe Ba Htamin Saing, and also offered Nawakamma.

    U Wara (Win Paing, ChE70, SPHS64) ဦးဝရ / ဦးဝင်းပိုင်

    U Wara
    • Younger brother of Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC).
    • Entered monkhood after the Final Year exam.
    • Chief Resident Sayadaw, KabaAye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung
    • Was Taik Oke Sayadaw for Sayadaw U Vinaya.
    • He is now GBNF
    Paing Brothers

    U Jotika (EE73) ဦးဇောတိက

    U Jotika 1
    U Jotika 2
    • Prolific writer and an outstanding Dhamma Lecturer
    • Spent vasa at Taung Pu Lu Kaba Aye monastery in Boulder Creek
    • Revisited US about a decade ago
    • Frequently visited Singapore and other neighboring countries

    Ashin Pannobhasa (M91) ဦးပညောဘာသ

    • Met him in SF Bay Area with his mentor (Sayadaw from Myanmar).
    • He was born in April 1966 Thursday (2nd Waning day of Kason 1328 BE) in Pyapon, Irrawaddy Division.
    • After finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree from Yangon (Rangoon) Institute of Technology he received higher ordination as a Bhikkhu or a monk at the age of 24 in the Ordination Hall, Pyapon Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha under the preceptor of Venerable U Vannita, Pyapon Mahasi Sayadaw, Pyapon Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha on 27th July 1991.
    • Chief Resident Monk at a monastery in Seattle, Washington

    Ashin Kusala (ဦးကုသလ) Saya Beatson (SPHS)

    Passed away in his 90s

    Sayadaw Beatson
  • Tekkatho Moe War တက္ကသိုလ်မိုးဝါ

    Tekkatho Moe War တက္ကသိုလ်မိုးဝါ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Brief Bio

    • Matriculated from St. John’s Diocesan Boys High School.
    • Attended Rangoon University.
    • EC member of the Rangoon University Writers Club in 1959 – 60.
    • Editor of the RUESU (Rangoon University Engineering Students Union) Annual Magazine.
    RU Literary Writers
    • Graduated with Electrical Engineering in 1963
    • Joined the Faculty at RIT (Rangoon Institute of Technology).
    • Chief Editor of RIT Annual Magazine
    • Chief Editor of the Hlyat Sit Sar Saung published by the RIT Electrical Engineering Association
    • Wrote poems and articles for various magazines & journals
    • Authored or co-authored five books
    • Worked in Singapore and chaired two Saya Pu Zaw Pwes — SPZP-2002 and SPZP-2010 — in Singapore.
    • He and his team published Commemorative Issues of Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung for three Saya Pu Zaw Pwes — SPZP-2002, SPZP-2007 and SPZP-2010 — in Singapore.
    • After retirement, moved back to Yangon.
    • Helped published Commemorative Issues of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for SPZP-2012, Shwe YaDu (in 2014) and SPZP-2016
    • Founding member and Patron of SDYF (Swel Daw Yeik Foundation).
    • Still writes poems and articles.
    U Moe Aung

    Literary Work

    • Pen name : Tekkatho Moe War
    • Mentor : Daung Nwe Swe
    • Composed hundreds of Kabyars (poems). Some (e.g. Shwe YaDu Lann) took four days of contemplation.
      Composed some Kabyars “Let Tann” (extemporaneously)
    • Published several books.
      Some are compilation of articles and poems.
    • Editor for RUESU Magazine
    • Chief Editor of the RIT Annual Magazines, Swel Daw Yeik Sar Saung, Swel Daw Yeik Magazine, Hlyat Sit Sar Saung
    • Columnist for Weekly Eleven Journal
    • I translated some of saya’s poems and articles:
    • Search for beauty
      posted in “Poetic Art Series”
    • Bagan Heritage
      in honor of recognition by UNESCO
    • Shwe YaDu Lann
      for the RIT Golden Jubilee
    • To the Shwe Duo
      in memory of Saya U Tin Shwe (EP66) and Saya U Hla Shwe (T69)
    • Kabyar Let Saung
      A precious gift
    • Computer in my heart
    • …
    • Sea of Men

    Kabyar Let Saung

    by Saya U Moe Aung (Tekkatho Moe War)
    Translated by Hla Min

    String of attachment — then in its infancy
    grew beyond proportion — on her birthday
    to express my deepest feelings — while courting her
    I gave “Sho Whet The Pho” (Mystery/Thriller) Magazine
    as a birthday gift to my beloved.

    We shared our metta
    with true devotion

    I presented a golden ring
    to my yee-sar as a birthday gift.

    Hand in hand we entered the “married” land
    on her birthday past the Honeymoon
    I presented Goya fragrance as a birthday gift

    Traveling together
    Often facing dark nights
    Yonder looked thick and rough

    Goal seemed distant [and not straight]
    [Tired and] weary
    [Often] look but could not see

    Struggle just to keep alive
    Despite the challenges I feel
    I owe my beloved a nice birthday gift

    But …
    Precious jewels are out of reach
    I can only offer a gift from my heart

    Kabyar
    inexpensive — not meaning to underrate her love

    Will she accept as a priceless treasure?

