The Golden Path project – a Myanmar (Burma) guidebook for Dhamma pilgrims – was launched in April 2013. The intention behind this book is to make the Golden Land more accessible to seekers & meditators who have the noble intention to develop in Dhamma. "Part 1: Planning & Logistics" was released in May 2015, and the five chapters comprising Part 2 are nearly complete. In addition to the Introduction, other chapters due to be released are the regional guides to the following places: Around Yangon, Mandalay, Around Mandalay, and Shan State. This will include detailed information about sites where Ledi Sayadaw, Webu Sayadaw, and Saya Thet Gyi lived and practiced (along with countless other monasteries and pagodas), allowing meditators to more easily access these important sites and to appreciate their significance and history while doing so.

Of the book's 14 chapters, four are completed and released as a free, printable eBook.

After having worked on these pages for so many years now, we are very happy that they are so close to being shared with the meditator community! However, we have one final, critical need before their release... that is of someone with a copy-editing background who can make a final review of these drafts. If you have such experience and are willing to join our project, please let us know, and help us to hasten the release of Part 2!

While not as critical, there are other volunteer roles we're happy to have help with as well. First on the list would be someone with map-making ability, including artists able to copy from maps, so that meditators can more easily find the sites we describe. Also high on our list is anyone with design/layout experience, and has an aesthetic background, to help in preparing our text for the designer.

As usual, we also welcome any artists who would like to draw/sketch, and photographers or anyone who is willing to donate photos from their time in the Golden Land. If you've been to Burma/Myanmar and have a story to tell, please do share with us, or if you are planning to go and have some time, let us know as there is always on-the-ground assistance and needs. Next, someone with writing or editing experience, who can act as in a dual style editor/author capacity. The person in this role helps shape new raw material gathered from different sources into a coherent mix with existing Shwe Lan text, and oversees the overall flow of the book. Volunteer translators have been working at the text of Part 1, and contact us if you wish to help in the translation. And if you have any other skill, or just time on your hands, let us know as well!

Further help is needed in the following areas:

• Artists to make illustrations that will accompany the text.
• Layout Editor Assistant to help the lead layout editor with design tasks.
• Map-making
• Photographs from Burma. We are especially interested in photo collections from visits of over 20 years ago, and from anyone who has professional experience in photography.
• Photo sorting: We need help going through our current photo collection to highlight the best pictures for our designer to use, and to match specific text to photos.
• Stories and Anecdotes from visits to Burma (sharing without attribution is fine).
• Translation from Burmese
• Scholars to review drafts
• Web Designers to help bring the book's content to the web
• General Volunteers: If none of the above tasks fit your skill level or interest, but you'd like to be involved in some way, please get in touch with us and we'll find a role for you.
• Dana: One may give a donation to cover the basic expenses being incurred on the project using the form below.

Please contact us if you are interested in helping at [email protected].
You can also follow our project on Facebook at www.facebook.com/burmagoldenpath.