Recent news stories about Myanmar/Burma show large groups of monks leaving their solitude in order to protest against the policies of the government. Myanmar, as many of you know, was renamed by a military junta that overthrew the country's government some 18 years ago. They voided the results of an election that had named Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the head of government. She has been held in house arrest on-and-off for most of their regime.
As military regimes go, this one is especially brutal. Deaf to all international outcry and sanctions, they have put the country into a strangle-hold, and resist any challenge to their authority, which, based as it is on weapons and intimidation, is impregnable by most of the usual means of fomenting political change.
However, as is often the case, it is the unusual means of change that gets noticed. Some weeks ago, Buddhist monks decided to take to the streets, lead public prayers and chant against the government. They refused to take alms from the people, thus cutting the people off from the gaining of merit, so important in their branch of Buddhism. They publicly exposed the sham of the government's desperate need to give the impression that they were accepted by the monks, thus legitimizing their rule. In a few demonstrations, these gentle, politically powerless men, have showed the world the impotence of brute force.
The government's response could have been predicted by a five-year-old: forced imprisonment, killing, increased intimidation and a blackout on all information in and out of the country. The military leaders hope that the world will soon forget. Alas, they are probably correct.
Monasticism, by definition, cuts itself off from the world. Buddhist monks and nuns are especially aware that the world is an illusion, and spend their time seeking enlightenment, or at least greater merit, in order to end the cycle of repeated deaths and rebirths. Why have they suddenly involved themselves in politics? The answer: the greatest of Buddhist virtues, compassion.
Even thought the world is an illusion, one's karma (the metaphysical accumulation of good and bad deeds) needs to be addressed. In this case, compassion drove entire monasteries to face the junta with the news that its karma is sadly negative, and that the military leaders ought to seek a better way. That's it; that's the whole message. For the Burmese people, however, it is a powerful message. For the military, it was a crashing defeat.
it is amazing how often we see that a gentle word is stronger than the might of an entire army.
As military regimes go, this one is especially brutal. Deaf to all international outcry and sanctions, they have put the country into a strangle-hold, and resist any challenge to their authority, which, based as it is on weapons and intimidation, is impregnable by most of the usual means of fomenting political change.
However, as is often the case, it is the unusual means of change that gets noticed. Some weeks ago, Buddhist monks decided to take to the streets, lead public prayers and chant against the government. They refused to take alms from the people, thus cutting the people off from the gaining of merit, so important in their branch of Buddhism. They publicly exposed the sham of the government's desperate need to give the impression that they were accepted by the monks, thus legitimizing their rule. In a few demonstrations, these gentle, politically powerless men, have showed the world the impotence of brute force.
The government's response could have been predicted by a five-year-old: forced imprisonment, killing, increased intimidation and a blackout on all information in and out of the country. The military leaders hope that the world will soon forget. Alas, they are probably correct.
Monasticism, by definition, cuts itself off from the world. Buddhist monks and nuns are especially aware that the world is an illusion, and spend their time seeking enlightenment, or at least greater merit, in order to end the cycle of repeated deaths and rebirths. Why have they suddenly involved themselves in politics? The answer: the greatest of Buddhist virtues, compassion.
Even thought the world is an illusion, one's karma (the metaphysical accumulation of good and bad deeds) needs to be addressed. In this case, compassion drove entire monasteries to face the junta with the news that its karma is sadly negative, and that the military leaders ought to seek a better way. That's it; that's the whole message. For the Burmese people, however, it is a powerful message. For the military, it was a crashing defeat.
it is amazing how often we see that a gentle word is stronger than the might of an entire army.
2 comments:
I like this post. Much clearer than the news analysis in the Washington Post. Not that I'm surprised. Could you recommend any books that explain this in depth?
English-language books on Southeast Asian Buddhism are not thick on the ground. Recent books about Myanmar tend towards the political spectrum; they might contain the isights for which you're looking. Myanmar follows the Mahayana tradition, so any book on countries that follow it (such as Thailand) will give you the basics. Arguably, The best introduction is Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha Taught."
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