Dhamma Is for One and All

by S.N. Goenka

Sayagyi's Decision

On behalf of the Buddha S±sana Council, its General Secretary, U Chan Htoon, used to invite quite a few people from different countries to come to Burma to practise Vipassana. At times, some of us would get the opportunity to gain merits by giving dana (donation) to cover the travel expenses of such Dhamma-seeking visitors.

At his suggestion, I also became a dayaka (donor) for some of these Dhamma aspirants. One amongst them was a person by the name of Sri Brahmachari Munindra Prosad Barua. He was the superintendent of the Bodh Gaya Temple in India. Having fulfilled his mission of taking a course of Vipassana, he expressed his desire to stay longer in the country in order to master in detail both pariyatti and patipatti (theory and practice).

He was a very suitable person for this task. He had studied the whole Tipiµika with commentaries and subcommentaries, staying with various teachers of Dhamma. He made a special study of the Abhidhamma, the deeper explanation of which was available only in Burma. For meditation, he practised the technique taught by the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw at Thathana Yeikta, Rangoon. He learned many more techniques of meditation, staying with various bhikkhus (monks) and lay teachers at different centres, including the Ledi Yeikta, founded by Ledi Sayadaw and the Hanthawadi Center, established by Sayagyi Thet, the teacher of U Ba Khin.

He had heard much praise about the meditation teaching of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, from me and many others, so naturally he was very eager to learn this technique also before returning home. However, Sayagyi strictly refused to accept him on a course. U Lun Baw, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister of the caretaker government and a very close and dear disciple of Sayagyi, pleaded with him to accept Munindraji as a student. But still Sayagyi would not agree. As Munindraji was in a way my Dhamma guest, I also strongly requested Sayagyi to change his decision; but again he refused. His only explanation was this: "This person has already taken Vipassana from the learned bhikkhus and other teachers. Why does he need to take a course with me? Let him get ripened in whatever he has learned."

I could understand the reason behind this decision which was not merely for Munindraji but for everyone who had taken a course of meditation under any bhikkhu. It had happened that one Bhikkhu Mahinda had come to Burma from India under a similar invitation from the Buddha S±sana Council a few months earlier and was practising meditation at one of the meditation centres in Rangoon. Whenever an Indian vegetarian meditator happened to come for such courses, I was informed by U Chan Htoon and asked to help with providing Indian vegetarian food some of the time. In this connection, I had the opportunity to meet Bhikkhu Mahinda a few times while he was at the meditation centre.

One day I got a call from U Chan Htoon asking me to come meet with Bhikkhu Mahinda immediately. When I went to see him, I found his mental condition very unbalanced. He was behaving in a very bizarre manner. I was told by the management that he had even tried to commit suicide. As soon as he saw me, he told me of his agony and his strong desire to disrobe, begging me to get him the clothes of a layman. I was perplexed as to what to do, so I went to the main teacher of the centre and asked his permission to take the bhikkhu to my residence for a few days. He was accommodated at the guest house of our Mogul Street residence. Partly because of the change in environment and partly because of the service he received here, we found that in a few days his mental state returned to normal and he became healthy once again. Gradually, he started talking about meditation.

One day during these discussions, he came to know that I also practised Vipassana and that my teacher was Sayagyi U Ba Khin. The moment he heard Sayagyi's name, a glint came into his eyes as if this were a very pleasant surprise for him, and he started pressing me to take him to my teacher. I went with him to my teacher's meditation centre. When he met Sayagyi, Bhikkhu Mahinda was overwhelmed with joy. I, too, was very pleasantly surprised to learn they had known each other intimately in the past. Bhikkhu Mahinda was a former resident of Burma, and in his householder's life was a civil engineer by the name of Bahadur. He had been an important officer in the Burma Railways at the same time that Sayagyi had been Accounts Officer of Burma Railways, and this is how they knew each other.

As an engineer, Bahadur had been involved in some work at the Gotaik Bridge near Naungkio, in the Shan states. One day, people discovered that he was missing. When a search was made, it was found that he had disappeared into the dense jungle in the deep valley below. His family members and companions undertook an extensive search of the area, but all they found was his pair of sandals sitting by the bank of a rapidly flowing mountain stream. Therefore people thought that he had either committed suicide or had fallen into the river and drowned accidentally. Actually, he had gone from there down to the plains where he entered a vih±ra and ordained as a bhikkhu. He later went to India. Now he had returned to Burma as Bhikkhu Mahinda, having come to learn Vipassana.

Sayagyi wanted to help his old friend. The next Vipassana course was to start some time later. However, with strong pressure from Bhikkhu Mahinda, he agreed to conduct a special course for him alone. Bhikkhu Mahinda worked with great devotion and enthusiasm and was highly benefited by the practice. When he came back to my house after the course, he decided to visit various parts of Burma to meet many of his old friends before returning to India.

Wherever he went on his tour of Burma, his old friends gathered and requested him to give a public talk on meditation. Out of overenthusiasm, he began praising the technique of Vipassana taught by Sayagyi U Ba Khin. This much Sayagyi could accept, but soon he began to denounce the meditation taught by his previous teacher. In his overenthusiasm, he did not realize that Sayagyi would not approve of such comparisons. A message was sent to him to abstain from such talk, but he would not comply.

All this created quite a controversy which Sayagyi did not like in the least. He used to say that a son of Buddha never gets involved in controversies. Whatever technique Sayagyi had acquired from his teacher, he was simply distributing the same to others, very humbly. These kinds of quarrels and arguments comparing techniques were totally against his nature. Therefore he made a strong decision that in the future, if anyone came to him having already taken a course of meditation with another teacher - especially a monk teacher - then he would not entertain such a person at the centre and would not allow him to take a course under him. This was only to prevent any recurrence of such unfortunate incidents. This was the reason that he was not willing to teach Vipassana to Munindraji.

