HlaMin

Category: Buddhism

Sayadaws, Suttas, Terms

  • Tathagata Meditation Center တထာဂတ

    Tathagata Meditation Center တထာဂတ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : October 2026

    U Silanandabhivamsa ဦးသီလာနန္ဒာဘိဝံသ

    • Tathagata Meditation Center was founded by Vietnamese disciples of Sayadaw U Silananda.
    • It is located at 1215 Lucretia Avenue, San Jose, CA 95122
    • It’s web site is
      http://www.tathagata.org/
    • Sayadaw U Silananda resided at TMC when Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay was undergoing construction.
    U Silandabhivamsa

    Beelin Sayadaw

    • Resident Sayadaw, TMC
    • Succeeded Panditarama Sayadaw at Shwe Taung Gone
    • He is now GBNF
    Beelin Sayadaw

    Activities

    • TMC conducted long-term meditation retreats and week-end retreats.
    • TMC held summer classes : one for children and the other for young adults.
    • TMC published several books (in English and Vietnamese) for Dhamma Dana distribution.
    • TMC also offered courses via Zoom.
    • Several activities were suspended during the pandemic.

    Pali

    • Sayadaw Dhammika-bhivamsa (Tharmanay Kyaw) taught Pali courses using selected Suttas to interested yogis to have an appreciation of Buddha’s teachings without delving into the details of Pali grammar.
    • The course materials were prepared by Som Tu (Director of TMC, Retired Technology Executive) under the guidance of Thamanay Kyaw Sayadaw.

    Reference Books

    • I volunteered as Translator/Interpreter for Meditation Retreats at TMC.

    Myat Kyaw & San Lin

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_20190910_0001.jpg
    P M-E Dictionary
    • Beelin Sayadaw U Pannadipa (then Resident Sayadaw at TMC, later Padana Nayaka Sayadaw at Panditarama Shwe Taung Gone in Yangon) gave me the book “A Pali Myanmar-English Dictionary of the Noble Words of the Lord Buddha”.
    • The book was compiled by U Myat Kyaw (Myanmar Sar Ah Phwe) and translated into English by U San Lwin.
      U San Lwin is the older brother of Dr. Lyn Swe Aye, IM(2).

    Buddhist Dictionary

    Buddhist Dictionary
    • TMC gave me “Buddhist Dictionary” by Venerable Nyantiloka.
    • It is subtitled “Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines”.
    • The first edition was published in 1946. The third revised and enlarged edition was edited by [Venerable] Nyanaponika in 1970.

    Intro to Pali

    • U Hla Myint (former Sayadaw who had passed several monastic exams) gave me a PDF version of his manuscript “An Introduction to Pali” for study and review.
    • The book is available as Dhamma Dana distribution from TMC.
    • He studied Pali under the guidance of Mahagandayone Sayadaw U Janakabhivamsa, U Vijayalankara & U Dhammikabhivamsa (“Thamanay Kyaw”).
    • He studied English under the guidance of Sayadaw U Panditabhivamsa and with the eminent teachers such as U Aung Myat Thut, U Aye Maung and U Hla Maung.
    • He has written, translated and edited several books for TMC.

    Updates

    • Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Silandabhivamsa and Beelin Sayadaw have passed away.
    Beelin Sayadaw
  • Patthana ပဌာန်း

    Patthana ပဌာန်း

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    ပဌာန်း

    7th text in Abhidhamma အဘိဓမ္မာ

    Ashin Nandamalabhivansa

    Pathan 1

    Book of Conditional Relations

    1. Root Condition
    2. Object Condition
    3. Predominance Condition
    4. Proximity Condition
    5. Contiguity Condition
    6. Co-nascence Condition
    7. Mutuality Condition
    8. Dependence Condition
    9. Strong-Dependence Condition
    10. Pre-nascence Condition
    11. Post-nascence Condition
    12. Repetition Condition
    13. Kamma Condition
    14. Resultant Condition
    15. Nutriment Condition
    16. Faculty Condition
    17. Jhana Condition
    18. Path Condition
    19. Association Condition
    20. Disassociation Condition
    21. Presence Condition
    22. Absence Condition
    23. Disappearance Condition
    24. Non-Disappearance Condition

