Transcript: Episode #202: The Breath of Awakening (Bonus Shorts)
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Host 0:10
Whether one is listening to this in Myanmar or from outside the country, we know it is a very difficult time for those of us who hold the golden land and with people in our hearts. In trying times like these, we can all use a bit more care and compassion in our lives. So on behalf of the team here at insight Myanmar, I would like to say in the traditional way metta as offered, may you be free from physical discomfort, may you be free from mental discomfort, may You not meet dangers or enemies, May you live a peaceful and happy life and May all beings be free and come out of suffering and with that, let's move on to the show.
Host 1:54
I'm happy to welcome Diego Pareto who is joining us from Chile to share some of his experiences as a meditator coming to the golden land. So Diego, thanks so much for joining us here at insight Myanmar podcast and why don't you kick us off by telling us initially what brought you to Myanmar in the first place?
Diego 2:16
Here you are, thank you for the invitation. Well, May 1, and only this to Myanmar was on the context of doing a documentary about the Buddha's teaching. So first, we start with a friend Camila. In India, that was like our first destination for the documentary because you know, all these sacred places where did the Buddha live. And after it was natural to go to Myanmar displays word Buddhism is still very alive. So because you know, in India, you have a lot of monuments, but it was very hard for us to find meditation, meditation teachers or, you know, places to meditate. And so Myanmar, give us a lot of possibilities, to learn different practice of Buddhist meditation and also to be set very sacred places that they were like very inspiring for us.
Host 3:12
Right, so you're saying that India where I know you spent a lot of time is wonderful in terms of the history and some of the background and the monuments you get to see but in Myanmar, you have much more of this living, thriving, dynamic Buddhist society, you can actually enter into and participate. Exactly. Yeah, and so coming from you know, it's interesting, getting your perspective because number one year from Chile, South America, which is weird, and so coming in coming to Asia, in and of itself, you're gonna have a different perspective than a number of the Westerners, we Western meditators, we might talk to you a bit more of, but then also you came via India, and you spent a lot of time in India. So obviously, coming to Myanmar would be more of a contrast with that, especially the Buddhist culture and Buddhist element of it. So coming from both of those backgrounds as you entered Myanmar the first time, the only time what were some of the things that really stood out to you off the bat.
Diego 4:10
Yeah, well coming from India, because it's funny because I heard some friends that they were coming from Australia or other places to Myanmar, and they will say to me, prepare yourself is very noisy and you know, very messy, and I get to Rangoon after spent like almost a year in India and I feel so quiet. Everything for me was so in silence and people were so like slow sometimes for me. So yeah, I think it's really good men from where you're coming from, what is your impression of Myanmar? So my my first impression, I found it very quiet and and the people were so like, relaxed, I can say in the street, you can talk to them and you can sit on the corners and bring some tea So yeah, I think that's my first impression. But um, I'm not sure is the impression that everybody will have?
Host 5:08
Sure. Yeah, I think that's that's a really critical thing to look at is where are you coming from both your country of origin as well as the place you just came from that is contrasting with when you first experienced that, but looking at the perspective of being a practitioner, and meditative practitioner in India for so long, and practicing there, and then coming to Myanmar, what stood out in Myanmar as a practitioner that was different from your experience in India?
Diego 5:36
Yeah, well, in India, most of the meditation I did was in the context of going 10 days retreat that, you know, is like very structure and is very focused on more on the lay practice, not on the monastic. So I think that was my first shock is to see so many monastic way of living in the city and outside the city. And everywhere, actually, you can see monks on the street every day, and you can talk to them, you can go to the monasteries, and learn about the history and the practice. So that was something that we couldn't find in India, in India, most of the monks that you see are from other countries that are making pilgrimage to India, so. So it was not too easy to find a monastic experience in India, in the opposite in Myanmar, it was very easy, you know, it was just around the block. And it was very rich. So that was my first impression. And I was very satisfied with that I felt very attractive to it.
