Sammā Samādhi: be master of your mind

by Sayagyi U Goenka

Idaṃ pure cittamacāri cārikaṃ, yenicchakaṃ yatthakāmaṃ yathāsukhaṃ. Tadajjahaṃ niggahessāmi yoniso, hatthippabhinnaṃ viya aṃkusaggaho.

This mind that wandered as it liked, wherever it wished, wherever it saw pleasure, Today, with attentiveness, I shall train it like mahout trains a wild elephant.

—Dhammapada 326

"The ultimate truth is the truth of this moment, not of the moments that have passed, nor of the moments that are yet to come. The moments that have passed can only be remembered; the moments that are yet to come can only be imagined or desired. Only the present moment can be experienced, not the moments of the past nor the moments of the future.

"Thus, for the realisation of the ultimate truth, we will have to attentively observe the gross experiential truth of the present moment. Only then will subtler truths be unveiled and transcending the subtlest state, the ultimate truth of this moment will be realised. For this, the straight royal road of our entire meditation is the practice of being able to live in the tiniest moment of the present. For the practice of living in this moment, we should learn to remain alert to the gross events occurring in the body at this moment, awareness of the incoming breath or the outgoing breath."


On mastering one's mind through practising Anapana - the preliminary exercise to Vipassana:

If the mind is fixed upon any object, it will become absorbed in meditation, it will become still, it will achieve one-pointed concentration, but mere concentration of mind is not sammā samādhi (right concentration). For sammā samādhi, it is necessary for the mind to be wholesome, it is necessary for the mind to be untainted. Only the one-pointedness of a wholesome mind can be called kusalacittekaggatā samādhi—samādhi free from defilements.

Samādhi means that the mind is established in equanimity. A mind that is focused upon an external object cannot attain equanimity; it will only disturb the balance of the mind. That is why only the concentration of a wholesome mind should be regarded as sammāsamādhi.

A mind filled with craving is not wholesome, a mind filled with aversion is not wholesome, a mind filled with ignorance is not wholesome. When the mind is concentrated with the help of an object of craving, aversion or ignorance, it will achieve concentration, but it will be neither balanced nor equanimous. Such concentration of the mind is not proper, not pure, not conducive to happiness. A concentration that is dependent upon craving, aversion or ignorance is the absorption of an unbalanced mind—how can it be beneficial?

A cat with a fully concentrated mind has its full attention on a mouse-hole, it is fully engrossed in its object. A heron standing on one leg on the bank of a lake in search of fish, focusing its full attention on the water, has a completely concentrated mind. It is not aware of anything else. This is the concentration of a mind filled with craving for the mouse or fish, it is not sammāsamādhi. Such a samādhi is not proper, not pure.

Similarly, a soldier lying in wait for his enemy, with his attention on the enemy’s trench, has a fully concentrated mind. As soon as the enemy raises his head, he will shoot him. In the same way, a hunter with a double-barrelled gun, lying in wait for some dangerous beast, is fully attentive. His mind is fully concentrated. As soon as he sees his prey, he will fire a bullet at it. In this way, the mind is concentrated but it is not a wholesome mind; it is polluted with aversion and violence. Therefore, the concentration of such a mind is not sammā samādhi, is not pure samādhi.

A person who is in a stupor after taking an intoxicating substance becomes absorbed in intoxication and attains concentration of the mind. He is insensate like a person in a deep sleep. He is not aware of any external or internal event. Similarly, a person making use of chemicals, such as LSD, experiences hallucinations and becomes completely absorbed in them. In both these conditions, he loses the equanimity of his mind, he loses the balance of his mind. Concentration based upon an unbalanced mind, distorted by ignorance, is not meditation, is not proper samādhi, is not pure samādhi.

For the attainment of pure samādhi, an object that is based upon any kind of emotional fervour is not suitable. By this, the equanimity of the mind will be lost, the balance of the mind will be disturbed, the mind will become immersed in sentimentality and attachment that is full of craving. Even though the mind will become concentrated, purity will be missing.

