Meditation and Revolution

“They were angry, 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.’”

It is staggering for any of us practitioners to even begin to imagine how we might respond to the conditions that Linn Thant faced during his time in Insein Prison.

For eight years, he was kept on Death Row, isolated in an 8" x 8" cell, unable to see the sun or moon, prohibited from exercise or social interaction, and served food that even pigs and dogs avoided. After being spared his life, he was given another 12 years in prison, marking 20 decades in total.

To keep his balance of mind under such horrifying conditions, Linn Thant turned to vipassana meditation and metta practice, following the instructions he had received before his prison days in the Mahasi and Taungpulu traditions. He would often get up hours before dawn, pay respects to the Buddha, chant a protective sutta, and sit cross legged to begin his practice. Yet the prison guards did not even allow him this reprieve.

Even though they were all Buddhist, and were serving a military regime that justified its cruelty as a means of protecting the Dhamma, the guards did not pull back on any of their blows as they assaulted him, each and every time they saw him practicing mindfulness.

Yet not only did Linn Thant continue with a steadfast determination to use his time in incarceration to seek a way out of Samsara, he did so by affirming that to this day, he harbors not a trace of ill will towards anyone in the that Tatmadaw-- even the top generals guilty of crimes against humanity! Still, he is now doing all he can as the NUG's European representative to end their reign of terror.

It's hard to imagine how most of us could have survived such an ordeal, let alone to remain so balanced and equanimous today.