Editing Mahasi Sayadaw

{{short description|Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk (1904–1982)}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox religious biography
|name = Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana
|native_name = {{lang|my|မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန}}
|image= Mahasi Sayadaw.jpg
|caption = The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
|birth_name = [[Burmese name#Honorifics|Maung]] Thwin
|alias =
|dharma_name = {{IAST|Sobhana}} <br/> {{lang|my|သောဘန}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|07|29|df=y}}
|birth_place = Seikkhun, [[Shwebo District]], [[British Burma]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|08|14|1904|07|29|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Yangon|Rangoon]], [[Myanmar|Burma]]
|nationality = Burmese
|religion = [[Buddhism]]
|school = [[Theravada]]
|lineage = Mahasi
|title = [[Sayadaw]]
|location = Mahasi Monastery, [[Yangon]], [[Myanmar]]
|education = Dhammācariya (1941)
|occupation = [[bhikkhu|Buddhist monk]]
|teacher =
|predecessor = [[U Nārada]]
|successor = [[U Pandita]], [[Dipa Ma]]
|students =
|website = {{url|www.mahasi.org.mm}}
}}
'''Mahāsī [[Sayadaw|Sayādaw]] [[Burmese name#Honorifics|U]] Sobhana''' ({{langx|my|မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန}}, {{IPA|my|məhàsì sʰəjàdɔ̀ ʔú θɔ́bəna̰|pron}}; 29 July 1904 – 14 August 1982) was a Burmese [[Theravada]] [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[Bhikkhu|monk]] and [[Buddhist meditation|meditation]] master who had a significant impact on the teaching of [[vipassanā]] (insight) meditation in the West and throughout Asia.

In his style of practice, derived from the so-called [[New Burmese Method]] of [[U Nārada]], the meditator lives according to Buddhist morality as a prerequisite for meditation practice. Meditation itself entails the practice of "bare insight," using ''[[satipatthana|satipaṭṭhāna]]'', the four foundations of mindfulness, to anchor the attention on the sensations of the rising and falling of the abdomen during breathing, observing carefully any other sensations or thoughts. This is coupled to reflection on the Buddhist teachings on [[Causality (Buddhism)|causality]], thereby gaining insight into ''[[anicca]]'', ''[[dukkha]]'', and ''[[anattā]]'' and attaining [[stream entry]].

Mahāsī Sayādaw was a questioner and final editor at the [[Sixth Buddhist Council]] on May 17, 1954.

==Biography==
Mahāsi Sayādaw was born in 1904 in Seikkhun village in Upper [[Burma]]. He became a novice at age twelve, and was ordained at the age of twenty with the name Sobhana. Over the course of decades of study, he passed the rigorous series of government examinations in the Theravāda Buddhist texts, gaining the newly introduced Dhammācariya ([[dhamma]] teacher) degree in 1941.

In 1931, U Sobhana took leave from teaching scriptural studies in [[Mawlamyaing|Moulmein]], South Burma, and went to nearby Thaton to practice intensive Vipassana meditation under Mingun Jetawun Sayādaw (also rendered Mingun Jetavana Sayādaw), also known as [[U Nārada]]. This teacher had practiced in the remote [[Sagaing Hills]] of Upper Burma, under the guidance of Aletawya Sayādaw, a student of the forest meditation master Thelon Sayādaw.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} U Sobhāna first taught Vipassana meditation in his home village in 1938, at a monastery named for its massive drum 'Mahāsi'. He became known in the region as Mahāsi Sayādaw. In 1947, the Prime Minister of Burma, [[U Nu]], invited Mahāsi Sayādaw to be resident teacher at a newly established meditation center in Yangon, which came to be called the Mahāsi Sāsana Yeiktha.

Mahāsi Sayādaw was a questioner and final editor at the [[Sixth Buddhist Council]] on May 17, 1954. He helped establish meditation centers all over Burma as well as in [[Sri Lanka]], [[Indonesia]], [[Thailand]], and by 1972 the centers under his guidance had trained more than 700,000 meditators. In 1979, he travelled to the West, holding retreats at newly founded centers such as the [[Insight Meditation Society]] (IMS) in [[Barre, Massachusetts]], U.S. In addition, meditators came from all over the world to practice at his center in [[Yangon]]. When the Mahāsi Sayādaw died on 14 August 1982 following a massive stroke, thousands of devotees braved the torrential monsoon rains to pay their last respects.