Host 6:51
That's really beautiful. And as you came to interact more with monks and nuns and monasteries, and say it as this experience that you had in Myanmar, that you weren't able to have the saint to the same extent, in India, where most of those monastics were there on pilgrimage, or they were there in missions and their monasteries at some of the sacred sites, but not really, from that kind of living Buddhist society. Why was that important to you? Or what did you gain from those series of experiences of being able to converse and interact with monks and nuns, that you didn't get an India? And what effect did that have? What impact did that have on your practice and the way that you understood the spiritual path?
Diego 7:32
For me, it's like the difference of Studying a book about the place a lot, and then get to know the place. So Buddhism for me, in India, and in South America, it was a lot about it was practiced in a way, but a lot from the books and the teacher of the teacher of the teacher and the recording of the teacher, it was like, very far away from direct experience from a leaving master or leaving teacher, you know, so once to get in contact in Myanmar with leaving monks and teacher that they follow the precepts and, and live accordingly to Buddhism. It was very special for me, because I get to open my perspective of what Buddhism is, you know, I was maybe close minded of what Buddhism is, because I was getting an idea of our pre concept of what it is. But then I realized in Myanmar, that Buddhism change with the time change, I mean, it has been 2500 years since the Buddha passed away. So, of course, cultures change many things of a religion. No, some people say that Buddhism is not a religion, but just to let to talk about it in terms of like, religious culture, that have incorporate new ways of manifest the teachings that you can see on the writings. And that was very satisfying for me, because I get to know the essence of Buddhism, more than just, you know, the rules, and then the books that are fixed and the structure and once you read all the the sutras and get to know more Buddha said many times that Buddhism is flexible, and the idea of Buddhism, at least from what I get now is to experience impermanence. So following rules and lines and letters, and structure is not maybe the best way to experience impermanence. Maybe you need to know somebody that find his way to that experience. So he might help you to experience that in the context that you're leaving. You know, I don't know what you mean. What do you mean? I mean, what I say?
Host 9:58
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I'm just areas within that kind of transformation that the experience taught to you of being in that living society. Can you think of any particular monks or teachers or conversations or anecdotes that started to plant those seeds or turn a light on or start the property, this internal process of transformation where things just started to click in ways being outside they live in Buddhist society it and where there wasn't this access to this living, holistic society that things were not as clear as they were, once you were integrated. And in Myanmar, were there? Are there particular scenes or anecdotes or people that illustrate this kind of light bulb going off over your head?
Diego 10:45
Yeah, many stories, like, for example, we are writing Rangoon in our first no place that we want to visit, it was over kings meditation center that it was from the lineage of Blanca, so we were very attracted to go there. And they were very friendly. And they allowed us to meditate in the Dhamma Hall. And, you know, I knew that in that place, many monks were known to get at least in the first stage of enlightenment, you know, so I was like, very anxious to meditate in that place. And the second I sat, I sat on my cushion, I started to get like, attack from so many different kinds of defilements, you know, I was a first sleepy drowsiness and then I was full of pain, and then I was angry. And, and I don't know, in like, 20 minutes, and then an hour, I went through so many different stages of, you know, not, I don't know, I was not feeling happy and expanded that I thought it will be that experience. And, and then I realized, Wow, this place is so strong that it's made me see my darkness, very, very straightforward. And that was something that I couldn't predict, you know. So that was like my first contact to meditation in Myanmar, something very strong.
