A national mourning period starts tomorrow in Myanmar, also known as Burma. A cyclone ripped through the nation’s Southern delta more than two weeks ago. It’s killed at least 120,000 people. Fears are that the death toll may go as high as 200,000. Most of the people in Myanmar practice Buddhism, and for a spiritual perspective on the cyclone, we have Ashin Thitzana. He’s a Buddhist monk from Myanmar. He lives in the Los Angeles area. Ashin Thitzana, tell me, what was your first thought when you heard about the cyclone in Myanmar?

Mr. ASHIN THITZANA (Buddhist Monk): Well I thought this is a manifestation of our actions, about as far as a result of those human actions, especially on the parts of the government.

CHADWICK: How is it that a manifestation of the bad things they have done would be visited upon the people in the southern region?

Mr. THITZANA: Yeah that would be very much unacceptable, but sometimes things happen in a very strange and unacceptable way.

CHADWICK: So, this is Buddhist teachings that a fair and just ruler may also produce fair weather?

Mr. THITZANA: Especially in a case like this (unintelligible) of a huge magnitude.

CHADWICK: What does Buddhism teach about a response to great suffering by great numbers of people?

Mr. THITZANA: We have to have a feeling of fortitude, a feeling of acceptance, on things happen already. Because what has happened has already happened. We cannot undo it. We have to develop the feeling of fortitudes.

CHADWICK: Fortitude?

Mr. THITZANA: Yes, fortitude. That’s very important, because life is full of many things. Good, and bad, and happy things. We have to accept with a sense of stability and acceptance.

CHADWICK: Other people from Myanmar, though, must come up to you and say, I have family there. I don’t know what to do.

Mr. THITZANA: I tell them to do whatever is necessary, and whatever responsibility you have to everyone that comes, and whatever you can afford to help them. But at the same time, doubting to accept what already has happened as the way it is. Because the meter of life is, the meter of life that we are all subject to. In Buddhism, believing in the past karma is only one small part of the teaching. Buddha also said, you should not attribute everything to the past karma of the (unintelligible). Present karma, present actions, are also important.

CHADWICK: So, you have to accept past karma, but you have a responsibility to try and improve present karma?

Mr. THITZANA: Yes. That’s very important.

CHADWICK: Ashin Thitzana, he’s a Burmese Buddhist Monk, living near Los Angeles. Ashin Thitzana, I thank you.

Mr. THITZANA: You are welcome.

ALEX COHEN, host:

And now a quick update on the situation in Myanmar. The United States Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to fly to the Irrawaddy delta this week to see for himself how relief efforts are going.

He will also attend a meeting co-chaired by the association of South East Asian nations. The association’s ten member nations have agreed to set up a task force to re-distribute foreign aid. U.N. officials continue to report however, that their foreign staff are still not allowed to go to the delta to distribute aid.