==Practice==
Mahāsi's method is based on the [[Satipatthana Sutta|Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta]], which describes how one focuses attention on the breath, noticing how one breathes in and out. Practice begins with the preparatory stage, the practice of ''[[Śīla|sīla]]'', morality, giving up worldly thoughts and desires.{{sfn|Wilson|2014|p=54-55}}<ref>Mahāsi Sayādaw, ''Manual of Insight'', Chapter 5</ref>{{refn|group=note|Jeff Wilson notes that morality is a quintessential element of Buddhist practice, and is also emphasized by the first generation of post-war western teachers. Yet, in the contemporary mindfulness movement, morality as an element of practice has been mostly discarded, 'mystifying' the origins of mindfulness.{{sfn|Wilson|2014|p=54-55}}}} The practitioner then engages in ''[[satipatthana]]'' by mindfulness of breathing. One [[Sati (Buddhism)|pays attention]] to any arising mental or physical phenomenon, engaging in [[vitakka]], noting or naming physical and mental phenomena ("breathing, breathing"), without engaging the phenomenon with further conceptual thinking.<ref name="Practical">Mahasi Sayadaw, ''Practical Vipassana Instructions''</ref><ref>Bhante Bodhidhamma, [https://buddhismnow.com/2013/09/12/vipassana-as-taught-by-the-mahasi-sayadaw-of-burma/ ''Vipassana as taught by The Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma'']</ref> By noticing the arising of physical and mental phenomena, the meditator becomes aware how sense impressions arise from the contact between the senses and physical and mental phenomena,<ref name="Practical"/> as described in the five ''[[skandhas]]'' and ''[[paṭiccasamuppāda]]''. This noticing is accompanied by reflections on [[paṭiccasamuppāda|causation]] and other Buddhist teachings, leading to insight into [[anicca]], [[dukkha]], and [[anatta|anattā]].<ref>PVI, p.22-27</ref> When the three characteristics have been comprehended, reflection subdues, and the process of noticing accelerates, noting phenomena in general, without necessarily naming them.<ref>PVI, p.28</ref>

==Notable students==
*[[Silananda|Ashin Silanandabivamsa]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tbsa.org/venerables/sayadaw-u-silananda/|title=Sayadaw U Silananda|work=Theravada Buddhist Society of America|access-date=27 April 2012}}</ref>
* Sadhammaransi Sayadaw
*[[Sayadaw U Pandita|{{IAST|Sayādaw U Paṇḍita}}]] (Panditārāma)
*[[Chanmyay Sayadaw|{{IAST|Chanmyay Sayādaw}}]] (U Janakabhivamsa)
*[[Achan Sobin S. Namto]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vipassanadhura.com/ourteacher.htm|title=Our Teacher - |publisher=vipassanadhura.com|access-date=2008-05-04}}</ref>
*[[Nyanaponika Thera]]
*[[Anagarika Munindra]]
*[[Dipa Ma]]
*[[Ashin Jinarakkhita]]
*[[Joseph Goldstein (writer)|Joseph Goldstein]]
*[[Sharon Salzberg]]
*[[Jack Kornfield]]<ref>{{cite web | title = About | publisher = Jack Kornfield | url = http://www.jackkornfield.com/about-bio/ | access-date = 2013-12-21 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131222081327/http://www.jackkornfield.com/about-bio/ | archive-date = 2013-12-22 }}</ref>
*[[Freda Bedi]]
*[[G. V. Desani]]
*[[Pa-Auk Sayadaw]]

==Publications==
Mahāsi Sayādaw published nearly seventy volumes of Buddhist literature in Burmese, many of these transcribed from talks. He completed a Burmese translation of the ''[[Visuddhimagga]]'', ("The Path of Purification") a lengthy treatise on Buddhist practice by the 5th century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar [[Buddhaghosa]]. He also wrote a volume entitled ''Manual of Vipassana Meditation''. His English works include:

*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel370.html|year=1971}}
*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=Thoughts on the Dhamma|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/mahasi/wheel298.html|year=1983}}
*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=The Ups and Downs of Rebirth|url=https://www.bps.lk/library-search-select.php?id=bl106|year=1986}}
*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=Practical Vipassana Exercises|url=http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/mahasit1.pdf|year=1991|publisher=[[Buddhist Publication Society]]|ISBN=978-9552400896}}
*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=Progress of Insight: Treatise on Buddhist Satipathana Meditation|publisher=[[Buddhist Publication Society]]|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/progress.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001208134400/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/progress.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2000-12-08|year=1998|ISBN=978-9552400902}}
*{{cite book|last=Sayadaw|first=Mahasi|title=Manual of Insight|publisher=[[Wisdom Publications]]|year=2016|ISBN= 9781614292777}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last =Wilson | first =Jeff | year =2014 | title =Mindful America: Meditation and the Mutual Transformation of Buddhism and American Culture | publisher =OUP USA}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/a-discourse-on-paticcasamuppada/index.html A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw]
*[http://www.buddhanet.net/mahabio.htm Biographical Sketch of Mahāsi Sayādaw] from Buddhanet.net
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160503164438/http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/04/the-practical-dharma-of-mahasi-sayadaw/ The Practical Dharma of Mahasi Sayadaw]
*[http://www.mahasi.org.mm/ The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw's Discourses and Treatises on Buddhism]
*[http://www.aimwell.org/mahasi.html Books by Mahāsi Sayādaw]
*[http://www.mahasiusa.org/sayadaw.html Biography of Mahāsi Sayādaw] from the American Burma Buddhist Association
*[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/mahasi/wheel370.html A Discourse on Satipatthana Vipassana by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw] from Accesstoinsight.org

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahasi Sayadaw}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Burmese scholars of Buddhism]]
[[Category:Theravada Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Burmese Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Burmese Theravada Buddhists]]
[[Category:People from Sagaing Region]]
[[Category:Burmese spiritual writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Buddhist monks]]