Mahasi Sayadaw

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mahasi Sayadaw" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန
The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
Title	Sayadaw
Personal
Born	Maung Thwin (1904-07-29)29 July 1904 Seikkhun, Shwebo District, British Burma
Died	14 August 1982(1982-08-14) (aged 78) Rangoon, Burma
Religion	Buddhism
Nationality	Burmese
School	Theravada
Lineage	Mahasi
Education	Dhammācariya (1941)
Dharma names	Sobhana သောဘန
Occupation	Buddhist monk
Senior posting
Based in	Mahasi Monastery, Yangon, Myanmar
Predecessor	U Nārada
Successor	U Pandita, Dipa Ma
Website	www.mahasi.org.mm

Mahāsī Sayādaw U Sobhana (Burmese: မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန, pronounced [məhàsì sʰəjàdɔ̀ ʔú θɔ́bəna̰]; 29 July 1904 – 14 August 1982) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk and 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 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, 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.