HlaMin

Category: Sayadaw

  • SunLun

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    Resources

    The following is a collection of resources for Sunlun Vipassana Meditation.

    Website

    http://www.sunlun-meditation.net/

    Sunlun Sayadaws

    Myingyan Sunlun Gu Kyaung Sayadaw U Kavi (ဆရာတော်ဦးကဝိ)

    U Kavi
    • Biography and dhamma talks
    Myingyan SunLun

    First KabaAye Sunlun Gu Kyaung Sayadaw U Vinaya (ဆရာတော်ဦးဝိနယ)

    U Vinaya
    • Early devotees of Sayadaw include U Khin Maung Latt, Daw Khin Myo Chit, U Thein Nyunt and U Win Pe
    • Wrote a book “The Yogi & Vipassana (Buddhist Meditation : The Sunlun Way)”
    • Passed away in his late 90s
    Book by U Vinaya

    “The Yogi and Vipassana”
    BUDDHIST MEDITATION : THE SUNLUN WAY
    Author : Sunlun Shin Vinaya
    Publisher : Sunlun Buddhist Meditation Center
    7 1/2 Mile, Prome Road, KabaAye P.O., Rangoon

    CONTENTS
    The Yogi and Vipassana (Page 1 – 18)
    The Sunlun Way of Mindfulness (Page 19 – 33)
    Explanatory Notes for Beginners and Those Proceeding Along the Sunlun Way of Vipassana (Page 34 – 50)

    KabaAye Sunlun Gu Kyaung Sayadaw U Wara

    (ဆရာတော်ဦးဝရ)

    U Wara
    • U Win Paing won Golf trophies (some with his younger brother U Kyaw Paing).
    • Meditated at KabaAye Sunlun.
    • He gave away his Golf Set. Entered monkhood after the Final exam for Chemical Engineering in 1970.
    • Served as Taik Oke Sayadaw of Kaba Aye Sunlun Gu Kyaung for nearly four decades.
    • Succeeded Sayadaw U Vinaya as Chief Resident Monk.
    • Passed away on August 26, 2021
    • Siblings : Dr. Myo Paing (Medical Research & Malaria), U Soe Paing (RIT EE, UCC co-founder, UN), U Kyaw Paing (Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Champion Golfer)
    U Wara
    Obituary
    Four Paing Brothers

    Vipassana Retreats

    • KabaAye Sunlun Gu Kyaung
    • Kyauk Pa Daung
    • Hong Kong

    Dr. Khin Maung Win

    • Son of U Khin Maung Latt & Daw Khin Myo Chit
    • Retired Professor of Mathematics
    • Published “Notes on Vipassana meditation”

    UCC

    Yahan Khan

    • In the 1970s, the staff and students of Universities’ Computer Center hosted “Donlaba Yahan Khan” for Thingyan at selected monasteries.
    • The initial venue was KabaAye Sunlun Gu Kyaung.
    UCC Yahan Khan 1
    UCC Yahan Khan 2

    Updates

    • Sayadaws — U Kavi, U Vinaya & U Wara — have passed away.
    • Several devotees — U Khin Maung Latt, Daw Khin Myo Chit, Dr. Khin Maung Win, U Thein Nyunt, Tekkatho Shwe Yee Win, U Soe Myint, U Win Pe — are GBNF.

  • Distinguished Monks

    by Hla Min

    Update : Apr 2026

    U Lokanatha (Italian Buddhist Monk)

    A book changed his life

    U Lokanatha
    • Mr. Salvitore was working as a Chemist in the USA.
    • Received a book as Christmas present from his supervisor. A chapter was “Dhammapada”.
      After reading it, Samvega (sense of urgency) crept in.
    • 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 (Windermere), Rangoon.
    • Practiced Dhutanga. Preached & took Dhamma Dhuta missions to India and Ceylon.
    • Passed away in Maymyo in 1966.

    Ashin Ananda

    (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

    • Known as “Moke Seit Phone Gyi” for his beard. Came for alms to our parent’s house in Windermere Road.
    • After his mentor’s demise, he became Buddhist Archbishop of Latvia & Lithuania.