Right Concentration

In order to concentrate the mind, the object should be neither pleasant nor unpleasant; and for which there should be neither craving nor aversion in the mind. At the same time, the object of concentration should help to keep the mind continuously alert and protect us from getting immersed in any kind of delusion; protect us from self-hypnotism and hypnotism by others; protect us from sleep-inducing meditation.

We may become absorbed not only in the gross sensual pleasures of the outside world but also in the subtle sensory pleasures of the so-called spiritual field. But this absorption only causes bondage, not liberation. Any samādhi attained while pursuing supernatural experiences only results in bondage. The vision of any pleasing form, colour, shape, or light, seen even with closed eyes; the sound of any pleasing word or sound; the enjoyment of any pleasing fragrance; the enjoyable thrill of ecstasy caused by any pleasurable contact of the body, may enable one to concentrate the mind. But at the subtle level, these supra-sensory experiences only result in craving and the bondage of ignorance. They are not sammā samādhi which alone can take us to liberation.

Any meditator, practising concentration of the mind on a pure object for sammā samādhi, may also experience such supra-sensual experiences. One should regard them as mere milestones, leave them behind and keep on progressing on the path. If we regard them as objects of concentration, we shall again become entangled in craving. We shall not be able to reach the ultimate stage of full liberation of the mind. Therefore, we should be alert at every stage so that we do not cling to any such object of concentration, which will become a fetter for our legs, or a wall obstructing further progress on the path.

While searching for a suitable object for the development of pure samādhi, we should also bear in mind that the object of concentration does not restrict the meditator within the bounds of any particular religion; that the object is not a form, colour, or word symbolising a particular religion, which people of other religions may find difficult to accept. This path of sīla, samādhi, paññā, and nibbāna (morality, concentration, wisdom, and liberation) is absolutely universal and acceptable to all nationalities. Therefore, while walking on this path, the object that is chosen for attaining concentration of the mind should be universal, eternal, and acceptable to all nationalities. It should be easily grasped by all, acceptable to all.

There are many objects of concentration that fulfil the above essential conditions. We have chosen our own incoming and outgoing breath as the object of concentration, pure incoming and outgoing breath. Pure, in the sense that no word, name, incantation, form or shape is associated with it. The practice of continuous awareness should be only on the coming in and going out of bare breath. This breath should be natural breath, normal breath. If it is long, it is long; if it is short, it is short; if it is deep, it is deep; if it is shallow, it is shallow; if it is gross, it is gross; if it is subtle, it is subtle. While taking the natural breath as our object of concentration, we should understand that we are not doing any breathing exercise. The breath is merely an object of concentration. The more natural the object, the better it is. Any interference with it will cause artificiality, which will produce an obstacle in the observation of the truth. Instead of seeing nature as it is, we will turn away from it, we will become indifferent to it.

Why use the natural breath to concentrate the mind

Why do we practise concentration of the mind? We practise so that the concentrated mind will become so subtle and sharp that it can pierce and tear the veils that have concealed the ultimate truth of liberation. Therefore, the more natural the object of concentration, the better are the chances that we shall avoid wandering in blind alleys and instead, become established on the straight and high road of Dhamma - The path of Vipassana.

Another reason for adopting natural incoming and outgoing breath as the object of concentration is that the rhythm of our respiration has an intimate natural connection with the negativities of the mind. When the mind is polluted and overpowered by any harmful negativity such as anger, fear, lust, envy or any other negativity, we see that the rhythm of our respiration naturally becomes rapid and gross. When these negativities stop polluting the mind, the rhythm of respiration becomes slow and subtle. After developing samādhi, the next step is to enter the field of paññā, where we learn to become free from the bondage of the negativities of our own mind. Therefore, the observation of the reality of the incoming and outgoing natural breath is of great help in the next step of meditation.