Host 12:10
That's great. So that's, that's actually in a hall in the middle of a city and having that that experience of how powerful it is based on who meditated there before and how the place was probably built and the purpose that it served and how many years this has been going on that it. Whereas you just realize the infancy of how the Dhamma has been brought to our cultures that how integrated it's been here for so long. As you say that I'm remembering going to like centuries old teak monasteries of country, like in Mandalay and around there, and going to the shrine room. And just sitting in the shrine room and amazement, thinking like, this is not just a generation or generations of people who have sat here and meditated and bow down to the statues and everything else, this is hundreds of years, hundreds of years and this very place, this very spot is very wood. With these, maybe the shroud maybe the shrines themselves might be different than they might move. But sitting in that place, looking up and seeing the shrine as you look up that I'm I'm in this living tradition, and that and then of course, when you're in these, these beautiful 19th century teak monasteries, the whole way that monasteries are now built in Myanmar, with all the concrete, it's, they've there's definitely been a lot lost in terms of just the beauty and the functionality. And the deeper spiritual resonance of the monastery structures is an incredibly fascinating topic to go into. There's books that talk about the development of the monastery structures in Myanmar. And when you have that understanding, and then you go to some of these 19th 19th century, teak monasteries, and you just think about all the people that were there with the same devotion and dedication and commitment to the spiritual path, it's being in that physical place is just so powerful.
Diego 14:01
Yeah, definitely, I got something similar in WebU Sayadaw to the monastery. So that was more you know, very, very, very far away from the CD in a small village. Actually close to the ability was completely alone there. But human data that was the output that you know, pretty well, he explained as the teeth the history of the place, you know, and how, maybe 60 years ago, this place was full of people coming from everywhere to learn to meditate, lay people but going to meditate that was very unique, you know, and and we stayed there three days meditating, following the the structure the infraction of website, though that was Anapana. And we were reading you know, the instruction, carving stone and then we were practicing, and I felt like an internal piece that I don't remember to fill that way before So that was like another contrast, you know, and, and there were experience that you couldn't predict what just happened, you are open to learn whatever you you cross by. And suddenly you start to experience different things. And in that particular place, I was feeling peaceful and the place was so peaceful. And in England competition, a Anapana is not us, like the final meditation, you know, is like a process to calm your mind. But it was very interesting with website, though that Anapana covered the whole spectrum of the practice of Buddhism to reach enlightenment. So yeah, I love I love that experience there. Actually. Now it became my main practice after that, well, after many things, but I think it started there, that was the seed of Anapana. For me, like my major practice.
Host 15:54
Yeah, and I think you're hitting on something that is what makes Myanmar such a unique destination to Buddhist practitioners is that many people that are learning the practice, outside of a Buddhist country like Myanmar, you're generally getting one formatted set of instructions, you're getting a ready made structure that has been tried and tested. And that is probably if it's been exported, and put to use like the Gonca system in different places, there's probably a lot of value in the structure as it exists, it probably does give results. So it's, it's a synthesized structure ready to follow that that is very conducive to learning. But as you become more serious on the path, and you come to Myanmar, you realize this is just one interpretation, or combination or possibility of the plethora of dynamic options that exist within the structure of what the Buddhist teachings are. And this is not not to say this is not a valuable one and one that is efficient and effective. But it is one and as you go there. And at least for me speaking from from from myself, especially the first time I went there, I was just amazed, I could talk to my the taxi drivers, the waiters, the hotel clerks, the office workers, normal people I met, that the topic of meditation came up, they would, you know, it's kind of like, there's a joke about how just French people just love talking about their language. And you could talk to just some random guy on the street in France, and, you know, he'll know some knowledge about 17th century French language or something and get in debates about that. And I had this feeling that like, that, you could talk to just any random Burmese person on the street, and, and you would tell them, what practice you did, and whatever their background was, whatever their level of education or economic status or social status or anything, you could get into this heavy debate of like, well, I practice this way, because this teacher says this, and this is why this is the most valuable, and this is really important. And, and not not as like, well my techniques better than yours, but as a conversation of like, oh, well, I practice in this way. And, you know, this is like, this is incredible. Like, when I'm in my country, this is I'm referencing my first visit, when everything was quite new. Back in, in my country, I'd say like, I do meditation, and you get a range of responses of like, what are why do you do that? Or something like, oh, yeah, I, you know, I go on a walk. I like to light incense or going to walk in the forest. And that's my meditation. And it's like, wow, okay, not really much conversation here. And then being a Myanmar and saying, Well, I practice meditation. And this is the technique I do. And this range of people like me throughout the day that would say, Oh, well, that's good. But you should also do this, or I also go to this teacher, this person told me this. Yeah. Right. And so I think that's the magic of being a practitioner coming into this living society, at least for me, is that if you're open to it, and you realize that your practice, as much as it's done for you, it is the practices coming out of a greater living society that it was pulled from, that you now have access to and can tap into, that then leads to a range of experiences and adventures and conversations and a path where you don't know where it's going to end up. Because you now have instead of just having access to the one serving bowl that you were given you now have access to the whole buffet table and you can make that serving yourself.
