Insight Myanmar Podcast #4: Alan Clements on Mahasi Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the future of Myanmar.

“There was nothing to go back to,” Alan Clements recalls in the Insight Myanmar Podcast Episode #4, referring to his decision to leave the West in 1977 and ordain as a monk in Burma. “I’d made a lot of money, I’d been in a long-term relationship...I was well-educated, I read, I painted, it was creative, I played music, I had all the things that people long for.”

You can listen on your favorite podcast app by searching “Insight Myanmar,” or right off the web, or YouTube here. 

At a time when foreigners were only given seven-day visas to Burma, then one of the most closed countries in the world, Alan managed to stay nearly five years, training directly under Mahasi Sayadaw and then Sayadaw U Pandita, despite several forced disrobings and deportations and eventual blacklisting. Added to that were the difficult conditions of enduring an extreme climate with no meditation cushions, mosquito nets, sleeping mattresses, purified water, or vegetarian food, and so one cannot help but wonder how Alan was able to persevere as he did. The answer: the promise of receiving powerful Dhamma teachings from some of the greatest Burmese masters of the era. In spite of being so far from the familiar, Alan notes simply, “I felt like I’d come home.”

From there, our talk examines the growth of the mindfulness meditation movement from Burma into the rest of the world, focusing in particular on the Mahasi and U Pandita traditions that he was most associated with, and how the student-teacher relationship that characterized his time as a yogi had to be modified to accommodate greater numbers. Moreover, Alan adds a provocative note to this discussion for those who think they ‘know” what the Mahasi system is: he explicitly states that “there is [actually] no 'Mahasi system'” that can be spread to aspiring yogis in different parts of the world, due to the flexible, individual-student-centered nature of Mahasi’s and U Pandita’s teaching.

Later, we discuss the series of conversations Alan had with Aung San Suu Kyi in 1995, and how her own meditation practice and understanding of the Buddha’s teachings has impacted her political life. While acknowledging the turbulent recent history, Alan is hopeful that the promise of reconciliation is still alive for the country, and that the Dhamma teachings he has learned here can point a way towards this positive transformation.

We end by exploring Alan’s remarkable relationship with Sayadaw U Pandita. He notes how this monk came from the horrors of war-torn Burma following WWII, to become one of Mahasi’s most important disciples and eventually the Dhamma teacher of not only Aung San Suu Kyi but also those in the Burmese military. What is less known is how U Pandita was “trans-religious,” speaking a variety of languages, as well as being able to quote Tolstoy and other great Western authors, and endlessly curious about the lives and practice of his students.

Later, Zach joins to discuss the implications of Alan’s statement that there is no such thing as a “Mahasi technique” that can be boxed up and applied as a single structure to meditators at centers. Joah mentions how deeply moved he was to hear about Alan’s close relationship with his mentor Sayadaw U Pandita, and reminisces on the golden generation of Burmese meditation masters to which U Pandita belonged. They both reflect on U Pandita’s reputation as a strict disciplinarian, and how that was balanced with a real affection and generosity towards those students who gave their all. That the majority of Alan’s Dhamma practice was taking place within a military dictatorship cannot be lost on the story of the mindfulness meditation movement, which leads the two to consider Alan’s insight of how conditionality influences not only what the mind is, but also what it is capable of doing. All this, and a disruptive elephant!

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Alan Clements on Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, Sayadaw U Pandita, and Mahasi Sayadaw

At a time when foreigners were only given seven-day visas to Burma, then one of the most closed countries in the world, Alan Clements arrived in 1977 and managed to stay nearly five years, training directly under Mahasi Sayadaw and then Sayadaw U Pandita, despite enduring repeated forced disrobings, deportations and eventual blacklistings. Despite this, Alan has returned to the Golden Land whenever and however possible, including a 1995 trip in which he was permitted to interview Aung San Suu Kyi, then temporarily released from house arrest. In this discussion, he reflects on his personal experience comprising over four decades of Dhamma practice and activism in the country that he so loves.

Ledi Sayadaw and Mahasi Sayadaw... sharing a home?