    Patthana in Daily Life

    Patthana in Daily Life

    Subtitle : An introduction to the Law of Conditionality
    Author : U Hla Myint
    Publisher : Tathagata Meditation Center, 2010

    CONTENTS

    Introduction

    Root condition : Hetu-paccayo
    Fascination (Sense-object) condition : Arammana-paccayo
    Predominance condition : Adhipati-paccayo (sahajata, arammana)
    Continuity condition : Ananatara-paccayo
    Contiguity condition : Samanantara-paccayo
    Co-nascence condition : Sahajata-paccayo
    Mutuality condition : Annamanna-paccayo
    Dependence condition : Nissaya-paccayo (shajata, purejata)
    Strong-dependence condition : Upanissaya-paccayo (aramana, anantara, pakatupa)
    Pre-nascence condition : Purejata-paccayo (vatthu, araammana)
    Post-nascence condition : Pacchajata-paccayo
    Repetition condition : Asevana-paccayo
    Kamma condition : Kamma-paccayo (shahajata, mamakkhanika)
    Resultant condition : Vipaka-paccayo
    Nutriment condition : Ahara-paccayo (sahajarta, kabalikara)
    Faculty condition : Indriya-paccayo (shajata, rupajivita, vatthu-purejata)
    Jhana condition : Jhana-paccayo
    Path condition : Magga paccayo
    Association condition : Samapyutta-paccayo
    Disassociation condition : Vipayutta-apccayo (sahajata, pacchajata, vatthupurejata)
    Presence condition : Atthi-apccayo (sahajata, pacchajata, vatthupurejata)
    Non-disappearance condition : Avigata-paccayo
    Absence condition : Natthi-paccayo
    Disappearance condition : Vigata-apccayo

    Conclusion

    Resources

    • Patthana Theikpan (College)
    • Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses on Patthana
    • A Manual of Abhidhamma
    • Charts, illustrations, mnemonics
    • Computer programs to study Patthana
    • Tri-lingual book (in Pali, Myanmar, and English)

    TBSA Publication

    Pathan 2

    Ashin Janakabhivsmsa

    Mahagandayone Sayadaw

    Mahagandayone Sayadaw
    Pathana 3

    U Ohn Kyaw (EP73)

    Pathan Lecturer

    U Ohn Kyaw 1
    U Ohn Kyaw 2

    Posts

    • Abhidhamma
    • Dhamma Books
    • Sayadaws
    • Tipitaka

  • Sayadaws ဆရာတော်များ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    U Lokanatha (ဦးလောကတနာထ) Italian Buddhist Monk

    U Lokanatha
    • 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)

    Rev Lustig 1
    Rev Lustig 2

    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.
    Men on the Moon (Poem)

    U Thilawuntha

    (ဦးသီလဝန္တ)

    Mon Sayadaw (မွန်ဆရာတော်)

    Dat Poung Zon Sayadaw
    Mon Sayada
    • 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

    Uzin Dr. Lwin Aung
    • 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

    U Bo Gyi
    • 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

    U Myo Tun
    • 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

    U Aung Chaw
    • 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

    U Wara
    • 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
    Paing Brothers

    U Jotika (EE73) ဦးဇောတိက

    U Jotika 1
    U Jotika 2
    • 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

    Sayadaw Beatson
  • Sayadaw ဆရာတော်

    Sayadaw ဆရာတော်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Usage

    Mahasi & Mingun
    • Senior monk or the Chief resident monk of a monastery. Often used together with “U”. e.g Sayadaw U Sobhana
    • A distinguished sayadaw may be referred to as Sayadawgyi as a sign of reverence.
    • The terms “sayadaw” and “sayadawgyi” originally corresponded to the senior monks who taught the former Burmese kings. They may be influential teachers of the Buddhist Dhamma and also outstanding meditation practitioners. They usually are Abbots of monasteries or monastery networks with a large number of resident monks and a lay following.

