Insight Myanmar

When Jonathan fell to the ground, the only thing he could think to do was to somehow shield his head from the blows and kicks coming from all directions, his reflexes automatically kicking in as he tried to protect himself from a murderous regime, whose soldiers are not above beating people to death in the streets in broad daylight. Jonathan’s “crime” was peacefully protesting against the mil...

Nothing had ever prepared Bhikkhu Mokkhita for this--his monastery set afire, his name appearing on a blacklist and becoming the focus on a manhunt. Somehow, he made it through the numerous police checkpoints on the road to Yangon, and found a way to pass undetected through the enhanced airport security blocking entry into a waiting MAI flight. Back home now in Germany, Bhikkhu Mokkhita is left so...

Ni Ni has been planning for a revolution for as long as she can remember… just not this one.  She had expected her fight to be about gender equality. But she says, “Now, I am fighting back about basic human rights and justice! I feel angry just thinking about this. It is unfair, I actually cannot believe that I have to fight this in 2021.” Although Ni Ni (not her real name) had grown up heari...

Kyaw Kyaw has been a revolutionary about as long as he can remember. His political awakening came through an unlikely influence: punk culture. “Punk is being yourself. It’s a rebellion against injustice,” he tells us. He was especially enamored with the punks’ freedom of expression, which does not seek out society’s approval. In response to the violence of the 2007 Saffron Revolution, he formed hi...

You are listening to the second episode in our ongoing series, titled “Love Letters to Myanmar.” This series features guests who share their warmest memories and anecdotes, discuss what life lessons they have learned from their time in Myanmar, and talk about the role that the country and culture has played in their lives. We hope these shows can aid us in keeping our hearts firmly rooted in the G...

For his contribution to the resistance, Ven Detta is seeking inspiration from Vladmir Lenin, spending the last several months studying the history of how soldiers are coaxed to defect during insurrections. He notes that during the 1917 Russian Revolution, “The military just stopped following orders.” Being intimately familiar with Burmese military culture, Ven is far from naïve concerning the chal...

Thiri is no stranger to the trauma brought on by the military coup. She spent five years with Human Rights Watch listening to people with cruel and brutal stories of their families killed or harmed by the military. Yet now she’s in the middle of it herself. She knows that there is no real safety anywhere anymore, as even residents staying indoors are getting beaten, arrested, and even killed for n...

 “Thurain” (not his real name) had planned to spend the start of 2021 building on his already impressive worldly achievements. Though a “country boy” from birth, he had made his mark in Yangon, establishing not one, but three successful businesses.  But on February 1 st , this all came to a crashing halt. He began attending the nonviolent protests, but eventually decided to lend his...

Our team has decided to present a new series that focuses on our love and appreciation for the Golden Land. We hope that upcoming episodes in this series can help to provide some kind of counterbalance to the emotionally draining content about the fraught situation we hear about daily. Titled “ Love Letters to Myanmar ,” it will feature a wide range of speakers who reflect back on what the country...

Coco’s career path in medicine wasn’t supposed to end up this way. But on February 1 st , for Coco and so many others, “all of the dreams just got wasted away.” He was initially hesitant to join the street protest, out of fear. Finally, he was coaxed outside, but when the first shots rang out, Coco found himself literally frozen in terror. However, he was inspired by some teenagers showing courage...

What is the deeper, symbolic meaning of an overturned alms bowl? What reasoning goes into the decision as to whether a protest sign is written in English or Burmese, or as pictograms, or emojis? And how and why has General Min Aung Hlaing’s height become a focus of the protest messaging? These are just some of the concepts that “Brad” and “May” (not their real names) have begun to explore on their...

Maw Htin Aung, a Kachin Christian by birth, appeared to be a leader right for his time, the kind of progressive champion needed in Myanmar who could help move the country towards a promising future. Instead of this dream, however, a nightmare has unfolded instead. He studied public administration in the U.S., and when he returned to Myanmar in 2015, he delved into public policy reform, focusing on...

