INTRODUCTION

This book is the English translation of a series of talks which the Venerable Mahæsø Sayædaw gave on Sallekha sutta during the years 1969-70. It is an elaboration of an important teaching of the Buddha in Majjhima nikæya. The Pæ¹i text of the sutta covers only eight pages but the transcripts of the twelve talks came out in a two-volume publication in Myanmar. This is no wonder for, as is well-known to everyone who has heard his talks or read his writings, the Ven. Sayædaw is very thorough and careful about small things or details and he spares no pains to make the Buddha’s teaching clear to all people.

In his introduction to the sutta the Ven. Sayædaw says: “The self-training leading to this goal (the lessening of defilements or kilesa) forms the subject of Sallekha sutta. The sutta is beneficial to meditators and non-meditators alike; it is helpful to all those who wish to overcome immoral desires and cultivate good, whole-some desires.” In other words, this sutta is not meant only for those who possess a high level of intellectual or spiritual capacity. Here the Ven. Mahæsø Sayædaw presents a sharp contrast to some Buddhist teachers who wish to confine the higher teachings of the Buddha to the intellectual elite.

Once a Sayædaw is reported to have said, “People memorize Satipa¥¥hæna sutta; they make if a basis for vipassanæ practice. All this is ridiculous. It is not in the least proper for the common people to study Satipa¥¥hæna teaching.” This skepticism is to be much deplored for it is largely responsible for ignorance or at best superficial knowledge of the Buddha’s teaching even in a predominantly Buddhist country like  Myanmar.

Of course we should have respect for the Buddha’s teaching but it does not follow that we should regard it as too sacred and profound for ordinary people. If the Dhamma is supposed to be above the comprehension of the common men, the Buddha would not have proclaimed it to mankind. Some insist that the higher doctrines are intended only for the bhikkhus. But his view is not in accord with the Pi¥aka and the commentaries which mention cases of lay disciples who attained advanced stages on the holy path through the practice of Satipa¥¥hæna vipassanæ.

In point of fact, the dhamma of Sallekha sutta is not like the Vinaya rules which the Buddha laid down exclusively for the bhikkhus. Nor is it intended only for the lay followers as is the Si³galovæda sutta of Døgha nikæya. The sutta represents the essence of the Dhamma that is universally applicable. The study of the sutta will benefit everyone because it points out the best way of dealing with moral evils that have bedeviled mankind through the ages and led to much suffering.

It speaks volumes for the high quality of the Ven. Sayædaw’s sharp intellect that he brings home to us important points implicit in the teachings of the Buddha but which are never explicitly mentioned in the Pi¥aka or the commentaries.

Thus the Ven. Sayædaw broke new grounds in the teaching of vipassanæ when he advised his yogø disciples to note the rising and falling of the abdomen in meditational practice. This teaching has run the gauntlet of criticism on the ground that it lacks scriptural authority, that it is against the traditional instruction of vipassanæ teachers. But there can be no denying the fact that it agrees with Satipa¥¥hæna sutta, that it is but a corollary of the Buddha’s instruction about the contemplation of the body: “Kæye kæya nupassi viharati.” Despite all the criticism the practice has benefited many yogøs in Myanmar as well as in other countries.

Sallekha sutta is hard to understand and but for a very learned and highly experienced vipassanæ teacher like the Ven. Mahæsø Sayædaw, it is equally hard to explain clearly the teaching of the Buddha in the sutta. It deals with jhæna, magga, phala, etc., and needless to say, today there are many Buddhists who do not know what these varieties of religious experience are all about. In fact, even some yogøs who practise vipassanæ are not free from misconceptions about them. As the Ven. Sayædaw points out, many of them meditate in the hope of having some unusual experience and they regard any such experience as proof of spiritual attainment.

Indeed ignorance about vipassanæ practice is widespread. Many people do not distinguish it from jhæna, they confuse its goal with its by-products such as visions, rapture, psychic powers and so forth. It is said that an Arahat is necessarily a holy man who can fly in the air and this old-established belief prevails even among college-educated Buddhists. No wonder that nowadays there are bogus meditation teachers who unscrupulously exploit mass ignorance and credulity for their own ends.

Real vipassanæ experience may defy understanding and description but the Ven. Mahæsø Sayædaw’s discourse on Sallekha sutta leaves no room for confusion or misconception about the goal which is no other than the extinction of defilements. Childer’s Dictionary of the Pæ¹i Language translates Sallekha as the destruction of kilesa and the Ven. Sayædaw describes Sallekha practice that forms the basis of vipassanæ as the way of life designed to root out defilements.

