by Hla Min
Updated : Dec 2025
U Lokanatha (ဦးလောကတနာထ) Italian Buddhist Monk
- Mr. Salvitore was working as a Chemist in the USA.
- He a book present from his supervisor for Christmas. A chapter was “Dhammapada”.
After reading it, Samvega (sense of urgency) crept in.
He quit his job. - Left for Burma to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. Became “U Lokanatha”.
- Wrote “I became a Buddhist. My supervisor remained a Christian.”
- Was from a devout Catholic family. Elder brother was a Priest.
- My paternal grand mother offered a monastery for U Lokanatha in Bawdigone (ဗောဓိကုန်း Windermere), Rangoon.
- Sayadaw practiced Dhutanga (ဓူတင်ဆောင်) .
Preached & took Dhamma Dhuta (ဓမ္မဒူတ) missions to India and Ceylon. - Passed away in Maymyo (မေမြို့) in 1966.
Ashin Ananda
(အရှင်အာနန္ဒာ)
Rev. Friedrich Lustig (Latvian monk)
Fled Communist Rule
- Rev. Friedrich V. Lustig’s mentor was the Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia and Lithuania. When the Communists invaded their country, they sought refuge in Burma. The government provided them a monastery in the “Ah Le Pyit Sa Yan” of Shwe Dagon Pagoda.
Moke Seit မုတ်ဆိတ်
- Known as “Moke Seit Phone Gyi” for his beard. Came to our parent’s house in Windermere Road for alms.
- After his mentor’s demise, he became Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia and Lithuania.
Ashin Ananda
- Shaved his beard and was ordained as a Theravada monk with the title “Ashin Ananda”.
- Laureate Poet and Translator.
Wrote poems in English.
Translated selected Burmese poems into English. - In July 1969, he gave my poem “Men on the Moon” to Mr. Hall (USIS) to be forwarded to Apollo 11 astronauts. Gave a copy to the Guardian newspaper for publication.
U Thilawuntha
(ဦးသီလဝန္တ)
Mon Sayadaw (မွန်ဆရာတော်)
- Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung Sayadaw ဓာတ်ပေါင်းစုံ အောင်မင်းခေါင်ဆရာတော် U Thilawunta (fondly known as “Mon Sayadaw”) built pagodas in Burma/Myanmar, USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and several other countries.
- In the ’50s, Sayadaw visited the United Nations and U Thant (ဦးသန်ု). He built the first Burmese pagoda in the Allegheny mountains near New York.
- During his visit to California, Sayadaw would spend time with his devotees such as Russell Wolfe (Santa Cruz) and U Aung Myint (Donald, Milpitas).
Las Vegas Sayadaw U Zeya (ဦးဇေယျ)
- Las Vegas has some monasteries including Thai monasteries supported by members of the Royal Family.
- Sayadaw U Zeya resided at a Thai monastery and rose up in the ranks. Gave dhamma talks in Thai, English, and Burmese.
Several devotees offered him a monastery. - In May 2013, several dhamma friends in the Bay Area rented a van to attend “Htee Tin Pwe” of the pagoda inside U Zeya’s monastery compound.
- Donated for two Nagas at the Las Vegas Monastery in memory of our parents and in-laws.
Engineers and Architects
Dr. Lwin Aung (A59) ဒေါက်တာလွင်အောင်
- Entered monk-hood after retirement.
- Served as Professor of Architecture and as Pro-Rector of YTU.
- Volunteers as a Consulting Architect for the construction of dhamma buildings
- Due to health, he left monk-hood.
U Bo Gyi (A59) ဦးဘိုကြီး
- Founded “Architect Incorporated” with U Tin Htoon (A60) and U Aung Kyee Myint (A60)
- Later joined PWD along with his partners
- Designed the Mausoleum for Daw Khin Kyi, and was shunned by the higher authorities.
- Hobbies : music (piano) and modeling (sculpture)
- He is now GBNF.
U Han Nyo (Met60) ဦးဟန်ညို
- He helped conduct meditation retreats in Southern California and Mexico.
U Myo Tun (A69) ဦးမျိုးထွန်း
- Ashin Pannagavesaka
- Won prizes for essays under the name “Errol Than Tun”.
- Made dhamma duta mission to Vietnam
- Was Dhamma Librarian for Moulmein Pa Auk Tawya Monastery.
- Edited some of Pa Auk Sayadaw’s books.
- Taught English to Dhammacariya Sayadaws
U Aung Chaw (C69, SPHS63) ဦးအောင်ချော
- Ashin Ukkamsa
- Resided in Sagaing
- Later moved to the Irrawaddy Delta region
- Met him in 2018 when he came to Yangon. Attended some breakfast gatherings by the 69ers. Kyaw Win (SPHS63) offered soon to Sayadaw at Shwe Ba Htamin Saing, and also offered Nawakamma.
U Wara (Win Paing, ChE70, SPHS64) ဦးဝရ / ဦးဝင်းပိုင်
- Younger brother of Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC).
- Entered monkhood after the Final Year exam.
- Chief Resident Sayadaw, KabaAye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung
- Was Taik Oke Sayadaw for Sayadaw U Vinaya.
- He is now GBNF
U Jotika (EE73) ဦးဇောတိက
- Prolific writer and an outstanding Dhamma Lecturer
- Spent vasa at Taung Pu Lu Kaba Aye monastery in Boulder Creek
- Revisited US about a decade ago
- Frequently visited Singapore and other neighboring countries
Ashin Pannobhasa (M91) ဦးပညောဘာသ
- Met him in SF Bay Area with his mentor (Sayadaw from Myanmar).
- He was born in April 1966 Thursday (2nd Waning day of Kason 1328 BE) in Pyapon, Irrawaddy Division.
- After finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree from Yangon (Rangoon) Institute of Technology he received higher ordination as a Bhikkhu or a monk at the age of 24 in the Ordination Hall, Pyapon Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha under the preceptor of Venerable U Vannita, Pyapon Mahasi Sayadaw, Pyapon Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha on 27th July 1991.
- Chief Resident Monk at a monastery in Seattle, Washington
Ashin Kusala (ဦးကုသလ) Saya Beatson (SPHS)
Passed away in his 90s
HlaMin 