    Ashin Ananda

    • Shaved his beard
    • Ordained as a Theravada monk with the title “Ashin Ananda”
    • Laureate Poet & 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

    U Thilawuntha (Mon Sayadaw)

    Built pagodas worldwide

    Dat Poung Zon Sayadaw
    Mon Sayada
    • Dat Paung Zon Aung Min Gaung Sayadaw 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. He built the first Burmese pagoda in the Allegheny mountains near New York.
    First pagoda in USA
    • During his visit to California, Sayadaw would spend time with his devotees such as Russell Wolfe (Santa Cruz) and U Aung Myint (Donald, Milpitas).

    Sayadaw U Zeya

    Monastery in Las Vegas

    • Las Vegas has some monasteries including Thai monasteries supported by members of the Royal Family.
    • Sayadaw resided at a Thai monastery and rose up in the ranks. Gave dhamma talks in Thai, English & 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 & Architects

    Dr. Lwin Aung (A59)

    Dr. Lwin Aung
    • Entered monk-hood after retirement
    • Was Professor of Architecture and Pro-Rector of YTU
    • Volunteered as a Consulting Architect for the construction of dhamma buildings
    • Due to health, he left monk-hood after several vassa.

    U Bo Gyi (A59)

    U Bo Gyi
    • Founded “Architect Incorporated” with U Tin Htoon (A60) & U Aung Kyee Myint (A60)
    • Later joined PWD along with his partners
    • Designed 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)

    • He helped conduct meditation retreats in Southern California and Mexico.

    U Myo Tun (A69)

    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 Pa Auk Sayadaw’s books
    • Taught English to Dhammacariya Sayadaws

    U Aung Chaw (C69, SPHS63)

    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)

    U Wara
    • Younger brother of Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC)
    • Entered monkhood after the Final Year ChE exam
    • Chief Resident Sayadaw, KabaAye Sun Lun Gu Kyaung
    • Was Taik Oke Sayadaw for Sayadaw U Vinaya
    • He is now GBNF

    U Jotika (EE73)

    • 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)

    • Met him in SF Bay Area with his mentor (Sayadaw from Myanmar).
    • 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

  • Sayadaws

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 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

  • Tathagata Meditation Center

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Apr 2026

    • 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.

    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
  • Memories of U Silananda

    Memories of U Silananda

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    U Silananda
    • First Rector of ITBMU (International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University)
    • Passed away on August 13, 2005.
    • I served as Master of Ceremony at the Service.
    • I carried the Box of his Ashes and accompanied Saya U Myat Htoo (C68, President of TBSA) for the Scattering of the Ashes near Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

    Publication

    • Book in memory of U Silananda
    • I was a member of the Committee & Contributing Editor
    Book

    August 30, 2015

    • Attended 10th Anniversary of Sayadaw U Silananda’s demise
    • Dhammanda Vihara, Half Moon Bay
    Invitation

    Ceremony

    C 1
    C 2
    C 3
    C 4
    C 5
    C6
    C 7
    C 8
    C 9
    C 10

    Posts

    • Abhidhamma
    • Dhamma Publications
    • Sayadaws
    • Trail blazers
    • TBSA
  • Sayadaw

    Sayadaw

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    Mahasi & Mingun

    Usage

    • 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”).

    Posts

    • Buddhist Councils
    • Phenomenal Memory
    • Triple Gems
  • Buddhist Councils

    Buddhist Councils

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    According to the Theravada Buddhist tradition, there are six Buddhist Councils. The last two were held in Burma.

    Mandalay

    Ripley’s “Believe it or not” named U Khanti Kyauksar (inscriptions) of the Fifth Buddhist Council (Synod) held in Mandalay as the “Largest Book” in the world.

    The Council was held to celebrate the 2400th Year in Sasana Era.

    King Mindon was the Sponsor.

    Kaba Aye

    U Nu & Sir U Thwin were prime movers for the Sixth Buddhist Council, which was held to celebrate the 2500th Year in Sasana Era.

    Mahasi Sayadaw မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် acted as the Questioner.

    Mingun Sayadaw မင်းကွန်းတရာတော် acted as the Reciter & Responder.

    Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws

    The Guinness Book of World Records listed Tipialkadara Sayadaw Ashin Vicittathara as having an outstanding memory — the best at that time [in 1954]. Sayadaw 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.

    Sayadaw 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)

    He took the 2nd – 5th Tipitakadara examinations and passed with distinction in both oral and written parts. Sayadaw served as an examiner for the first Tipikadara examination. Sir U Thwin requested him to take the examination. The rest is history.