Diego 19:15
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I had similar experience also there. And I remember actually one that it was very mind blowing, it was going to try meditation center because I was going to a meditation center and in I mean a monastery to set Italy I think it's been between but the thing is, do get inside and you don't see many moms you see like old people and sick people and families walking and it's very noisy. And Sally is young, but he's smoking and talking to her lay people and you're like, This is a monster. And but then the next day when I sign in and you know like some volunteers job, I start to get the whole thing you know the Holness in there was so strong and so beautiful. And so, and the devotion of the volunteers was so like pure hearted. And so, in the, I don't know, I think it was a week that I stayed there, my meditation, most of my meditation was like really active compassion work, you know, like cleaning. Old ladies, you know, and then the two hour walk people who can weigh you know, we're not no legs and given some art classes to keep. And so I never thought that that that will be a meditation practice. So yeah, that's another story that I remember pretty well, that changed my view of what is Buddhism.
Host 20:45
That's great. So then as you left Myanmar, and you had this range of experiences, and you you had years to reflect on just that short time you had, what are things that you would say you took away from your Myanmar experience, and informed not just like a light bulb going off there, but actually set in motion, some kind of transformation in the way that you saw the practice or the teachings or a society? And, and that you, you still you've held to this day? What are what are things that you've taken away from that experience of being there that have affected your path going forward?
Diego 21:22
Yeah, I always remember the quality of the people there. And it might be because they live in a Buddhist culture, or maybe not, I don't know. But most of the people, if not all, that I met, do, you can see, like very pure intention. And I always remember when I looked back to Myanmar, and in my state there, how everybody was really trying their best to just be nice, I think they enjoy being nice being friendly, and, and helpful and, and be a better person so so it goes really hand to hand with meditation because I think that's the main purpose to train proved yourself to clean your veins, you know, to get a better person and in Myanmar, you can see that into practice very well. And I think that that's my best memory for from that country's to see. Both monks and laypeople do just be very, very nice and very good person to everybody. Of course, when you leave there, I mean, I know you live there for many years, you will see a lot of conflict. But at least for me, a superficial view in I don't know, a few weeks stay in there. I see I saw a lot of love and compassion in the air.
Host 22:48
Right. And when you left Myanmar, you also spent some time in Thailand, which is also a Buddhist country with a monastic scene and also follow Theravada Buddhism, and there's many similarities and yet, because of the culture and the history there, there are some differences and some various ways of how a monastic lay interactions, how the monasteries are run, etc. And I know you spent some time with Thai teachers, Thai monastic teachers at Thai monasteries. What differences in contrast, did you see about your experience among the Thai monasteries compared to the Burmese monasteries?
Diego 23:23
Yeah, well, the monasteries on the city in Thailand, I founded like, more in not to commitment to too many meditation practice, they, I fell more into politics said something, you know, and protocols. Instead of in Myanmar, I found that the monasteries in the city they're still in commitment with practice with meditation and, and helping the people there, if they're in need. I found in Thailand on the CD, the monastery were more like, you know, like, almost high society status plays something like that. But on the forest, I found like, the quality of the monster were amazing, amazing of how devoted they are to the practice and, and they I got the feeling that they are all practice together like this very life. And that's something that maybe it was I feel more strong in Thai Forest than even in Myanmar in some places. The feeling I got,
Host 24:41
which Thai teachers did you spend time with?