    Honorific Terms

    • Several honorific terms exist for Buddhist monks, reflecting their achievements and number of Vassa spent.
    • The given name is extended with Prefixes, Suffixes and Titles

    Prefix

    • Achan (used in Thailand)
    • Ashin အသျှင်
    • Baddhanta ဘဒ္ဒန္တ
    • Bhikkhu ဘိက္ခူ
    • Maha Thera မဟာထေရ
    • Oo ဦး၊ ဥူး
    • Sayadaw ဆရာတော်
    • Sayadawgyi ဆရာတော်ကြီး
    • Shin ရှင်
    • Upazin ဥပဇင်း
    • Uzin ဦးဇင်း
    • U ဦး၊ ဥူး
    • Thera ထေရ
    • Venerable

    Suffix

    • [A]bhivamsa” အဘိဝံသ
      Pass “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination before age 26
    • Lankara လင်္ကာရ
      Pass Lankara dhamma exam as a novice
    • Pa hta ma gyaw ပထမကျော်
      First in the “Pa hta Ma Pyan” examination
    • Thi ro ma ni သိရောမဏိ
      Finished 9 “kyans” in a single year
    • Wun tha ka ဝံသက
      First in the “Set kyar thi ha Dhammacariya” examination

    Title

    Some monks may highlight their accomplishments

    • Dhammacariya ဓမ္မာစရိယ
      Dhamma lecturer
    • Thamane Kyaw သာမဏေကျော်
      Stood first in the Lankara examination
    • Pali Paragu ပါဠိပါရဂူ
      Completed the examination in Pali
    • Agga Maha Pandita အဂ္ဂမဟာပဏ္ဍိတ
      Senior sage
    • Tipitaka Dara တိပိဋကဓရ
      Completed Three Baskets — “Vinaya”, “Sutta”, and “Abhidhamma”
    • Dwee Pitaka Dara ဒွိပိဋကဓရ
      Completed Two Baskets
    • [informal] “Ta Pone Saung” တပုံဆောင်
      Completed One Basket
    • [informal] “Hna Pone Khwair Saung” နှစ်ပုံခွဲဆောင်
      Completed “Vinaya”, “Sutta” and the first part of “Abhidhamma”

    U Vicittasarahhivamsa

    A monk may be addressed by

    • his given Dhamma name
      e.g. U Vicittasara
    • a qualified name,
      e.g. U Victtasarabhivamsa (with the suufix -abhivamsa)
    • by the name of his monastery
      e.g. Mingun Sayadaw
    • title
      e.g. Tipitakadara
    • and the combination
      e.g. Tipitakadara Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhimvamsa

    Venerable Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa, served as “Chief Respondent” at the Sixth Buddhist Council (1954 – 1956) in Yangon,

    He earlier passed the Tipitaka Examination with Distinctions in all subjects.

    The Guinness Book of World Records recognized his memory and the feat of reciting 8000+ pages of the Pali Canon.

    Thus, he could be addressed in several ways “

    • Mingun Sayadaw
      Reference to his home monastery at Mingun
    • U Vicittasara
      Name given at the Ordination
    • U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Passed the Mandalay Setkya Thiha examination before age 26
    • Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Chief Resident Monk
    • Mingun Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Chief Resident Monk of a monastery in Mingun
    • Tipitaka Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      Passed Tipitaka examination
    • Tipitakadhara Dhammabhandakarika Sayadaw U Vicittasarabhivamsa
      First monk to be awarded the titles Tipitakadhara (“Bearer of the Tipitaka) and Dhammabhandakarika (“Treasurer of the Dhamma”).
  • Sayadaws — 2

    Sayadaws — 2

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Sixth Buddhist Council

    • မန္တလေး မစိုးရိမ် ဆရာတော် — ဥက္ကဌ
    • ရန်ကုန် ဗားကရာတရာတော် — အတွင်းရေးမှူး
    • မန္တလေး ဝိဇ္ဇာလင်္ကာရဆရာတော် — တွဲဖက်အတွင်းရေးမှူး
    • ရန်ကုန် သာသနာ့ရိပ်သာ မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် — အမေး
    • မင်းကွန်းဆရာတော် — အဖြေ
    Five Sayadaws

