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.


* * *


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.


* * *

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.


* * *

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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Continuity of Vipassana practice is secret of success

by Sayagyi U Goenka


For a Vipassana meditator, continuity of practice is the secret of success - this means being continuously aware of bodily sensations arising and passing away (anicca), with equanimity. This continuous experience of anicca (impermanence) purifies the mind.

Anicca must be experienced. If not, it is merely a theory. And the Buddha was not interested in mere theories. Before and during the time of the Buddha, there were teachers who taught that the entire universe is impermanent (anicca). This was not new. What was new from the Buddha was the experience of anicca; and when you experience it within the framework of your own body, at the level of arising, passing sensations, you have started working at the deepest level of your mind.

The Buddha’s teaching helps us to disintegrate the solidified apparent reality preventing us from seeing the actual truth. At the actual level, everything in the universe is mere vibrations. At the same time, there is the apparent reality of solidity. For example, this wall is solid. This is a truth but it is an apparent truth. The ultimate truth is that what you call a wall is nothing but a mass of vibrating subatomic particles. We have to integrate both the apparent and actual truths through proper understanding.

Understand that the work to purify the mind is done by you alone; but you must also be prepared to work with your family, with society as a whole. The yardstick to measure whether pure love, compassion and goodwill are truly developing within you is whether these qualities are being exhibited towards the people around you.

The Buddha wanted us to be liberated at the deepest level of the mind. And that is possible only when anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering) and anattā (egolessness)  are experienced. This experience anicca, dukkha, anattā deconditions the mind from its negative habit patterns.

By deconditioning the mind, layer after layer of the mind gets purified, until the mind is totally free from past conditioning. Purity then becomes a way of life. You will not have to consciously practice mettā (compassionate love) as you do now at the end of your one-hour sitting. Later, mettā just becomes a part of your life. All the time you remain suffused with love, compassion and goodwill. This is the aim, the goal.

Vipassana works at the deepest level of one's mind

The path of liberation is the path of working at the deepest level of the mind. And the deepest level of the mind is constantly in contact with bodily sensations.

Divide, dissect and disintegrate the entire structure to understand how mind and matter are interrelated. If you work only with the mind and forget the body, you are not practicing the Buddha’s teaching. If you work only with the body and forget the mind, again you are not understanding the Buddha properly.

Anything that arises in the mind turns into matter, into a sensation in the material field. This was the Buddha’s discovery. People forgot this truth, which can only be understood through correct practice of Vipassana. The Buddha said, "Sabbe dhammā vedanā samosaraṇā:, anything that arises in the mind starts flowing as a sensation in the body.

The Buddha used the word asava, which means flow or intoxication. For example, when you generate anger a biochemical flow of very unpleasant sensations starts. Because of these unpleasant sensations, you start reacting with more anger. With more anger, the flow becomes stronger and the intensity of anger intensifies. The habit-pattern of generating anger then becomes stronger, more deeply entrenched in the mind.

In the same way, when passion arises, a particular type of biochemical substance starts flowing in the blood. A vicious circle starts which keeps repeating itself. There is a flow, an intoxication, an addiction at the depth of the mind. Out of ignorance, we become addicted to this particular biochemical flow. Although it makes us miserable, yet we become addicted: we want these sensations again and again. So we generate more passion - more misery.

We become addicted to impurities we generate in the mind. Saying that someone is addicted to alcohol or drugs is not true. The real addiction is the addiction to particular sensations produced by alcohol or drugs.

The Buddha teaches us to observe the inner reality of the arising, passing sensations. We overcome addiction to anything when we objectively experience sensations arising, passing, with this understanding: "Anicca, anicca. This is impermanent." Gradually we stop the habit of blind reaction.

Dhamma is simple, scientific, the universal laws of nature applicable to everyone. Whether calling oneself a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, American, Indian, Burmese, Russian or Italian makes no difference. Human nature is human nature. And Vipassana is the pure, natural science of studying mind and matter, and mind-matter interaction. Do not allow it to become a sectarian or philosophical belief. This will be of no help.

The Buddha, the Fully Enlightened Super Scientist, worked to find the truth about mind and matter interaction. And discovering this truth, he found a way to go beyond mind and matter. He explored the path to the ultimate reality not to satisfy his curiosity but to find a way to be free from all suffering. There is suffering in every family, society, every nation in the world. The Enlightened One found and shared the way for everyone to come out of all suffering.

