Immigrant Buddhist Monk Paints to Remind Himself of Home

September 27, 2003

Source: Tulare Advance-Register

http://www.tulareadvanceregister.com/news/stories/20030927/localnews/344791.html

On September 27, 2003 Tulare Advance-Register ran a feature article on a Buddhist artist in Farmersville, CA. Ven Ashin Sandamanaw, a 30 year-old Buddhist monk from Myanmar in Southeast Asia, has taken up painting as a way of staying in touch with his homeland. "Sandamanaw has a cure for homesickness. He uses vivid watercolors to paint Burmese landscapes, fishermen and rice farmers. He sculpts 10-foot-tall concrete dragons and snakes, just like those in Asian calendars. He creates what he imagines, what he misses. He even takes art courses at College of the Sequoias so he can learn new ways of expression, including computer graphics. That's one of the good things about America, something that makes being a spiritual leader in a far-off land more than bearable. Sandamanaw may dream of home, but he's in no hurry to leave this country -- and not just because of the computer classes. America has respect for different cultures and expressions, Sandamanaw says. 'I would like to stay here,' he says."