A Reading and a Call to Action
by Danny Fisher
I was devastated to read today in The Irrawaddy of the ruling military junta’s efforts to ban recitation of the Metta Sutta in Burma. This past Wednesday was “Metta Sutta Day” in the country, and monks at the Myat Saw Nyi Naung Pagoda (and perhaps elsewhere) were explicitly warned by local authorities not to hold ceremonies to chant the text.
- Similar ceremonies are normally held throughout the country on this day. However, since a brutal crackdown on the monk-led protests of 2007, which featured marching monks reciting the Metta Sutta, most monasteries have been wary of publicly chanting the sutra.
As a show of support for the monastics and others in Burma, I have recorded myself reciting the Metta Sutta. You can watch that below.
Though I try not to give myself over to flights of messianic fancy, something occurred to me as I prepared to record this video: this is a simple act that Buddhists and other Burma supporters anywhere and everywhere can do to show solidarity with the oppressed there. It could be an effective awareness-raising viral campaign. So, if you have a digital camera or audio recording device and access to YouTube, go for it! You can find copies of the Metta Sutta (in English) here. (And please let us know about it in the comments if you make your own video or audio recording.)
Hey Dan-O. This is a wonderful and supportive gesture. I wonder if you would also welcome audio recordings of Metta Sutta recitations? Some may find that more convenient, either for reasons of time, or perhaps a few of us don't have webcams or easy access to video equipment.
I understand the value of seeing human faces reciting the text, however, so if audio isn't quite what you have in mind, just say so.
Of course! Good call, my friend. I'll amend the post to say "audio" as well.
DCF
Danny:
Your heart's totally in the right place; thank you. I don't have a recording way on my PC (other than pictures), but my heart's with you.
That the ruling junta would try to ban the sutra recitation is almost laughable: do they honestly think that by eliminating the expression of wishing happiness to all and the extirpation of hatred that they can extinguish this wish? It's in our DNA.
But as I heard this, and read the Metta sutra (something not in my practice, but I'll definitely be adding it somehow), I thought that this sutra has meaning and import far beyond Burma.
The ruling junta of Burma's thuggish to be sure, and I support the movement there to bring some of the better part of humanity to that benighted place.
But many places are benighted nowadays. The limitless heart should go out to the people in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, to the people in the Congo that are still torn by a violence that is undereported in the West, to the "teabaggers" to those in this country that face and have faced the stark fate of death because of a lack of money for treatment.
The Metta Sutta's broadness can't be avoided, even if one tries to do so.
Danny –
What a great thing to do.
I don't have much in the way of recording technology, so I printed out the Metta Sutta and will read it out loud as often as I can. I think it was Trungpa Rinpoche who suggested reading aloud as a way of reaching as many sentient beings as possible. So, my neighbours might think I'm a bit odd — but I suspect they already do, anyway. Here I go…
Linda H.
Danny, did mine up!
http://preciousmetal.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/metta-sutta-reading/
Got your back, Danny.
Hope you're well, and may peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering prevail.
Sarva Mangalam!
Great videos, Nate and Nick! Many thanks!
We can also leave links to videos of people reciting this great scripture on our facebook and other social pages.
Ack, ok I did mine and will upload it this evening.
Wonderful Danny! Could listen to you read all evening….giving sermons online anytime soon?….such a serene voice……I'll definately be visiting your blogs more often and looking for guidence and inspiration. Your calls to activism have always been on point. Should get a video up by the weekend but hopefully by tomorrow in support. You seem to be doing well on the West Coast old friend, let me know if you and yours are ever in NYC.
- Natalie Pineiro
Aw, shucks. Thanks, Natalie! I will definitely give you a ring if I'm in NYC. DCF