    Maha Thera Ledi Sayadaw U Nyana Daza

    • Prolific writer, an outstanding lecturer, and a teacher of teachers
    • Lay people in Burma were not known to teach Vipassana meditation
    • The Ledi tradition has a lineage of Vipassa teachers who are not ordained monks:
      Sayagyi U Thet,
      Sayagyi U Ba Khin,
      Sayagyi S. N. t

    Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw U Narada (1868 – 1955)

    • Credited as one of the major revivers of Vipassana meditation
    • Went to one Mingun Sayadaw, who presumably had studied meditation under Thee Gon Sayadaw, and asked for guidance.
      Was told to study Sattipattha (from the Scriptures) deeply and then practice meditation
    • Prominent disciples : Mahasi Sayadaw and Taung Pulu Sayadaw

    Sayadaw U Thittila (1896-1997)

    U Thittila
    • Did missionary work in UK
    • Came back to Burma and taught at the Pali Department for several years before continuing his missionary work abroad
    • Lectured in 25+ countries (including US, UK, France)
    • Ovadacariya to Sanagha Maya Nayaka, trustees of renowned pagodas
    • Outstanding teacher and writer
    • Played an important role in reviving Buddhism in India and propagating the study of Abhidhamma
    • Very modest; rarely talked about his many achievements
    • Patamagyaw scholar of all Burma (1918) : selected from among 5000 candidates
    • Panyattisasanahita (1923) : among the 4 out of 150 entrants who passed the toughest monastic examination
    • Studied Sanskrit in India; English in India and England
    • Translated Vibhanga (second of the seven Adbhidhamma texts) from Pali to English : published by the Pali Text Society in 1969 under the title of The Book of Analysis

    Mahagandaryone Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    Mahagandayone Sayadaw
    • Wrote several books in Pali and Burmese
    • Several of his students including Thamane Kyaw Sayadaw and U Hla Myint are teaching “Pali Sikkha (Training)” to lay persons without overwhelming with Pali Grammar

    Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana

    Sixth Buddhist Council
    Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws
    Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Served as Questioner at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at Kaba Aye, Rangoon, Burma
    • Chief Resident Monk of Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha
    • Mentees : Sayadaws U Pandita, U Kundala, U Janabhivamsa and many meditation teachers

    Panditarama Sayadaw U Pandita

    U Pandita
    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Succeeded Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana at Sasana Yeiktha
    • Established Panditarama

    Saddhamaransi Sayadaw U Kundala

    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Outstanding meditation teacher
    • Made Dhamma Duta missions abroad (until his health forced him to stop going on long, tedious trips).
    • His biography (which covers to the age of 85) and his works can be found in http://www.saddhamaransi.org/

    Chanmyay Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    • Practiced vipassana meditation with the instruction of Mahasi Sayadawgyi in 1953-54
    • Served as Palipatiwisodhaka (editor of Pali scriptures) at the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • Meditation teacher at the Sasana Yeiktha from 1967 – 1977.
    • Member of Mahasi Sayadaw’s Dhamma Dhuta Mission to Europe and US in 1978 – 80
    • Established the Chanmyay Yeiktha Buddhist Meditation Center in Myanmar
      chanmyay.org
      Branches in several countries (e.g. US, Singapore, Australia)

    Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw Ashin Vicittathara

    Two Sayadaws at Sixth Buddhist Council
    • The Guinness Book of World Records listed Sayadaw as having an outstanding memory — the best at that time [in 1954].
    • Served as the Chief Reciter (a la Ashin Upali and Ashin Ananda at the First Buddhist Council) at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at KabaAye (World Peace) Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma from 1954 – 1956.
    • Could memorize, recall, and give exposition on 8027 pages of the Buddhist Scriptures known as Tipitaka [“Three Baskets”] :
      Vinaya – Rules of monastic conduct
      Sutta – Buddha’s discourses
      Abhidhamma – Ultimate reality)

