This is a letter of appeal to all western Buddhists and anyone else with a high regard for human rights and freedom. Please forward a copy to anyone you think may have heart. It concerns the safety of 45 million Burmese people, who at this present moment may be risking their lives for the right to choose their own destiny. Having spent a number of years in Burma as a Buddhist monk in the 1970's and 80's, I write this letter out of gratitude to the people of Burma for having given me the greatest of all gifts, the dharma.
"It is man's vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power." Aung San Suu Kyi.
You might know that Burma's military dictatorship, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), increases its repression of the people daily attempting to crush their nonviolent struggle for democracy and freedom. A few months ago my dear friend U Win Htein, Aung San Suu Kyi's personal secretary (imprisoned for the second time May, 1996) was transferred from Rangoon's Insein Prison to a remote hard labor camp 500 miles north of Mandalay, where he lives in leg irons and pounds rock. He has no medicines, blankets or clothing. He is sick and weak.
U Win Htein is a beautiful man, fifty-five years old, father of five, a devout Buddhist and vipassana meditator. His is only one of hundreds, perhaps thousands of similar stories. The exact number of political prisoners is impossible to verify, but what is known is that torture is endemic. Refugees continue to stream out of the country, arbitrary arrests are on the rise, forced relocation with confiscation of land and property is commomplace, and inflation is skyrocketing. There is acute malnutrition and starvation in rural areas; in fact, hundreds of villages are being destroyed, primarily in the north east where indigenous people are herded up and either forced into labor or killed.
All Burmese leaders of the democracy struggle have called for a categorical international boycott on everything entering Burma, economic and human - anything that provides SLORC's military dictatorship with money and credibility. For example, every foreigner entering Burma must cash $US300. with SLORC authorities in exchange for their paper promissary notes. Also, a substantial percentage of all air ticket revenue for flights in and out of Burma, and all revenue from incountry travel go directly to SLORC, regardless of the airline. As incidental as it may seem, every person who boycotts and every dollar withheld matters.
In view of the overall picture, it has become clear to me that I must revoke my policy of encouraging Western dharma students to travel in Burma and/or practice meditation there under the guidance of Burmese or Western teachers. Discernment and restraint are required; rooted in compassion, these form a solid foundation for wisdom and freedom to arise - far moreso than practicing mindfulness blindly in the context of a country where millions of people face unremitting repression and other cruelties as a matter of state policy.
As Mahatma Ghandi once said: "Non-cooperation with evil is as important as cooperation with good."
To honor the request for a boycott on the SLORC's Burma would make a clear statement: I see your behaviour and cannot tolerate it. My love and respect for the Buddha's teaching, and for human rights will not allow me to visit or practice meditation in your country while you starve, murder and torture your own people. My travel to Burma at this time would be tantamount to collusion.
Should you be moved to go further, please send this letter to others; you might write articles; speak out; get involved in one of the many Burma activist groups worldwide; or simply initiate a more open dialogue about the meaning of 'engaged Buddhism' among dharma friends and teachers; the meaning of freedom from fear; the meaning of campassion in action.
When I asked Aung San Suu Kyi to speak to those of us in the world who wish to support her and her people's aspirations for democracy and freedom, she replied: "It's very simple You must not forget that the people of Burma want democracy You should do everything possible to bring about the political system that the majority of the people of Burma want and for which so many people have sacrificed. Burma should be helped when help is needed. And one day we hope to be ourselves in a position to help others in need."
On my upcoming speaking tour for the release of my book of conversations with Aung San Suu Kyi, The Voice of Hope, I'll be emphasizing her point that, "Politics and spirituality are inseparable; both have human dignity and freedom as their basis." Drawing inspiration from the Tibetan movement and how successful His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been in involving western Buddhists in activism for Tibet, we might do the same for Burma, a sister Buddhist country.
The most basic form of support westerners can offer is to cut their funding of the SLORC, both morally and financially, and to voice their opposition to its brutal behavior.
"Every time we stand up for an ideal, every act of compassionate protest, every voice of dissent, as insignificant as it may seem, sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression." Robert Kennedy.
When democracy is finally achieved in Burma, hopefully one day soon, we can all go there and rejoice in her freedom. Until then, every act of support for the people of Burma brings that day closer.
Alan Clements
Co-ordinator, The Burma Project USA