Mahasi Sayadaw - Definition and Overview

Mahāsi Sayādaw (1904-1982) was a famous Burmese Buddhist monk and meditation master who had a significant impact on the teaching of Satipatthana Vipassana meditation in the West and throughout Asia. His style of meditation involved quietly noting the rising and falling of the abdomen during breathing.

Sayādaw became a monk in November 1923, and passed the state examinations to become a Dharma teacher in 1941. He was a questioner and final editor at the Sixth Buddhist Council on May 17, 1954. He helped establish missions in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and by 1972 the meditation centers he established had trained more than 700,000 meditators.

Publications

Sayādaw published tens of volumes in Burmese. He created a monumental translation of the Visuddhimagga, ("The Path of Purification") a lengthy treatise on meditation by the 5th century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar Buddhaghosa. He also wrote an equally monumental original volume entitled Manual of Vipassana Meditation. His English works include:

• Practical Vipassana Exercises (http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/mahasit1.pdf)
• Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel370.html)
• A Discourse on Vipassana (http://www.buddhasasana.net/pdf/VIPASSANA.pdf)
• The Progress of Insight--an advanced talk on Vipassana (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/progress.html)

A more complete lists of publications (http://www.buddhasasana.net/library.htm) is available on the Internet.

Famous students

• Sayādaw U Pandita
• Sayagi U Ba Khin
• Joseph Goldstein
• Rear Admiral E.H. Shattock
• Robert Duvo
• Anagarika Shri Munindra