In Buddhist news

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Monks back on front line to aid cyclone victims But they say military is curbing their efforts, even as it fails to deliver aid KYI BUI KHAW, Myanmar – The saffron-robed monks who spearheaded a bloody uprising last fall against Myanmar’s military rulers are back on the front lines, this time providing food, shelter and spiritual solace to cyclone victims. The military regime has moved to curb the Buddhist clerics’ efforts, even as it fails to deliver adequate aid itself. Authorities have given some monasteries deadlines to clear out refugees, many of whom have no homes to return to, monks and survivors say. “In the past I used to give donations to the monks. But now it’s the other way around. It’s the monks helping us,” said Aung Khaw, a 38-year-old construction worker who took his wife and young daughter to a monastery in the Yangon suburb of Hlaingtharyar after the roof of his flimsy house was blown away and its bamboo walls collapsed.