Kindness Chant

Burmese Buddhist monks begin a teach-in Tuesday afternoon at Northern Illinois University with a chant called the Metta Sutra, preaching unconditional love and kindness. NIU students and faculty and community members gathered at Martin Luther King Commons to hear speeches about the fight against dictatorship in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. Chronicle photo KATE WEBER

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DeKALB - The three Burmese Buddhist monks slowly approached a podium Tuesday afternoon and removed their sandals. Two took hold of microphones between their palms as they stood at the Martin Luther King Commons on the Northern Illinois University campus. Then the monks - who hail from the Ratanaram Buddhist Temple in Rockford - started chanting the Metta Sutra, a scripture that preaches unconditional love and kindness. Sandar Wynn, an NIU library assistant who was born in Burma, now called Myanmar, translated the Metta Sutra before the monks started chanting it. &#8220Let none deceive another or despise any being of any state,” she said. &#8220Let none through anger or ill will wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world.” The monks came to NIU as part of a teach-in held in the wake of attacks in Burma last week led by Gen. Than Shwe. Hundreds of protesters and monks who marched against the authoritarian regime were killed,dissidant groups say. Faculty, students and other people originally from the country gathered Tuesday to hear speeches about its fight against a military dictatorship. During the teach-in, event organizer and assistant professor of history Eric Jones called NIU the most important institution in the world for the study of Burma outside that country. Out of about 40 scholars who work in Southeast Asian studies at NIU, six specialize in the country, including some who are Burmese. NIU reportedly is the lead repository of all articles, studies and reports on Burma in the United States, and also teaches the Burmese language. Kenton Clymer, chair of the NIU History Department, described the Burmese government as one of the most loathsome in the world and praised the monks' steadfast opposition to the military rulers. &#8220They have gone out despite the administration's efforts to buy them off by building new pagodas and refurbishing old pagodas,” Clymer said. His wife, Marly Clymer, described the time the couple met Aung San Suu Kyi in 1987 at the Indian Institute for Advanced studies in Shimla, India. Aung San - who has been under house arrest since 1990 when she won an overwhelming majority in the election for prime minister - still serves as the leader of the National League for Democracy, the Burmese political group opposing military rule. Clymer described the strength the Nobel Peace Prize winner has shown during nearly two decades of imprisonment, such as choosing not to leave Burma even while her husband, Michael Aris, was dying of cancer in 1997. &#8220(The military government) offered her freedom, but she knew she would have to leave Burma and never be allowed back,” Clymer said. &#8220She once said, ‘It is not the power that corrupts - it is fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it.' She is definitely Burma's best hope now.” Tyler McKellar, an NIU grad student majoring in Burmese politics, also has firsthand knowledge of the struggles of Burmese citizens. He spent two months studying in Burma and saw the struggles of ethnic minorities such as the Chin, Karen, Shan and Mon peoples. Many have been forcibly moved when suspected of opposing the military regime. &#8220Villagers were removed from villages and placed in camps,” McKellar said. &#8220They could take only what they could carry. Those who couldn't afford new homes suffered from malnutrition and disease and lost their farms of many generations.” Other speakers at Tuesday's event criticized China and India for their lack of pressure against the regime, while another pointed out the ineffectiveness of cutting Burma off from trade agreements. &#8220Sanctions are rarely effective,” retired NIU political science professor Clark Neher said. &#8220(The United States) has had sanctions against Cuba for 50 years, and they still have the same government.” The teach-in concluded with a question-and-answer session but also with words from Yan Naing Lwin, a physics professor visiting from Western Illinois University in Macomb. &#8220I wear two hats, born in Burma and moved here over a half century ago,” Yan said. &#8220I'm so proud of you all for being here. It's amazing that so many people are doing this here, and campuses and cities all over. This is not isolated - it's global. We're all interconnected. I pray for peace across this planet Earth.” Benji Feldheim can be reached at bfeldheim@daily-chronicle.com.