    ___________________________________

    RUESU

    Dear Ko Hla Min,

    Thanks to Saya U Soe Paing for his great endeavour in visiting the UCL (Universities’ Central Library) numerous times [in January 2012] to gather and record invaluable information relating to RIT (and BOC college of Engineering as well). And thanks to you for archiving all through your emails and keeping all RITians gelled together.

    Only when did Saya U Soe Paing mention Engineering Students’ Magazines, that I happen to recall one Engineering Students’ Magazine in which I was part of it. That was in Academic Year 1960-1961. I was still an Electrical Engineering Student at that time (2nd year, or, by the present calling, 4th year). At Rangoon University (Main University) they had a University Students’ Union (in Burmese, Thud Meg-ga is translated as Union), and we had correspondingly an Engineering Students’ Union as well at our Faculty of Engineering at Leik-Khone (Dome), Prome Road.

    At that time I met one Ko Hla Tin (Civil) who was my senior and several years older than me, staying at Prome Hall which was adjacent to Leik Khone, only separated by a fence. He was an avid poet (pen name Kay-tu Win Tint, from Taunggoo) and I used to visit his room at Prome Hall to talk about poems and literature during lunch or break times. I also met one senior (can’t recall his name, I think Ko Sein Hlaing) who was the Secretary of the Students’ Union. After some lively discussions, we decided to issue an Engineering Students’ Union Annual Magazine and they made me the Chief Editor. The Magazine consisted of two sections, Burmese and English, of which Saya U Aung Khin (Mech) was the English Editor.

    I still have the 1960-61 issue neatly tucked in a cupboard in Yangon.

    Now I remember that Ko Sein Hlaing (EE?) is still in Yangon, helping to look after his grand children, but not in good health. Ko Sein Hlaing’s daughter was my daughter’s very close friend since their childhood days. We met once in Singapore about 12 years back.

    Dear Ko Hla Min, this is the time to reminisce and be happy about the good old days and try to fly back with whatever time machine we could get hold of. Time really flies and we should realize that our days are numbered.

    Moe Aung

    ___________________________________

    “ရွှေ နှစ် ရွှေ သို့ “

    ရွှေနှစ်ရွှေ…..

    ဝေတော့လည်း တူ

    ကြွေတော့လည်း အတူတူ

    ငြူစူခြင်း ကင်း

    မျှဉ်းမျှဉ်း အသက်ရှူ

    စိုက်ထူမှတ်တိုင်

    မယိမ်းယိုင်ခဲ့…..

    မနိုင်ဝန် ပိ

    အလှည့်သင့်လာ

    သောအခါ မှာ

    ခန္ဓာအမွေ

    ကြွေသာ ကြွေလည်း

    မသေ ဝိညာဉ် ဝဲပျံနေသေးတကား ….။ ။

    ( ကိုတင်ရွှေ- လျှပ်စစ်စွမ်းအား နှင့် ကိုလှရွှေ- ချည်မျှင် သို့)

    တက္ကသိုလ် မိုးဝါ

    (၂၆ ဇန္နဝါရီ ၂ဝ၁၅ – ည ၉:၅၅ နာရီ)

    To The SHWE Duo

    Poem by Tekkatho Moe War
    Translation by Hla Min

    SHWE duo
    Blossom in unison
    Disappear together
    Free from complaint
    Even with thin breath
    Showed mark [of courage and wisdom]
    Never wavered …
    Pressed by burden
    At the awaited turn [of journey’s end]
    Body — inheritance [from previous lives]
    Succumbs [to failing health]
    Yet, “Wei-nyin” is fresh, alive and hovering.

    Translated by Hla Min

    ___________________________________

    Shwe YaDu Lann

    Shwe YaDu Lann


    Shwe YaDu Lann

    Poem by Tekkatho Moe War
    Translation by Hla Min

    Shwe YaDu Lann
    Let it be rough [but it’s tough]. Flowers are blossoming again.
    Fear not the summer
    Care not the rain [drops]
    or the thick fogs & darkness
    or if winter’s not true to its form

    Shwe YaDu Lann
    Let it be rough. No gentle stream flowing
    Fear not high winds
    Care not dense clouds
    Topsy turvy [come what may]
    Can paddle upstream
    With strong mind & conviction
    Place where heroes [Thu Ye Kaungs] are produced.