On a visit with Myanmar Pilgrimage to the Pyinmana monastery where Ledi Sayadaw lived between 1914-16, we were taken into the inner shrine area where Ledi resided, wrote, and meditated. Here we found two photos: one of Ledi, and the other of an elder Mahasi Sayadaw. In the West such a side by side juxtaposition would be comparable to the American baseball fan hanging Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees pennants in his house (e.g., that of two opposing teams). But in Myanmar, there is nothing the slightest bit out of the ordinary by this arrangement, in which the current monastic resident merely wishes to show his great respect for the two meditation masters, scriptural scholars, and Burmese Buddhist reformers.

Where the lineage lines outside of Myanmar can appear as fixed and rigid, these hard lines are transposed within the country as being dotted instead of solid, and fluid rather than set. Here, it is well understood that spiritual masters usually develop through a variety of influential teachers (either living or in the past) as well as contemporaries, and in many cases charting clear causal lines of influence can be somewhat arbitrary or artificial. That is why, then, it is completely normal to find a portrait of Mahasi Sayadaw in the monastery where Ledi lived and taught for two years, and just a drive away from the site where he ultimately passed away and was cremated.

This site is called "Zingyan Monastery", the Burmese word zingyan indicting a walking meditation path, so the site name suggests that this is where Ledi practiced mindful walking. The current abbot kindly showed us the very path where the great Ledi's feet once tread. Passing through a row of trees on either side and heading towards the ruins of an old water tank that captured and stored rain water, the modern yogi can retrace Ledi's very footsteps while following his instructions of mindfulness. The last picture is the Burmese plaque still standing of the donor who sponsored this practice area for Ledi.

"The Meditator's Guide to Burma, Part 2".... moves to layout!

The Meditator's Guide to Burma, "The Golden Path" or Shwe Lan Ga Lay, was begun in April 2013, originally believed to only take a few months in duration to complete. Envisioned as 14 separate chapters, the dana project was intended to help spiritual seekers find access and gain understanding to some of the country's special Dhamma locations.

In 2015, Part 1 was released, with four completed chapters, providing a cursory look at planning and arriving in the Golden Land. As the years stretched on and the core team of volunteer contributors persevered in the work, the five new chapters included in Part 2 took shape as something above and beyond-- clocking in at nearly three times the site, the team undertook intensive research to provide unprecedented access and information about important Burmese and Shan Buddhist sites far outside of the normal tourist-- and even known meditator-- path.

As Jenny Phillips, creator of The Dhamma Brothers comments, "A Myanmar Guide for Dhamma Seekers, with its hauntingly beautiful photographs, is much more than a travel guide. It becomes a deeply experiential inner map toward finding wholeness beyond our limited sense of self in a world of impermanence and interdependence.” Or as the American nun Sayalay Daw Candavatī, creator of the documentary, The Golden Land of Myanmar, puts it: "You, dear reader, dear seeker, have a treasure before you. This book is a gift of untold blessings as you step into the world of a unique spiritual journey that is found with such depth in Burma. You have no idea how much this book will help you."

Four main regions are included in this work... Shan State, Around Mandalay (see above image), Around Yangon, and Mandalay. Each region is then broken further in terms of towns and districts, uncovering a plethora of pagodas, caves, meditation centers, monasteries, nunneries and much more which give a different glimmer into the wealth behind Myanmar's nearly 1,000 year Buddhist history. From anecdotes to monastic biographies to poetry to history recounted to original artwork and photography, there is certainly something in these pages for everyone.

Hundreds of pages are devoted to such topics as the lineage behind S.N. Goenka, particularly Webu Sayadaw, Saya Thet Gyi, and Ledi Sayadaw; the early days, education, and first teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw in Seikkhun; the unique development and practice of dhamma as found among the Shan people; the ethno-religious connotations behind such historically significant sites as Maha Muni Pagoda and the five Buddha images of Inle Lake; the development of Buddhist monastic education as practiced at Mahagandayone Monastery in Amarapura, and much more.

The volunteers behind this effort seek no renumeration, and the electronic copies will be freely available when layout is completed. However, no physical copy is as yet possible, and donors interested in helping in this area are encouraged to write at burmadhamma@gmail.com.

May all volunteers be happy, peaceful and liberated!

