goldstein were disciples of mahasi sayadaw who … the joyful....pdfmay 2014 lo 21 goldstein were...
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May 2014 LOTUS 21
Goldstein were disciples of Mahasi Sayadaw who taught
meditation on the East Coast. On the West Coast was a
fellow missionary monk from Burma who invited him
regularly to Los Angeles. He would lead retreats over
there at least once a year and occasionally lectured as
well. Among the universities he visited were Columbia,
Harvard, Macomb, Champagne and Berkeley. Eventually
invitations began to arrive from South and Central Amer-
ica too. He first took a retreat in Brazil in 2000; in 2004 he
was invited to the fifth anniversary celebrations of the
Mexican Centro de Theravada.
From the 1980s on he took a prominent part in promot-
ing peace and human rights world-wide, attending con-
ferences in Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Austr alia,
and addressing various sections of the United Nations,
culminating in the Millennium Peace Summit at their
New York Headquarters. Among the bodies he was
invited to join in an executive capacity were The World
Conference for Religion and Peace and the International
Network of Engaged Buddhists. As leader of the Interna-
tional Buddhist Peace Mission he visited Cambodia in
1989 and Sri Lanka in 1990. When rioting against the Ne
Win regime began in Myanmar he was asked by Amnesty
to serve as their advisor. He also set up the Burma Peace
Foundation with David Arnott to help the victims of and
refugees from this agitation and visited some of them in
North-West Thailand. When the direction of the Founda-
tion turned to political agitation, he withdrew again. His
aim was always to serve the Buddha’s teaching by help-
ing people, not to add to the clash of ideologies.
While passing through New York in 1993, Dr Rewata
Dhamma talked to Francesc Vendrell, director of political
affairs for South Asia and the Pacific countries in the
United Nations, and suggested that, instead of confronta-
tional demands, the Buddhist way of doing things would
be to engage in dialogue with the Myanmar government.
Vendrell then arranged for him to meet various diplo-
mats in Washington who asked him whether he would
be prepared to undertake that task. As someone who had
renounced his citizenship twice, the second time to take
British nationality, he was not exactly Myanmar’s favourite
son. There were times when he doubted whether he would
ever be allowed to return. Nevertheless, an invitation from
the State Sangha Mahanayika Council arrived soon after-
wards and in May 1994 he set off to see the country he
had not visited in over thirty years.
It was not only his monastic superiors with whom
Sayadaw conferred. He talked over the situation with
several ex-politicians and eventually discussed the advis-
ability of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest
with a senior member of government. He got no agree-
ment and, on reporting this to Francesc Vendrell and
other diplomats, was asked why the Government would
not even talk to the democratic leader. After all, hadn’t
Dr Rewata Dhamma said that dialogue was the Buddhist
way of negotiation? So in August he flew back to the
homeland he had not seen in so many years for another
week and talked to his Government contact the afternoon
of his arrival. No difficulties were raised and he was
granted permission to visit Suu Kyi for as long as he
liked. His account of their interview is as follows:
“She told me that she was not angry and added that
‘when you keep anger and animosity in your mind, it is
like keeping a cobra in your heart and this is very
dangerous.’ Another point she made was that she herself
did not need to be freed, as she was living in a very
comfortable house, but she wanted freedom granted to
those people who had been detained in jails throughout
the country. She also said that if she could have dialogue
with the Government then her personal freedom was not
a matter of necessity. On the subject of democracy, she
also spoke her mind, saying that democracy was not
something you can beg from someone else; rather, it is
something you had to build for yourself.
“In the course of the rest of our conversation, she also
said that because her father had been the founder of the
Myanmar Army, she regarded all members of the mili-
tary as her brothers. To my mind, this is absolutely true
as she was brought up in her father's home in which the
army and army life was a predominant feature, so it was
quite easy to understand how from an early age she could
regard the military as her ‘family.’ After she told me of
her feelings about the army, I told her that even members
of the military Government regarded her with respect be-
cause of her late father's and her family's strong links
with the army. So whatever differences and problems she
and they had could indeed be solved as brothers and
sister. She ans wered me by saying that only the Myanmar
people could understand Myanmar's problems, and so
whatever differences we had must be sorted out among
ourselves.”
Although discussions did eventually take place between
the two, Suu Kyi was not released until the following sum-
mer. In the meanwhile Dr Rewata Dhamma’s profile was
high and he took the opportunity to declare his vision of
responsible statesmanship at the Asian Leaders Confer-Lama Gangchen with Dr Rewata Dhamma