Whatever It Takes

Thaw Htet is juggling a lot these days: a donation platform, running two free medical clinics, and supplying defense teams. On top of this, he’s also created two anti-military Facebook pages that have gone viral in the Burmese online community.

What is all the more remarkable is that Thaw Htet was once barely able to even take care of himself, as he survived two suicide attempts and a later fear that he had contracted HIV. The latter led him to begin a serious meditation practice, which provided real insight. He notes: “I was holding too much onto myself, like onto my body, and on the privileges and happiness that I gained from doing something. Because all those are temporary.”

Thaw Htet draws equal inspiration from both the Buddha as he does Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Combining this no-nonsense American business advice with the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness and ethics have certainly given him a broad palate to draw on when deciding on his plan of action since the coup. And yet, Thaw Htet does not see himself as belonging to an organized religion. “I prefer to identify or define myself as a person, who will take any kind of good ways of teaching from any kind of religions.”

Interestingly, Thaw Htet did not always hold such a progressive attitude, and vulnerably recalls the superiority with which he once held Buddhism, along with his Bamar identity—a view that he notes was encouraged and reinforced by the military regime. For him, now is very much the time to strike out towards a new future. “For the first time in Myanmar history, all of us are united. Like Kayin, Kachin, like all the ethnic groups! We are talking to each other right now,” he comments.

Like many other Burmese, Thaw Htet is particularly troubled by military spies infiltrating local communities. He notes that the presence of a spy in Thilon village brought about a full-blown siege of the small community, causing the 3,000 inhabitants to flee into the forest. This news was especially distressing to meditators, as this is the home of Thilon monastery, the site where the 19th century meditation master, Thilon Sayadaw, became one of the forerunners of the mindfulness movement, creating the lineage that was eventually handed down to Mahasi Sayadaw.