Each individual must come out of misery, out of all suffering.

There cannot be world peace just because we want world peace: "There should be peace in the world because I am agitating for it." This does not happen. We cannot agitate for peace. When we become agitated, we lose peace of mind. No agitation. Purify your mind. Then your actions will add to peace in the world.

May you come out of misery. May you enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness.

(from the Vipassana Research Institute article: Work out your own salvation)

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The Essence of Experiential Wisdom

by Sayagyi U S. N. Goenka

(from a Vipassana Research Institute newsletter)

What is wisdom? Wisdom means the right understanding. Knowledge of the superficial apparent truth only is not true wisdom. In order to understand the ultimate truth we must penetrate apparent reality to its depths.


A child will see precious jewels only as attractive, coloured pieces of stone. But an experienced jeweller evaluates the virtues and defects in each jewel with his expert vision in order to accurately estimate its value. In the same way, the wise do not conduct a mere superficial examination. Rather they go to the depths with penetrating wisdom and accurately perceive the underlying subtle truth in every situation. This ability to understand the complete truth accurately in every situation is wisdom.


There are three kinds of wisdom. The first, suta-maya panna, is the wisdom gained by hearing or reading the words of others. The second, cinta-maya panna, is intellectual wisdom: to test with one’s reasoning and analyzing faculty whether the received wisdom is rational and logical.


It cannot be said that these two types of wisdom are absolutely useless. However, because they are borrowed wisdom, usually the knowledge gained is merely intellectual and no lasting benefit is derived from it.


Bhavana-maya panna, the third kind of wisdom, is experiential wisdom It is wisdom manifested within ourselves, based on our own experience of our body sensations. This wisdom is based on direct experience and therefore is truly beneficial.


To develop bhavana-maya panna, it is essential to practice sila (moral conduct) and to develop right samadhi (concentration). Only the mind established in right samadhi can understand and realise the truth as it is. (Yatha-bhuta nana-dassana)


Samahito yathabhutam pajanati passati.
One who has developed right concentration, properly understands reality as it is.


The ability to see things as they really are is called Vipassana, meaning "to see things in a special way". Ordinarily, we tend to observe only the superficial apparent truth, like the child who sees only the superficial, bright colouring and glitter of the jewels. To be able to properly observe inner truth, we need the penetrating expert vision of the jeweller—we need to see things in a special way. This special way of seeing is Vipassana; this is bhavana-maya panna, the development of wisdom by the practice of Vipassana.


It is easy to understand superficial reality but introspection is necessary to understand subtle inner truths. Directing our attention inwards, we must explore, observe, and understand the truth within.


To understand the truth within, we practice the four kinds of awareness described by the Buddha in the Mahasatipatthana Sutta. We practice kayanupassana (observation of the body) by observing the course of events within the body with full attention. Observation of the incoming and outgoing breath is part of kayanupassana. Observation of the respiration leads to awareness of sensations on every part of the body.


Practising diligently, we gradually begin to experience gross or subtle sensations on every part of the body. The sensations may be pleasant, unpleasant or neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant. Observing these sensations with detachment, we practice vedananupassana (observation of sensations within the body). Observing the numerous kinds of mind (citta) that keep arising from time-to-time, we practice cittanupassana. Observing the different contents of the mind, we practice dhammanupassana.


We give more importance to vedananupassana because it is directly connected to the other three. Vedana is perceived by the the mind, but it is experienced in the body. Every defilement in the mind is intimately connected with some sensation in the body. Therefore, when we strengthen vedananupassana, we automatically strengthen the other three.


In this way, through the practice of Vipassana based upon sensations, we can observe the true nature of the mind-body (nama-rupa) every moment. Gradually we develop the understanding that this body is merely a collection of subtle sub-atomic particles, which by nature constantly change, arising and passing away. These sub-atomic particles are made up of the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air.


