U Thuzana and Thu Mwe Hta (6)

This post presents page 624 of the chapter entitled "A record of the explanation of the leader U Sandabatha who remained behind at Thu Mwe Hta" from Myaing Gyi Ngoo Sayadaw (U Thuzana)'s biography. The chapter runs from page 619 to 629.

Vocabulary:

ဆံခြည် ။ a string of hair
ယွင်း ။ to be displaced; be disturbed; be wrong; err; deviate
ပန် ။ wear (on the head or in the ear)
လွန်ဆန် ။ go against; refuse to toe the line
သာမဏေ ။ novice of the Buddhist Order
စိုရွှဲ ။ dripping wet, soaking wet
ဆင် ။ to resemble; be alike; bear a likeness to; be similar in appearance
ငဲ့ ။ to tilt, look slightly sideways; sympathise; be considerate
ဆိတ် ။ quiet, silent [?]
ဆံ့ ။ hold; have room for; be capable of holding; have the capacity
သုတ်သုတ် ။ briskly
မွန်းတည့် ။ midday; high noon
တစ်မုဟုတ်ချင်း ။ at once; immediately
ပျံ့နှံ့ ။ spread out, diffuse extensively
တက်သုတ်နှင် ။ hurry; go with all possible speed
ကျောက်ဆောင် ။ rock mass on land, in water
လျှို ။ ravine; gully
မြောင် ။ ravine
မော် ။ to look up
ငုံ့ ။ hold one's head down; incline one's head
လျှိုး ။ to go under, stoop down
ချုံ ။ shrub; bush

Translation:

[As for the monks, from the time they had arrived at [joined with] the Sayadaw] until now, because they were people who did not deviate from the order by [even] a single strand of hair worn on the top of the head, they did not dare to oppose [the order] in any way. Wanting [something] to be set down, [they] set it down; wanting it to stay, they let it stay; wanting [something] to be done, they did it. They were people who adhered [to instructions].

In accordance with the Sayadaw's order letter [they] descended from the big monastery with just a single robe without taking any items whatsoever, not even [by] a single young novice. They were not allowed to return to collect even small items that were left behind at their own places. [As had been stated] in U Sandawbatha's closing words, they got up from the place where they were and descended to below the monastery. They followed the Sayadaw's order.

The monks were wet with tears and turning their heads without looking at the guests who resembled a weeping party [they] went of out the entrance of the monastery. They descended to the quiet river. At the quiet water there was presently just a single motor boat. The young monks and novices were put into the motor boat. The motor boat had a capacity for about 30 [people]. There were still over about 200 people amongst the monks left behind and the lay guests.

U Sandawbatha took the lead of the people who were left behind and they walked down along the course of the Salween River. Their walking was not slow. It was brisk. The midday sun was hot. The surface of the sand was hot on their feet. It was not like they were walking calmly. They would have to walk by foot on a journey that was over 30 miles from Myaing Gyi Ngoo.

That news immediately spread out. Mountain Karen from mountain villages like Mae Pa, Mae Kasa, Hti Baw Munaw and Bawthayaw heard the news and came. In total there were about 400 monks and lay people. The big group of people hurried up along the course of the Salween River. They had to ascended and descended rock outcroppings. When it was not that way [when they were not just climbing over rock outcroppings], they climbed up mountains. They passed by a gully. They went around a ravine. They looked up, looked down, stooped low and pushed through a shrub.

While were coming on the journey that group of as much as about 400 people passed by Mae Lay Hta Het. While cutting across Gaw Gaw Hta they encountered Bo Hla Soe. Bo Hla So [when he saw] the monks and the groups of people [taking responsibility going up and down the rocky mountainside outcroppings, he said:]