Sayagyi U Ba Khin

Sayagyi U Ba Khin′s aspiration was to give laypeople, who lead busy and often unsettled lives, a tool to understand the teachings of the Buddha through practice. He knew that a working person would not be able to devote long periods to meditation. Therefore, he designed the Ten-Day Course to enable the diligent student to grasp the practice taught by the Buddha in a relatively short time.

Sayagyi U Ba Khin started to practise Vipassana meditation in 1937 under Saya Thetgyi, a disciple of the Venerable Ledi Sayadaw. Sayagyi U Ba Khin progressed rapidly and in 1941, he encountered the Venerable Webu Sayadaw, who was reputed to have reached the highest stage of Awakening - Arahatship. Venerable Webu Sayadaw said to Sayagyi U Ba Khin: “I thought you must have spent a long time by yourself in the forest. You have to share the Dhamma you have with everyone....Do not wait”.

From that day Sayagyi U Ba Khin devoted his life to teaching meditation. He founded the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon (Yangon) in 1952, where he designed and built the Light of the Dhamma Pagoda for meditation. He showed how meditation can be successfully integrated into lay life. Sayagyi U Ba Khin said: “Vipassana meditation is not only for people who have renounced the world, it is for the householder as well". Sayagyi U Ba Khin passed away on 19 January 1971.

Sayagyi U Ba Khin