Contesting Buddhist Narratives 11 the vast majority sought to maintain distance from the ruling military regime. In the absence of adequate government programs for education, public health, or disaster relief, monasteries increasingly stepped in to fill this void. Some 15 hundred monastic-run schools provide free secCurrent monastic political ular and religious education to village children who cannot afford to attend mobilization can be seen government schools, and community as an extension of its widehealth clinics operate out of some monranging community efforts asteries. In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis hit the coast of Myanmar, causing largescale destruction—including the deaths of well over 100 thousand people—relief efforts were largely organized and funded through monasteries (sometimes in partnership with national and international Christian organizations) (Jaquet and Walton 2013). While many monks participated in the anti-government protests of 1988, the 2007 so-called Saffron Revolution is perhaps the most wellknown contemporary mobilization of Myanmar’s monks and nuns (although the recent nationalist movements threaten to eclipse it in fame). In September 2007, in response to the regime’s decision to remove fuel subsidies, which in turn led to further economic hardship for Myanmar’s already struggling population, activists took to the streets in protest throughout the country. When many of those activists were arrested, some monks began to protest. The monastic response expanded rapidly when a few protesting monks in the town of Pakokku were beaten by security forces. The ensuing marches lasted for days, swelling in numbers until eventually tens of thousands of monks and nuns were engaged, particularly in Yangon and Mandalay. The protesting monastics marched to and prayed at Aung San Suu Kyi’s home—where she remained under house arrest—and refused to take alms from members of the military, thus demonstrating their opposition to it.12 Eventually the security forces began to brutally crack down on the protesting monks, raided monasteries, and jailed, injured, or killed many.13 The former regime was able to put down the Saffron Revolution and retain its hold on power. It is difficult to know the degree to which that event influenced the speed or nature of the subsequent political transition, if at all. Certainly the reforms were driven by myriad reasons,