Some Aspects of How Sayagyi U Ba Khin Began His Mission

by Sayagyi U Chit Tin

Sayagyi U Ba Khin was a lay teacher of Vipassana meditation who died in 1971. For thirty years he gave the pure, practical Buddha-Dhamma to students who came to him in Myanmar (Burma). His first students from Myanmar were taught in 1941, and after 1952, people came from all over the world to his newly established International Meditation Centre in Yangon (Rangoon).

He spent his entire long working life as a civil servant, primarily in the Accounts Department of the Government of Burma. U Ba Khin was a clerk in that office when he first learned Vipassana from his teacher, Saya Thet-Gyi. He became the first Burmese Accountant General of his country following World War II and independence from Great Britain.

When U Ba Khin taught his first meditation students, the only facility available was his office in the evening after working hours. He later arranged that one of the rooms in the suite allotted to the Accountant General become a meditation room, saved exclusively for the purpose. In the initial stages, almost all of Sayagyi’s students were members of his staff.

In the early 1950’s, he was able to begin construction of the pagoda and Dhamma hall, which were the core of the International Meditation Centre, on a small hill in suburban Yangon. Over the past forty years, I.M.C. has slowly expanded to the point where its meditation cells and dormitories can now accommodate more than a hundred students for ten-day courses.

Although most of his students were Buddhists from Myanmar, Sayagyi U Ba Khin saw his mission as having worldwide scope from the very beginning. Even when he first began teaching people in his Accountant General’s office, there was an international aspect as most of the members of his staff were men whose families came from India as Myanmar and India had been closely linked parts of the British Empire. For the same reason, English was one of the administrative languages; and Sayagyi spoke excellent English. This common language made it easy for him to teach those foreigners who were very eager to experience the "Nibbanic Peace Within."

From studying the religious texts of Hindus, Moslems and Christians, Sayagyi found that all these religions urge their followers to develop concentration (samadhi). Hindus work to see "the Light which is in the form of a flaming lamp ... lustrous like the clearly shining morning sun." In the Koran of the Moslems, God is said to guide men to the divine light. In Christian texts too, striving for light has an important place. The Book of Matthew speaks of the "body full of light," and Roman Catholic priests meditate in order to attain the light. In his lectures, What Buddhism Is, Sayagyi said, "This mental reflex of light denotes the purity of mind within, and the purity of mind forms the essence of religious life, whether one is a Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Moslem. Indeed, ‘Purity of mind’ is the greatest common denominator of all religions. Love which alone is a means for the unity of mankind must be supreme and it cannot be so unless the mind is transcendentally pure."

In a talk given in 1952, Sayagyi said, "The common belief is that it is an extremely difficult affair even to get a glimpse of the light in meditation and that courses of meditation are mainly only for men who have renounced the world. Our experiments, however, showed that, under the proper guide, the inner peace and purity of mind with light can be secured by one and all irrespective of their religion or creed."

"We have developed a technique," he went on, "whereby we are able to help a sincere worker to experience a state of purity of mind in the course of a few days." "We will be all too glad," he said, "to give to (sincere people) the necessary help without interfering with their own religious faith."

He did not claim that this was possible for everyone, however. "While for the normal type of student there should be no difficulty whatsoever," Sayagyi said, "we are somewhat concerned for ... such persons as (i) those who are associated with the spiritual forces of the lower order, either on their own initiative or through the influence of others, and (ii) those who are in the tight grip of craving (tanha), pride (mana), or wrong view (ditthi)." But even for such people "there is a possibility of success, if there is sincerity of purpose, complete submission to the teacher, and strong determination and effort to get the desired result."

1. Teaching Non-Buddhists

Many people accepted Sayagyi’s invitation and found that what he promised did happen to them. To illustrate this let us quote from letters written to him by two Deputy Accountants General of Indian origin.

