Sayagyi U Ba Khin was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He is principally known as a leading twentieth century authority on Vipassana meditation and an influential leader of the Vipassana movement. Wikipedia

Born: 6 March 1899, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

Died: 19 January 1971, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

U Ba Khin was born in Yangon during the British colonial rule ^[2] in March 1899. He passed the final high school examination, winning a gold medal as well as a college scholarship. Family pressures forced him to discontinue his formal education to start earning money. His first job was with a Burmese newspaper called The Sun, but after some time he began working as an accounts clerk in the office of the Accountant General of Burma. In 1926 he passed the Accounts Service examination, given by the provincial government of India. In 1947, when Burma was separated from India, he was appointed the first Special Office Superintendent.^{[citation needed]}

In that same year, in January 1937, Ba Khin met a student of Saya Thet Gyi. Thet Gyi was a wealthy farmer and disciple of the renowned master Ledi Sayadaw, who taught him anapana-sati, a form of meditation taught by the Buddha. When Ba Khin tried it, he experienced good concentration, which impressed him so much that he resolved to complete a full course in Vipassana meditation that Thet Gyi offered at a center he had established for that purpose. Accordingly, Ba Khin applied for a ten-day leave of absence and set out for Thet Gyi's teaching center. Ba Khin progressed well during this first ten-day course, and continued his practise during frequent visits to his teacher's center and meetings with Thet Gyi whenever he came to Rangoon.^[3]

In 1941, a seemingly happenstance incident occurred which was to be important in his life. While on government business in upper Burma, he met by chance Webu Sayadaw, a monk who was widely recognized as an arahant. Webu Sayadaw was impressed with Ba Khin's proficiency in meditation, and urged him to teach. The monk was the first person to exhort Ba Khin to start teaching.^[4]

On 4 January 1948, the day Burma gained independence, Ba Khin was appointed first Accountant General of the Union of Burma.^{[citation needed]}

In 1950 he founded the Vipassana Association of the Accountant General's Office where lay people, mainly employees of that office, could learn Vipassana meditation.^{[citation needed]} In 1952, the International Meditation Centre (I.M.C.) was opened in Rangoon, two miles north of the Shwedagon Pagoda.^{[citation needed]} Here many Burmese and foreign students received instruction in the Dhamma from Ba Khin. He was also active in the planning for the Sixth Buddhist Council known as Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana (Sixth Recitation) which was held in 1954–56 in Yangon.^{[citation needed]}

Ba Khin finally retired from his outstanding career in government service in 1967. From that time, until his premature death in 1971 stemming from complications of surgery, he stayed at I.M.C. in Burma, teaching Vipassana.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Ba Khin became a notable teacher of vipassanā meditation.^{[citation needed]} After his death, some of his students established meditation centers in his tradition in various countries.

There are six International Meditation Centres organized by the Burmese Buddhist branch of students in the Ba Khin Tradition. Each of these centres in the West is a direct offshoot of the International Meditation Centre of Rangoon, Burma, which was founded by Ba Khin. These centres are guided by his closest disciple Mya Thwin, known to her followers as Mother Sayama Gyi.^{[citation needed]}

Another prominent student of Ba Khin is S. N. Goenka. There are over two hundred centres of Vipassana meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, located in various countries throughout the world.^[5]

Worldwide influence

It was Ba Khin's wish that the technique, long lost in India, could again return to its country of origin, and from there, spread throughout the world. Ba Khin made a determined effort to travel to the west to teach Vipassana there. Due to travel restriction in place at that time, he was never able to personally fulfill his wish.^{[citation needed]}

When he realized his time was running out, he commissioned the following foreign students and entrusted them with teaching Vipassana in their respective countries.