Celebration Of The Centenary Year

　　- by S. N. Goenka

　　(The following is a translation of an article by S. N. Goenka published in the March 1999 issue of the Hindi Vipaśhyanā Patrika)

　　My life has seen seventy-five springs.

　　Someone came and said, "Let us celebrate amrit mahostav on your birthday."

　　Amrit mahostav

　　Meaning celebration of one who has not died till now. But one who has seen seventy-five springs and has not died, will surely die after seeing a few more springs. What is the use of amrit mahostav of such a mortal person

　　Instead, let us celebrate the amrit mahostav of my revered Teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin. His rūpa kāya (physical body) may be no more but on the strength of our boundless devotion to him, we will not allow his glory to be forgotten. We will immortalise it. That would be a meaningful amrit mahostav.

　　On the auspicious occasion of his first centenary year, let us make a resolve in all gratitude: we will immortalise the glory of that epoch-making Bodhisatta. The Vipassana family not only of today but also of future generations will gratefully remember his benevolence for centuries. As long as the sacred memory of Sākyamunī Gotama Buddha remains alive on this earth, the glorious memory of the boundless benevolence of this Dhamma son of the Buddha will also endure.

　　We shall also be eternally grateful to Myanmar, who not only preserved the original teachings of the Buddha through the saintly Teacher-student tradition but also preserved the beneficial technique of Vipassana, the greatest gift of the Buddha to humanity, in its pristine purity.

　　We also feel boundless gratitude to the revered eminent bhikkhu Ledi Sayadaw, who not only made the technique of Vipassana, which had been preserved by bhikkhus for centuries easily accessible to householders, but also trained a householder as a Vipassana Teacher.

　　We feel boundless gratitude also to the first householder Teacher, Saya Thetgyi, who carried out this special responsibility with remarkable success, so that people were assured that a householder can also fulfil the role of a skilled Vipassana Teacher filled with mettā.

　　And words cannot express the gratitude we feel towards his chief disciple, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, whose irrepressible enthusiasm and extraordinary Dhamma-inspiration resulted in our receiving this liberating technique. This technique which had been lost for centuries was rediscovered by Sākyamunī Siddhattha Gotama, not only for his own benefit but also for the welfare of innumerable beings. But it was again lost in India, the country of its origin, and in the rest of the world, except in suvaṇṇabhūmi Myanmar. My revered Teacher had unwavering faith in the ancient belief that this technique would arise again and return to the country of its origin. He used to repeatedly say that the clock of Vipassana had struck and that Vipassana would arise again in its birthplace, India. Many people with pāramīs have been born in India at this time who will happily accept it, and thereafter, like the sun it will penetrate the darkness of ignorance enveloping the entire world and become the cause of infinite welfare in the world.

　　He used to say that Myanmar received this technique centuries ago and was indebted to India. In order to repay this debt, it would have to return the technique of Vipassana to India. He wished to come to India to carry out this sacred work himself but could not do so. Although unable to come to India physically, he certainly came with his Dhamma son in spirit and helped him to accomplish this Dhamma mission.

　　Let there be no delusion in the minds of Vipassana meditators that they have received this priceless technique from Goenka. Goenka is only a medium. Actually all have received this technique from Sayagyi U Ba K…

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