When Jonathan fell to the ground, the only thing he could think to do was to somehow shield his head from the blows and kicks coming from all directions, his reflexes automatically kicking in as he tried to protect himself from a murderous regime, whose soldiers are not above beating people to death in the streets in broad daylight. Jonathan’s “crime” was peacefully protesting against the military coup.
He was eventually taken to notorious Insein Prison—a name infamous for the decades of torture and death that have occurred within its walls. He was placed in a large, windowless cell with a capacity for about 100 people. And yet, he was one of the more fortunate ones, by far. After he had been arrested, soldiers began to employ more extreme forms of violence against protestors, and in prison he saw some fellow prisoners emerge from interrogation sessions bloodied and beaten to a pulp. Fortunately, this type of punishment was never meted out to him personally, and his eventual 3-year sentence ended up being commuted to less than a month.
Reflecting on his experience, one of Jonathan’s insights center on the power of unity. He notes that the Tatmadaw has always ruled by creating division and distrust among the different ethnic and religious groups, but like in prison where he developed deep friendships with people of different backgrounds, he realized that if the Burmese population became more unified, it would help defeat the “divide and conquer” tactics of the military.
Jonathan also reflected on his own Buddhist background. Today he is trying to get back to the roots of the practice, recalling the value of his time as a monk, and returning to the basic teachings of mindfulness which he finds refreshes him while stabilizing his mind.