TWO WISE MEN OF THE EAST
Pickett, Clarence E.
Two Wise Men Of the East by CLARENCE E. PICKETT IT WAS Sunday afternoon. We had just arrived in Rangoon, capital city of Burma, to learn something about this little country where Buddhism was...
...We were not accustomed to such attention from prime ministers (though U Nu was just now out of office...
...His life as political leader in Burma has not been an easy one...
...But this he must accept with all of the agony it entailed...
...This took a vast reservoir of belief in people and in their response to the motive of love instead of compulsion or self-interest...
...Even more were we moved to find that this leader had learned of our interest in the religious life of Burma .and wished to see us...
...As we entered the hotel a young man accosted us to say that U Nu had instructed him to be at our disposal while we were in Burma...
...He I welcomes help from outside but he feels that India's inner resources are great...
...Chaudhuri's whole outlook had been greatly affected by Gandhi...
...The call to this service was so persistent that he had surrendered his importantl post in the government of his state in order to devote his full time to its development...
...There was the important stage of political revolution when non-violence was central in importance...
...To understand him one has to remember that his buoyance does not come from simple optimism...
...CLARENCE E. PICKETT, executive secretary emeritus of the American Friends Service Committee, had an opportunity to confer with the "wise men" of whom he writes while on a recent journey to the Far East inspecting AFSC units...
...this may somewhat mitigate the punishment which U Nu is sure to suffer because of the essential conflict between his religious faith and his political acts...
...His religious faith emphasizes reverence for life, yet as the political leader of his people he felt the necessity to maintain an army and at times to command it to shoot to kill...
...In some parts tribal organization of life still persists, and the burden of poverty in much of village life seems unchangeable...
...Having achieved political office in order to dedicate his skills and ability to these noble ends, he was now turning from government to a dependence on the reborn spirit of his people as the path to most lasting results...
...Now, non-violence was not enough...
...But one soon found that religion, not politics, was the deepest interest of this unusual statesman...
...All about us in Rangoon were refugees from these villages who had come to the city for safety from such raids...
...First there was the occupation by the British which ended when the Japanese drove them out early in World War II...
...As he talks, a broad smile and infectious twinkle light up his face...
...The central need is to kindle confidence...
...He was describing a spiritual pilgrimage that had a deeper meaning for him than even his efforts as a statesman...
...And the Japanese only yielded to Allied "deliverance" after terrible destruction of property and life...
...India bristles with problems-poverty, overpopulation, inefficient methods, a temperamental climate, lack of capital for development...
...Tea was promptly served in charming fashion...
...He realized that this would probably turn him back thousands of years as his spirit was reincarnated into lower forms as punishment for this denial of a central principle of Buddhist life...
...There were two reasons...
...He was not even content simply to join the Bhoodan Movement and ask the larger landowner to give of his land to the landless...
...But the greatest danger to any movement is the tendency to cease to expect new light...
...U Nu is not an austere appearing man...
...And it was because we had expressed interest in his religious experience that this busy man had opened his house and his heart so widely to us...
...Later we visited the peace pagoda which had been built recently under U Nu's sponsorship, and the new institution for Buddhistic studies now in construction, which will house the world's greatest center for study and meditation according to this faith...
...But he believes this is the next step along the road that Gandhi so effectively led them in his day...
...Pickett's special interest was in the revival of indigenous religions in the Far East, especially Buddhism...
...Love means caring to the point of surrender of privilege...
...From him this new emphasis had called so persistently that he was no longer content to pass laws and enforce them...
...As this Indian sat squatting on the floor, clad in the simplest of Indian garb, and talked of this revolutionary doctrine of love, one realized the fa- • miliar sound of his words to one accustomed to the New Testament doctrine, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you...
...In retrospect the Burmese now look upon the Japanese occupation as most onerous and destructive of national dignity...
...To understand the meaning of this step one has to realize this involves withdrawing entirely from normal life...
...Since Chou En-lai, the prime minister of China, was arriving the next day and his presence would require U Nu's attention for a few days, we were invited for tea and an unhurried talk that afternoon...
...It arises from some inner source which has great strength...
