Episode #98: Liberation At All Costs
There are two reasons Linn Thant never expected to see another military coup in Myanmar. The first was an optimistic one. In 1988, he led an operation in hopes of freeing the country from the tyrant and putting an end to military rule for good. But he failed, which lead to the second, and quite pessimistic, reason: Linn Thant did not expect to live much longer. He was arrested, locked away, tortured for years and eventually sentenced to death.
He spent a full eight years on Death Row, locked away from all human contact other than his jailors, shut away from sun and moon, every moment wondering when the end would finally come.
Linn Thant spent a total of twenty years in prison, during which time he was beaten so badly that both his leg and collarbone were broken, and every tooth was knocked out. With no contact or movement possible for many of these years, he turned to the one thing that they could never totally stop him from doing: meditation. He would awake early and meditate for hours in his cell, following the instructions he had learned in the Mahasi and Taungpulu traditions.
Still, they tried. Ironically, even as the regime was justifying its brutal rule as the way to safeguard Buddhism, his prison guards—themselves Buddhist—opened Linn Thant’s cell whenever they saw him sitting cross-legged and beat him until he couldn’t stand.
“They were angry,” he recalls, “and then they beat me again and again, but I still did meditation. I told them that the meditation is not for the Revolution, this is just for peace of mind. If I do meditation, I explained to the jailor, you also will get very good results.
And even when Linn Thant dared not even sit in meditation, his body too broken to endure more punishment, he continued to pay close attention to his sense doors. There certainly was nothing good coming in, but he took everything as objects of contemplation, whether the sounds of a nearby inmate being tortured, or the taste of food so rotten and vile that even dogs wouldn’t touch it.
But amazingly, through all the torture and abuse, Linn Thant affirms that then, as well as now, he has never harbored a single thought of ill will towards his tormenters, from the Generals who incarcerated him to the jailors who meted out the punishment. He even found gratitude for his death sentence.
“I really thank the Military Council,” he says, “I was lucky, because I can know what date I can be dead! Because of them, I know I can be dead at anytime, so before I die, I must do the meditation. That's why I do meditation every day. It means that I'm not afraid to be dead. Normally, people don't know when they will die. But I can prepare for my death.”
It is hard for most of us to imagine whether we could muster the energy to get through even one day of that terror and brutality, let alone keep lit even an ember of optimism, to say nothing of good will. But Linn Thant insists this was never a problem for him, and his hope for a brighter day never diminished, even when he was plunged into literal darkness for months on end. What aspect of the human spirit was he able to summon to help him survive such an ordeal? “Honestly, it is what I was taught by the Buddha,” he explains. “A lot of the lessons from Buddha, who is my great teacher. So, whenever I faced difficulties, I have to accept it and I have to respond peacefully.”
Linn Thant’s sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison, and finally he was released in 2008 after serving 20 full years. However, he was unimpressed re-entering Burmese society, remarking that little had changed in two decades other than the cost of living. His spirit undimmed, it was now Round 2 of the Revolution for him, and he was hoping to finish what he had started. But among the youth, memories of 1988 were all but forgotten; Linn Thant found them lacking in the revolutionary spirit that had animated his generation.
He sought to educate the younger generation about the crimes and corruption of the military, but found many doors beginning to close to him, and he realized he could no longer remain safely in his native country. He went first to Thailand before settling in the Czech Republic in 2011. Former President Václav Havel personally granted him asylum, and he has been there ever since; soon after the military coup last year, the National Unity Government officially named him their European representative.
While Linn Thant is an affirmed meditator and does not wish ill will on anyone, he strongly supports the current armed resistance movement. While it might not be his personal choice, he sees it is as perhaps the only feasible way now to oppose the oppressive and brutal military dictatorship. “There are thousands of people being killed during the past seven decades. Thousands of innocent villagers, children, women, and elderly were being killed. Still now the violence is being escalated by the military. Civilians have the right to protect themselves and their lives. That's why I support the armed resistance. This is not my personal idea, but politically I support it.”
While Buddhist teachings were the refuge Linn Thant used to survive those terrible years, he also recognizes that these same Buddhist teachings are being used to manipulate the people. While of course he disregards the military’s claim that their rule is needed to protect Buddhism against Islam, he also calls out Buddhist monks who continue to emphasize to their followers the virtues of patience and pacifism, which carries an underlying message of accepting the brutal dictatorship.
“The Buddhist monks, including higher and prominent monks, are doing very, very bad deeds. The killers are getting the license by such kinds of monks! Buddhist monks including Sitagu, he is giving the killers to have the license to kill. So, according to the Vinaya he cannot be a monk. Saying this, it's very dangerous to me, I know it, but I have to say it.”
Still, as dreadful as the current situation is, Linn Thant is assured that the people are winning, noting that 67% of the country and over 90% of the village administration councils are held by friendly forces. And then there is CDM.
“Nearly 500,000 CDMers are still resisting against the military rule. This is the most peaceful demonstration in Myanmar! I'm sure that across the world, there is no other CDM movement like Myanmar. This is the biggest and the most peaceful, and they are still resisting despite their own difficulties to survive. Still, they believe it. They know it, that we have to fight until the end of the military dictatorship in our country.”
Linn Thant hopes that this peaceful resistance might be enough, yet is realistic as someone who has battled the Tatmadaw for years, knowing that more is probably needed. Observing the current conflict in Ukraine and the international response it has garnered, he hopes that the democratic forces in Myanmar might receive even a modicum of that level of support.
“We are sure that if we get any possible physical support from international community, I’m sure it must be the game changer.”