Mr. A.N. David, a leader of the Christian community in Yangon wrote on Sept. 24, 1954, after he had returned to India:

Your supreme desire to teach us the method of attaining the purity of mind and to secure peace through your system of meditation, which does not affect my religious beliefs, enabled me to realize also:

the truth of ever-changing existence,
to secure inward peace through meditation constantly when contaminated in my daily life with the evil forces of this world.

One is reminded of the way the Buddha often gave graduated discourses when teaching. He began by speaking on generosity, living a moral life, and practising the Four Divine Dwellings of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, aimed at gaining happiness in the worlds of men, Devas and Brahmas (development of these traits can also serve to prepare one to make the attempt to gain the ultimate happiness, Nibbana).

If he saw that his audience was ready, the Buddha then taught them how to concentrate. It is during this samadhi stage, which can also be reached in other religions, that one may perceive light. In other religions, the light is often identified with a supreme god and seeing it is considered the ultimate attainment.

In teaching the Dhamma, if the Buddha perceived that his listeners had become fully prepared, he would go beyond samadhi. He would then teach them the final step which is unique to Buddhism, how to attain wisdom, Nibbana.

The following letter written to Sayagyi by Mr. Muthia (the second Deputy Accountant General, a leading Hindu of Yangon), on May 20, 1949, shows how he taught people as much as they were prepared to learn, much as the Buddha did.

Wherever I went, right from Hardwar (near the Himalayas which I visited in October, 1942) to Cape Cormorin (which I visited in January 1949, while on pilgrimage), I have heard only harangues on philosophy, divinity and metaphysics but never a word about showing the divine light ...

Before approaching you for the enlightenment, I questioned myself, so many times, whether I was really worthy of it and whether I would succeed. But I was emboldened when I learnt from you that you have for your disciples men even of lesser attainments than myself. I therefore took courage to apply to you and was shown the light. The day on which I had the good fortune to perceive the light will ever be remembered with grateful feelings of the highest magnitude.

I feel that constant and more strenuous endeavours are necessary on my part to realise the good effects of the light and I am sure I shall be making good progress in the course of time.

2. Teaching Buddhists from Other Countries

I came to Rangoon on a business trip for seven days only, but managed with the help of said Guru to reach samadhi and vipassana in this short time, which I myself (and nobody else) would have believed possible.

After only two preliminary meditation lessons of half an hour each, I saw the light clearly within me: meaning, that the mind becomes powerful and bright, freed from disturbances, pure and serene. The technique is rather simple, concentration on the breath leading to one-pointedness; but the Guru can better inform you about that. After some developed meditation on Saturday night (Dec. 20 1952), Vipassana was started at 10 o’clock in the morning of Sunday, Dec. 21st. I concentrated on the burning in my body--concentrated in other words on dukkha (suffering)--felt the burning inside till I felt myself almost burning like steam on the surface of water. Then I had to concentrate on the total heat, total suffering on the central part of my body until the suffering grew even unbearable.

At the last moment when I felt myself about dying, it was as if my heart was pulled out of my body and at the same moment--wanting eagerly to be freed from dukkha--with a sudden but a small flash of light I was out of it and felt a refreshing coolness and delight, which words cannot describe. It is an escape and a refuge from all daily troubles, too great to be understood, when not experienced. And the great bliss is that every one can achieve this state; provided he has a pure mind at least for the time of concentration, has the right intentions, attentiveness and concentration, and anyhow tries to live as pure a life as possible.

Another necessity is that he has no fear whatsoever and a complete faith in his Guru. I hope with all my heart that Guru U Ba Khin will have many followers and disciples in the near future, who can be helped by him as much as I have been.

Anapana-sati."

Sayagyi’s remarks confirm that Mr. Amersfoort made very rapid progress. "In just a few hours of solid work," he wrote, "he was able to develop his power of concentration to one-pointedness. In fact, by the time I needed him for the change of the course of training to Vipassana, he could keep the light (patibhaga-nimitta) before his mind’s eye for quite a long time and had begun to play with it."

