U Aung Ko Quotes in Beyond Rangoon (1995)

U Aung Ko: We are taught that suffering is one promise that life always keeps. So that when happiness comes we know it is a gift, and it is ours only for a brief time.

[On whether men and women are equal]

Laura Bowman: Did you say completely equal?

U Aung Ko: Oh, yes! A woman can even become a Buddha; but for that she must first come back as a man.

Laura Bowman: Ah, there's always a catch.

U Aung Ko: We will need to make an offering.

Laura Bowman: What kind of offering?

U Aung Ko: That would depend on how much good karma you want for your next life.

Laura Bowman: Hmm, I can't plan that far ahead.

U Aung Ko: Then some fresh fruit from the market will do.

Laura Bowman: Isn't that illegal?

U Aung Ko: In Burma, everything is illegal.

U Aung Ko: [about her dead husband and son] They are shadows as we are shadows, briefly walking the earth and soon gone.