    Mogok Sayadaw U Vimala (1899 – 1962)

    • Renowned Vipassana meditation master
    • 500 (or more) audio tapes of Sayadaw’s recordings have been transcribed into books (some e-books), and CDs
      Available at the Mogok Vipassana Meditation Centers
    • Featured in “Yahanda Hnit Poke Ko Htoo Myar” book by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing

    Dhammananda Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa

    • External examiner for the Pali Department
    • Rector of ITBMU
    • Chief Resident Monk of Dhammananda Vihara
    • Spiritual Advisor of several monasteries and meditation centers
    • Wrote books in Pali, Burmese and English
    • Served as Chief Compiler of the Tipitaka Pali-Myanmar Dictionary for the Sixth Buddhist Council.

    In April of 1979, Mahasi Sayadawgi made a Dhamma Duta mission to the US. At the request of the devotees, Sayadawgyi agreed to leave behind Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa and Sayadaw U Kelasa as “trail blazers” for the promulgation, preservation, and the promotion of Sasana.

    There were no Burmese Buddhist monasteries and/or temples, but the Sayadaws were determined to sacrifice their blissful lives back in their homeland to do whatever they can to do the Sasana work.

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  • Sayadaws & Priests

    Sayadaws & Priests

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Former Classmates

    SPHS
    • Edwin David (SPHS, GBNF)
      served as Priest of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
    • Bernard Taylor (SPHS) was a Missionary in Phillipines. Came back to Upper Burma.
    • Anthony Lourdes (SPHS) was the third classmate to become a Father (Catholic Priest).
    • Aung Chaw (Victor, SPHS63, C69) became Ashin Ukkamsa after retirement. First monastery was in Sagaing Hills. Moved to Thone Gwa, Delta region. He is now GBNF.,
    Uzin Aung Chaw
    • Phillip Ba Maung (different section of SPHS63) passed away as a monk.
    • Myo Tun (Bobby, Errol Than Tun, Dio, A69) became Ashin Pannagavesaka after retirement. Was Dhamma Librarian, Editor & Interpreter at Mawlamyaing Pa Auk Monastery. Taught English to selected monks and youths in various cities
    Uzin Bobby

    Other Sayadaws

    • U Win Paing (SPHS64, ChE70) became U Wara after taking his final exam. Was တိုက်အုပ် for many years at the Kaba Aye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung. He succeeded U Vinaya as Chief Resident Monk. He is now GBNF.
    U Wara
    • Sayadaw U Jotika (EP73)
      is a prolific writer.
    U Jotika
    • U Bo Gyi (A59) became a monk after retiring from PWD. Cast aside by higher authorities for designing the Mausoleum for Daw Khin Kyi. He is now GBNF.
    Uzin Bo Gyi
    • U Han Nyo (Met60) became monk in the USA. Resided in monasteries in New York, California & Mexico.
    • Saya Beatson (Physics, Boy Scout Master, SPHS) became a monk. Myo Nyunt (Harry Kyaw), Atom Hla and other Paulians offered Soon to Sayadaw during his trips to Yangon. He is the lone remaining Saya from our SPHS days.
    Uzin Beatson
    • Younger brother of Dr. Saw Tin (Maths, GBNF) became a monk. He was in California for a Sima Consecration (သိမ်သမုတ်ပွဲ)
    • Per KMZ, a young alumnus became Seattle Sayadaw. Met the Sayadaw when he was showing his mentor (from Myanmar) in the SF Bay Area.
    • After retirement as Pro-Rector, Saya Dr. Lwin Aung (A59) spent several vasa as a monk. He returned to Lay Order due to medical concerns.