  • U Lokanatha

    U Lokanatha

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    ဦးလောကနာထ Venerable U Lokanatha

    ** အီတာလျံ-အမေရိကန် ဘုန်းတော်ကြီး Italian-American monk

    * (ယခင်)

    USA မှာ Chemist

    ခရစ်စမတ် အတွက် supervisor ထံ မှ စာအုပ်တအုပ် လက်ဆောင် ရ Received a book as Christmas present from his supervisor

    ဓမ္မပဒ Chapter ဖတ်ပြီး နောက် ရဟန်းဝတ် ဘို့ ဆုံးဖြတ် After reading the chapter on Dhammapada, he decided to become a monk

    * မြန်မာပြည်၊ အိန္ဒိယ နဲ့ သီဟိုဠ် မှာ သာသနာပြု He did Sasana work in Burma, India and Ceylon

    * မေမြို့ မှာ ပျံလွန် He passed away in Maymyo

  • Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana

    Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    Mahasi Sayadaw မဟာစည်ဆရာတော်

    • U Sobhana ဦးသောဘန
    • Renowned Meditation Master and author
    • Questioner at the Sixth Buddhist Council ဆဌသံဂါယနာ held at Kaba Aye, Rangoon, Burma
    Mahasi (2nd from Right) & Mingun (Right)
    Mahasi & Mingun Sayadaws
    • Chief Resident Monk of Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha မဟာစည်သာသနာ့ရိပ်သာ
    • Mentees : Sayadaws U Pandita, U Kundala, U Janabhivamsa and many meditation teachers

    Practical Vipassana Meditation Exercises

    • by The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Talk given to his disciples on their induction into Vipassana Mediation at Sasana Yeikhta Meditation Center, Yangon, Myanmar
    • Translated from the Myanmar language by U Nyi Nyi
    • Original Publisher : The Buddhasasanuggaha Association, Yangon, Myanmar
    • Dhamma dana distribution : Tathagata Meditation Center, San Jose, California
    • 22 pages
    • Vipassana (Insight Meditation)
    • understand correctly the nature of the psycho-physical phenomena taking place in the body
    • rupa : material qualities
    • nama : acts of consciousness or awareness
    • breathing : vayodhatu (the element of motion)
    • …
    • yogi should behave as if he were a weak invalid
    • noting (at all times)
    • physical object of attention and the mental act of noting occur as a pair
    • relaize all phenomena are anicca, dukkha, and anatta
    • experience nana (knowledge) : path, fruit, liberation
    • INITIAL DOUBT

    Dhammacakkappavatttana Sutta

    • The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma
    • Teacher : The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
    • Translator : U Ko Lay
    • Sukhi Hotu Dhamma Publication 1998
    • PART I
    • Preface to the Discourse
    • The Date of the Discourse
    • Three Kids of Introduction
    • …
    • PART II
    • Sensuous gratification is base and vulgar
    • Dittadhamma Nibbana Vada
    • A low, common practice
    • …
    • PART III
    • Elaboration of the Eightfold Path
    • …
    • PART IV
    • Truth of Suffering (Dukks Sacca)
    • …
    • PART V
    • Samudaya Sacca
    • …
    • PART VI
    • Nirodha Sacca
    • …
    • PART VII
    • Sacca Nana with regard to Dukka Sacca
    • Kicca Nana with regard to Dukka Sacca
    • Kata Nana with regard to Dukka Sacca
    • …
    • PART VIII
    • When the Buddha did not admit Enlightenment
    • Acknowledgement of Buddhahood
    • Concluding statement
    • …

    Fundamentals of Vipassana Meditation

    Book by Mahasi Sayadaw

    Primary Author : Mahasi Sayadaw
    Translator : Maung Tha Noe
    Editor: Sayadaw U Silananda
    Original Publisher : Dhammachakka Meditation Center, 1991
    Republished with other sources : Tathagata Meditation Center

    Other sources included the book
    “Instructions to Meditation Practice” by Mahasi Sayadaw
    “Benefits of Walking Meditation” by Sayadaw U Silananda
    “Guidance for Yogis at Interview” by Sayadaw U Pandita
    “An Interview with Mahasi Sayadaw” by Thamanaykyaw, translated by U Hla Myint

  • U Jotalankara

    U Jotalankara

    by Hla Min

    Updated : June 2025

    Highlights

    U Jotalankara
    • Received higher ordination as a monk at the Neikbeinda Monastery in Pyay / Prome.
    • Completed one part of the Tipitaka Examination.
    • Dhamma Duta missions in Japan, US, Jamaica, Canada, Taiwan …
    • Joined U Silananda at the Dhammanada Vihara (then in Daly City, California).
    • In 2007, he succeeded U Silananda as Chief Resident Monk of Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California.

