Sayādaw U Indaka
Sayādaw U Indaka is the abbot of the Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Centres (CMMC) in Yangon and Pyin Oo Lwin. At both these centres, and throughout Myanmar and internationally, Sayādaw teaches the practice of Satipatthana vipassana and metta meditation to both Burmese and foreign meditators. He has also written several Dhamma books, among them: ‘Metta – The Practice of Loving-kindness as the Foundation for Insight Meditation Practice’ which has been translated into English. Sayādaw was born in 1952 and began his studies of the Buddha Dhamma as a young child, continuing as a novice and then taking full ordination in 1972. He studied at the famous…
Sayādaw U Vivekananda
Sayādaw U Vivekananda is a senior meditation teacher in the Mahāsī tradition and the abbot of Paṇḍitarama International Meditation Centre in Lumbini, Nepal. He also teaches a busy schedule in North America and Europe.
Sayalay Bhadda Manika
Ven. Sayalay Baddha Manika was born in Myanmar on 9 June 1955. She ordained as a nun in Lumbini in February 1999. She has greatly contributed to the development of Panditarama-Lumbini in various functions and teaches both there and abroad.
Venerable Virañani
Ayya Vīrañāṇi began to practice meditation in 1979, as a scientist and conservation biologist in Hawai’i and New Zealand. In the mid-1990s, she began to practice more intensively, and in 2003 took novice ordination in the Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw. She took permanent ordination in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita on New Year 2006, and until recently has mostly resided at the Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Centre in Myanmar. She was one of the editors (for Pāḷi and English) of the translation from the Burmese of Mahasi Sayadaw’s Manual of Insight published by Wisdom Publications. She teaches mettā and vipassanā…
Ariya Baumann
Ariya B. Baumann (formerly Ariya Nani) was a Buddhist nun for 21 years, ordained in Burma by Sayadaw U Janaka. For many years she had been guiding foreign meditators at the Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Center. She now lives in Switzerland and teaches mettā and vipassanā retreats worldwide.For further detail see Ariya’s website.
Andrew Luff
Andrew Luff (Nipako), has been practicing Dhamma for over 22 years. He has been teaching in Sydney Australia and the USA. He started his Dhamma life at Cittaviveka monastery in the UK, where he trained for 8 years as a monk. His teachers being Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Sucitto and has more recently worked with Jason Siff.
Danny Taylor
Danny Taylor has been a student of Eastern traditions since the early 1970s, and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation in the Mahāsī Sayādaw tradition since 1986. He has worked as a psychologist and is a management consultant. Danny emphasises the integration of meditation with our daily reality. He is also a leader of the group’s meditation sessions in Sydney.
Graham Wheeler
Graham Wheeler has been practising vipassanā meditation for over thirty years, studying in Australia, Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka. He also has been leading the Centre’s group meditation sessions in Sydney since 1999. He has his own legal practice in Sydney and much of his work is with community-based organisations.
Jill Shepherd
Jill Shepherd began practicing insight meditation in Thailand in 1999, and since that time has lived and worked at several meditation centres and monasteries in the US, Australia, England, and Thailand. She spent seven years on staff at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts, where she participated in several long retreats and Buddhist study programmes, as well as offering weekly meditation classes at a nearby prison. She is a graduate of the IMS / Spirit Rock teacher training program in the US, under the guidance of Joseph Goldstein and Gil Fronsdal. She lives in Aotearoa / New Zealand…
Lesley Lebkowicz
Lesley Lebkowicz has been practicing vipassana meditation for 40 years and has spent several years in silent retreat in Australia, the USA and Burma. She has worked as a teacher, counsellor and writer and currently divides her time between formal spiritual practice and writing. Lesley founded and led the Canberra Insight Meditation Group for 13 years. Her teaching highlights a kindly connection and acceptance of our experience.
Michael Dash
Michael Dash is a practitioner of Buddhist meditation studying in Australia, Thailand and Burma, where he trained in satipatthāna vipassanā meditation in the Mahāsī tradition. He has worked as a teacher and in the welfare sector as well as local government and has been a bereavement counsellor for over 20 years.
Patrick Kearney
Patrick Kearney is an independent dharma teacher in the lineage of Mahāsī Sayādaw of Burma, his principal teachers being Paṇḍitarama Sayādaw and John Hale. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen Buddhism. His original teacher was Robert Aitken Roshi, and he is now studying with Paul Maloney Roshi. Patrick has a particular interest in the Buddha’s teachings before Theravāda or Mahāyāna were thought of. He studies Pāli and seeks to bring his understanding of the early texts to the practice of dharma in the contemporary world. For further details see his website.
Steven Smith
Anchored in the Theravadan Buddhist Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw since 1974, Steven Smith was trained and sanctioned as a teacher by the late revered monk and meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita. Steven teaches Vipassana and the Divine Abodes (loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity) in meditation retreats in Asia, Hawai’i, North America and Australia. He co-founded Vipassana Hawai’i in 1984 and in 1995 founded the MettaDana Project for educational and medical projects in Burma. Also in 1995 Steven helped establish the Kyaswa Valley Retreat Center in Burma, headed by the late Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery.
Tara Frances
Tara Frances is a co-founder and was a major sponsor in the establishment of the Centre. She has practised vipassanā meditation for 30 years in Burma, Nepal and Australia, with Sayādaw U Pandita, the senior disciple of Mahāsī Sayādaw, and other senior teachers.