Derek Pyle's Articles on Lions Roar

The oldest lineage of Buddhism, Theravada is known for sharing the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha. Building on this ancient lineage, Theravada today is innovative and diverse. Derek Pyle reports on the tapestry of communities that make up American Theravada. In the United States, there is a rich and varied range of Theravada teachers, practices, and communities. There are hundreds of Theravadin temples, monasteries, centers, and communities. To better understand the landscape of American Buddhism, I interviewed more than two dozen senior Theravada teachers in the US. I wanted to draw a more comprehensive map of American Theravada, but I likely omit many important teachers and communities. I hope others will pick up where I leave off. Theravada is considered an orthodox Buddhist tradition. It emphasizes adherence to the teachings of the Pali Canon — the earliest recorded teachings attributed to the Buddha — and its commentaries. Theravada is most common in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia. In North America, Theravada is often seen as focusing on meditation. In truth, meditation is one aspect of the tradition, which also includes important components, such as: the cultivation of generosity alongside moral precepts and ethical training; an understanding of karma and its laws; study of the Pali Canon and its commentaries and sub-commentaries; a range of community services, including outreach and social welfare programs; support for immigrant and refugee communities; and much more. To many traditional Theravadins, this larger framework is important. Bhikkhu Bodhi, a leading American Pali scholar and translator, is wary of practicing meditation "without sufficient appreciation of the context in which these techniques are set and [without] the principles and auxiliary practices that should accompany and support meditation practice." In America, “Theravada” is also often equated with Insight Meditation and the “vipassana movement.” This is, in part, a racially-informed oversimplification, as both of these communities are predominantly white. Media coverage of American Buddhism often marginalizes or outright ignores Asian-American Buddhists. While practicing in alignment with the Buddha's original teachings of liberation is a common goal in Theravada, between various teachers and practitioners there are nuanced and often heated debates about how this is best achieved. My intention was to survey this range without holding any single perspective as "authoritative." To ensure the range of teachings were adequately represented, I relied on interviews and direct quotes whenever possible. The Vipassana View. Vipassana, or Insight Meditation, is the meditative form most often associated with Theravada. It is also the inspiration behind many secular mindfulness teachings, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Vipassana is often thought of as a tightly-defined meditation technique. In truth, it is not a homogeneous teaching or technique but can refer to a wide array of practices, generally geared toward understanding the Buddha’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths, the three marks of existence, dependent origination, and the eightfold path, with the goal of liberating the heart and mind. Some teachers emphasize particular systems or methods of practice, while others do not. The sociological implications of what Mahasi Sayadaw did were enormous — returning the possibility of liberation to lay people. —Sharon Salzberg. Three particularly popular vipassana lineages emerged in Burma during the 20th century. Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw and U S.N. Goenka are well-known in the United States for their systematic approaches to intensive meditation practice. The third teacher, the late Venerable Mogok Sayadaw, is hugely popular in Burma but his teachings are not as well-represented in the US.1 The Satipatthana Sutta is held by many as the most comprehensive overview of traditional Theravadin meditation practices, yet these same practices are subject to an array of practical and technical interpretations. For instance, a well-known framework of Theravada meditation distinguishes between two basic types of practice, insight meditation (vipassana) and calming or tranquility meditation (samatha). But in a more traditional and canonical understanding, vipassana is not a type of meditation at all. "Vipassana actually refers to the direct seeing of the real nature of phenomena," says Bhikkhu Bodhi, "thus what a person would practice are meditation techniques that lead to vipassana." Mahasi Sayadaw’s Revolution. Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982) was a great Burmese monk. At a time when most Burmese meditation techniques were taught to monastics only, Mahasi Sayadaw and his students also instructed thousands upon thousands of lay practitioners. Sharon Salzberg, a well-known convert Buddhist American lay teacher authorized to teach by Mahasi Sayadaw, explains, "The sociological implications of what Mahasi Sayadaw did were enormous — returning the possibility of liberation to lay people." Many of Mahasi Sayadaw’s senior monastics have taught in the United States, including the late Sayadaw U Pandita. Some of these monks immigrated to the United States, often overseeing multiple Burmese-American and multiethnic communities. Mahasi Sayadaw’s teachings have also become popular in some traditionally Mahayana communities; for instance one of the country's most senior monastics, Bhante Khippapanno – also known as Hòa thượng Kim Triệu – often teaches the Mahasi Method to his Vietnamese-American students.2 Mahasi Sayadaw’s method of teaching is known today as the “Mahasi Method.” It includes mindfulness of breathing focused on the abdomen, mental noting, and a very slow style of walking meditation. This system is outlined most clearly by Mahasi Sayadaw in his book The Progress of Insight. Well-known within this system is Mahasi Sayadaw's formal map of awakening, which corresponds to commentarial Visuddhimagga explanations of the path. Ashin Pyinnya Thiha teaches the Mahasi Method at the Mahasi Satipatthana Meditation Center in New Jersey. "I teach mindfulness meditation based on Mahasi Sayadaw's way according to the Mahasatipatthana Sutta," Bhante Pyinnya explains. “If the student follows the Mahasi Method or way of practicing," says Bhante Pyinnya, "[they] can get the progress of sixteen kinds of insight knowledge through the seven stages of purification." The center where Ashin Pyinnya Thiha teaches is a part of the America Burma Buddhist Association (ABBA), the U.S. affiliate of the Mahasi Meditation Center of Burma. Like most monastic traditions in the U.S. and Asia, the ABBA community is sustained through donations, while all ABBA activities including residencies and retreats are offered free of charge. This model of teaching is fundamental to the traditional Theravadin framework: the Dharma is considered priceless; therefore, there can be no cost associated with it. Thus monastics freely support the community in a variety of ways, including teaching. In turn, monastics are deeply dependent on the generosity of lay community support – Theravadin monastics cannot handle money, cook, or even store food. In this way, monastics and lay practitioners alike cultivate the parami of dana, which is translated as generosity, giving, or charity. Dana is not simply a financial or economic practice but rather a way of cultivating the heart, and cultivating communities, through an ethos of mutual interdependence and responsibility. While many American lay centers have modified this understanding of dana in a variety of ways, there are a few notable exceptions including the communities maintained by Santikaro, Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella, and the centers in the tradition of U S.N. Goenka, all of which operate solely based on dana. U S.N. Goenka, Global Teacher. U S.N. Goenka (1924-2013) and his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899-1971) were Burmese laymen who emphasized ten-day intensive meditation courses (retreats), primarily for lay practitioners. There are numerous centers around the world offering courses in the tradition of U S.N. Goenka (respectfully known as Goenkaji) and Sayagyi U Ba Khin, including twelve centers in the States. "Sayagyi U Ba Khin and Goenkaji wanted the Dhamma to reach as many people globally as possible... and Goenkaji prided himself on teaching exactly what his teacher taught," says Barry Lapping, the head teacher at the Dhamma Dhara Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. "The teaching is presented via audio and video recordings of Goenkaji in order to maintain the consistency of the technique worldwide," explains Lapping, while "the conducting teachers run the course, give guidance to the students, meditate with the students and answer their questions." While the centers do not track specific demographics of their students, "there are courses for different communities based on language, including Khmer, Burmese, Hindi, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai." In keeping with the traditional Theravadin emphasis on dana, all centers are supported solely by donations. "An important principle in this tradition is that no one should have to pay for the teaching, and no one should profit by it," explains Lapping. Course teachers and volunteers do not receive any financial compensation; students understand that everything they receive is from those who previously sat courses and they, in turn, have the opportunity to donate so others can receive the same benefits in future retreats. At the beginning of each course, students take the five moral precepts and then develop a base of concentration (samadhi) through anapanasati or mindfulness of breathing. On the fourth day, students begin vipassana practice. "They learn to move their attention systematically through the body," says Lapping. Cultivating equanimity in response to all sensations is key to the method. "To experience the body, you must be aware of...

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