Swe Win: Understanding Dukkha
There is not enough I can say about the courage and conviction of Swe Win. And I hope you don’t take my word for it, but take a moment to listen to his talk yourself! In the excerpt that follows, I asked him how the conditions of living Myanmar have affected his practice, for good as well as otherwise. As with everything else Swe Win said, his words stay with you for some time.
“When there is political turbulence, I cannot keep quiet. I want to do something. I felt like that my mettā is not enough.”
“There are pros and cons, I will say, for me growing up here in this country. I can fully appreciate, strongly appreciate, the aspects of Dukkha. Because this is the first level, without the proper understanding of the Dukkha, we cannot reach the liberation point at all. So the greater appreciation of the Dukkha, the nearer we become to the final goal… if you combine that with the practice.
So, here [in Myanmar] we are in a greater position. For example, just a few months ago I was struggling with these problems, and I felt like I was on the verge of death. I felt like I was about to die! I did not have proper access to healthcare here in this country.
So and then, just three weeks ago, somebody tried to kill me during one of my family trips in Rakhine State. I was shot in my leg and I survived, but somebody tried to kill me. So, life is sensitive, it's so fragile, it's precarious in this country. So you can appreciate the Dukkha.
Also, you can appreciate the nature of karma: for anything to happen, there must be some cause. So it's deeply entrenched, for us in this kind of country. I've been to developed countries like Germany, Sweden, United States, other countries. My imagination is if I got an opportunity to live, I would spend the rest of my life there! I will have a better opportunity to meditate, because you don't get disturbed by all the troubles of your life.
You have the dilemma, the greatest dilemma facing many people here in this country is, as a meditator, sometimes you want to devote yourself to the meditation, but you cannot sign up [for a meditation course] when something bad is going on. If your practice is very strong, if your practice is very mature, you cope with it, in a quiet way, in a meaningful way. But before we reach the level of maturity, we are at a junction, a very painful junction.
I want to be fully Dhamma, let the Dhamma take its course. But I cannot let the Dhamma take its course, not because I lack confidence in Dhamma, but because I haven't reached the maturity in the Dhamma. So this is the problem.
When there is political turbulence, I cannot keep quiet. I want to do something. I felt like that my metta is not enough. Because your metta is not strong, you will definitely feel it is not enough. When your metta is really strong, you will feel it is enough.”