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Walking the Path Without Leaving the World

Can Enlightenment coexist with worldly concerns? Explore the remarkable life of a man whose path blends destiny, mindfulness, and a deep sense of purpose. U Hla Aung (1956-2022) A Special Day HIS hand was steady, poised. His eyes, distinct and bright, rested thoughtfully on four children seated cross-legged on the floor. Streaks of grey ran through his hair like silver spines, lending the slim man in his mid-thirties an older, more distinguished air. He carefully chalked round Burmese-script letters in neat vertical lines on a temporary blackboard. Quiet and serene, he dominated the living room of the modest wooden house in a sleepy Yangon suburb. It was one of the sweltering months from March to May, the height of summer holidays, when the children had been invited to this impromptu gathering. They had known him as a private tutor who taught high school English and biology, but the words he was writing today clearly belonged to another realm. Of the words written, the children recogni...
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A Song Beyond the Sands

Just because you’ve seen only mirages in that vast desert, doesn’t mean water doesn’t exist on this parched earth. Rare as they are, oases lie hidden in the wasteland, where clear, cool water awaits the fortunate traveler. But you must reach them. Walk on, says the Spring, until you find the fertile land of love— and let your song ring like a bell. October 13, 2020 (11:45pm)

Burma Past and Present: Same and Different

The last week of August 2002 was an unusually rainy week. Even after 20 years, I remember that because I spent that week in what was the most hostile, violent and stressful place in my life. Up to now, I can revisit the fear I felt— fear of losing a future, of never seeing my beloved ones again.  Photo: Burma Campaign UK I was a third-year engineering student at that time. The final exam was drawing near, and that one evening of late August, I was studying while Mom and others were busy preparing for her 50th birthday treat the next morning.  At about 11 pm, three men in plainclothes came, searched my study room, and took me away. “National Bureau of Intelligence,” they said to my family, without giving their names and ranks or showing their IDs. “We have a few questions for him.”  “We’ll send him back soon,” they told my family, “Do not make any complaint to any entity.” But I understood that in Burma, a country under military rule for decades, a person taken away at mid...

One Year Post-Coup: Light Ahead After Darkness?

ON 1 February 2021, the dreams of many people in Burma (Myanmar) were shattered overnight. Since then, I, along with everyone else in my country of over 55 million people, have been living in darkness.  The situation one year since remains dire – one of shrinking basic freedoms, a banking and financial crisis, mounting civil war in the midst of an unthinkable human rights disaster. For someone living in what is already one of the world’s most impoverished countries, facing a military coup during a global pandemic is akin to experiencing an 8-magnitude earthquake in the middle of a category-five cyclone.  Whether out in the streets or at home, one can die from a stray bullet. Soldiers shoot wildly every time they face a hit-and-run attack by urban underground fighters. Before going out, we remove all sensitive content from our mobile phones, including the VPNs needed to open apps like Facebook. Refusal to cooperate with soldiers at checkpoints can lead to severe consequences, i...

This Revolution Is About More Than Who Governs Myanmar

While the anti-coup movement is ostensibly about who rules – the military or the people – embedded in it are four tendencies that, with the world’s help, will radically remake Myanmar society for the better. Myanmar is in the throes of a profound political crisis, but the solution must extend beyond the question of who’s in charge of government. The resistance to the Tatmadaw’s takeover has been spearheaded by the youth. Members of so-called Generation Z have learned from their elders in the 1988 pro-democracy movement, but this “Spring Revolution” is not like their parents’ failed revolution. The battle is lopsided – the military has more guns and more money than the people right now – but, with action from the international community, it is entirely winnable. The prize will not only be democratic government, but a far more just, inclusive and united society, thanks to four progressive tendencies embedded in the youth-led movement. Genuine democracy The first of these tendencies is a ...