As we continue to observe our gross breath, the mind becomes more and more concentrated, and the breath becomes more and more subtle. Sometimes the breath will become extremely subtle, like a fine strand of hair, and as soon as it goes out, it seems to turn back inside. Sometimes it reaches a state of kuṃbhaka—a state where the process of respiration stops completely. Thus it is clear that our chosen object of concentration takes us from gross to subtle states. The unknown and unseen regions that we are likely to witness in the future are even subtler than this state, therefore, even from this point of view, the object of respiration is proper and meaningful. We have to experience the ocean of infinite waves surging within, the river of inner sensations flowing within, the eternal dance of the countless vibrations within every atom of the body. We have to witness our continuously changing nature. All of this is happening at an extremely subtle level. To reach this state, we have to first start observing the gross but ceaseless flow of respiration.

Whatever is happening within is happening effortlessly. This is the self-regulated uninterrupted flow of body and mind. To be able to observe this involuntary dynamic state of creation and destruction in the inner world, we need an object that is both a voluntary and an involuntary process, so that after observing and understanding its voluntary activity, we can start observing its involuntary activity. Respiration is the only process in the body that can be regulated, that can be made fast or slow voluntarily, but which otherwise is an involuntary, effortless process. In the journey from the voluntary to the involuntary, from the known to the unknown, from the familiar bank of the river to the unfamiliar bank, the breath can act as a bridge. For this reason, too, it is useful as the object of concentration.

Live in the truth of this moment

This path of sīla, samādhi (Anapana), paññā (Vipassana) and nibbāna, on which we have started walking, takes us to those depths in the field of meditation where we can naturally realise the ultimate truth.

To walk on this path, we have to start with the observation of the actual, experiential truth because the ultimate truth is the truth of this moment, not of the moments that have passed, nor of the moments that are yet to come. The moments that have passed can only be remembered; the moments that are yet to come can only be imagined or desired. Only the present moment can be experienced, not the moments of the past nor the moments of the future. Thus, for the realisation of the ultimate truth, we will have to attentively observe the gross experiential truth of the present moment. Only then will subtler truths be unveiled and transcending the subtlest state, the ultimate truth of this moment will be realised. For this, the straight royal road of our entire meditation is the practice of being able to live in the tiniest moment of the present. For the practice of living in this moment, we should learn to remain alert to the gross events occurring in the body at this moment, awareness of the incoming breath or the outgoing breath.

During this practice, we should not allow any bitter-sweet memories of the past to cast their shadows, like clouds, upon the mind. Nor should any bitter-sweet apprehension or desire about the future be allowed to cast a shadow. We should be aware only of pure breath, aware only of the actual incoming and outgoing breath. Bitter-sweet memories of the past and apprehensions and desires about the future cause craving or aversion because they are either agreeable or disagreeable. As the mind becomes free of these memories of the past and these imaginations about the future, as it becomes more and more established in this present process of the breath coming in or going out, it gains more and more freedom from craving and aversion. The mind is also released from ignorance because it is alert. While observing the incoming and outgoing breath, there is neither any agreeable feeling produced in the mind nor any disagreeable feeling; neither attraction nor repulsion; neither craving nor aversion.

We learn to observe this natural phenomenon of the body merely as a witness. Becoming free from the bondage of the past and future, gaining release from the constraints of craving and aversion, we make our first effort to live in the present moment. This effort, similar to that of an infant trying to learn to walk on unsteady feet, and its ceaseless application in this direction, will, one day, make us worthy of completing our journey with firm, strong and steadfast steps.

Without strong sammā samādhi, we cannot enter the depth of this moment; we cannot set foot in the field of paññā. To strengthen samādhi in the right way, let us give the mind a natural, imagination-free, faultless object of this moment, which is the awareness of the incoming and outgoing breath. On the basis of this awareness, let us learn to live in the present moment. Let us develop the concentration of a wholesome mind free from craving, free from aversion, free from ignorance. Let us develop our ability to avoid unwholesome physical or vocal actions. By becoming strong in paññā and eradicating impure mental defilements, let us develop our ability to avoid unwholesome actions at the mental level.

