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Panditarama Sayadaw ပဏ္ဍိတာရာမ ဆရာတော် | |
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 AnisakhanSayadaw UPandita | |
| Title | Sayadaw |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1921-07-28)28 July 1921 |
| Died | 16 April 2016(2016-04-16) (aged 94) Bangkok, Thailand |
| Education | Dhammācariya (1952) |
| Occupation | bhikkhu |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| School | Theravada |
| Lineage | Mahasi |
| Dharma names | Paṇḍita ပဏ္ဍိတ |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Mahasi Sayadaw |
| Based in | Yangon,Myanmar |
| Website | www |
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Key figures
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Sayadaw U Paṇḍita (Burmese:ဆရာတော် ဦးပဏ္ဍိတ,pronounced[sʰəjàdɔ̀ʔúpàɰ̃dḭta̰]; alsoOvādācariya Sayādo Ū Paṇḍitābhivaṁsa; 28 July 1921 – 16 April 2016) was one of the foremost masters ofVipassanā.[1] He trained in theTheravada Buddhist tradition ofMyanmar. A successor to the lateMahāsi Sayādaw, he has taught many of the Western teachers and students of the Mahāsi style of Vipassanā meditation. He was the abbot ofPaṇḍitārāma Meditation Center[2] inYangon, Myanmar.[3][4]
U Paṇḍita was born in 1921 inInsein in greater Rangoon (nowYangon) during British colonial rule. He became anovice at age twelve, and ordained at age twenty. After decades of study, he passed the rigorous series ofgovernment examinations in the Theravāda Buddhist texts, gaining theDhammācariya (Dhamma teacher) degree in 1952.
U Paṇḍita began practicing Vipassana under the guidance of Mahāsi Sayādaw beginning in 1950.
In 1955, he left his position as a teacher of scriptural studies to become a meditation teacher at the Mahāsi Meditation Center. Soon after Mahasi Sayādaw died in 1982, U Paṇḍita became the guiding teacher (Ovādacariya) of the Mahasi Meditation Center. In 1991, he left that position, foundingPaṇḍitārāma Meditation Center in Yangon. There are nowPaṇḍitārāma branch centers in Myanmar,Nepal,Australia,Singapore, theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States.
U Paṇḍita became well known in the West after conducting a retreat in the spring of 1984 at theInsight Meditation Society (IMS) inBarre,Massachusetts in the United States. Many of the seniorWestern meditation teachers in the Mahāsi tradition practiced with U Paṇḍita at that and subsequent retreats. The talks he gave in 1984 at IMS were compiled as the bookIn This Very Life.
Until his death at age 94 in 2016, he continued to lead retreats and give Dhamma talks, but he rarely gave interviews.[1]
U Paṇḍita was known for teaching a rigorous and precise method of self-examination. He taughtSatipaṭṭhāna or Vipassanā, emphasisingBuddhist ethics as a requisite foundation. He was also an erudite scholar of thePaliTipiṭaka, theTheravāda Canon.
Judson Brewer a meditation researcher, uses Paṇḍita's quote to illustrate the difference between dopamine secretions and joy: "In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness."[5]
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