    Posts

    • De La Salle Schools
    • Higher Ordination
    • Sayadaws
    • Vinaya
  • Sayadaws — 1

    Sayadaws — 1

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Neikbeinda Sayadaw

    နိဗ္ဗိန္ဒဆရာတော်

    Neikbeinda Sayadaw
    Three Seikkhas

    Taung dan thathana pyu

    တောင်တန်းသာသနာပြုဆရာတော်

    Sixth Buddhist Council

    Five Sayadaws

    Maha Thera Ledi Sayadaw U Nyana Daza

    • Prolific writer, an outstanding lecturer, and a teacher of teachers
    • Lay people in Burma were not known to teach Vipassana meditation
    • The Ledi tradition has a lineage of Vipassa teachers who are not ordained monks:
      Sayagyi U Thet,
      Sayagyi U Ba Khin,
      Sayagyi S. N. t

    Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw U Narada (1868 – 1955)

    • Credited as one of the major revivers of Vipassana meditation
    • Went to one Mingun Sayadaw, who presumably had studied meditation under Thee Gon Sayadaw, and asked for guidance.
      Was told to study Sattipattha (from the Scriptures) deeply and then practice meditation
    • Prominent disciples : Mahasi Sayadaw and Taung Pulu Sayadaw

    Sayadaw U Thittila (1896-1997)

    U Thittila
    • Did missionary work in UK
    • Came back to Burma and taught at the Pali Department for several years before continuing his missionary work abroad
    • Lectured in 25+ countries (including US, UK, France)
    • Ovadacariya to Sanagha Maya Nayaka, trustees of renowned pagodas
    • Outstanding teacher and writer
    • Played an important role in reviving Buddhism in India and propagating the study of Abhidhamma
    • Very modest; rarely talked about his many achievements
    • Patamagyaw scholar of all Burma (1918) : selected from among 5000 candidates
    • Panyattisasanahita (1923) : among the 4 out of 150 entrants who passed the toughest monastic examination
    • Studied Sanskrit in India; English in India and England
    • Translated Vibhanga (second of the seven Adbhidhamma texts) from Pali to English : published by the Pali Text Society in 1969 under the title of The Book of Analysis

    Mahagandaryone Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    Mahagandayone Sayadaw
    • Wrote several books in Pali and Burmese
    • Several of his students including Thamane Kyaw Sayadaw and U Hla Myint are teaching “Pali Sikkha (Training)” to lay persons without overwhelming with Pali Grammar

    Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana

    Sixth Buddhist Council
    Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws
    Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Served as Questioner at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at Kaba Aye, Rangoon, Burma
    • Chief Resident Monk of Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha
    • Mentees : Sayadaws U Pandita, U Kundala, U Janabhivamsa and many meditation teachers

    Panditarama Sayadaw U Pandita

    U Pandita
    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Succeeded Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana at Sasana Yeiktha
    • Established Panditarama

    Saddhamaransi Sayadaw U Kundala

    • Senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadawgyi
    • Outstanding meditation teacher
    • Made Dhamma Duta missions abroad (until his health forced him to stop going on long, tedious trips).
    • His biography (which covers to the age of 85) and his works can be found in http://www.saddhamaransi.org/

    Chanmyay Sayadaw Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    Ledi Sayadaw
    • Practiced vipassana meditation with the instruction of Mahasi Sayadawgyi in 1953-54
    • Served as Palipatiwisodhaka (editor of Pali scriptures) at the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • Meditation teacher at the Sasana Yeiktha from 1967 – 1977.
    • Member of Mahasi Sayadaw’s Dhamma Dhuta Mission to Europe and US in 1978 – 80
    • Established the Chanmyay Yeiktha Buddhist Meditation Center in Myanmar
      chanmyay.org
      Branches in several countries (e.g. US, Singapore, Australia)

    Mingun Tipitaka Sayadaw Ashin Vicittathara

    Two Sayadaws at Sixth Buddhist Council
    • The Guinness Book of World Records listed Sayadaw as having an outstanding memory — the best at that time [in 1954].
    • Served as the Chief Reciter (a la Ashin Upali and Ashin Ananda at the First Buddhist Council) at the Sixth Buddhist Council held at KabaAye (World Peace) Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma from 1954 – 1956.
    • Could memorize, recall, and give exposition on 8027 pages of the Buddhist Scriptures known as Tipitaka [“Three Baskets”] :
      Vinaya – Rules of monastic conduct
      Sutta – Buddha’s discourses
      Abhidhamma – Ultimate reality)