Pure samādhi developed in this way gives happiness. Come, let us develop samādhi by practising awareness of the incoming and outgoing breath. By strengthening samādhi, sīla will be strengthened and by strengthening samādhi and sīla, paññā will be strengthened. In the strengthening of sīla, samādhi, and paññā, lies the way to liberation: liberation from mental defilements, liberation from sorrow, liberation from delusion and ignorance.

Indeed, the path of samādhi is the path of well-being, the path of good fortune, the path of peace, the path of liberation.

May all beings be liberated.

(from the Vipassana Research Institute newsletter)

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A Myanmar accountant’s anti-corruption legacy

A town near Mandalay, Myanmar, owns a special place in history: in Kyaukse, a government accountant named U Ba Khin in 1941 began his unique fight against corruption, establishing a legacy of enabling the individual to change things for the better.

As chief accountant of the Burma Railways Board, 42-year-old U Ba Khin (1899-1971) was auditing railway stations on the Rangoon-Mandalay line when his personal carriage was mistakenly detached at Kyaukse. He completed an unscheduled auditing of the station, and then visited the nearby Shwetharlyaung Hill to pay his respects to a renowned monk, Webu Sayadaw. That meeting had a long-term impact on India and the world.

Impressed with U Ba Khin’s progress in Vipassana meditation, Webu Sayadaw immediately exhorted him to share the ancient practice, which he had learned from a farmer teacher, Saya Thetgyi. The station master at Kyaukse became U Ba Khin’s first student. Within two decades, U Ba Khin, as independent Burma’s first accountant general, used Vipassana to reform four government departments, successfully fulfilling the anti-corruption mission prime minister U Nu had given him.

U Ba Khin conducted Vipassana courses within the office premises, before he established the International Meditation Center in Yangon. He realized that laws and punishments alone could not work. The anti-corruption war had to be fought in the mind, to gain the crucial realization that corruption is assured self-destruction. Decades later, government departments across India grant paid leave for officials to attend Vipassana courses.

Sayagyi U Ba Khin paying respects to Venerable Webu Sayadaw

U Ba Khin was a remarkable individual who opened the path of Vipassana to non-Burmese-speaking people, particularly Westerners. His exposition of Vipassana had a striking ring of truth, and he was the first English-speaking Vipassana teacher to explain the Buddha’s practical path in modern scientific terms.

“Sayagyi’s way was not the way of scholars,” said his foremost student Satya Narayan Goenka, a Myanmar-born industrialist of Indian ethnicity. “Every word that he spoke came from his own experience. Therefore his teachings have the life of experience within them.”

Kyaukse Railway Station - an unforgettable landmark in Vipassana history, from where Sayagyi U Ba Khin first began teaching

Vipassana, taught free of cost through residential courses in 336 locations worldwide, includes practitioners from diverse backgrounds – from heads of state such as Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, corporate chieftains, nuclear scientists, psychiatrists and schoolchildren to inmates of high-security prisons – New Delhi’s Tihar Jail and Donaldson Correctional Facility (see the trailer of the award-winning Dhamma Brothers) in Jefferson county, Alabama.

I have absolutely no doubt Vipassana is the single most powerful force of change of our times. For the country and our world to change for the better, the individual has to change. Vipassana enables the inner change.

The self-dependent practice breaks down the barrier of ignorance that prevents us from seeing reality within, instead of rolling in delusions, illusions. This ignorance of inner reality leads to unwholesome actions. Vipassana enables experiencing how the first victim of unwholesome thoughts, words, actions is oneself. So what’s the point of harming oneself?

As fire and water cannot co-exist in the same vessel, correct Vipassana practice cannot co-exist with corruption in the same mind. Corruption monitors such as Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index paint a dismal picture, but statistics cannot tell us of honesty at work, of unnumbered times when people of unshakable integrity rejected temptations.

Despite perceptions of widespread corruption in India, I have never personally encountered a bribery demand to get any governmental work done.