When I came to India I was already in contact with my friend, Munindraji, and when I gave courses in Bodh Gaya quite a few persons, who were friends or disciples of Munindraji, participated and benefited. Because of this, he himself was also very enthusiastic to sit a course. It was a great embarrassment for me. How could I take someone in my course who was rejected by my teacher, however friendly that person might be? I immediately wrote to my teacher and was very pleased to get his permission. He explained that there was no such controversy in India. I was given permission to teach anyone and everyone who came to me. This is how the restriction on Munindraji was removed and he was able to participate in the course.

During the first course he attended, he was greatly benefited and wrote a very glowing report to Sayagyi, full of gratitude and Dhamma sentiments. Later, he attended two more courses and gained more benefits.

This incident gave me the liberty to teach Vipassana to anyone who asks for it, even those who might have taken a course with other teachers.

Of course, I am very particular to see that such students are serious and not just running from one teacher to another for the sake of curiosity. I would certainly not want to encourage such behavior. After trying a few techniques, one should stick to the particular technique most suitable and work on it seriously. This has been my advice and encouragement to all my students.

Freely Given to All

After I began teaching in India, another problem arose. After conducting a few more courses in Bombay, a Sri Lankan bhikkhu who was residing in Bombay expressed his desire to join a camp. I was an ordinary householder. How could I teach someone who had renounced the householder's life? To resolve this situation, I contacted Sayagyi by phone. He immediately gave permission. He explained that because there was no one else in India who could teach this pure technique of Vipassana, where else could these bhikkhus learn it? He instructed me to give the Dhamma to anyone who requests it. With this liberty, I could serve the large number of bhikkhus who requested Dhamma from me, not only from India but also from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. In one of the courses at Nagpur, all the participants were bhikkhus and samaneras (novices). Courses in Sri Lanka and Nepal attracted local bhikkhus there to come and take advantage of this technique.

Similarly, recluses from various other sects got the opportunity to learn Vipassana. Quite a large number of Jain, Christian and Hindu monks and nuns were benefited by joining such courses. One course was organized specifically for Jesuit priests and Catholic nuns. It was held in the Christian monastery at Khandala where the church was used as the meditation hall.

Special courses were held in Delhi and Ladanu in Jain Up±sraya (monasteries) in which a large number of Jain monks, nuns and s±maºeris participated. At the request and with the cooperation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a special course was held for Tibetan lamas in Dharamsala.

In this way, the floodgate of Vipassana was opened for the benefit of people of every religious sect and way of life. Someone had warned me that if this technique was freely given to the leaders of various sects, there was the danger that some of these leaders would try to make use of it to strengthen their hold over their followers, by disguising it as part of their own sectarian teaching. This fear was well-founded, as later on this proved to be true in a few cases. However, I had no hesitation because for me the flow of the Ganges of Dhamma was for one and all. I have given this wonderful jewel of Dhamma to help people come out of their own misery. If they misuse it and continue to roll in misery, what can be done? On the other hand, I found that quite a few of the sectarian leaders were very sincere and have kept it in its pristine purity for their own good and for the good of others. Therefore, I never have any regrets about Sayagyi's decision encouraging me to give the Dhamma to one and all and I shall continue to do so, without any discrimination whatsoever.

Westerners Request the Dhamma

I faced one more difficulty several months after I started teaching in India. A few Western students had come to join the Vipassana camps. At that time my evening discourses and all the daily instructions were in Hindi. My knowledge of English was very limited, so I could not speak much. I would explain the theory and practice to this handful of Western students in a few simple words, so that they could work properly. Very soon the news of Vipassana began spreading, and the numbers of Westerners began increasing. The students worked very seriously, and as a result they were quite successful.

It was barely a year since I had come to India from Burma when a small group of Western students - about fifteen - invited me to give a course in English at Dalhousie. How could I give a course in English? It was impossible for me to give the evening Dhamma discourses in this language.

My education in English had been quite limited. I had completed only my high school matriculation, through which I had gained enough knowledge of English to conduct my business. I was not able to give even a short extemporaneous talk in English. Whenever I had to give a long talk in English - say, as president of the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or any such organization where English was used - I would dictate my ideas to my secretary. He would draft out my speech in good English, and I would simply read it aloud. I had never given a speech in English without reading it. My English vocabulary was very limited. My knowledge of technical words pertaining to Dhamma was even weaker. Therefore, I expressed my hesitation to conduct the course. I actually refused to give it.

These foreigners then wrote a letter to my revered Sayagyi in Rangoon and complained that I had declined their request. They described their difficulty: they could not go to Burma because only a three-day visa was granted at the time, and there was no one else available to teach Vipassana outside of Burma. Therefore, they were being deprived of receiving this wonderful technique.

Sayagyi immediately telephoned me and advised me to go to Dalhousie and give the course. I explained to him my difficulty with the language. But he replied very firmly that I should go to give the course without hesitation, and that Dhamma would help. I respectfully followed his instructions, and the course started.

The first evening I could speak for only fifteen minutes. This turned into one half hour the next evening, and then it started flowing. All my hesitation and doubt about my capabilities in speaking English vanished. Conversing with the Western students, my vocabulary started increasing, and very soon full courses in English became a regular occurrence. Later on the courses turned into bilingual courses where I gave instructions in both Hindi and English, one after the other. The discourses were given in one language in the morning, and the other language in the evening.

This is how, through the kind benevolence of Sayagyi, the way opened for the teaching of Vipassana in English throughout the world.