Burmese History 101: "Overwhelmed by Suffering."
The following excerpt is from Volume II of Alan Clements’ powerful new book, Burma’s Voices of Freedom. Alan did a masterful job interviewing hundreds of Burmese from all walks of life, and navigating those intersecting lines of the spiritual and worldly, as the following passage illustrates. If you’d like to hear more about this, check out my interview with Alan earlier this year.
Alan Clements: Let me ask you this: I know that I’ve been wronged in life by certain people, and, as a result, I felt upset and hurt. Let me put it this way: I have a daughter. If someone harmed her, I don’t know how I could control my anger. How do you control your very human impulse for revenge and how do you control your anger, if you even feel it at all?
Dr. Zaw Myint Maung: We take refuge in our Dhamma, in cause and effect, in birth and death. These facts of life are firmly with us. There is no doubt that [General] Than Shwe will be suffering now for what he has done in the past. He has done many evils. Unless he is devoid of conscience, which I doubt, he will be suffering from what he has done in the past. We do not take pride or joy in this. It is simply the effect of his evil. This is a Dhamma principle.
Alan Clements: So, it’s with that knowledge you can relax your dosa (anger)?
Dr. Zaw Myint Maung: Yes. Through that reflection anger ceases.
Alan Clements: Do you take it even further? For instance, do you hold the Buddhist belief that because of his karma, that when he passes away, he’ll take a lower rebirth as a peta, a lower being, a hungry ghost, destined to live in one of the hell realms suffering for aeons of time based on his evil behavior in this life?
Dr. Zaw Myint Maung: Yes.
Daw Than Ngwe: The truth is simple: we’ve suffered, most of the people have suffered, and we have suffered for so many years—50 years. We’ve been overwhelmed by suffering.
Dr. Zaw Myint Maung: I met with another trial while in prison. In total my imprisonment was for 37 years. But in 1988, many students came to prison with 65-year sentences. And they were treated much more severely than me. This was another case of pāramī—mindful of their pain while encouraging patience and compassion. A challenging situation.