U Ba Khin himself was a shining example of honesty. My teacher Sayagyi U Goenka recalled an inspiring incident during World War II:

“In 1942, Japan attacked Myanmar, and its bombers destroyed Mandalay Railway Station, where U Ba Khin was then the accounts officer. He saw that the station’s safe had not been damaged in the bombing raid. The senior railway officers, who were British, were intent on escaping to India. If U Ba Khin had kept the government money for himself, no one would have known about it. But he unlocked the safe, took out the contents, drove two hours by car and handed over the money to the senior-most railway officer, who was on the way to the airport. U Ba Khin had need of money at that time because his daughter was ill. But he did not want to keep even a penny that belonged to others. Such a selfless person, free of craving, was Sayagyi U Ba Khin.”

The Accountant General Office building in Yangon, Myanmar, where Sayagyi U Ba Khin first conducted 10-day Vipassana courses within the office premises.

In 1969, U Ba Khin authorized his distinguished student Satya Narayan Goenka to teach Vipassana in India, the country of its origin. This timeless practice, referred to in the Rigveda, was lost for millennia in India, primarily because of vested interests corrupting the practice by adding rites and rituals.

Conducting the first 10-day Vipassana course at the Pancayati Wadi rest house in South Bombay 50 years ago, Sayagyi U Goenka began teaching Vipassana in its non-sectarian, experience-based pure form. Not merely theories, intellectual debates, rites and rituals, but the actual practice to explore the truth within, to be aware with equanimity of the reality of who we actually are.

The first Vipassana centre for householder students, Yangon. Burma

Special courses being held this year to mark the 50th anniversary of Vipassana returning to India are a connection of links. India’s financial capital Mumbai that hosted the historic first course in 1969 has the greatest number of Vipassana practitioners in the world. Sayagyi U Goenka, instrumental in sharing Vipassana worldwide in more than 100 countries, was born in Mandalay, near Kyaukse where U Ba Khin began teaching. He lived in Mumbai, until he passed away peacefully there on September 29, 2013, aged 89.

He predicted that Vipassana would bring together India and China – both countries currently sharing poor Corruption Perception Index positions, ranked 78 and 87 out of 180 countries.

In links connecting Vipassana, India and China, The Statesman, whose office in Mumbai is near the venue of the first Vipassana course in 1969, and Asia Times, based in Hong Kong, have by my reckoning published the most articles on Vipassana in English-language media. The merits thereby gained are immeasurable for sharing this universal path to true happiness – beyond glittering traps of corruption of any kind.

(from an article originally published in Asia Times, Hong Kong)

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The individual key to real happiness

by Sayagyi U Goenka

To live the life of morality is the quintessence of every spiritual teaching. However, the Buddha was not interested in merely giving sermons. He taught us to take the next important practical step of samādhi, meaning mastery over the mind.

Developing mastery over the mind needs an object of meditation for concentration. There were many objects to concentrate the mind. The Buddha himself gave many objects, and of these, the most effective was one's respiration. He called this Ānāpāna sati: developing the faculty of awareness of inhalation and exhalation.

Respiration is a common human activity. Nobody can object to the practice of awareness of respiration. The breath cannot be obviously labelled as Muslim or Hindu, Christian or Jewish, Buddhist or Jain, Sikh or Parsi, Caucasian or African or Asian, male or female,

Ānāpāna requires us to remain aware of the natural breath, as it is, on the area below the nostrils and above the upper lip. It is the one-pointed concentration at the middle of the upper lip. We observe the natural breath. No regulation of the breath.

As the mind gets concentrated on this small area, the mind becomes sharper, more sensitive. After three days of practice, you start feeling physical sensations on this part of the body. And then, you turn to the next stage training: paññā i.e experiential wisdom or insight.

