Foreword To The First Edition

1½ hour discourse When the Venerable Mahasi Sayadawgyi came down to Yangon Sasana Yeiktha, in 1949, he introduced the first batch of 25 yogis to the methodical practice of Vipassana meditation on 4th December 1945. At first, Sayadawgyi himself delivered the initiation talks of about 1½ hour to each batch of meditators. Later the talk was tape-recorded (27th July, 1951) and since then, it was played back to each batch of new yogis. This discourse was published in book form in 1954 and in the same year it was translated into English by yogi U Pe Thin under the title “ The Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation (A basic Buddhist Mindfulness Exercise’’).

30-minute discourse Again, the above initiation talk was reduced to 30 minute discourse and both the Myanmar version and the English translation by U Nyi Nyi under the title “Practical Vipassana Meditational Exercises” were published together in the “Silver Jubilee Discourse” book in December 1978.

15-minute discourse It became known that, at the request of the Patipatti Sasana Nuggaha group of the State Buddhist Sasana Council, Mahasi Sayadawgyi had broadcasted a talk on Vipassana Mediation practice lasting about 15 minutes, for those busy persons who could not devote sufficient time for meditation practice.

Although the exact date of this broadcast was not known, the Buddha Sasana Nuggaha Organization fortunately got hold of the recorded tape, and when carefully examined, it was found that the talk was the abridged discourse of the original 1½ hour talk. The Myanmar version of this 15 minute talk was published by the Buddha Sasana Nuggaha Organization in August 2016 for the first time.

This 15 minute talk was translated by U Hla Myint of Tathagata Meditation Centre, U.S.A, together with Vajiravudha, an American nun staying at the Panditarama Shwe Taung Gone Meditation Center in Yangon. She later read aloud and recorded the talk.

She kindly gave us the transcribed English text to us a few months ago, and we are pleased to publish it in book form for the first time. We take this opportunity to offer our heart-felt thanks to the translators for enabling us to publish this 15 minute discourse of Mahasi Sayadwgyi in English for the first time.

Dr. Tint Soe Lin

President

Buddha Sasana Nuggaha

Organization

November, 2017

Practical Vipassana Meditational Exercises

(15-Minute Discourse)

This copy is First Edition published in November 2017 in which the grammar, punctuations and spellings of English words were corrected during January 2019 for the next Edition.

(1) English words corrected by “ Microsoft Words” in computer by Ma Soe Soe on 5.1.2019 and checked by U Khin Maung Oo on 5.1.2019.

(2) Pali words re-checked by ----------------------.

Note; the words in red are not to be uploaded in the website.