The next day, just after ten A.M., Mr.Amersfoort began developing insight (Vipassana), and was able to examine and feel the radiation, vibration and friction caused by the whirling movement of an infinite number of the smallest units of material existence (kalapas). "Mr. Amersfoort got the thread of it almost instantaneously," Sayagyi wrote, "and in a few minutes he began to have a sharp sense of feeling of the radiation, then of vibration and then again of the friction of the electronic units within, which spread like wild fire to all parts of the body in the course of just one half hour."

Sayagyi had him examine his body temperature and that of others in the room to show him that what was happening was not due to anything like a body fever, but because of his acute awareness of the change (anicca) taking place in his body. Sayagyi explained that the predominating factor of tejo (radiation, or literally, fire) in a kalapa resulted in a burning sensation; the non-stop replacement of disappearing kalapas through a continuous influx of food property (nutriment) resulted in vibrations; the breakdown and replacement of the kalapas, both individually and collectively, resulted in friction.

Just before noon, Mr. Amersfoort felt the heat of radiation very intensely and saw sparks of light emitting from all over the body. Sayagyi had him view these sparks as subject to change and they were eliminated. Later, Sayagyi explained to him that the sparks were one of the imperfections of insight. If allowed to remain for long, rapturous happiness (piti) would creep in and sidetrack the meditator. As Mr. Amersfoort continued after a short break for lunch, Sayagyi gave him further instructions concerning what he was experiencing and told him to transmit his thought to the end of suffering (dukkha-nirodha), to long for it. At 4:16 P.M., Mr. Amersfoort intimated that he was suddenly relieved of the burning heat by a stream of coolness which was most refreshing. Sayagyi expressed his approval and five minutes later checked to be sure of Mr. Amersfoort’s achievement. "I was not satisfied with that as yet," Sayagyi wrote. "I wanted to be double sure. So I made him go into that state again for another fifteen minutes." Throughout his teaching career, Sayagyi was always careful to double check results and never jump to conclusions.

In concluding his remarks on Mr. Amersfoort’s report, Sayagyi made it clear that his teaching is strictly based on the canonical texts and commentaries. He mentions that the course followed by Mr. Amersfoort was in accord with the fundamental requirements of the Anapana-sati Sutta[1], the Mahasatipatthana Sutta[2], and the Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga).

Not everyone can progress as rapidly as Mr. Amersfoort. As Sayagyi wrote, "I should say he is a man of no small parami (perfections or merit acquired in past lives)."

Paramis are one factor, but one’s age is also relevant to one’s rate of progress in meditation. The older one is, the more difficult it is to put forth the necessary effort. This was the case with another foreign Buddhist, Mr. H.L.B. Rajapaksa, Station Master of Maho Junction for the Ceylon Government Railway. When he came to Yangon to meditate with Sayagyi, the International Meditation Centre had been built, and he was able to follow the more usual programme of spending five days developing his concentration before moving on to insight. We can see from the report Mr. Rajapaksa wrote of his experience that he began by taking the eight precepts and the triple refuge and by asking for protection and guidance from the teacher.

Due to his age, he had difficulty sitting cross-legged. He says he stuck to the course nonetheless because of the greatness of Sayagyi’s loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna). Mr. Rajapaksa says that after eight days of meditation, he was able to be relieved of all disagreeable feelings (dukkha-vedana), and he returned to Sri Lanka pleased with the progress he had made. Later, after completing a full ten-day meditation course from Nov. 19-29, 1954, he was permitted to return on the following day.

In Buddhist fashion, Mr. Rajapaksa wrote in the conclusion of his note to the teacher:

May you all enjoy good health and good luck by the grace of the Triple Gem.

3. Conclusion

Sayagyi U Ba Khin, like the Buddha himself, taught his students as much as they were prepared to learn. However, only the disciples who practised the entire Noble Eightfold Path of sila, samadhi, and panna, and came to deeply comprehend the Four Noble Truths, got the full benefit of his instruction. These people could experience the "Nibbanic Peace Within" and assure themselves of liberation from samsara.

Sayagyi U Chit Tin

FOOTNOTES:

MLS III 121-129.

THIH, pp. 335-350, DB II 327-346.

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