From ignorance of inner reality to wisdom 

The Vipassana practitioner observes the changing sensations throughout the physical structure, from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. In doing so, it can be noticed that these bodily sensations are closely related to what happens in the mind. It becomes clear that before performing an unwholesome action, some impurity is generated in one's mind: hatred before violence or killing, greed before stealing, intense passion (sexual craving) before sexual misconduct.

The truth becomes clear: we cannot harm anyone without first harming oneself.

Negativities such as anger, hatred, greed, ill will, jealousy, egotism and fear makes a person unhappy, miserable and violent. These impurities agitate the mind. And when the mind is agitated, this person distributes the agitation to others.

First harming oneself, and then harming others. This law of nature is realized within the framework of one's own mind and body.

Someone committing unwholesome actions may seem outwardly happy, but this "happiness" is like burning charcoal covered with a thick layer of ash. The burning goes on inside because of the mental negativities - yet the individual is totally ignorant of what is happening within.

This is avijjā or moha - ignorance.

For the Buddha, ignorance is not the lack of worldly knowledge, but the lack of awareness of what is happening within oneself -  this veil of ignorance that causes so much misery.

The practice of Vipassana tears apart this veil of ignorance.

By objectively observing the arising, passing sensations in  Vipassana practice, the realization deepens:
"Look, I am generating misery for myself by generating tanhā in response to these sensations. When they are pleasant, I generate craving and when they are unpleasant, I generate aversion. Both make me miserable. And look, I have the solution now. When I understand the impermanent nature of sensations and maintain equanimity, there is no tanhā, no craving and no aversion. The old habit pattern of the mind starts changing and I start coming out of misery."

This is vijjā or wisdom.

This practical self-realized wisdom has nothing to do with any philosophical or sectarian belief. It is the truth about one's happiness and misery. Anyone can experience this truth within by taking steps on the path of Vipassana.

Vipassana Path of direct experience

The Vipassana path is to experience the Four Noble Truths - at the level of bodily sensations or bodily feeling.

When working with sensations, we work at the depth of the mind.

Whatever arises in the mind is accompanied by sensations within the body: vedanā-samosaranā sabbe dhammā.

Every thought that arises in the mind is accompanied by a sensation within the body: vedanā-samosaranā sankappavitakkā.

This was the unique and great discovery of the Buddha.

Another important discovery of the Buddha: we generate craving (tanhā) in response to the sensations. This was not known to the other teachers before the time of the Buddha, at the time of Buddha. The teachers before the Buddha and at the time of the Buddha kept advising people not to react to the sensory objects that come in contact with the sense doors: eyes with a visual object, nose with smell, ears with sound, and so on.

They taught, "When sensory objects come in contact with your senses, do not react by judging them as good or bad; do not react with craving or aversion."

This teaching was already in existence. But the Buddha went beyond. He said: you are not reacting to these objects. He gave the example of a black bull and a white bull (one representing the sense doors and the other the sense objects) tied together with a rope. Neither the black nor the white bull is the bondage; the rope is the bondage.

The Buddha said that the rope of tanhā (craving) is the bondage and that the individual generates craving or aversion as blind reactions to vedanā (sensations): vedanā paccayā tanhā.

This was the great discovery of the Enlightened One, the sammasambuddha.

Being with reality, not apparent reality

As long as you are not aware of sensations, you react to outside objects, thinking, "This is beautiful", "This is ugly".

You struggle with the apparent reality, the surface. The black bull or the white bull appears as the cause of the bondage. But the real bondage is the rope of craving and aversion - as a reaction to sensations.

An alcoholic thinks that he is addicted to alcohol. He is actually addicted to the sensations he feels when he drinks alcohol.

The attraction is not to anything outside. The reaction of attraction is to one's own pleasant sensations within.

Observe sensations objectively, and start coming out of ignorance of the reality within.

Experiencing the impermanent nature of sensations, one generates paññā (experiential wisdom) in response to vedanā (sensations). This is the law of nature, Dhamma. Whether there is a Buddha or no Buddha, Dhamma remains eternal.

