<<The four walls require an even larger degree of
discipline and dependency upon your own inner
resources. This can be accomplished, and is one
of the capabilities of the incarcerated which so
maddeningly frustrates their torturers' most
dedicated efforts.>>
I have an acquaintance who is a Tibetan exile. She has told so many moving stories about her experience, and her family's, under Chinese oppression. For example, it was necessary for her to learn the Buddhist religious prayers and meditations from her grandfather secretly, as the practice of their religion was forbidden; and when she grew up, and her test scores were so high that in spite of being both Tibetan and a woman, she was admitted to medical school, she had to find secret places at the school-- behind a certain large tree was her favorite-- where she couldn't be seen praying, so as not to be punished and tormented for her prayers.
But the story she told me that your comment reminded me of was about her grandfather, who had been horribly tormented; for example, he was strung up by his arms, pulled backward and up, and hung there until he lost consciousness. This was when he was 92 years old. She told so many horrifying, and moving, stories about her family, and how they survived in tact (those who weren't killed outright,) but one thing she said about her grandfather I'll never forget. It related to a Buddhist way of praying and meditating that involved a certain use of, or concentration on, your breathing. Her grandfather said, "They could take away my freedom, but they could not take away my breath." |
