Biography Narrative

The Venerable Varasami has been working in development and social change with people from different religious backgrounds in the Mandalay area in Myanmar since 2010. His interest in dialogue with people from different religions stems from an encounter with his English teacher, a Catholic teacher from Ireland.

A responsible citizen and socially engaged individual, he aspires to learn something new every day. Environmentally conscious, he plants trees in his community, collects plastic refuse from public areas with friends from different religious backgrounds as an interreligious endeavour and teaches Buddhism to Catholic theological students. His motto is “open your heart and embrace the world!”

Interreligious Activities and Initiatives

Intra-faith Dialogue Training – Buddhist Approach on Pluralism, coexistence and peace.

The training was carried out in a Buddhist monastery to train young Buddhist monk to become socially responsible citizens reflecting upon what the Buddha taught on pluralism, coexistence and peace while also letting them encounter what other religions teach and giving an opportunity to visit other religious houses in the neighborhood to let them experience the sense of pluralism. The training was also intended to include management and leadership skills, awareness of saving the natural environment as these issues also should be known by a good global citizen of today’s world (The life of Buddhist monks in Myanmar is mostly secluded from society.)