Mahasi Sayadaw Quotes
Mahasi Sayadaw (U Sobhana, 1904-1982), Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk and meditation master, developed the modern vipassana movement. His systematic approach to mindfulness meditation has influenced Buddhist practice worldwide and spawned numerous meditation centers.
When you note effectively, there is no time for defilements to arise. The mind becomes pure through noting.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The development of insight is gradual, but the realization of truth is sudden.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.
Mahasi Sayadaw
True peace is found not in the absence of experience but in the clear seeing of all experience.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Just observe whatever arises. Don't try to create anything, and don't reject anything.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Don't expect or desire anything. Just keep noting whatever arises in the present moment.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are not philosophical concepts but realities to be directly perceived through mindfulness practice.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Each moment of clear seeing is a moment of freedom from the illusion of permanence, satisfaction, and self.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The moment you note a thought, it disappears. The noting mind keeps the hindrances away.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced mind that sees things clearly without reaction.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Through continuous mindfulness practice, the true nature of physical and mental phenomena becomes clear.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The path of insight is a path of discovery, not a path of creation. We are discovering what is already there.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The object of meditation and the mind which knows it must be noted as they occur. If they are not noted, desire arises and disturbs concentration.
Mahasi Sayadaw
Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The path to liberation is through understanding the true nature of mind and matter through direct observation.
Mahasi Sayadaw
When concentration is developed, wisdom arises. When wisdom arises, one becomes disenchanted with the five aggregates.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The knowledge of dissolution comes when you see both the noting mind and noted object dissolving together.
Mahasi Sayadaw
The stages of insight unfold naturally when mindfulness is continuous. There is no need to desire them or try to make them happen.
Mahasi Sayadaw
When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.
Mahasi Sayadaw