    Publications

    He has published books in

    • Myanmar
      e.g. Book for Chanting/Recitation
    • English
      e.g. The Basic Teachings of Theravada of Buddhism (edited by Hla Min and Don Johnson)
    • Japanese
      e.g. Translation of selected works of U Silananda

    Book for Dhamma Chanting

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dhamma-chanting-1.jpg
    Chanting

    The Basic Teachings Of Theravada Buddhism

    • Author: U Jotalankara (Dhammananda Vihara, Half Moon Bay, California, USA)
    • Editors: Hla Min and Don Johnson
    • First edition : June 2004
    • Foreword by Ven. Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
    • Fifteen chapters
    • 1. Program of worshiping
    • 2. Explanation of words
    • 3. Benefits and stories of taking refuges and precepts, and offering food, flowers, etc.
    • 4. The discipline or duties of laypersons (Gihi-vinaya)
    • 5. What is the teaching of the Buddhas?
    • 6. Cultivating Good
    • 7. Purifying One’s Mind
    • 8. The For Divine Abodes (Brahama-viharas)
    • 9. Vipassa-bhavana, Insight or Mindfulness Meditation
    • 10. The Four Noble Truths & Four Noble Persons
    • 11. The Teaching to the Kalamas
    • 12. The Pali Alphabet in Roman Characters
    • 13. Program of Chanting (Paritta — Eleven Protective Suttas — and other Suttas)
    • 14. First two sermons of the Buddha & the Program of Chanting to Consecrate a Buddha Image & Ovada-patimokha
    • 15. Program of Novice Ordination
    • This book has been used in the Summer Dhamma Camps at Dhammananda Vihara
    • He has written Dhamma books in Myanmar, English, and Japanese. Some books were compiled from his articles in the Dhammananda Newsletter published by the Theravada Buddhist Society of America (TBSA).
    Book 2

    Theravada Buddhist Novice Ordination and Monk Ordination

    • Author : U Jotalankara
    • Editor : James Rives, Ph.D.
    • First Edition : August, 2008

    Two kinds of ordination

    • Pabbajja : to become a novice (samanera)
    • Upasambada : to become a monk (bhikkhu)

    Novice Ordination

    Three steps of novice ordination

    1. shaving off the hair of the head
    2. putting on robes
    3. giving the Three Refuges

    The procedures for the second and third steps of novice ordination

    1. Paying homage to the Three Gems
    2. Handing robes to the teacher
    3. Asking for the robes from the teacher and putting them on
    4. Requesting a novice ordination
    5. Requesting the Ten Novice-precepts with the Three Refuges
    6. Paying homage to the Buddha
    7. Taking the Three Refuges
    8. Taking the Ten Precepts of a Novice
    9. Choosing a teacher to be the candidate’s preceptor
    10. Reply of the preceptor
    11. Reflecting on the use of the Four Requisites
    12. Reflecting on the repulsiveness of the body

    Ten conditions for expulsion from Novice-hood

    Ten punishments

    Monk Ordination

    Five fulfilling conditions for becoming a monk

    1. Perfections of a person
      Eleven categories of disqualified persons
    2. Perfection of an assembly
    3. Perfection of the Sima (“Thane”)
      Two kinds of Sima
    4. Perfection of the Motion
    5. Perfection of the Kammavaca

    The procedure of monk ordination

    • 1. Choosing the candidate’s preceptor
    • 2. Stating the ownership of alms-bowl and robes
    • 3. Giving temporary names
    • 4. Ordering the candidate to go and stand outsie the Sangha
    • …
    • 10. Reciting the Natti and Kammacvaca
    • …
    • 15. The new monk’s special request

    The procedure of monk ordination for two candidates

    …

    The 227 Training Rules

    …