This archive report was first published on 8 December 2019.
Published on December 8, 2019, thousands of Buddhist monks from Myanmar and Thailand gathered in Mandalay for a mass alms-giving event.
The event, which drew senior religious officials from a dozen countries, aimed to strengthen the relationship between monks and Buddhists in the region.
As the sun rose over the ancient town, a sea of saffron and maroon-robed monks assembled in an area the size of a football field, meditating, praying, and collecting alms.
"I hope we can continue to hold bigger events in the coming years," said U Thu Nanda, a 24-year-old Burmese monk.
The event was the third and largest of its kind since 2015, and comes as one of the organisers, the Thailand-based Dhammakaya foundation, attempts to bounce back from an embezzlement scandal more than two years ago.
The Dhammakaya temple's massive compound in northern Bangkok was under siege for two weeks in early 2017 as thousands of officers tried to arrest the sect's spiritual leader, Phra Dhammachayo, who was accused of colluding in a $33 million embezzlement scheme.