The Meditation Movement in Burma

Why did the patipatti (meditation) movement take off in Burma's postwar era? The Golden Path has tackled this question, and has discovered over 20 factors leading to the conditions where this not only could grow, but thrive. The following excerpt is taken from an unpublished draft, which would be included in the meditator's guide Part 3. (However, with minimal dana now available past Part 2, and given that the volition to ultimately share all works freely to all, it is unlikely this will reach publication, unless further support is forthcoming.)

One theory relates to the powerful experience of surviving the brutal war years. Such a period allowed some of the great future teachers to spend more time in meditation, and both during and immediately following the war many thousands of lay people were pushed from their home and found refuge in the monasteries. Author U Tin Oo notes that many Burmese fled to the Sagaing Hills during World War II, where they began a vipassanā practice that was maintained well after the fighting subsided. The same has been said of the vast Buddhist communities that the Mohnyin Sayadaw cared for at Thanboddhay Monastery. And even Mahasi Sayadaw himself saw his development and teachings affected by his experiences during the way. At this time, he had to leave Taungwainggale and return to his native village of Seikkhun, for it was safer. While here he practiced, taught, and wrote his famous Manual of Vipassana Meditation, a comprehensive guide on how to practice according to the Satipattana Sutta.

However, yet another factor seems to directly contradict this. Rather than seeing the hard times of the war as guiding people to concentrate on what was really important, Maha Gandayone Sayadaw U Janaka instead felt instead that they led to an opposite result. In Autobiogrgahy, he wrote that “[m]orality became too low after the war among both young and old people. The government commissioned a committee to give Buddhist lessons at school to check this moral deterioration.” U Silananda seems to bridge these two views in discussing his opinions on how the war affected morality. He writes: “World War II had caused to upset the living conditions of many a people in one way or another. Just as the people who were originally seemingly delicate, mild and soft-hearted in nature had joined the tough army as impulsed by their intense patriotism; there were some who had entered into monkhood being fed up with their own’ life’s condition.” 

Objective reporting certainly backs up U Janaka’s observations, as the rise in dacoits at this time in Burma was well documented—however, others made a political argument to account for this, and that it was more due to a weak central government than the overall morals of people. In any case, in U Janaka’s view, this decline began many years before, stemming from the Colonial Era, and only peaked after the war years. For this reason, he fully supported the idea of the Buddhist Revival, commenting that “State and Religion would have a perfect coordination to work out the progress of the State as well as the Religion.” With such low morality amongst the people, he compared the work ahead with that of King Anawrahta and Shin Arahan one thousand years earlier when Theravada Buddhism was established in the country. In this way, the rise of the patipatti movement could be seen as a kind of state-orchestrated policy accomplished with the cooperation of renowned monks, and having been motivated by the decline of the faith and morality that had been building for decades, and culminated only now.

Sayagyi Shwe U Daung

Much of the diversity and depth of Dhamma practice found in Burma has scarcely penetrated the West, often because so few foreigners have been here to experience it in past years, and so few of the resources have been translated into English. 

One such example is the postwar figure Sayagyi Shwe U Daung, a lay meditation practitioner who argued for a sati-based method that de-emphasized samadhi practice and encourages an awareness of the six sense doors. The controversial yogi had several famous arguments with Mahasi Sayadaw, who ultimately could not support his methodology, however the other Buddhist giant Mogok Sayadaw did ultimately give his blessing to his teachings.


Still widely read among Burmese Buddhist today, one reader hopes to provide a translation to Western readers, saying that reading his Dhamma discussion "will blow open your entire mind," and has compared his teachings to Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw and his disciple Sayadaw U Tejaniya. However, she notes that the method he describes is so challenging, that very few practitioners in Myanmar were ultimately able to succeed in learning it, despite the popularity of his book.

Syriam: from Orwell to Ledi Sayadaw, where the Great Game met the great Dhamma practitioners...

Than Lyin-- across the river from Yangon, and known historically as Syriam-- is a place combining such dynamic figures as Philip de Brito, Mahasi Sayadaw, George Orwell, Ledi Sayadaw, the Burmah Oil Company, Mohnyin Sayadaw, etc. Following tells how these all happen to come together in this unlikely place...

