The Buddhist Karl Marx

We continue to hear positive feedback from grateful listeners who took the time to hear our recent interview with Thiri.

In previous posts, we shared the deeper meaning of the template we used for her episode, and later passed on some calligraphy she created during the protests. Here is one more beautiful work to display here.

First, take a look at the picture below. This banner was displayed in downtown Yangon in February, before the military began using live ammunition on the street. It is a translation of Karl Marx’s famous phrase, “We have nothing to lose but our chains,” used to cheer on the protesters.

Always a wordsmith, Thiri noted how the Burmese term used meant less "chains” but more like a “soft rope.” So while Marx’s original meaning suggested something as a breakthrough into liberation from an oppressive system, the Burmese translation implies more that one is escaping the trap of being pulled back by something. For this reason she favors what could be seen as a more Buddhist interpretation of Marx’s famous phrase, translated something as “We have nothing to lose but our attachments.” Using her calligraphy skills, she created this version of the phrase:

In this way, it becomes almost similar to Dhamma advice given by a meditation teacher that if our attachments are heavy, we should just not pick them up, and try to put down those already in hand. Of course, this is easier said than done in today’s climate, but it is a subtle yet important shift to continue to give morale to the people.

In any case, her work soon became so appreciated that many Burmese came to place her work on their Facebook pages, and companies have even helped themselves to it by placing it on the ubiquitous shirts and hoodies being worn even outside Myanmar now.