The flow of the everchanging body-stream and that of the mind-stream can be observed only with the help of penetrating, piercing samadhi. Observing the mind-body, we can experience its fundamental nature of impermanence (anicca) and suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) and in the process, its nature of egolessness (anatta) becomes clearer and clearer. We begin to realise that both the body-stream and mind-stream are substanceless, essenceless. There is nothing in this stream of mind and matter which is permanent, stable or constant, which can be called "I" or "mine", or which we can claim to control.


In this way, we begin to learn to observe the flow of nama-rupa with detachment, with impartially. The deeper the examination of the subtle sensations, the stronger our detachment. As long as there is attachment, we cannot observe the object of meditation objectively, as it is. Through the wisdom gained by practicing Vipassana, our attachment becomes weaker and weaker, and we are able to observe the object of meditation more and more objectively.


When one enters a dark house with a lantern, the darkness is dispelled; light illuminates the whole house and all objects in the house can be seen clearly. In the same way, the light of wisdom banishes the darkness of ignorance, and the eternal, noble truths are illuminated and are seen clearly.


Through continued practice, we experience the truth of dukkha at the deepest level—how this constantly dissatisfied and discontented mind is incessantly afflicted with the thirst of craving; how this thirst is never-ending—like a bottomless pit, it consumes all our efforts to fill it. We understand the misery of our attachment and clinging to our belief in an individual ego—how our attachment to this concept of self, to our cravings and opinions, keep us incessantly preoccupied and miserable. When we understand dukkha and the root cause of dukkha, we also understand the Noble Path, which destroys all the cravings that cause dukkha, thereby leading to liberation from dukkha. As we progress on this path, we attain liberation from all suffering, nibbana.


As our panna grows stronger and stronger through the practice of Vipassana, this wisdom eradicates all delusions, illusions, false impressions, and ignorance. Reality becomes clear because false impressions are unable to stick in the mind. When panna becomes strong, sila becomes pure; the mind is purified of all defilements. And progressing on this beneficial path, we achieve the pure state of the ariyas (noble ones). We experience the joy of nibbana.


The happiness gained through Vipassana is superior to any other happiness. Neither the enjoyment of gross sensual pleasures, nor that of subtle extra-sensual pleasures, leads to lasting happiness. When pleasures of any kind comes to an end, the result is sorrow. And because every situation is impermanent, it is bound to change, to come to an end. When a pleasurable experience comes to an end, the mind struggles to regain it. This craving brings misery. True happiness comes only from that which remains stable.


When we become used to observing with complete detachment, our faculty of observation can remain stable even if the objects of our observation keep changing. We do not become elated when we experience sensual or supra-mundane pleasures, nor do we cry when they pass away. In both situations, we watch objectively, like a scientist observing a scientific phenomenon in a laboratory.

At the depths of the mind, as we observe the changing nature of even the most subtle sensations, right understanding arises about the profound truth of impermanence. We observe every changing situation with the same objective and impartial view. To see that which is apparent, that which is before our eyes, without any defilement in the mind—this is true happiness. This state has been called ditta dhamma sukha vihara (the happy state of knowledge of truth).


Let us strengthen our bhavana-maya panna through the practice of Vipassana. Leaving behind the continuous struggle with cravings that cause such restlessness and discontentment, let us gain liberation from the bondage of craving. Becoming established in wisdom, let us gain liberation and attain real contentment, real happiness.

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Questions And Answers

Question: It seems to me that it would take forever to eliminate the sankharas one by one.

Sayagyi U S. N. Goenka: That would be so if one moment of equanimity meant exactly one less sankhara of the past. But in fact, awareness of sensation takes you to the deepest level of the mind and allows you to cut the roots of past conditioning. In this way, in a relatively short time, you can eliminate entire complexes of sankharas, if your awareness and equanimity are strong.


Question: Then how long should the process take?

SNG: That depends on how great a stock of sankharas you have to eliminate, and how strong your meditation is. You cannot measure the past stock but you can be sure that the more seriously you meditate, the more quickly you are approaching liberation. Keep working steadfastly towards that goal. The time is bound to come—sooner rather than later—when you will reach it.


Question: Would you say that Vipassana is the only way to reach enlightenment?

SNG: Enlightenment is achieved by examining oneself and eliminating conditioning. And doing this is Vipassana, no matter what name you may call it. Some people have never even heard of Vipassana, and yet the process has started to work spontaneously in them. This seems to have happened in the case of a number of saintly people in India, judging from their own words. But because they did not learn the process step by step, they were unable to explain it clearly to others. Here you have the opportunity to learn a step-by-step method that will lead you to enlightenment.