The Ven. Sayædaw’s discourse is those highly informative, illuminating and auindeitative and it will be invaluable to all those who seek enlightenment about the Buddha’s way to the end of defilements and suffering.

U Aye Maung
Translator

In the Sallekha Sutta, the Buddha says that there is no reason why a man who is wholly sunk in a quagmire will be able to save another man in a similar predicament. But it is reasonable to assume that a man who is not bogged down in the mud. Likewise, only the man who has disciplined himself, trained himself in the threefold division of the Eightfold Path and extinguished the fires of defilements will be able to help another man in regard to discipline, training and extinction of defilements.

A Biographical Sketch of Ven. Mahæsø Sayædaw

The Venerable U Sobhana Mahæthera, better known as Mahæsø Sayædaw, was born on 29th July 1904 to the peasant proprietors, U Kan Htaw and Daw Shwe Ok at seikkhun Village, which is about seven miles to the west of the town of Shwebo in Upper Myanmar.

At the age of six he began his studies at a monastic school in his village, and at the age of twelve he was ordained a Sama¼era (Novice), receiving the name of Sobhana. On reaching the age of twenty, he was ordained a Bhikkhu on 26^th November 1923. He passed the Government Pæ¹i Examination in all the three classes (lower, middle and highest) in the following three successive years.

In the fourth year of his Bhikkhu Ordination, he proceeded to Mandalay, noted for its pre-eminence in Buddhist studies, where he continued his further education under various monks of high scholastic fame. In the fifth year he went to Mawlamyaing where he took up the work of teaching the Buddhist scriptures at a monastery known as “Taungwaing-galay Taik Kyaung”.

In the eighth year after his Bhikkhu ordination, he and another monk left Mawlamyaing equipped with the bare necessities of a Bhikkhu i.e. alms bowl, a set of three robes, etc, and went in search of a clear and effective method in the practice of meditation. At Thaton he met the well-known Meditation Teacher, the Venerable U Narada, who is also known as “Mingun Jetawun Sayædaw the First”. He then placed himself under the guidance of the Sayædaw and at once proceeded with an intensive course of meditation.

He had progressed so well in his practice that he was able to teach the method effectively to his first three disciples in Seikkhun while he was on a visit there in 1983. These three lay disciples, too, made remarkable progress. Inspired by the example of these three, gradually as many as fifty villagers joined the courses of intensive practice.

The Venerable Mahæsø could not stay with the Venerable Mingun Sayædaw as long as he wanted as he was urgently asked to return to the Mawlamyaing monastery. Its aged head monk was gravely ill and passed away not long after the Venerable Mahæsø’s return. The Venerable Mahæsø was then asked to take charge of the monastery and to resume teaching the resident monks. During this time he sat for the Pæ¹i Lecture ship Examination on its first introduction by the Government of Myanmar. Passing this examination on the first attempt, in 1941 he was awarded the title “Sæsanadhaja Sri Pavara Dhammæcariya”.

On the event of the Japanese invasion, the authorities gave an evacuation order to those living near Mawlamyaing at the Taung-waing-galay Monastery and its neighbourhood. These places were close to an airfield and hence exposed to air attacks. For the Sayædaw this was a welcome opportunity to return to his native Seikkhun and to devote himself wholeheartedly to his own practice of Vipassanæ meditation and to the teaching of it to others.

He took residence at a monastery known as Mahæ-Sø Kyaung, which was thus called because a drum (Myanmar sø) of an unusually large (mahæ) size was housed there. From that monastery, the Sayædaw’s popular name, Mahæsø Sayædaw, is derived.

It was during this period, in 1945, that the Sayædaw wrote his great work, Manual of Vipassanæ Meditation. A comprehensive and authoritative treatise expounding both the doctrinal and the practical aspects of the Satipa¥¥hæna method of meditation. This work of two volumes, comprising 858 pages in print, was written by him in just seven months, while the neighbouring town of Shwebo was at times subjected to almost daily air attacks. So far, only one chapter of this work, the fifth, has been translated into English and is published under the title Practical Insight Meditation: Basic and Progressive Stages (Buddhist Publication Society).

