Walking the Wall

I was saddened to wake up this morning and find out that the peaceful demonstrations of the monks and citizens of Burma have begun to be met with violence by the military regime. My only hope is that the shooting into the crowds and the raiding, beating and arresting of around 200 Buddhist monks while the world watches will bring pressure to bear on the military. My heart goes out to a people who have struggled under the weight of a military power that is choking the life out of them. Another source I read this morning said the streets flooded with people today protesting what happened to the monks–despite the fact that the people are more at risk because the monks are not there. A blog I regularly read has better information and links about the plight of the people of Burma. It was also sad to read some of the emails coming out of Burma itself.

There is something so amazingly powerful and compelling about people who want freedom so badly they are willing to die for it–but also refuse to take another life for it. I remember sitting through the movie Ghandi with horrified fascination watching a long line of men marching on the salt mines of their country. They were determined to regain what was theirs as a people, but refused to kill for it. So they walked, were beaten and thrown aside where the woman bandaged them up while the next group walked forward knowing they were going to be beaten or killed and refusing to bear arms.

I’m in the process of reading Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War by Sister Chan Khong who along with Thich Nhat Hanh and other brave nuns and monks changed the face of Buddhism during the Vietnam War as they shifted to what is now known as Engaged Buddhism, taking an active, but peaceful role in ending suffering in the greater social arena. After going to a mountain area where the dead were everywhere, soldiers from both sides, and villagers caught in the middle, Sister Chan relates a poem that Thich Nhat Hanh wrote after seeing all the suffering, it starts:

I have come to be with you,

to weep with you

for our ravaged land

and broken lives.

We are left with only grief and pain,

but take my hands

and hold them, hold them.

I want to say

only simple words.

Have courage. We must have courage,

if only for the children,

if only for tomorrow.

Simple words: have courage.

Simple acts: wear a red shirt tomorrow for Burma.