U Vimala (; 27 December 1899 - 17 October 1962), commonly known as the Mogok Sayadaw (), was a renowned

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimok� ...

and vipassanā meditation master of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...

Early life

He was born Maung Hla Baw to Daw Shwe Ake and U Aung Tun in a small village close to

Amarapura Amarapura (, , ; also spelt as Ummerapoora) is a former capital of Myanmar, and now a township of Mandalay city. Amarapura is bounded by the Irrawaddy river in the west, Chanmyathazi Township in the north, and the ancient capital site of Ava ...

in Mandalay Province, Burma on 27 December 1899. Hla Baw began his education at 4, and enrolled as a

samanera A (Pali; ), is a novice male monk in a Buddhist context. A female novice nun is in , and in or . In Tibetan Buddhism, a female novice nun is known by the Tibetan language term , and a male novice monk is a . He later left for Mingala Makuna Monastery at Amarapura to continue his religious studies.

Monkhood

In 1920, he was ordained as a

(monk) in the tradition of Burmese Buddhism with the

dharma name A Dharma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and Pabbajjā, monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The name is ...

() which means "stainless, Undefiled." As his monkhood was sponsored by the residents of

Mogok Mogok (, ; Shan language, Shan: , ) is a town of around 90,000 people in the Thabeikkyin District of Mandalay Region of Myanmar, located north of Mandalay and north-east of Shwebo, Sagaing, Shwebo. History Mogok is believed to be founded in ...

, a town well known for rubies and gems, Vimala became known as "Mogok". In 1924, Vimala became the chief abbot of Pikara Monastery. He began to give sermons focusing on

abhidhamma The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed ...

and teaching vipassana meditation. He attained Nirvana by practicing meditation for four years and became an Arahant. Then, he disseminated his method to the pupils for attaining Nirvana. He focused on the insight learning of the dynamic nature of mind and materials in his teaching. His teaching audio recordings are still available and learnt by Myanmar Buddhists to learn meditation methods.

Legacy

U Vimala established the Mogok tradition of vipassana meditation, which is independent of the meditation traditions established by his Burmese predecessors,

Ledi Sayadaw Ledi Sayadaw U Ñaṇadhaja (, ; 1 December 1846 – 27 June 1923) was an influential Theravada Buddhist monk. He was recognized from a young age as being developed in both the theory ( Abhidhamma) and practice of Buddhism and so was revered a ...

and

Mahasi Sayadaw Mahāsī Sayādaw U Sobhana (, ; 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 ...

. U Vimala stressed dependent origination and cittanupassana as part of meditation practice. There are currently over 300 meditation centers in Burma that teach his form of meditation.

Early life

Monkhood

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading