Gratitude to Sayagyi

by S.N.Goenka

Most Revered Dhamma Teacher!

It is now ten years since you passed away, but your inspirational presence is still being felt. Awareness of Dhamma is virtually awareness of you. May the awareness of Dhamma be continuous so that your all-embracing presence prevails. This is my joyful resolve.

The feeling of your presence is so inspiring. Every moment that Dhamma awareness arises, I am reminded of your infinite compassion and my heart fills with vibrations of joy.

Again my heart fills with gratitude towards the Exalted One, the Enlightened One, the Sakya-sage Gotama who, through innumerable lives, accumulated to perfection all the virtues, thus attaining for himself the true happiness of liberation. He discovered such a beneficial technique and distributed it with compassion throughout the remaining years of his life: a teaching that became the source of well-being for numerous people, enabling them to reach the final goal of full liberation.

And my heart fills with gratitude towards those liberated saintly ones who, having obtained this wonderful technique from the Exalted One further abided by his instructions:

"Go forth, monks, on your journey! For the good of many, for the happiness of many, full of compassion for the people!" They spent their lives going from village to village, from town to town, from dwelling to dwelling, distributing this technique of self-liberation.

My heart fills with gratitude to the venerable Sona and Uttara who, having borne all the hardships of the arduous journey from India to Burma, carried this fountain of Dhamma to the golden land of Burma and thereby quenched the thirst of innumerable beings.

My heart fills with gratitude to the traditional Dhamma teachers of Burma who, through an unbroken chain of teachers to disciples, kept this teaching in its pristine purity from generation to generation, not permitting its adulteration by the use of any words, colours, forms or imagination. This path, leading from the apparent gross truth and penetrating on to the subtlest truth, leads like a royal highway to the ultimate truth. They did not digress from this path of truth by taking detours which only lead from one apparent truth to another. Instead, they continued straight on the path and preserved the teaching in its essential purity; thus we could receive it.

My heart fills with gratitude towards you, my magnanimous teacher, who most compassionately, most lovingly and affectionately bestowed upon me this invaluable Dhamma-jewel. If I had not received this Dhamma-jewel, what would my plight have been? I would have wasted this life in the pursuit of earning and hoarding wealth, and in the rat race for status. You nurtured the seed of Dhamma within me. If you had not, then I would have been content to remain bound in sectarian fetters, mistaking them for ornaments. I would have passed my life taking pride in the experiences of others rather than my own. Where would I have obtained this real and direct experience of the truth? I would have contented myself with the mental projections of imaginations. Where would I have had this yathabhuta ñanadassana (the wisdom of the direct experience of the truth as it is)? I would have wasted my life taking intellectual knowledge as true wisdom. I would have squandered this invaluable human life by performing rites, rituals and recitations, and in getting conditioned by non-experiential, sectarian philosophies. My peerless Dhamma teacher! You have made my human life truly successful and worthwhile by bestowing the gift of this unrivalled, incomparable Dhamma upon me.

Verily, unrivalled and incomparable is the practice of Dhamma. How easy! How clear! How scientific! How beneficial! Leading from bondage to freedom, from delusions and mirages to the reality, from the apparent truth to the ultimate truth - may this invaluable jewel remain in its unblemished purity!

I solemnly make these meritorious resolutions on this auspicious day, the anniversary of your demise:

May I not commit the monumental sin of adulterating the teaching. May this invaluable technique remain in its flawless purity. May its practice open the door of deathlessness and salvation for one and all. Fulfilling these resolutions is the only way to respect, honour and revere you.

Your humble Dhamma son,
S.N. Goenka
19 January 1981