Way back in 1897, George Bird was already recording (in Wanderings in Burma) that “beyond the ruins…nothing now remains of the once flourishing European settlements [of Syriam].” Now, over a century later, there are very few European footprints left in the sand here anymore, either. These include a ruined Portuguese church from 1750, some Armenian tombs, and parts of the old wall of the city. And at nearby Henzada village, a small pagoda bears the inscription of the apparent descendants of the Portuguese (and anti-Buddhist) warlord Philip de Brito, (a somewhat ironic twist of Dhamma that one of the few remaining testaments to the existence of that foreign pagoda-destroyer in Burma would be…a pagoda, and built by his own descendants to boot).

Syriam was certainly not known for its beauty during the Colonial period, during which time the Burmah Oil Company set up a refinery here, although it was later destroyed in World War II. George Orwell was posted here from 1924, where he worked as an Assistant District Superindentent. It was a toss-up as to whether the rough town was better known for its frequent murders or acrid air at that point. It seems that Orwell spent much of his days reading what British literature he could acquire from nearby Rangoon bookstores. According to Keith Ferrell in George Orwell: The Political Pen, Orwell “lived in a house that lacked all the amenities to which Europeans were accustomed: there was no running water, toilets, or electricity.” Today, Than Lyin’s port—Thilawa—is the largest port in the country, building on its status as the port of choice for European ships during the Colonial era.

But on more of a Dhamma note, the area does have some significant Buddhist past. Small Gonnyinsu Village is where the deeply revered Mohnyin Sayadaw was born in 1873, and who went go on to become one of Ledi Sayadaw’s most important disciples. And yogis today can attend a course at the Saya U Than Kammathan Center, which offers teachings in the tradition of Saya Thet Gyi. Mahasi Sayadaw arrived here just one year after Orwell, in 1925, after leaving his hometown of Seikkhun and prior to his intensive study in Mandalay and Moulmein. Finally, Ledi Sayadaw practiced the jhanas here in 1895 following his Indian pilgrimage. 

The photos seen with this text are from a monastic education monastery in Than Lyin today.

Sending Metta to President Donald J. Trump

Since the U.S. election results, meditators everywhere have struggled with how to orient themselves, their values, and their practice with the incoming Trump administration. From civil disobedience to protecting the powerless, this has been a soul-searching time in trying to align Dhamma practice with the naked vulgarity of hate speech.

One American yogi shared the following story, which gives more food for thought to the vipassana practitioner. During an intensive mettā retreat, she was following the Buddha's guidelines of sending metta first to oneself, then to a role model, a loved one, a neutral one, and finally a disliked person or enemy. After several days she reported her experiences to the nun teacher, who is also American, noting that she didn't have any blocks in her mettā practice and it was flowing freely to all persons. The following is the paraphrased conversation that follows:

Nun: "There is, however, one person left..."

Yogi: "Who...?"

"Our next President."

"Oh... no!!! No, no, no. I can't even say his name, literally it disgusts me so much. I tried to fly all this way to Burma, and then schedule this retreat to coincide with inauguration day. I cancelled my subscription from the New York Times, as I can only read the Book Review these days. I have to leave the room when he is on a TV. No!"

"Let me tell you. I carried a hatred for that man as well. I fervently wished that he would die in an airplane crash. And look at me! Look at the robes I am wearing! How can I hold such a thing in my heart? Let me tell you, that since the election, my sole meditation practice has been sending mettā to Donald Trump. And I can send mettā to him at times, but I haven't yet been successful at wishing him mudita, or sympathetic joy."

"I just look at what he represents and what he will do to our country, and sometimes I can't even stand I get so weak and sick."

"Well, first remember that he's not the president yet. We now have an ethical man leading our country. And with this practice, we always stay in the present moment, accepting the reality at the moment. Secondly, Trump's policies will impact millions of people around the world. The more negativity that is shared with him, and the greater defilements that arise in him as a result, the greater possibility that his reach will harm more and more people. The only part I can play in this is wishing him to become free of suffering. As much freedom of suffering as he may achieve, that will translate into how his policies and decisions affect millions."