The Buddha said:

“Uppādā vā tathāgatānam anuppādā vā tathāgatānam, thitāva sā dhātu dhammatthitatā dhammaniyāmatā idappaccayatā. Tam tathāgato abhisambujjhati abhisameti. Abhisambujjhitvā abhisametvā ācikkhati deseti paññāpeti patthapeti vivarati vibhajati uttānīkaroti. 'Passathā'ti cāha.”

"I have experienced this law of nature, the Law of Dependent Origination, within myself; and having experienced and understood it I declare it, teach it, clarify it, establish it and share it to others. Only after having experienced it, I declare it."

This is the bold declaration of a super scientist - one who discovers and shares the fundamental truths of nature, after realizing through direct experience.

The junction of sensations

The feeling of sensation is the crucial junction, of two paths going in opposite directions: blind reaction to unpleasant or pleasant sensations - this path of misery. Or equanimity to sensations - the path of real happiness.

The sensations are the root - the root from which habit patterns can be changed.

 As long as the root is neglected, the poisonous tree will grow again even if the trunk is cut.

The Buddha said:

“Yathāpi mūle anupaddave dalhe, chinnopi rukkho punareva rūhati
Evampi tanhānusaye anūhate, nibbattati dukkhamidam punappunam”.

Just as a tree with roots intact and secure, though cut down, sprouts again;
-even so, while latent craving is not rooted out, misery springs up again and again.

To be fully liberated from mental defilements, work at the root of the mind. Each individual must cut the roots of craving.

When the entire forest is withered, each tree has to be nurtured, its roots cleared of disease, and then watered. Then, the entire forest will bloom again.

Similarly, for the betterment of society, each individual has to change himself or herself for the better. For society to become peaceful, each individual has to become peaceful.

The individual is the key. Vipassana gives the individual the key to purifying the mind,  and change life for the better.

from 'Buddha, the Super-Scientist of Peace', Sayagyi U Goenka's address the United Nations in 2002, on the occasion of Vesakha, the full moon day of May - celebrated each year as the day marking the birth, the enlightenment and the passing away of Gotama the Buddha. 

In 2002, Goenkaji was touring North America during the month of Vesakha, teaching Vipassana and giving Dhamma talks - as part of an epic Vipassana journey of more than 24,000 miles (38,000 kms) across 35 cities in North America, over a period of nearly four months.

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Sayings Of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

"If you have gratitude to S.N.Goenka you will have gratitude to Sayagyi U Ba Khin"

 - Sayagyi U Goenka, at a gathering of Vipassana meditators during the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda

Quotations from Sayagyi U Ba Khin:


 For progress in Vipassana meditation, a student must keep knowing anicca as continuously as possible. ...Continuous awareness of anicca, and so of dukkha and anattā, is the secret of success. The last words of the Buddha just before he breathed his last and passed away into mahaparinibbāna were: “Decay (or anicca) is inherent in all component things. Work out your own salvation with diligence.” This is, in fact, the essence of all his teachings during the forty-five years of his ministry. If you will keep up the awareness of the anicca that is inherent in all component things, you are sure to reach the goal in the course of time.

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Anicca when properly developed will solve almost all your problems. It might not even be necessary for you to ask questions for answers. As the appreciation of anicca grows, so will the veil of ignorance fade away. When the way becomes clear for right understanding, doubts and fears will disappear automatically. You will then see things in the true perspective.


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A balanced mind is necessary to balance the unbalanced mind of others.

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The Dhamma can stand the test of those who are anxious to do so. They can know for themselves what the benefits are.

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Just as the light of a candle has the power to dispel darkness in a room, so also the light developed in one man can help dispel darkness in several others.


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The world is facing serious problems. It is just the right time for everyone to take to Vipassana meditation and learn how to find a deep pool of quiet in the midst of all that is happening today.


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To imagine that good can be done by the means of evil is an illusion, a nightmare.


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Dhamma eradicates suffering and gives happiness. Who gives this happiness? It is not the Buddha but the Dhamma, the knowledge of anicca within the body, which gives this happiness. That is why you must meditate and be aware of anicca continually.


