Hypocrisy Meditation
The following question and answer is between Alan Clements and Nay Phone Latt, and is shared here with permission from Volume II of Alan’s book, Burma’s Voices of Freedom. We spoke at length about Alan’s work earlier this month, please go here to listen to the full talk.
Alan describes who his guest’s background:
A prominent blogger and activist, Nay Phone Latt, 33 years old, was arrested in January 2008 for his involvement in the Saffron Revolution. Released from his 20-year sentence in 2012 by mass presidential pardon, he now serves as an MP in Thingangyun Township, Yangon. He is a recipient of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and was included in the 2010 Time 100 list as a “hero.” Here he talks about what motivated him to keep writing during years of threat and Orwellian repression, the role of the Internet in opening up the country to democracy, and about how he survived his time in prison.
Alan Clements: What do you love about Buddhism? What are some of the features of Buddhism that touch you the most? Let me say it this way: You’ve had a rare opportunity to practice Dhamma in an extreme circumstance—in prison and under dictatorship. Not many people have practiced meditation or Buddhism under totalitarianism, under threat.
Nay Phone Latt: You know, I learned the basic concept of the Buddha, about cause and effect. After learning that, I tried to find out what is the real cause. Okay, I was in prison. What is the real cause? The real cause is not the government. The real cause is not the lawyer. The real cause is not the judge. I tried to find out the real cause. Because the real cause are not those things. And I wanted to know the real cause. At that time, I felt anger arise. Okay, somebody criticized me, said rude things to me, and then I feel angry. Okay, I find out the real cause. He is not the real cause. What is the real cause? The real cause is in my heart, not outside myself. Whatever I learned of Buddhism in prison, I tried to practice this truth: freedom is not outside of my heart. The real cause is found by tracing it back to oneself. In that way, as it has been said, ‘my freedom is not there for another to take.’
Alan Clements: Beautiful.
Nay Phone Latt: I know you understand this. We must all try to understand this. The real cause of suffering and the real cause of freedom are not in the outside world. The real causes are in ourselves. If we can control ourselves, if we can control our minds, then everything is quite okay. I practiced these things daily in prison. In this way, I didn’t get angry with others.
Alan Clements: Sadhu, sadhu...
Nay Phone Latt: Sometimes we had problems with the authorities in prison, but I didn’t get angry with them. I focused on the problem and I tried to solve the problem.
Alan Clements: When you meditate, may I ask, what do you do?
Nay Phone Latt: When I meditate, I focus on the breathing. The sensations that arise from breathing. And, as you know from your years with Mahasi Sayadaw, meditation is not only in the position of sitting still. Whatever we do, we can be mindful of it. That is also meditation. Okay, sometimes I write something. My mind is really focused on this writing. My mind is not anywhere else. My mind and my mindfulness is just really concentrated on the writing. That is another type of meditation. I practiced this way during my time in prison. Whatever I did, I tried to make it the object of my concentration. I also tried to do this when eating, but not nearly as much as when I was writing and speaking.
Alan Clements: Sounds like you were a dissident prison yogi. How did you practice meditation while talking in prison?
Nay Phone Latt: The main thing is to know what you are talking about. You could also call that basic intelligence, though, right? (Laughs) I’m sure you have noticed that sometimes people say things, but they don't know what they’re talking about.
Alan Clements: (Laughs) I’ve noticed. Like Big Brother announcing how he’s ushering in democracy and simultaneously arresting anyone expressing anything critical of the government?
Nay Phone Latt: (Laughs) Hypocrisy meditation.
Alan Clements: (Laughs) My teachers would always encourage us to ‘know what you know and know what you don’t know,’ and to ‘know how you can know what you don’t know—that's meditation.’
Nay Phone Latt: Yes, good. We must try to have an awareness or to have mindfulness of knowing what we’re actually talking about. To know what I’m saying and equally, if I don't know what I'm talking about, to know that—I can take responsibility for my words. To know the truth or the falsity of my speech. Also, to know our motivation while speaking. Yes, to ‘know,’ to truly know, to mindfully know, is so important.
Alan Clements: Perhaps what you are saying will become the basis of democracy in Burma—open, mindful, compassionate dialogue and the respectful evolution of ideas. And you must have also had a lot of experience in prison learning to listen to each other mindfully, meditatively?
Nay Phone Latt: Yes, we did this as well. Learning to concentrate on both our words when speaking as well as on the listening process. This too is meditation. You concentrate on what other people are saying, and you hear them more fully and clearly. And you also hear yourself inside when they are talking.
Alan Clements: And so, to be clear, while in prison, when having discussions, would you talk about doing it meditatively or was it just your own discipline? Did all of you practice mindful speaking and mindful listening?
Nay Phone Latt: I’m not sure how deeply it was practiced by the others. But I certainly encouraged them to do that kind of practice. But most of all, we really loved our discussions. I learned so much. Gained so much.
Nay Phone Latt: For example, I write a story and send it to a magazine. After that, the editor must choose my story for publication. After the editor, he asks permission from the censorship board to have it published. If he does not receive approval from the censorship board, he can’t have it published. That’s the process. It’s black and white. So, to begin with, it’s difficult to get chosen by the editor. That’s one huge difficulty. After that, you had to pass through another wall—censorship. Most of my short stories and articles were rejected by the censorship board.