    Mogok Sayadaw U Vimala (1899 – 1962)

    Mogok Sayadaw
    • Renowned Vipassana meditation master
    • 500 (or more) audio tapes of Sayadaw’s recordings have been transcribed into books (some e-books), and CDs
      Available at the Mogok Vipassana Meditation Centers
    • Featured in “Yahanda Hnit Poke Ko Htoo Myar” book by Dhammacariya U Htay Hlaing

    Dhammananda Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa

    U Silananda
    U Silananda
    • External examiner for the Pali Department
    • Rector of ITBMU
    • Chief Resident Monk of Dhammananda Vihara
    • Spiritual Advisor of several monasteries and meditation centers
    • Wrote books in Pali, Burmese and English
    • Served as Chief Compiler of the Tipitaka Pali-Myanmar Dictionary for the Sixth Buddhist Council.

    In April of 1979, Mahasi Sayadawgi made a Dhamma Duta mission to the US. At the request of the devotees, Sayadawgyi agreed to leave behind Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa and Sayadaw U Kelasa as “trail blazers” for the promulgation, preservation, and the promotion of Sasana.

    There were no Burmese Buddhist monasteries and/or temples, but the Sayadaws were determined to sacrifice their blissful lives back in their homeland to do whatever they can to do the Sasana work.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is taya-oo-2002-a.jpg
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is taya-oo-2002-b.jpg
  • Samvega သံဝေဂ

    Samvega သံဝေဂ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Urgency

    • It is a Pali word meaning “Sense of urgency”. We’ve heard it many times especially when we attended the last journey of our loved ones.
    • We feel the pain even when the dearly departed are in their 80s. The pain grows when we learn that someone young (not so old) had passed away.
    • We feel shocked and upset when we hear about the untimely demise. My cousin nephew Dr. Peter Tun warned about lack of PPE, but he succumbed to Covid.

    Gone But Not Forgotten (GBNF)

    • The list of GBNF for RIT 69ers is now 128. About 40% of our classmates are no longer with us. Covid claimed about 20.
    • U Sein Win (Win Kyaw, C69) was an expert in Palmistry. His spouse is a professional Palmist. Not sure whether he knew his life span, but he is GBNF.
    • U Myint Sein was a former classmate at PPBRS. He was Principal of BARB. He later founded Idea Astrology. Not sure whether he informed his spouse and son about his life span or his sudden demise, but he is also GBNF.
    • My uncle was sent as a state scholar to Japan during the Second World War. He was in Hiroshima & Nagasaki before both cities were ravaged by the Atomic Bombs. He was lucky. His luck ran out when he was sentenced to seven years by a kangaroo court during the Adhamma Era. The UN Human Rights Rapporteur pleaded with the government to release him. Sadly, he passed away early (because of the harsh environment & treatment). His siblings all lived to be 80+ years. The eldest sister lived to be 94.

    Dr. Khin Tun (Peter)

    Dr. Peter Tun
    • He is the elder son of my cousin U Tin U. He became one of the early doctors in UK to fall victim to COVID-19. He is an MRCP and a former Associate Dean of Oxford University. He at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. His ward needed PPE, but he was told that they would be supplied when there is a case. He replied, “It would be too late”. Sad to say, he passed away on April 12, 2020. Could his life been saved?
    • The news shocked not just his immediately family, but many around the world. BBC and the newspapers in UK have reported several heroes who died in the battle fighting COVID-19.
    • Should Samvega sink in?