Diego 24:44
So I spent some time with a gentle chart and also with the gentleman there then, and it was interesting, because with agenda to chart, it was like the second step of Anapana because with WebU Sayadaw it was like my first See? And then when I answer chart, he encouraged me to keep on that way. So just stay with Anapana, and don't jump into PEST analysis stay with Anapana. And he gave me some very nice tips on the place there, it was beautiful, you know, in the middle of the forest. So it was a very, very nice environment to practice.
Host 25:22
Right? So you had an extended Asian stay, you spent a long time in India and went to a number of the Buddhist sites there and then went to practice places and monasteries in Thailand and Burma, and now you're back home. So what's it like having gone having spent time in those various kinds of Buddhist places and societies, and then now being back in a familiar place where your, your meditation practices is, again, not the norm? And there's not those same range of possibilities? Do you? Is there is there any feeling of like loneliness? Or on the contrary, do you feel like a sense of richness of what you've experienced and been able to bring back with you?
Diego 26:06
I have kind of conscious feeling about that. Because, I mean, this is my home, in a way, you know, that's the country where I born and I grew up, and I have many friends and family here. But you know, the other side is very hard to find people that are very committed in meditation. So I don't know, I've been already like three years back home, and I have seen how my meditation practice are slowly decreasing. And it's getting harder and harder to get into the routine and to see, you know, one hour in the morning, one hour in the night, something that traveling around all this country was very easy, it was very natural. In some days, I will meditate. There are no three hours than four hours. And it was so I'm not saying maybe ECE is not the word, but the energy that you need to sit down and to commit into meditation, it was there all around in here. It's hard to find the source of that energy, and especially with quarantine, and you know, the pandemic thing, it's been hard for me to, to get back into the practice that I used to have. So I felt lonely sometimes in terms of, you know, dama friends, even though I have some, I think we're all on the same kind of problems right now.
Host 27:32
Right, right, looking back at Myanmar, of course, the past year has been terrible from a political, social, whatever standpoint, you really look at, looking at it from the Dhamma and monastic standpoint, as well, it's, it's pretty much one bad story and devastating news after another. I think for speaking personally, I've never really lived in a society that has had this kind of political turmoil before, I think we came pretty close in my country with the Trump administration. But our institutions at some level, at least up till now has been able to provide some kind of social stability even amidst those dangers that we're now seeing just completely come off the rails and Myanmar. Of course, anyone who knows anything about Myanmar history, this, it's not like this has gone from being a stable, equitable society to something that has now broken apart there. It's basically the longest running civil war and unrest anywhere in the world that it's been going on. So this is ongoing, but the past year has been something above and beyond what what anyone has experienced in the country who's been living or following it for decades. where I'm going with this is that coming from Chile, I'm not super familiar with Chile's history, but I do know that there have been coos in the past, there has been some measure of social instability and political unrest, and and having been having been a Dharma practitioner and being from a place where there there there are issues in the society and the politics that you have to navigate and and yet you're also a practitioner living in that. I wonder if there's any general thoughts you have about how, how your practice has guided understanding and working with whatever sense of instability there might be in Chile and then looking too far and seeing that in Myanmar, some of the problems that are going on some of the dangers people are living in and and where practice might be playing a role in that as well not to in any way suggest that these things are are equal or comparable. They're, they're very different countries and societies and histories, but just in a general sense, what your thoughts are on where practice and overall social cohesion might go together.