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The more one is attached to self, the greater is the suffering.


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 Only those who take to meditation with good intentions can be assured of success. With the development of the purity and the power of the mind backed by the insight into the ultimate truth of nature, one may be able to do a lot of things in the right direction for the benefit of mankind.


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Anicca is inside of everybody. It is within reach of everybody. Just a look into oneself and there it is. ...for householders, anicca is the gem of life which they will treasure to create a reservoir of calm and balanced energy for their own well-being and for the welfare of society.


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What is happiness? For all that science has achieved in the field of materialism, are the peoples of the world happy? They may find sensual pleasures off and on, but in their hearts of hearts, they are not happy when they realise what has happened, and what may happen next. Why? This is because, while man has mastery over matter, he is still lacking in mastery over his mind.


 From the Vipassana Research Institute newsletter, Vol. 21, No. 1: 19 January 2011.

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Sayagyi U Ba Khin on Vipassana (on anicca)

A short discourse that Sayagyi U Ba Khin had recorded for his foreign students, who were unable to return to Myanmar for further practice and guidance:



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Passing away of Sayagyi U Ba Khin 

(text and photos courtesy Dhamma Maṇḍa, Northern California Vipassana Center)

On the 19th of January 1971, Sayagyi U Ba Khin passed away. He had been suffering for some time from diseases of old age and had been hospitalized three times. In the end he was rushed to the hospital and died of internal hemorrhaging. His physician Dr. Ohm Prakash said about him, “He could face disease bravely and well, was an intelligent and cooperative patient. He never took a pessimistic view of life, was always optimistic and took a hopeful view of life. He took suffering and disease as a result of past Karma and said it is the lot of one who is born in the world. The symptoms of disease also he would minimize and never complain(ed).”

Sayagyi U Ba Khin and Goenkaji

At that time Goenkaji was teaching a course at the Burmese Vihara in Bodhgaya. It was his 27th course after coming to India. On the third day of the course Goenkaji received a telegram from Burma that Sayagyi had passed away.

At the 6 pm group sitting Goenkaji announced that, “A light has gone out in Burma.” That being the passing of Sayagyi. The next day at 2:30 there was a special sitting. It was simultaneous with the cremation of Sayagyi in Burma. Goenkaji spoke during the sitting and described how the body was being placed on the fire and how the body was being consumed by the fire. A student who was there described this as a very powerful sitting that is still clear in his mind 47 years later.

Sayagyi’s coffin

When asked later how he knew the body was on the fire, he said that he felt the fire within himself. He knew the body had been consumed when he felt the cool breeze of Metta.

Sayagyi’s ashes were taken by a group of his oldest students by boat to the confluence of the Irrawaddy River with the sea. There they were immersed in the water by the students.

Immersing the ashes
in the Irrawaddy
where it meets the sea

This was the passing of a great man. He changed perceptions of meditation by introducing Vipassana to the world via his students. He saw that the time was ripe for Vipassana to spread around the world. Sayagyi said, “The time clock of Vipassana has struck,” meaning that the time for Vipassana to spread around the world had come. He wanted to go himself, but because the government would not give him a visa Goenkaji became the vehicle that made this huge impact.

Goenkaji never forgot Sayagyi. He always paid tribute to him, downplaying his own work and emphasizing the importance Sayagyi’s work. “My life is fulfilled. From the abundant compassion of my respected Teacher, I have received incomparable sustenance, and I continue to receive it in such abundance. The rejuvenating medicine of Dhamma gives me confidence to move firmly on. It continues to benefit me so much and uplifts so many others also. Pondering this, a spark of gratitude toward my respected Teacher rekindles in my heart.”

Today all his students have a great debt to this man who gave householders around the world an opportunity to learn Vipassana meditation. Each time a new student receives Dhamma for the first time, each time an old student sits down to meditate, they reap the benefit of Sayagyi’s efforts.

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