While those outside of Myanmar following news of the protests have often heard updates about the importance of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), some may still not be clear about its inception and role in the wider protest movement. This episode’s guest, a trainer in public sector reform, educates us accordingly. Initially optimistic about the direction of the democratically elected governmen...

Ashin Sarana is speaking out, and he’s prepared for the consequences. “I'm basically ready for everything,” the Czech monk tells us. “I'm ready that they will come and they will destroy property, I'm ready that they will arrest me, I'm ready that they will expel me. My donors are ready… By your very existence, you happen to be involved, whether you like it or not.” It was certainly not a light dec...

Kyawt Thiri Nyunt’s journey from Myanmar to the United States at age 19 was not just a physical one, but a cultural and psychological one as well. She had traveled to enroll in a small liberal arts college in California, having won a full merit scholarship. But then came the pressure of integrating into a new environment, on top of the anxiety to achieve, and so she did something she had never don...

At a time when corporations, countries, and individuals are speaking out, taking a moral stand, and considering action to support the Burmese people as state-sponsored terror grips their nation, what is the ethical responsibility of the vipassana organization of S.N. Goenka, who always reminded students of their “debt of gratitude” to the geographical region where their lineage hails from? To answ...

A world-renowned expert on Burmese cuisine and author of the best-selling book Mandalay: Recipes and Tales from a Burmese Kitchen, Mi Mi Aye never imagined that one day she might become an activist. But as she has become increasingly invested in Myanmar’s current crisis, that is the role she has begun to take on. Having deep connections to the full range of Burma’s cuisine— running the gamut from...

Exhausted from the daily protests and sleeping at a different monastery roof with fellow protesters every night for safety, his face darkened from being out under the hot sun all day, his voice hoarse from giving daily speeches, and his words crackling with emotion as he struggles to describe his horror at the loss of freedom and the innocents who have died… Chit Tun takes listeners to the front l...

In looking back at the turbulent recent history of her country, Sayalay Chandadhika, a Burmese Buddhist nun based in Germany, sees a never-ending spiral of destructive patterns that continue to produce the same disastrous results. How to disrupt this disturbing trend? In her words, the response is clear: “We need another method, and I cannot see another method rather than mettā.” Speaking to us fr...

“We are already in the danger. So we don’t care anymore. The dawn won’t be that much darker than the midnight. And we are already in the midnight, so the darkness can’t be much worse. We are at the peak of the darkness.” These were the words of Inda Aung Soe as military tanks were rolling past at the start of our free-flowing and open interview, when asked if he felt safe talking to us from the ch...

“The Dhamma is so central to this culture, and [yet] not understood by the people who write about this place in the media from overseas. So all those sorts of things get reported from a vacuum of understanding about how incredibly important it is, for this whole culture.” So says Daw Viranani, an American Buddhist nun based in Chan Myay Myaing Monastery in northern Yangon. We were able to talk wit...

Antonio Costanzo and his team may never solve all the mysteries of the life of the great Italian monk U Lokanatha, but they are certainly trying! Even the little we know of U Lokanatha’s spiritual resume puts him in rarefied air. A forerunner of the Buddhist modernist movement, he took up a meditation practice before it was commonplace and was one of the first to talk extensively about the connect...

“And then there was a particular moment in the meditation where it was almost as if awareness separated out from the rest of the objects of consciousness.” So begins David Sudar on sharing about one of his most powerful meditation experiences, which occurred during one sitting at Shwe Oo Min Monastery in Yangon. David describes how in this transformational moment, he was able to maintain a clear a...

Today’s episode explores a journey from the fashion runway to the meditation hall. An actress, model, and beauty queen, Luissa Burton discusses the circuitous route that ultimately brought her to meditation practice in Myanmar. Luissa’s career trajectory did not follow the conventional narrative of the fashion industry. From childhood, she was stricken with two serious skin conditions, eczema and...

What place does engagement in social justice issues have, if any, within vipassana meditation centers in the tradition of S.N. Goenka? That is question Clyde Ford is asking, and is at the heart of a training session he led for teachers and students at Dhamma Kunja, a vipassana center in Washington state. In addition to being a corporate trainer on racial justice, Clyde is himself a dedicated vipas...