Diego 30:00
Yeah, well, chilies is a country that have a history related to like Taylor by tater ship, I think that's a word. And so at least from my father's, for example, they they live in a society that it was, it was common for them to leave in between fights were people disappearing, you know, kidnapping and so. So for them, when we face problems, you know, like social revolution stuff for them is nothing but for me that, you know, I grew up in a society that has been very stable. You know, in my last 30 years of living, I haven't seen many huge problems until two years ago, that was when we have a kind of a strong social revolution here in Chile. Because of the inequality of this country, you know, we have a lot of lot of rich people, and a lot of poor people also, kind of similar to other countries in South America. And my experience when I was like, leaving in the social revolution, and all people were on the street, and you know, like burning the metro and buses, and I was filling so much angles and stress, and I couldn't meditate for like, one week, I was like, on shock, and I have to use, I went to my small house, family house in the up in the mountain is like a tiny refuge. And when I was like, I don't know, two days there, then I start to feel like more calm and peaceful. So with that experience, it's hard for me to imagine how it is to live in that place, where your close family has been, you know, kill or know, so many atrocities. So yeah, it's very hard to me to get to, just to imagine what how to act in a compassionate way. In a situation like that, is my It must be very hard to be, you know, like, calm and stable and act in a clever way. Once you are in that tension. So yeah, I don't have like, a general idea of which will be the best action to do in that situation. And yeah, I just felt a lot of compassion with all the country and, and I feel a lot of sadness many days in. Yeah, that's like my major feeling right now, about what's going on there.
Host 32:43
Great, right. And I think that's, that's very true that when you're going through that kind of turmoil, as a society, it's difficult to feel that sense of calm. And I think it's very telling that even what what was going on in Chile a couple years ago, that even that level of disruption, which is probably nowhere near what has gone on in Myanmar the last two years, that was so upsetting that it, it disrupted your own practice, it disrupted your own stability, I think that's very telling, for meditators to reflect on about what it must be like over there. And I've talked to so many people on interviews and, and personally that come from dedicated practitioner backgrounds. And one of the consistent things I'm hearing is people just keep saying, I am not able to practice, I can't practice for a minute, I can't sit down and I can't be alone with my thoughts. I have no mental stability, I try and the minute I try, I just break down in tears or panic attacks or, you know, and, and, and just person after person has expressed this, this sheer inability to engage in any practice at any level. And so then from there, we'll go to another set of questions and examination into well, you know, how does your if you can't practice now, how does your background of when you could practice? How was that come to be a strength even if you're not able to maintain it? Now, the shift in your mental balance that happened in years before? How was it coming to your aid? Or if you can't practice? What can you do for mental health and mental stability and people will mention anything from aromatherapy to discussion with with colleagues that take on a kind of therapeutic effect to turning devices off for an hour and that, that they're just able to maintain and manage that. But I think beyond the just developing a sense of calm. I think one of the challenges that I've seen so much of that is, is what do you do? How do you how do you maintain the ethical path that you're trying to be on? When the choices are continually limiting in your life when you think about examples of Nazi Germany or something else, where the structures of society are so horrific and so evil that You You will never people will inevitably be put into a situation where they have to choose between doing something which can can break some kind of ethical boundary they'd like to hold, or not doing it and, and facing other kinds of consequences. And those are things I think that from afar, there's, there's just no way that we can judge not having not knowing what it's like living in a society that's been torn apart. At least how I feel, all we could do is listen, all we can do is try to understand what people are feeling, what they're seeing what their context is, and what decisions they're making based off of that and try to sympathize support and understand that, but I don't know how any of us can put ourselves in a place of what we would be like, if we were in that kind of position. It's, it's something just literally unimaginable for a kind of social transformation, that that's taking place now that that really, we can just regard with a kind of respect and and support with with those that are now going through it.