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S.N. Goenka – a Vipassana life extraordinary

The 50th-anniversary celebrations of Vipassana returning to India in 1969 also celebrates the life of Principal Teacher of Vipassana Satya Narayan Goenka (1924 - 2013). 

(from the article published in The Statesman, Festival Issue, October 2019)

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In June 1969, a Burmese-born industrialist with ancestors from Rajasthan arrived at Dum Dum Airport, Calcutta. Hours earlier, he told a startled customs official in Rangoon airport that he was carrying out of the country a priceless jewel –the ‘gem’ of Vipassana, the ancient truth-realization practice that was lost to India for 2,500 years.

Now transforming lives worldwide, residential Vipassana courses are taught free of cost to people from all walks of life, cultural, religious backgrounds, in over 100 countries.

The 50th-anniversary celebration this year of Vipassana returning to India also celebrates the unique life of Satya Narayan Goenka (1924 – 2013), Principal Teacher of Vipassana. 

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I am not here to convert people from one organized religion to another organized religion—no. I am here to serve towards conversion from misery to happiness, conversion from cruelty to compassion, conversion from bondage to liberation. This is the conversion needed today.

- Sayagyi U Goenka

The pattern, look for the pattern - the pattern of the bigger picture, the threads of life that connect people, places and events woven in the changing tapestry of our impermanent abode on earth.

So too with the extraordinary life of Satya Narayan Goenka, Vipassana teacher to the world and to the previous and current President of India, to nuclear scientists and students, billionaires and business management students, princesses and inmates of prisons. 

Sayagyi U Goenka was the true Father of Independent India. He revived in this ancient civilization the Vipassana practise that Gotama the Buddha re-discovered and shared - not as an organized religion, but as the universal path to purifying the mind and experiencing real happiness. 

I have no doubt that developing India - to be the world's largest economy by the year 2050 - is fruit of Vipassana being practised in the country since 1969. When more people increasingly live a wholesome life, prosperity increases with a purer mind able to more successfully accomplish work.

Sayagyi U Goenka's exceptional work, his sacrifices, enabled Vipassana to be shared free of cost in more than 100 countries, in 336 locations worldwide, with 105 Vipassana centres in India (31 in Maharashtra and Mumbai). He shared Vipassana its pure form - fully non-sectarian and universal, practical and result-oriented, with benefits here and now. 

He taught using scientific terms like his teacher U Ba Khin, the first Account General of independent Burma. But Sayagyi U Goenka was the first and foremost Vipassana teacher to avoid using the word 'Buddhism', the unfortunate term that has turned a Fully Enlightened Super Scientist's practical path to experience truths of nature into just another sectarian 'religion'.

A pattern linked Satya Narayan Goenka of Burma (Myanmar) to India, to his ancestors from Churu in Rajasthan, the land of kings, to the royal city of Mandalay in Myanmar where he was born. The pattern brought him to Madras (Chennai) where he lived during World War 2.

The pattern of destiny brought him to Calcutta in 1969, arriving in India from Myanmar to the city of joy.

From Bengal, he went to Bombay (Mumbai) where he re-started the wheel of Vipassana again in the country of its origin. 

With Mumbai as home, the Rajasthan-origin Sayagyi U Goenka selflessly served humanity until he passed away peacefully, aged 89, on the night of September 29, 2013.

Vipassana dawn, the path

"Awake O people of the world...the dark night is over. The light of Dhamma is glowing... The dawn of happiness," words in Pali, Hindi, Rajasthani inspire Vipassana students as dawn breaks in another day of a Vipassana course, in course venues worldwide - another day of determined battles to drive out demons of negative habit patterns entrenched deep in dungeons of the mind. 

The Vipassana teacher is only a guide in the self-dependent battle that has to be courageously fought alone - whether in a meditation cell of a Vipassana centre, a forest, cave, in heavenly solitude of the Himalayas. 

In Pali language, Vipassana means 'to see reality as it is'. It enables experiencing the true nature of this changing mind-matter phenomenon called 'I' - this 'I', 'my' to which we give so much importance. 

