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Daw Suu's Letter from Burma #40



Mainichi Daily News, Monday, September 9, 1996

FAITH EASES THE MIND IN TIMES OF POLITICAL TURMOIL

Letter from Burma (No. 40) by Aung San Suu Kyi

	Vassa, the rainy season retreat, has begun. It is a time for offering robes
to monks and for making special efforts toward gaining a better
understanding of Buddhist values.  In Burma, we look upon members of the
/sangha/ (the Buddhist religious order) as teachers who will lead us along
the noble eightfold path.  Good teachers do not merely give scholarly
sermons, they show us how we should conduct our daily lives in accordance
with right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
	Not long before my house arrest in 1989, I was granted an audience with the
venerable U Pandita, an exceptional teacher in the best tradition of great
spiritual mentors whose words act constantly as an aid to a better
existence.  Hsayadaw (holy teacher) U Pandita spoke of the importance of
/sammavaca/ or right speech.  Not only should one speak only the truth,
one's speech should lead to harmony among beings, it should be kind and
pleasant and it should be kind and pleasant and it should be beneficial.
One should follow the example of the Lord Buddha who only spoke words that
were trustful and beneficial, even if at times such speech was not always
pleasing to the listener.
	The Hsayadaw also urged me to cultivate /sati/, mindfulness.  Of the five
spiritual faculties, /saddha/ (faith), /viriya/ (energy), sati, /samadhi/
(concentration) and /panna/ (wisdom), it is only sati that can never be in
excess.  Excessive faith without sufficient wisdom leads to blind faith,
while excessive wisdom without sufficient energy leads to undesirable
cunning.  Too much energy concentration leads to indolence.  But as for
sati, one can never have too much of it, it is "never in excess, but always
in deficiency."  The truth and value of this Buddhist concept that Hsayadaw
U Pandita took such pains to impress on me became evident during my years of
house arrest.
	Like many of my Buddhist colleagues, I decided to put my time under
detention to good use by practicing meditation.  It was not an easy process.
I did not have a teacher and my early attempts were more than a little
frustrating.  There were days when I found my failure to discipline my mind
in accordance with prescribed meditation practices so infuriating I felt I
was doing myself more harm than good.  I think I would have given up but for
the advice of a famous Buddhist teacher, that whether or not one wanted to
practice meditation, one should do so for ones' own good.  So I gritted my
teeth and kept at it, often rather glumly.  Then my husband gave me a copy
if Gsatadaw Y Oabduta's book, "In this Very Life, The Liberation Teachings
of the Buddha."  By studying this book carefully, I learnt how to overcome
difficulties of meditation and to realize its benefits.  I learnt how
practicing meditation led to increased mindfulness in everyday life and
again and again.  I recalled the Hsayadaw's words on the importance of sati
with appreciation and gratitude.
	In my political work, I have been helped and strengthened by the teachings
of members of the sangha.  During my very first campaign trip across Burma,
I received invaluable advice from monks in different parts of the country.
In Prome, a Hsayadaw told me to keep in mind the hermit Sumedha, who
sacrificed the possibility of early liberation for himself along and
underwent many lives of striving that he might save others from suffering.
So must you be prepared to strive for as long as might be necessary to
achieve good and justice, exhorted the venerable Hsayadaw.
	In a monastery at Pakokku, the advice that an abbot gave to my father when
he went to that town more than 40 years age was repeated to me: "Do not be
frightened every time there is an attempt to frighten you, but do not be
entirely without fear.  Do not become elated every time you are praised, but
do not be entirely lacking in elation."  In other words, while maintaining
courage and humility, one should not abandon caution and healthy self-respect.
	When I visited Natmauk, my father's home town, I went to the monastery
where he studied as a boy.  There the abbot gave a sermon on the four causes
of decline and decay: failure to recover that which had been lost, omission
to repair that which had been damaged; disregard of the need for reasonable
economy; and the elevation to leadership of those without morality or
learning.  The abbot went on to explain how these traditional Buddhist views
should be interpreted to help us build a just and prosperous society in the
modern age.
	Of the words of wisdom I gathered during that journey across central Burma,
those of a 91-year-old Hsayadaw of Sagaing are particularly memorable.  He
sketched out for me tersely how it would be to work for democracy in Burma.
"You will be attacked and reviled for engaging in honest politics,"
pronounced the Hsayadaw, "But you must persevere.  Lay down an investment in
/dukka/ (suffering) and you will gain /sukha/ (bliss)."

* * * * * * * *
(This article is one of a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese
translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous
day in some areas.)