Burma's former president joins monkhood
April 05, 2016  17:12
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Burma's former President Thein Sein has shed his formal attire and his hair to join the Buddhist monkhood.Thein Sein's ordination as a monk took place Monday, officials said, four days after he presided over a historic transition of power to the former opposition party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.


Photographs circulating on social media show the former president, with his head shaved and dressed in a saffron robe, beside a fellow monk.


The Ministry of Information released a statement on its Facebook page Monday saying Thein Sein will spend five days at the Dhamma Dipati Monastery outside Pyin Oo Lwin, a scenic hill town near Mandalay in central Burma.

A temporary stint at a monastery is common in the predominantly Buddhist country, where boys are expected to ordain as novice monks at some point in their childhood and then return later in adulthood.
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