The aim of Vipassana is to purify the mind. The practice of Vipassana is being aware, with equanimity, the impermanence of bodily sensations, their arising and passing every moment, from moment to moment.

Physical sensations - any tangible feeling in the body such as pressure, pain, heat, tingling, itching, subtler sensations like a pleasant flow - arise, pass away as manifestation of mind-matter interaction, the bio-chemical flow of change every moment. 

The deepest part of one’s mind, where conditioning takes root, is never in contact with the outside world but always in contact with this bio-chemical of sensations within, every moment, from birth to death. 

At the apparent reality we react to the outside world, but in actual reality we blindly react to sensations.

As eyes give sight, Vipassana gives insight – insight of life-changing realities within.

Sensations are not new; but new is the Vipassana-developed faculty to be objectively aware of this inner reality, from the grossest sensation of immense pain to the subtlest sensations of infinite bliss.

Blissful or painful, whatever the cause of a sensation arising - from a physical ailment, food intake, sitting for long, atmospheric conditions, past conditioning of the mind (sankaras) - every sensation becomes a Vipassana tool to develop awareness and equanimity to changing phenomena.

Everything changes, is subject to impermanence. Nothing lasts forever.

Equanimity to changing sensations, instead of blind reactions, changes the habit pattern of the mind of generating negativity. Life changes for the better.

The Sayagyi

The Principal Teacher of Vipassana being called 'Sayagyi' (in Burmese meaning "respected householder teacher") fits the rational, non-dogmatic practise of Vipassana.  No "gurudom", the curse of personality worship, exploitative cults.

The true teacher practices what he teaches, so did Sayagyi U Goenka.

He shunned personal recognition of any kind. He said he was only the medium, and that if not him someone else would have done the work of revival of Vipassana in India and the world. The time had ripened.

A self-made millionaire by age 25 in Burma, Sayagyi U Goenka was a master of people management. He ensured a network of highly decentralized and yet closely connected Vipassana centres worldwide, the islands of Dhamma to teach Vipassana in purity for centuries, free of cost. Expenses are met only through voluntary services and donations of those who already completed a Vipassana course.

He insisted that there should no advertising of Vipassana courses, to avoid commercialization. Only word of mouth. Those experiencing the benefits cannot resist telling others about Vipassana.

Trained teachers and assistant teachers conduct residential 10-day to 60-day Vipassana courses as volunteers, without receiving any fees. They take time off from their various professions, occupations, business and industries. They follow a strict code of conduct, are required to avoid all unwholesome actions. 

He allocated work and responsibilities without intrusive interference.  His way of respectful dealings with others enables harmony at work. 

"If you look for virtue, look for it in others", he advised, "If you look for faults, look within".

He discouraged backbiting and said a problem should be first directly discussed with the concerned person. Only if that person refuses to recognize the mistake should a complaint be made to a senior - but after informing the person a complaint is being made.

Sayagyi U Goenka had addressed the United Nation General Assembly, was a keynote speaker at the millennium Economic Summit in Davos (Switzerland) in 2000, gave talks at Harvard Business Club in New York and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and yet functioned with minimal facilities and manpower while guiding a rapidly expanding global Vipassana organization.

He personified compassion and humility. He discouraged blind beliefs and welcomed suggestions and questions to clarify doubts. If someone with whom he was talking interrupted him, he immediately stopped mid-sentence and listened.

He took great care not to hurt any being, anyone. Even a strongly worded letter to a stubborn student was kept waiting for a day or two before he signed it, to make sure the strong language was really needed.

He could have earned himself worldwide fame had he publicly exhibited his special powers of the mind. Apart from Mataji (his wife and Principal Teacher of Vipassana Ilaichidevi Goenka), very few people who closely interacted with Sayagyi U Goenka may have been aware he had such powers. 

These powers of the mind get naturally opened up in a person highly advanced in meditation, tangible faculties little known to conventional science. Most inspiringly, Sayagyi U Goenka followed the teaching of the Buddha where no importance is given to such faculties, these mere way stations on the path to total purification of the mind. 

Epilogue

Sayagyi U Goenka was a unique phenomenon in history. He was the first Vipassana teacher after the Buddha to share the Vipassana path of liberation with so many in the world, with such accuracy and detail. 