The yogi determined she was not in fact strong enough to send direct mettā to the President-Elect, and so instead radiated mettā to all beings, accepting that Trump was one of those beings. But even this proved challenging in the extreme, and the toxic nature of her thinking became so manifested that it dampened her overall mettā. Never before had her civic opinions and feelings so contradicted her Dhamma practice, and it is something she continues to process how they may be brought together, contemplating the nun's advice.

At a time when many yogis are considering various forms of social activism (at times informed from Buddhist principles), the nun's honest talk shows an alternative for action, or perhaps a complementary action.

How does one affect change in the world? On this point, one may recall the words of a Webu Sayadaw student and biographer. It was pointed out to him that Webu had no legacy of which to speak: unlike other contemporary teachers such as S.N. Goenka or Mahasi Sayadaw, he had no meditation centers, no appointed teachers, no administration managing logistics, no promotion of his meditation technique on a large scale, etc. Replied the biographer, "Being active in the world and reaching out to hundreds, thousands is of course beneficial. But so is sitting alone in a cave for the benefit of all humanity."

Meditation at Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary Hotel

“Something of both the relative and absolute scale of it all can be grasped by noting that Myanmar is a country with 53 million people and a whopping monastic population of over 500,000. Those 500,000 live off donations alone. Myanmar is one of the poorest nations in the world, and yet the society somehow manages, through extraordinary generosity, to unfailingly support its bulging monastic population. Much of this generosity comes in the form of a single spoonful of rice given daily. Indeed this generosity, and the faith and understanding that inspires it, is legendary. This spirit of giving has created a softening effect on the country, such that despite the poverty, and despite the political oppression there is an air of friendliness and safety. The people possess an unusual uprightness both physically and psychologically, and they have a remarkable brightness and warmth.” Miles Bukiet, American meditator

Since the Buddha's day, the Dhamma has always been dispensed freely, and without expecting anything in return. This tradition has continued into the 21st century throughout Myanmar, where one may at any time wander into a monastery and be given food, shelter, and other basic offerings; and where no compensation is ever requested or expected. Similarly, a donor may give a daily spoonful of rice or build a multi-million dollar monastery, all while never expecting preferential treatment from the monks or teachers here. As Steve Armstrong (U Buddharakkhita) wrote in A Living Tradition, “The gratitude one feels to those who preserve, practice and preach the Dhamma is expressed in the joyful, heartfelt humility of a daily, simple offering of support so that it may continue. This reciprocal offering in this way has been preserved and practiced since the time of the Buddha more than 2500 years ago.” Or as Jake Davis put in Strong Roots, “[T]he joy in life and generosity of heart that the Burmese people display - despite extreme physical hardships and a political climate of widespread fear - is testimony to the power that the Buddha’s teachings can exert on societies that support and preserve them.”

The importance of the act of dāna to Burmese Buddhists is also expressed in the Burmese proverb, Thila hnin dana ma pa they ka hma thi, or “Without sila or dāna, at death’s approach one repents.” And the Burmese attitude towards dāna—and perhaps life in general— is illustrated by the simple proverb Wun ye wa hma, sun ye hla, meaning that one is/should be happy with what they have so long as there is enough for dāna.

Despite this long, important history of freely dispensing the Buddha's teachings for all to benefit from spiritually, Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary Hotel has made the questionable decision to offer guided meditation to its guests-- for a very, very hefty fee. As the flyer shows below, a one hour session goes for $70 and two hours for $120. As Myanmar continues to open up, the potential to make money off of the Golden Land's noble Buddhist tradition is certainly tempting for a country that is one of the poorest in the world, and yet doing so will also jeopardize the very instructions and guidelines as laid down by the Buddha so long ago. Change and modernization may come, and the Buddha's teachings may be shared in increasingly innovative and accessible ways, but to do so "with a fee attached" goes against the very core of the Enlightened One's fundamental message and purpose, and brings crass commercialism to the faith and practice.