    Posts

    • Covid
    • GBNF
    • Pandemic
    • Peter Tun — Chronicles

  • ChanMyay Sayadaw ချမ်းမြေ့ဆရာတော်

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Ashin Janakabhivamsa

    • Passed away at the age of 99 (79 Vasa)
    • Name at ordination : ရှင်ဇနက
    • -abhivamsa was added when he passed the prestigious သကျသီဟ ဓမ္မာစရိယ examination
    ChanMyay Sayadaw

    Meditation Teacher

    • He practiced vipassana meditation with the instruction of Mahasi Sayadawgyi in 1953-54.
    • He served as Palipatiwisodhaka (editor of Pali scriptures) at the Sixth Buddhist Council.
    • He was meditation teacher at the Sasana Yeiktha from 1967 – 1977.
    Mahasi Sayadaw

    Dhamma Duta Mission

    • He was a member of Mahasi Sayadaw’s Dhamma Dhuta Mission to Europe and US in 1978 – 80 along with Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa, and Sayadaw U Kelasa.

    Yeiktha

    • Sayadaw established the Chanmyay Yeiktha Buddhist Meditation Center in Myanmar (Burma).
    • There are branches in several countries (US, Singapore, Australia …)
    ChanMyay Sayadaw
  • U Silananda ဦးသီလာနန္ဒ

    U Silananda ဦးသီလာနန္ဒ

    by Hla Min

    Updated : September 2026

    Highlights

    U Silananda
    Three Abhidhamma Scholars
    At Insight Meditation Society
    • First Rector, International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University
    • Trailblazer for the Buddhist monks doing Dhamma Duta missions in the USA and beyond. See the book by Nyaung Kan Aye Sayadaw.
    • Ovada Sayadaw and Spirtual Advisor of Monasteries (Dhammanada Vihara, TMC, Abayarama, Mahasi) & Meditation Centers (DMC).
    • Lexicographer, Tipitaka Pali-Myanmar Dictionary
    • Author — Books (in Burmese & English)
    Dependent Origination
    • Courses — Fundamentals of Buddhism, Abhidhamma (in Burmese & English), Consecration of Sima, Dhamma Topics & Discussions
    Course
    CD

    • Passed away on August 13, 2005. I was Emcee of the Memorial Service. I accompanied Saya U Myat Htoo (TBSA) and carried the Box of Sayadaw’s ashes to be scattered near the Golden Gate Bridge.
    • I was Contributing Editor of the book “Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silandabhivamsa”.
    Book 1
    • Sarah Marks transcribed Sayadaw’s talks on Abdhidhamma. It was published in three volumes.
    Abhidhamma
    • A Thai devotee published “Paritta Pali and Protective Verses” as a birthday present for Sayadaw.
    Paritta
    • Sayadaw’s first book “Taya Oo” was reprinted for Sayadaw’s 75th Birthday. It also had Sayadaw’s Biography.
    Bio 1
    Bio 2

    10th Anniversary

    • In August 2015, TBSA celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Sayadaw’s demise
    • I read Sayadaw’s biography
    Remember 1
    Remember 2
    Remember 3
    Remember 4

    Last Journey

    • Sayadaw (Rector, ITBMU and Chief Resident Monk, Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California) passed away on August 13, 2005.
    • I had the honor to serve as Master of Ceremonies at the Services.
    • 50+ Theravada monks from Burma, USA, and UK paid respect to Sayadaw.
    • U Nandamalabhivamsa (then Pro-Rector, Academic, IMBTU) and Dr. Myint Kyi (then Pro-Rector, Admin, IMBTU) attended the ceremonies as Representatives of IMBTU.
    • Devotees mourned that “The sun that rose in the East has set in the West”
    • Sayadaw was cremated.
    • I had the honor to carry the box containing Sayadaw’s ashes to be scattered from a yacht into the waters near Golden Gate Bridge.
    • Saya U Myat Htoo (C68, President of TBSA) led the procession.
    • Sayadaw’s last journey is recorded as a 2-set DVD.

    Paying Homage

    I served as a Contributing Editor and the Committee member for compiling and publishing the book “Paying Homage to Sayadaw U Silananda”.

    Homage

    In August, 2015, the saydaws and devotees of Dhammananda Vihara to celebratethe 10th Anniversary of Sayadaw’s demise. See photos