Circling

Yangon, Myanmar

There is a local train in Yangon, Myanmar that circles the perimeter of the city. It is a 39-station loop connecting the heart of Yangon with neighboring towns. After an intense ten-day silent Vipassana retreat in Mandalay, I was curious not only about life on the train, but also exploring the circular nature of things. 

The Burmese businessman turned Vipassana teacher, S.N. Goenka, who revived the 2,500-year-old meditation of Gotama Buddha, shared that, “I am not against conversion. In my speech at the UN (United Nations), the first thing I said was that I am for conversion, but not from one organised religion to another, but from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation."

Life, particularly in the western world, is lived linearly, or at least the trajectories many of us have embarked upon follow this conditioned point A to point B formula for “success.” Yet, as we come to realize, there is no such thing as linear living; we are all circling, though our realities may look different. 

The circular route of the train reminded me that if we sit long enough and observe, we eventually arrive where we started: home. Home, in the physical sense, is somewhere along the way, but home, in the soul sense, is coming full circle.

There was something oddly peaceful about boarding the train at different times of the day over the course of a week - early morning, mid-day and late afternoon - with nowhere to be other than in that moment.  

And as frequently happens during travel, I had to confront my own inherent privilege: that I have the luxury to explore this route; that a 15-cent passenger ticket is what many Burmese must factor into their daily expenses; that life in Myanmar can be incredibly challenging; that compassion and warmth and repression and oppression simultaneously exist.

That for many Burmese, Goenka’s words are the ultimate test for cultivating equanimity of the mind, heart and spirit under less-than-ideal circumstances.

I acquiesced that multiple things can be true at once, and that while certain things are unacceptable and non-negotiable, the existence of one does not nullify the existence of the other.

There is darkness and there is light; there is light and there is darkness. The intolerable actions of some do not define the hearts of all, but the grace of a few can impact many. This is what Myanmar showed me.

On this train, I found beauty in the ordinary. In the way people wake up every morning and move through their days.

And I circled back to this, another quote by Goenka, “If there is no peace in the minds of individuals, how can there be peace in the world? Make peace in your own mind first.”