These concerns were brought to the hotel management, and their responses were unsatisfactory. They first noted that the meditation takes place onsite, however as these rooms are not residences and not in other use, there is no additional cost required for them. It was then noted that the monk teacher needs to travel from his monastery, but even a top car and driver would be no more than a few dollars, and most monasteries have their own vehicles. It was then pointed out that the meditator needed proper clothing, however these usually only cost a few dollars as well and few monks would require Westerners to wear these prior to teaching the Dhamma. It was finally suggested that the "fee" was actually "dana", which is entirely untrue as a forced payment is in fact diametrically opposite from a volitional donation, and it is only the latter that helps one in detaching from the ego and one's possessions. Finally, the management promised to bring these concerns to the hotel's owners.

To meditators who are worried about this trend continuing as Myanmar opens up, consider writing the hotel directly to express this concern. It is quite laudable that this hotel, located in the very place where Theravada Buddhism became established in the Golden Land in the 11th century, is wishing to give tourists a taste of their spiritual treasures. And there are many, many ways they can achieve this noble intention without seeking their own financial profit in doing so. If they decide to offer meditation freely and not as a money-making scheme, we will be sure to update this post. 


The hotel's web page is http://www.thiripyitsaya-resort.com and its email is thiribgn@myanmar.com.mm and thiri@myanmar.com.mm

In closing, one may consider Sayadaw U Sunanda's thoughts. He offered a real life example, of a Burmese man who lived a heedless life, and at one point stole a monastery carpet worth 76 kyat (less than one dollar). He later became quite wealthy, and also became a serious devotee of the Buddha’s teachings, and so went back to this monastery to donate 76 lakh (about $75,000). U Sunanda said that for lay donors, “One mustn’t give while also evaluating what one will get back in return, or judge the worth of what one is getting against what one is giving.” But a duty is also there for the Saṅgha, for monks must inspire by living highly virtuous lives. “Buddhism can’t be attacked from an outside source, but only when the inner circle is not behaving as they should be.”

Funeral Services for Sayadaw U Pandita

Word has come that the great Sayadaw U Pandita has passed away during Water Festival in a Bangkok hospital. Also known as the Shwe Taung Gon Sasana Yeiktha Sayadaw, he was born on July 29, 1921, and so was 94 when he passed away. As his hometown was Bago (Pegu), his body will be moved there for cremation after a large ceremony at Panditarama on April 20th. The cremation ceremony will take place in Bago on one pm on April 22nd. Foreign yogis who wish to pay their respects and attend the ceremony may request permission from the monastery to do so.

Sayadaw U Pandita lived through times that scarcely another being can imagine. He saw his country during Colonial British times, Japanese occupation, independence, military dictatorship, and fledging democracy. Perhaps more importantly, his life intersected with the great patipatti movement of the 20th century; perhaps more than "intersecting;" his energy, wisdom, and enthusiasm in so small part pushed this movement along to become what it was.

U Pandita was the student of Mahasi Sayadaw, and hand-chosen by him as one of three monks to respond to the Sri Lankan government's requests in the 1950s for trained Burmese monks to go to the island and teach Dhamma to the people. From there he began traveling internationally and to the West often, where his English ability allowed him to deliver these essential teachings of liberation to yogis around the world (and took a number of trips to International Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, to lead courses there). By the time of his passing, Panditarama had become one of the great centers and traditions of Myanmar, with a loyal and dedicated following around the world, including branches in six foreign countries. The great monk's life of Dhamma and service to Dhamma literally touched millions of beings. May he be happy and liberated!

As The Lion's Roar reported, Joseph Goldstein issues this statement following his passing:

So many of us here are saddened to hear of Sayadaw U Pandita’s passing. He was such a powerful influence in all of our lives, urging us on to realize our highest aspirations. His great service to the Dhamma is inestimable. It feels like the passing of an era.

Harmony in Diversity: Bhikkhu Aggacitta

Bhikkhu Aggacitta, at SBS (Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary) in Malaysia, delivers a Dhamma talk. 

The Malaysian monk (who himself hails from a Burmese tradition) is famous for trying to find commonalities amongst the great Burmese and Thai teachers in their orientation towards meditation, particularly Pa Auk Sayadaw, Mahasi Sayadaw, S.N. Goenka, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Gana, Ayya Khema, Bhante Gunaratana, and Ajahn Brahm. 

Here, Bhikkhu Aggacitta discusses the importance of following the Buddha's original teachings and in seeing how these different teachers transmit the Dhamma each in their own special way.