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Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma's father of independence, Aung San, is a devout Buddhist. She returned to
her homeland in 1988 after years of studying and living in England, to witness widespread killings of
her people by the Ne Win regime, and broad protests against it. As her father's daughter, she says, she
could not remain silent. She spoke out against the regime and initiated a nonviolent movement for
democracy and human rights. In 1989 she was arrested and spent 15 of the next 21 years in custody
during which she read, wrote, and meditated. She was released in 2010.
Cambodia is an overwhelmingly Buddhist country of 14 million. Buddha teaches that we are masters
of our destiny. Suu Kyi says, "Action comes after thought." Gandhi says, "You must be the
change you want to see in the world." Their sentiments align with Buddha's teachings: "We
are what we think. With our thought we make our world."
Without action, we go nowhere. With well-thought action we are likely to reach our objectives.
Briefly, the Hindu prince Siddhartha Gautama Buddha led a life of full comfort in an ostentatious
palace. He did not know poverty or suffering. At the age of 29, Siddartha was riding in his chariot
when he saw for the first time an old person, a sick person, a corpse, and a wandering holy man whose
asceticism inspired him. He wanted to know what causes suffering and how to stop it. So, in the
middle of one night, he left the palace secretly, beginning the story of Lord Buddha.
I learn from the words and the thoughts of great men and women who have walked political paths I
never experienced. They are far more eloquent than I and I've often shared their words with my own
readers. In my own life, I've sometimes been reminded of their teachings to put myself on a better
path. I embrace one of Gandhi's 10 fundamentals to change the world: "I claim to be a simple
individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to
confess my errors and to retrace my steps . . . It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is
healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." What great lesson
of humility. Too many of us are obsessed with the "I" and the "me" – A'thmar Anh, Khmers say. This
can be a cause of conflict.
While I was a student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1968, I saw protests, looting,
and vandalism in Washington's streets following the assassination of America's civil rights leader
Martin Luther King, Jr. He was shot and killed on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, one
day after his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, in which he spoke of death
threats,"What will happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't
know what will happen now . . . But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man…"
Inspired by Gandhi's success with nonviolent activism, King visited Gandhi's birthplace in India in
1959, a trip that deepened his commitment to, nonviolence resistance. He called it, "the most potent
weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity."
I found Gandhi's language and thought reflected in King's public remarks. Gandhi's
fundamental, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong" can
be read in King's "Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness"; "We must develop and
maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of
the power to love"; "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into
friend"; "There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we
discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."
But did Buddha not teach about love, compassion, understanding, peace 2,500 years ago?
Fifteen days into the New Year 2013, I recall the principle governing the life of Nobel Laureate Elie
Weisel, a Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz. A Jew from Romania, and a naturalized citizen of the
United States, Weisel told Boston University graduates in a commencement speech that he walked in
the footsteps of those who lived before him, that he's "the sum total of their experiences, their quests.
And so are you." "The knowledge that I have must not remain imprisoned in my brain. . . . I need to
pay back what I was given. Call it gratitude."
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