Maung Htin - I can leave the camp as I want.

From old to new

All aspects of Burmese culture have been continuously developed even in the twentieth century. In particular, traditional Burmese painting has not been able to resist the influence of the West, but the saying that it has been continuously developed is even more true for painting.

If our struggle for independence is in vain, Burmese traditional art will be the first to perish.

The Burmese spirit after independence is like the pain felt by someone who has been trapped for a lifetime and is suddenly released. Freedom, freedom. No one can stop me. I cannot be controlled.

True. It cannot be controlled. Anything is too much. Control is the essence of art. But while we talk about freedom, art is like a bull that has escaped from the pen, unbridled, chasing after the cows it sees. But it doesn't catch a single one.

Because the Burmese tradition is temporarily interrupted, we have never been able to fully immerse ourselves in the old tradition, and before we can appreciate how rich our possessions are, a new illusion appears. Then, as soon as we abandon the old, we tend to think that we have become new.

People have forgotten the principle that the new can only arise from the old. They have rejected the principle that the new is born from the old. If we continue to live in this way of transgression, we will probably end up in a life of a Burmese wearing a gypsy robe.

However, fortunately, in our time, there are still quite a few artistic children who are the heirs of the old era. They are shouting for the new. They are constantly remembering the old. Because of this, we must believe that the traditional courage and wisdom of Myanmar can still be maintained.

The old and the new are just laws. According to the divine principle, all phenomena are based on the principle of origin. When they arise, they exist, when they exist, they disappear , and when they disappear, they reappear. If this is not possible, it is called death. Whatever exists, whatever disappears, is alive. Therefore, according to the divine principle, if we look at the situation from a different perspective, we can only experience the taste of Myanmar independence when all aspects of Myanmar are alive.

If we say that the old is not connected to the spirit and is called new, it will only be a body of rain. The bodies of rain do not touch the earth. They can be independent and independent. However, they may not be connected to the earth.

It is true that man always wants something new. But the constant new is meaningless to man. From an artistic point of view, man has his own tradition and his own. A person without tradition is a person without a past. The present of a person without a past is zero. If there is zero in the present, then there must be zero in the future. However, if you refuse to accept this statement and stubbornly deny that progress can be made even without a past, then let us say that for that person, there can be one or two zeros in the future.

The above is true economically, socially, and politically.

Therefore, a new thing that is separate from tradition will only be a new thing that is separate from people.

International scholars who are deeply studying the nature of art do not abandon the concept of genesis. After all, even Marx, in his work on the new economic system, viewed human development from a genesis perspective.

We should not accept the idea that others are new because they are new. That idea of ​​​​the new is the idea of ​​​​those who have weak inner strength. It may be possible to connect the past with the present and support the future. We are not all teachers of the universe. Therefore, although it is said that the old and the new are not the same according to the universe, people are always changing from the old to the new, so it is a habit to accept the new. The nature of the habit is the nature of tradition that has not been broken.

We must move from the old to the new. But the new can only be established if there is a causal connection. Otherwise, the new will end in failure.

Annual Bulletin of the Burma Art Union, November, 1951.