Sayagyi U Chit Tin is the author of Dharma Texts by Sayagyi U Ba Khin ) and Knowing Anicca and the Way to Nibbana...

When U Chit Tin did his first course, he didn't want to stop meditating when he got home in the evening, so he taught his wife Anapana meditation. He told Mother Sayamagyi, that she should ...Meditation is conducive to a calm mind”

Sayamagyi Daw Mya Thwin (Mother Sayamagyi) was Sayagyi U Ba Khin’s foremost disciple. She practised and taught with Sayagyi from 1953 until his demise in 1971. Mother Sayamagyi continued to teach at IMC Rangoon (Yangon) until she and her late husband, Sayagyi U Chit Tin, left Burma (Myanmar) in 1978 to fulfil Sayagyi’s aspiration to teach meditation to the people of the west. Travelling and teaching all over the world for 30 years Mother Sayamagyi has established Centres throughout the world including five Centres each with a Pagoda for meditation. Mother Sayamagyi now resides at IMC UK teaching regular courses as well as travelling to other Centres. 

And lMeditation courses in the tradition of Sayagyi U Bi Khin were initially taught in rented accommodations in the U.K., but after our Teachers, Mother Sayamagyi (1925–2017) and Sayagyi U Chit Tin (1918–2001), came to the country in 1978, every effort was made to find a permanent centre. A property was bought in 1979, and the Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust, U.K., was set up in 1980 as a charitable trust. The Teachers made the centre their base from where they could travel to other countries all over the world to teach meditation courses. Under Mother Sayamagyi’s guidance, five ten-day ordination courses were held between 1999 and 2009 when men and boys could ordain as Sāmaṇeras and Bhikkhus.

And ....

Sayagyi U Ba Khin started to practise Vipassana meditation in 1937 under Saya Thetgyi, a disciple of the famous Buddhist monk, the Venerable Ledi Sayadaw. Saya Thetgyi was one of the first lay meditation teachers in Burma (Myanmar), as up until then the practice of meditation was mainly reserved for monks. Sayagyi progressed rapidly and in 1941 Sayagyi encountered the Venerable Webu Sayadaw, a renowned Buddhist monk who was reputed to have reached the highest stage of liberation – Arahatship. Venerable Webu Sayadaw was impressed with Sayagyi’s understanding of the teachings of the Buddha – the Dhamma and said: “I thought you must have spent a long time by yourself in the forest and that you must have made great efforts there.” Venerable Webu Sayadaw urged Sayagyi to start teaching immediately – “You have to give the Dhamma, share the Dhamma you have with everyone....Do not wait”. 

From that day Sayagyi U Ba Khin devoted his life to teaching meditation. He founded the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon (Yangon) in 1952, where he designed and built the Light of the Dhamma Pagoda for meditation. He showed how meditation can be successfully integrated into everyday living by people from all walks of life. Sayagyi U Ba Khin passed away on 19 January 1971.