A PRAYER FOR BURMA by Kenneth Wong

After living in the United States for over a decade, Kenneth Wong returns to his native Burma—a country fraught with
political upheaval and laden with superstition—to face the cultural specters of his own past and the spirit of a land trapped
in time.

Sealed off from the outside world, first by an oppressive military regime’s isolationism and then by economic sanctions,
Burma lives on like a lingering ghost of its colonial past. A Prayer for Burma is a beautiful, stunning portrait of the country
as seen and remembered by a homecoming native battling his conflicting national, cultural, ideological, ancestral, and ethnic
identities.

In the tradition of Orwell, Maugam, and Theroux, Wong shows Burma as an exotic place that invites, frightens, teases, and
haunts citizens and visitors alike with its unique mixture of ill-kept Edwardian structures, pockmarked English mansions,
and glittering Buddhist temples. And as a former Burmese rediscovering Burma—an outsider who was once an insider—
Wong reveals the courage, humor, and perseverance of the Burmese people and their endearing, yet mysterious way of life.

ON THE THREE EVILS by Prime Minister: U Nu

Humanity has been led astray by three evils – greed, hatred and ignorance. Whether we are Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians,
Animists, or Atheists, we cannot escape the three inevitables: old age, disease, and death. Nobody can deny that the five sense objects
– pretty sight, delightful sound, fragrant smell, savory taste, and nice touch – are only fleeting phenomena. They are neither lasting nor
permanent.

Nor can anybody deny that property is transitory: no one can carry away his property after death. Men have been chasing these transitory
pleasures with a dogged tenacity mainly because they hold false views regarding property. They forget that this life is not even one
millionth part of the whirlpool of Samsara (the cycles of rebirth), and go on amassing wealth even though it never brings them full
satisfaction.

This insatiable greed for wealth results in the profit motive which is not directed toward any utilitarian purpose. Once upon a time all
commodities were common property, and everybody had a right to use them for his own benefit. But with the advent of the profit motive
these commodities became objects of exploitation. They became instruments of wealth and stimulus for greed. This led to the following
phenomena:

1. Human society was split into two classes: Haves and Have-nots

2. The Have-nots had to depend on the Haves for their living, and thus the evil system of exploitation of one class by another emerged.

3. With class exploitation, the poor became poorer because they could not get adequate returns for their work. They had to resort to evil
ways like stealing, looting, and prostitution.

4. The Lord Buddha has taught us that there are four causes of death: kamma, frame of mind, weather, and food. Under the system of
class exploitation, how can the Have-nots enjoy good food and protect themselves from extremes of weather? Can there be any sense of
happiness or contentment for them? Can even a good kamma favor one who is cheerless? Thus one who is born into the class of Have-
nots is handicapped in all the above four factors, and disease is the inevitable result.

5. How can the Have-nots care for education with their hard struggle for a bare living? Lack of education breeds an ever-increasing band
of ignoramuses and Mr. Zeros.

6. How can a country abounding in ignoramuses and Mr. Zeros ever progress?

It is evident that most of the evils in the world can be traced to the advent of the profit motive. Do you remember the legend of the
Padaythabin (the tree of fulfillment) we heard as children?

According to the legend, there was once a time when men and women could get whatever they wanted from the Padaythabin tree. There
was no problem of food or clothes or housing, and there was no crime. Disease was comparatively unknown. In course of time, however,
the people fell victim to greed and spoiled the tree of fulfillment which eventually disappeared. Then a class of people who could not
afford to eat well, dress well, or live well appeared, and crime became rampant.

Now I ask you to think of the Padaythabin as the natural wealth of our country, both above and under the ground. If only this natural
wealth is used for the common good of mankind it will be inexhaustible, besides satisfying the needs of everybody. But greed comes in
the way. The poorest of the poor wants to become rich; the rich want to become richer, and the process goes on ad infinitum. Spurred
on by greed, people are apt to “botanize on their mothers’ graves,” so to say, in order to become richer. Thus the distribution of wealth
becomes unequal. While some can amass wealth which cannot be spent in ten lives, others have to wallow in extreme poverty with bare
rags on their bodies.