Diego 36:12
Yeah, yeah. And it's hard, because sometimes the easy way is to, you know, like, close your eyes and try to get as far away as you can from the problem. But yeah, in the long term is doesn't solve any problem also. So So yeah, I think when you cannot do anything, it's, it's more clever and more wisdom related what you said, you have to listen, because listening is not running away, is to stay there and share that feeling. And even if this is very sad, and it's very strong, you will definitely learn from that you will learn from that experience, even though you have nothing to do or you can solve that problem. Or you can even help anybody with that, I will find more useful to hear than to escape.
Host 37:05
That's right. And I think the important thing about listening is listening doesn't mean you have to solve problems, listening doesn't mean you have to get in there and resolve things and being able to listen without a sense of helplessness that I need to find solutions or answers, the mere fact of listening, which is really what these podcasts are all about, just I'm listening, and then we put him out there. And hopefully the the audience out there is listening, but really just to end that and what is what else is the act of meditation, but to be present with what the reality is without turning away to something less unpleasant. And to hold it and to hold it at times. So sometimes you need Why is it Why is action, someone's beating someone else you can step in, and you can stop things, you're not a not a passive vegetable in every instance. But in other cases, there could be it could be enough just to be present. And just to hear the to hear what's happening to open yourself up. That's a kind of Donna you're you're giving of your emotions and your time and your mind to just hear what's happening and to feel what that person is experiencing, which might lead to even as a listener to tears to trauma to not be unable to sleep or focus if you know if one is listening enough to this, and hopefully not but but these can be pretty raw and painful things to take in. But yeah, to me, I mean, that is one of the experiences of being a meditator is being able to, to face and to experience these difficult and uncomfortable things and not turn away. And sometimes that that is all that's needed for people going through this over there to know that they're not alone. If there's if there's something you could do to help that's great. Being, you know, finances or raising awareness, or donations or whatever else, yes, that's great. But beyond that, if even if one can't do that, or in addition to doing that, just simply to listen and take in and just let those people know what they're going through that they are not alone, that there are people standing for them even in these dark times. And I think that some that's, that's really wonderful when the practitioner community and those in the practitioner community who have a relationship with Myanmar who have benefited spiritually from those teachings can find a way to give back at this time.
Diego 39:29
Yeah, the beautiful of listening and be present is that when there's actually something that you could do, you will be there and ready for that. So maybe for example, you will hear 10 or 15 podcasts of insight Myanmar, and then in one podcast in one minute, they will say it will be beautiful. If we can have some help from somebody who knows about you know, editing audio in that specific thing. Then they're like, oh, I can do that. I know, you sent a message and then and just you were present there, you will have no expectation just to YES to listen. But then, as respond have been there, the possibility of helping manifests itself.
Host 40:17
Yeah, yeah, those are great thoughts. That's that's really wonderful. And I thank you so much for joining us today, it was really great to revisit your experiences of being before you got to Myanmar, your time there. And then once you left and what you want, what you took with you. So many of our interviews have a much heavier tone, given the situation there, which is very necessary. And this series is a time to check in with people about the lighter warmer expressions of gratitude people have that went there. And it's important to remember this is this is not a cut out caricature of a collapsed Society of for people. This is a living, dynamic, wonderful place with many different sides of it many different experiences. And it's not a place that simply need things. It's also a place that has given so much so generously, and built the entire mindfulness movement of the world. And so many millions of people have, have benefited from that. And so, it is important to keep in mind this is a reciprocal relationship of things that we can do now to help but also have moments to express gratitude for how much the spiritual teachings there and even if one is not a meditator, simply the experience of being in Myanmar and how I know for a fact from so many conversations, how Burmese people in Burmese society have impacted so many people around the world for the better and that this is not a society that simply needs things. This is a society that has given so much for so many years as well.
Diego 41:56
Yeah, I'm completely agree. And thank you so much for the invitation, I felt a huge gratitude with Myanmar. And I really, really hope that we will find a way to really, really help to solve this huge problem together as a world, you know, as Planet is we all together in this. So yeah, that's my hope.
Host 42:25
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