His service to humanity will be more significantly recognized when coming generations of children grow to adulthood after having practised early in life Anapana (www.children.dhamma.org), the preliminary to Vipassana. The Maharashtra government's Mitra Upakram project enables millions of school children to daily practice Anapana; with their strong base to avoid unwholesome actions early in life, they will grow as evolved adults making a beneficial impact in the world. 

The self-dependent practice of Vipassana repairs and enhances the way of life, interactions with people.

We discover our real work in life. 

Vipassana is the single most powerful force of transformation. For the world to change, the individual must change. Vipassana empowers the individual to change for better – and experience real happiness.

Ehi passiko – come and see. Give Vipassana a fair open-minded trial.

(For more information on residential Vipassana courses taught free of cost worldwide: www.dhamma.org)

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How to be free from anger

The following is the general text of Sayagyi U Goenka's remarks on the subject of anger, at one of the panels of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 2000:

What happens when someone is angry? The law of nature is such that one who generates anger is its first victim. One is bound to become miserable as one generates anger - even though most of the time people do not realize that they are harming themselves by generating anger. Even if someone realizes this, the truth is that one is unable to keep oneself away from anger; to keep oneself free from anger. Now let us see why one becomes angry.

It is quite obvious that anger arises when something undesirable has happened when someone has created an obstacle in the fulfilment of your desires, when someone has insulted you or when someone has expressed derogatory remarks about you while backbiting. All such reasons make one flare-up in anger and are the apparent reasons for one to become angry.

Now is it possible that someone can attain so much power that no one should say or do anything against him? This is certainly impossible. Even to the most powerful person in the world, undesirable things keep on happening and he or she is helpless to prevent it. Even if we can stop one person from insulting us or saying something against us there is no guarantee that another person will not start doing the same thing. While we cannot change the whole world according to our wishes, we can certainly change ourselves to get rid of the misery that one suffers because of generating anger. For this one has to seek a deeper reason for the anger within oneself rather than outside.

Let us understand within ourselves the real reason for generating anger. For example, let us understand from the standpoint of Vipassana the real reason which causes us to experience anger within ourselves. If you learn the art of observing the reality within yourself it will become so clear at the experiential level that the real reason for anger lies within and not outside.

As soon as one comes across some undesirable thing outside there is a sensation in the body. And because the object was undesirable the sensation is very unpleasant. It is only after feeling this unpleasant sensation that one reacts with anger. If one learns how to observe bodily sensations equanimously without reacting to them one starts coming out of the old habit of flaring up in anger and harming oneself.

The practice of Vipassana helps one to develop the faculty of observing all the different kinds of sensations which one experiences on different parts of the body from time to time and remain equanimous by not reacting to them. The old habit had been that when you feel pleasant sensations you react with craving and clinging and when you feel unpleasant ones you react with anger and hatred. Vipassana teaches you to observe every sensation, both pleasant and unpleasant, objectively and remain equanimous with the understanding that every sensation has the quality of arising and passing away. No sensation remains eternally.

By practising the observation of sensation equinamously again and again one changes the habit pattern of instant blind reaction to these sensations. Thus, in daily life whenever one comes in contact with something undesirable one notices that an unpleasant sensation has arisen in the body and one starts observing it without flaring up in anger as before. Of course, it takes time to reach a stage where one is fully liberated from anger. But as one practices Vipassana more and more one notices that the period of rolling in anger is becoming shorter and shorter. Even if one is not able to feel the sensation immediately as it arises, maybe after a few minutes one starts realizing that by the blind reaction of anger one is making the unpleasant sensations even more intense, thereby making oneself even more miserable. As soon as one realizes this fact one starts coming out of anger. With the practice of Vipassana, this period of realization of misery pertaining to unpleasant sensation becomes shorter and shorter and a time comes when one realizes instantly the truth of the harm that one is causing to oneself by generating anger. This is the only way to liberate oneself from this mad habit of reacting with anger.