    Swel Daw Myaing Dann
    Shwe YaDu Lann
    is a start [of a journey]
    To raise the Banner loftily
    to the skies, to the Zenith
    displaying our thitsar (vow of truth and integrity)

    HLA MIN (Editor, Newsletter Updates, USA)

    ___________________________________

    The (Hidden) Power of Kabyar

    Kabyar is animate
    But [it’s life is] not just a [fleeting] morn

    Kabyar is a weapon
    But not for destroying the world

    Kabyar is key
    For liberation and independence
    But not devoid of principles [and morals]

    Kabyar has power
    Hidden but efficient & effective
    Like sharp-pointed spear-head
    Can thrust into [the heart of] a power-maniac
    Cause trembling, shivering, throbbing & anguished pain

    Poem in Burmese by Tekkatho Moe War (Saya U Moe Aung)
    Translated by Hla Min

    Memories

    Moe 1
    Moe 2
    Moe 3
  • Talk — Mogok Sayadaw မိုးကုတ်ဆရာတော်

    Talk — Mogok Sayadaw မိုးကုတ်ဆရာတော်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Video Broadcast on January 13, 2021

    U Hla Min

    Mogok Sayadaw U Vimala မိုးကုတ်ဆရာတော်ဦးဝိမလ(1899 – 1962)

    • Renowned Vipassana ဝိပဿနာ meditation master
    • 500 (or more) audio tapes of Sayadaw’s recordings have been transcribed into books (some e-books), and CDs
      Available at the Mogok Vipassana Meditation Centers
    • Featured in “Yahanda Hnit Poke Ko Htoo Myar” ရဟန္တာ နှင့်ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ထူးများ book by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing

    First and Last Visit to Rangoon

    • Arrived Rangoon on the morning of July 6, 1962 (Friday)
    • A dhamma talk was scheduled at Tekkatho Dhammayone (RU Dhamma Hall) တက္ကသိုလ်ဓမ္မာရုံ that evening
    • Citing security reasons, the venue had to be changed to
      U Than Daing’s ဦးသံဒိုင်residence on 35 Lancaster Road (now Bo Ye Nyunt Lann ဗိုလ်ရဲညွန့်လမ်း)
    • Sayadaw delivered the talk “The Four Noble Truths”
    • Translation of the talk by U Sway Tin ဦးဆွေတင်
    • Devotees asked Sayadaw if he would come back the following year.
    • Sayadaw said, “This Khanda ခန္ဓာ will provide an answer”.
    • Sayadaw passed away three months later.

    Translations of Mogok Sayadaw’s Works

    HOW TO DIE WITH A SMILE
    By U Sway Tin

    THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
    delivered by THE MOGOK SAYADAW on July 6, 1962
    Recorded/translated by U Sway Tin
    Publisher: Society for the Propagation of Vipassana (Mogok Sayadaw’s way)

  • Talk — Ah May အမေ

    Talk — Ah May အမေ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Video Broadcast on January 27, 2021

    • Myanmar
      Ah May အမေ, Mi Gin မိခင်၊ Mway Mi Gin မွေးမိခင်၊ Ah Mi အမိ၊ Mae Daw မယ်တော်
      Usage :
      Mae Daw Maya မယ်တော်မာယာ
      Ah Mi Myay အမိမြေ
      Ah Mi Tekkatho အမိတက္ကသိုလ်
    • English
      Mother, Mom, Mum, Mummy, Mama
      Usage :
      Mother Tongue
      Mother Earth
      Motherland
    • Pali
      Mata
      Usage :
      Mata Pitu Gu Naaw Anandaaw
    • Latin
      Mater
      Usage :
      Alma mater

    Mother

    • Biological Mother
      Gives birth
    • Caring Mother
      Takes care
    • Adoptive Mother
      Adopt a child from a relative or others (e.g. via an Adoption Agency)
    • Surrogate Mother
      Conceives a child for someone who cannot give birth naturally (e.g. due to medical conditions)
    • Classification schemes vary with place, culture and time …

    Mother’s Day

    • Myanmar
      Full Moon Day of Pyatho
    • USA and several countries
      Second Sunday of May
    • Others
      Dates vary with countries

    Media

    • Songs
      e.g. M-O-T-H-E-R
    • Books
    • Movies

    Thanks to three Mothers

    • My Mother
      who raised seven children
    My mother & my beloved wife
    • My beloved wife
      who raised two sons
    • My daughter-in-law
      who takes care of my two Myees
    My wife & my daughter-in-law
  • Talk — Words

    Talk — Words

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Hla Min

    Video Broadcast on February 1, 2021

    • Definitions and Usage of words may change with time.
    • Computer
      Early days : One who computes
      e.g. the six females who worked on ENIAC
      Later : Machine which can process data / information …
    • Compiler
      Early days : One who compiles
      e.g. historical records
      Later : Software to translate a programming language into machine language
    • Bit
      Early days : small piece
      e.g. drill bit
      Later : Binary digit
    • Confusion in the 1970s
      The book “Anatomy of a Compiler” was sent to the Institute of Medicine (instead of UCC or RU Library).
      The book “Compiler Construction of Digital Computers” was sent to the Public Works Department (instead of UCC or RU Library)
    • March 27, 1945
      Early days : Taw Hlan Yay Nay (Resistance Day)
      to honor all those who fought for Independence
      Later : Tatmadaw Nay (Armed Forces Day)
    • Taung Thu Le Tha Mar Nay (Peasant’s Day) တောင်သူလယ်သမားနေ့
      Early days : January 1
      Later : March 2
    • Lost in Translation
      Physician ဆရာဝန် was translated as “Yupa Beda Pyinnya Shin” ရူပဗေဒပညာရှင် (Physicist)