...I was not quite prepared for this wholesale welcome from the official family, for I knew that relations between Burma and the United States had been slightly dampened by Burma's refusal to allow our Technical Assistance Mission to continue in that country...
...The fact that for him personally it meant a hazardous financial future and transference from the use of the power of the state to faith in the inward spirit I brought a fresh flow of confidence...
...We had just arrived in Rangoon, capital city of Burma, to learn something about this little country where Buddhism was experiencing a vigorous revival...
...Throughout Buddhism runs the conviction that one can achieve merit by good deeds...
...Now he cycles or walks from village to village, talking the new life of J surrender, appealing not to non- j violence but to the power of love to ¦ bring fulfillment to his people...
...But life was still a struggle...
...As U Nu talked of these historic events through which his country had passed, I asked him why he had turned from the office of prime minister voluntarily to the quiet life of a citizen...
...We were all ears to learn why Nabakrushna Chaudburi had resigned as first minister of his state and leader of the Congress Party to join the Bhoodan Movement, which is dedicated to persuading landlords to give up some of their land to the landless...
...Added to this was the problem of the age-old unsubjugated jungle tribesmen who resist any central government and who to this day raid villages and rob and kill their own as a way of life...
...Perhaps the inner meaning of life, carried from the Middle East to the West, and later to the Far East by devoted disciples, may be finding some of its fruits through such seekers after truth as are represented by these two "wise men from the East...
...Here in Orissa was a man who was intelligently dedicated to that undertaking...
...As we drove up to his simple home, the whole family of five was at the front door to welcome us...
...no etiquette or protocol was allowed to interfere with deeper talk...
...All of the land was to be redistributed according to need and ability to manage, and benefits from such sharing were to be for all and not for a few...
...And it was to give a new emphasis to voluntary participation for the common good that he had chosen to work outside rather than through government schemes...
...Love calls for realizing a new center in life, a new commitment to the common good—"a new commandment I give unto you...
...His second interest in withdrawal was to be able to devote time to reorganization and purification of his political party...
...The radiance of his inner religious experience is unmistakable, and it is his inner peace which sustains him as he now returns to the premiership of his country...
...He was ready to appeal to whole villages voluntarily to reorient their life around a corporate sharing...
...So Burma had seen deep tragedy...
...The scene of this interview was a quiet evening on the portico in front of the living quarters of a small Quaker unit working with the villagers to improve health, education, and agriculture in an area soon to be served by water and electricity from the recently opened Hira-kud dam...
...As they left they made sure that no important railway and electric installations were left intact...
...After this two-hour talk with him jve felt we had been in touch with the inner springs of eternal values even though the experience had come through channels new and unaccustomed to us...
...It means placing oneself under the direction of a monk experienced in the art of meditation...
...But in the lower ranks petty benefits from office showed that selfish conception of public position had infected the party, and he wanted to devote time to purifying the stream of political life so far as that was possible...
...As a leader in this backward state in India Chaudhuri had done a great deal of careful planning in order to bring the benefits from India's great village development plan to his backward state...
...It means controlling one's thoughts so that "problems" fade away and the mind finds rest and peace...
...Finally there is a great neighbor to the east— China, with her enthusiasm for communism which spills over into Burma from time to time...
...The former first minister (equivalent to governor in the United States) was spending the evening with us...
...Love, he explained, is positive, while non-violence is negative...
...A great new step based on love was called for...
...During the pressure of official duties, he had taken a whole month in complete retirement in order to give himself to meditation...
...Yet this was no pious sermon Chaudhuri was preaching that evening...
...But something was lacking...
...All of these forces conspired to make difficult the effort to bring stability and prosperity to this little country...
...As he talked, U Nu's face kindled even more in his step by step description of the release of tension and the discovery of the inward peace that came to him...
...Another visit which left a deep impression occurred in the state of Orissa in India...
...He found in Burma no suggestion of graft or accumulation of great wealth among the holders of high office...
...Highly prized are the brains and the skill to enable Indians to wrest from her natural resources an ordered and abundant life...
...We had been told of the backward character of Orissa...
...Already one could see some changes coming...
Vol. 21 • June 1957 • No. 6