Of course, there is also a way that as soon as one realizes that one has generated anger one may divert one's attention to some other object and by this technique, one may feel that one is coming out of anger. However, it is actually only the surface part of the mind that has come out of anger. Deep inside one keeps on boiling in anger because you have not eradicated the anger but merely suppressed it. Vipassana teaches you not to run away from the reality but, rather, to face the reality and start objectively observing the anger in the mind and the unpleasant sensation in the body. By observing the reality of the unpleasant sensations in the body you are not diverting your attention somewhere else nor are you suppressing your anger to the deeper level of the mind. As you keep on observing the sensations equinamously you will notice that the anger that has arisen naturally become weaker and weaker and ultimately passes away.

The fact is that there is a barrier between the smaller part of the mind, that is the surface of the mind, and the larger part of the mind, the so-called subconscious or half-conscious mind. This larger part of the mind at the deepest level is constantly in touch with the bodily sensations and has become a slave of the habit pattern of blind reaction to these sensations. Due to one reason or the other, there are different kinds of sensations throughout the body at every moment. If the sensation is pleasant then the habit pattern is to react with clinging and craving and if it is unpleasant the habit pattern is to react with aversion and hatred. Because of the barrier between the small surface part of the mind and the rest of the mind the surface part is totally unaware of the fact that this constant reaction is taking place at the deeper level.

Vipassana helps to break this barrier and the entire mental structure becomes very conscious. It feels the sensations from moment to moment and, with the understanding of the law of impermanence, remains equanimous. It is easy to train the surface level of the mind to remain equinamous at the level of intellectual understanding but this message of intellectual understanding does not reach the deeper level of the mind because of this barrier. When the barrier is broken by Vipassana the entire mind keeps on understanding the law of impermanence and the habit pattern of blind reaction at the deeper level starts changing. This is the best way to liberate yourself from the misery of anger.

From: On the Subject of Anger, Vipassana for Business Executives

Interview with Principal Teacher of Vipassana Sayagyi U Goenka, during the Millennium Davos Summit, January 2000: 

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A tribute of gratitude to aviation

Today October 24 sixteen years ago, the Concorde flew its last passenger flight, British Airways Flight 002, from New York's JFK airport to London's Heathrow (earlier, BA 001 had taken off on its last flight from London to NY). It marked the end of a special era of aviation, the end of passenger service of the most remarkable aircraft ever made.

The Concorde (courtesy, Wikimedia Commons)

The Concorde was the fastest, most special of magnificent flying machines in the quick and safe service of aviation in the history of transport. Without civil aviation, life would have been very different - with months of voyaging to travel across continents.

Every section and every human endeavor benefited much from civil aviation, including the sharing of Vipassana. Vipassana meditators, Dhamma workers and teachers fly from city to city, country to country, fly across continents to practice, teach and share Vipassana worldwide much faster than would have been possible 100 years ago.

In the old days of steam ships, the Principal teacher of Vipassana Sayagyi U Goenka would have taken a minimum of 70 days to travel from Bombay to Paris to conduct the first 10-day Vipassana course in France in July 1979.

Thousands of Vipassana courses have since been conducted worldwide thanks to civil aviation, a remembrance of gratitude to everyone involved in passenger air transport, in the past, present and future.

Pioneers of flying, the two brothers Wilbur Wright and Oliver Wright during their first flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk. Orville's brother Wilbur piloted the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet. One hundred years later in 2003, the supersonic Concorde flew at over twice the speed of sound, at 2,469 kms per hr – faster than Earth’s rotation, so fast it was actually time-travel: depart 6 pm in London and arrive in New York at 4.30 pm the same day.

How much time of life has civil aviation saved. Concorde - meaning 'agreement', 'harmony' - saved time like no other passenger aircraft in history. Time that passenger planes saved - the time that allowed many hundreds of thousands of people across the world to benefit from Vipassana, within this time of 50 years after the "time-clock of  Vipassana striking".

The Concorde first flew in 1969, the same historic year of Vipassana returning to India from Burma (Myanmar) where it was preserved in purity for millennia.

The Concorde was a story of epic struggle, of discord and disharmony before two long-term rivals, Britain and France, worked together in 'concorde' to produce this masterpiece of invention and innovation unsurpassed in aviation history:

 " The Concorde brought cities together, brought people closer, and reminded us all that we can do extraordinary things."

One world. One family. One path to freedom, to fly free from all suffering.

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*Vipassana returns to India. 1969 - 2019. Early years of the first 50 years

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