It did not take long before the reputation of Mahæsø Sayædaw as an able teacher of Insight Meditation (Vipassanæ) had spread throughout the Shwebo-Sagaing region and attracted the attention of a prominent and very devout Buddhist layman, Sir U Thwin, who was regarded as Myanmar’s “Elder Statesman”. It was his wish to promote the inner strength of Buddhism in Myanmar by setting up a meditation centre to be guided by a meditation teacher of proven virtue and ability. After meeting Mahæsø Sayædaw and listening to a discourse given by him and to the meditation instructions given to nuns in Sagaing, Sir U Thwin was in no doubt that he had found the ideal person he was looking for.

In 1947 the Buddha Sæsana Nuggala Organization was founded in Yangon with Sir U Thwin as its first President and with its object the furthering of the study (pariyatti) and practice (pa¥ipatti) of Buddhism. In 1948 Sir U Thwin donated five acres of land at Kokine, Yangon, to the organization for the erection of a meditation centre. It is on this site that the present Thathana (or Sæsana) Yeiktha, i.e. “Budhist Retreat”, is situated, which now, however, covers an area of twenty acres, with a large number of buildings.

In 1949, the then Prime Minister of Myanmar, U Nu, and Sir U Thwin requested that the Venerable Mahæsø Sayædaw come to Yangon and give training in meditational practice. On December 1949, the Sayædaw introduced the first group of 25 meditations in to the methodical practice of Vipassanæ meditation. Within a few years of the Sayædaw’s arrival in Yangon, similar meditation centres sprang up all over Myanmar until they numbered over one hundred. In neighbouring centres were also established in which the same method was taught and practised. According to a 1972 census, the total number of meditations trained at all these centres (both in Myanmar and abroad) had passed the figure of seven hundred thousand. In the East and in several Western countries as well, Vipassanæ course continue to be conducted.

At the historic Sixth Buddhist Council (Cha¥¥a Sangæyanæ) held at Yangon for two years. Culminating in the year 2500 Buddhist Era (1956), the Venerable Mahæsø Sayædaw had an important role. He was one of the Final Editors of the cononical texts, which were recited and there by approved, in the sessions of the Council. Further, he was the Questioner (Pucchaka), that is, he had to ask the questions concerning the respective canonical texts that were to be recited. They were then answered by an erudite monk with a phenomenal power of memory, by the name of Venerable Vicittasæræbhivamsa. To appreciate full the importance of these roles, it may be mentioned that at the First Council held one hundred days after the passing away of the Buddha, it was the Venerable Mahæ Kassapa who put forth those introductory questions which were then answered by the Venerable UPæli and the Venerable Ænandæ.

After the recital of the canonical scriptures, the Tipi¥ika, had been completed at the Sixth Council, it was decided to continue with a rehearsal of the ancient commentaries and sub commentaries, preceded by critical editing and scrutiny. In that large task, too, the Sayædaw took a prominent part.

In the midst of all of these tasks, he was also a prolific and scholarly writer. He authored more than 70 writings and translations, mostly in Myanmar, with a few in the Pæ¹i language. One of these deserves to be singled out: his Myanmar translation of the Commentary to the Visuddhi Magga (Visuddhimagga Mahæ-¿økæ), which, in two large volumes of the Pæ¹i original, is even more voluminous than the work commented upon, and presents many difficulties, linguistically and in its contents. In 1957 Mahæsø Sayædaw was awarded the title of “Agga-Mahæ-pa¼ðita”.

Yet even all of this did not exhaust the Sayædaw’s remarkable capacity for work in the cause of the Buddha-Dhamma. He undertook several travels abroad. The first two of his tours were in preparation for the Sixth Council, but were likewise used for preaching and teaching.

Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (1952), India and Sri Lanka (1953, 1959), Japan (1957), Indonesia (1959); America, Hawaii, England, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand (1980), Nepal, India (1981).

In the midst of all these manifold and strenuous activities, he never neglected his own meditative life which had enabled him to give wise guidance to those instructed by him. His outstanding vigour of body and mind and his deep dedication to the Dhamma sustained him through a life of 78 years.

On 14th August 1982, the Venerable Mahæsø Sayædaw succumbed to sudden and severe heart attack which he had suffered the night before. Yet on the evening of the 13th, he had still given an introductory explanation to a group of new meditators.

The Venerable Mahæsø Sayædaw was one of the very rare personalities in whom there was a balanced and high development of both profound erudition linked with a keen intellect, and deep and advanced meditative experience. He was also able to teach effectively both Buddhist thought and Buddhist practice.

His long career of teaching through the spoken and printed word had a beneficial impact on many hundreds of thousands in the East and the West. His personal stature and his life’s work rank him among the great figures of contemporary Buddhism.