Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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mikenz66
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Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by mikenz66 »

For some time a small team of people have been working on the translation of Mahasi Sayadaw's "Manual of Insight" into English.

MANUAL OF INSIGHT
By Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw
Translated by Hla Myint and AriyaÑāni
Edited by Steve Armstrong, Kamala Masters and Deborah Ratner-Helzer
Pali Research by ViraÑāni

There is an article about it here: http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/04/th ... i-sayadaw/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and Chapter 5, "Practical Instructions", is available as a PDF in the fifth post on this thread:
http://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/d ... age/443445" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steve Armstrong gave a series of talks on this back in 2007 (the five talks on "Refined Knowledge, Subtle Wisdom" here: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/SteveArmstrong.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Perhaps we'll see it in print soon...

Mike
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tiltbillings
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by tiltbillings »

Armstrong has done a very interesting and informative book about the Mahasi Sayadaw method coming to the West: Strong Roots, which can be found here among other works:

http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/publications.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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mikenz66
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi Tilt,

Looks like an interesting book but the author is Jake H. Davis, not Steve Armstrong...

Mike
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tiltbillings
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by tiltbillings »

mikenz66 wrote:Hi Tilt,

Looks like an interesting book but the author is Jake H. Davis, not Steve Armstrong...

Mike
I roll my eyes, shake my head, and sigh. It is 0457, time to go to bed. It still is an interesting book by Davis, and Armstrong is a good teacher.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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mikenz66
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by mikenz66 »

I should note that Chapter 5 of the Manual of Insight is what has been published by BPS as "Practical Insight Medition" (the first section is available on-line in various places including here: http://aimwell.org/Books/Mahasi/Practic ... tical.html) However, this is a completely new translation, with extra notes, and I think would be well worth studying if you are interested in the Mahasi approach.



Metta
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by dhamma_newb »

Hi Mike,

Have you heard any recent news of a release date for this book? I've looked online and couldn't find any. Thanks!

Metta,
Don
The watched mind brings happiness.
Dhp 36

I am larger and better than I thought. I did not know I held so much goodness.
Walt Whitman
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

[delted post because I gave wrong information]
Last edited by Nicholas Weeks on Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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mikenz66
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi dhamma_newb,

Like Bhikkhu Bodhi's Anguttara Nikaya translation, this seems to be taking some time to surface...
However, there is that chapter on the Dharma Overground site that I linked to above that may be of interest.

The book The Manuals of Dhamma that Will mentions is a book by Ledi Sayadaw, not Mahasi Sayadaw.

:anjali:
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by dhamma_newb »

Thanks everyone. I just printed the two Buddhist Geeks excerpts available from dharmaoverground.org. I'm looking forward to getting a copy when the book is published. Thanks again!

Metta,
Don
The watched mind brings happiness.
Dhp 36

I am larger and better than I thought. I did not know I held so much goodness.
Walt Whitman
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by kendali »

:goodpost:

Awesome!
Buddhaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi.
Dhammaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi.
Saṇghaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi.


Not to do evil, to cultivate merit, to purify one's mind - this is the Teaching of the Buddhas. (Dhp 183)
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mikenz66
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by mikenz66 »

My copy arrived this week. 700 pages of well-edited hard bound text for $25. Any profits from sales are intended for enabling free distribution to monastics. Looking forward to reading it in detail.

:anjali:
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I am working on a different edition, by a different translator, and have so far published the first 100 pages as a PDF.

A Manual of Insight Meditation Translator U Min Swe (Min Kyaw Thu)

It is only a first draft, but at least the Table of Contents and the first chapter and part of the second will give you some idea of what to expect from the published version. The Wisdom Books version gathers all of the Pali passages in notes at the back of the book. I prefer to keep them in the text to aid those who do know Pali.
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Whether the Wisdom edition is first complete translation into English or not, I do not know.

But some years ago I got The Manuals of Dhamma pub. by Vipassana Research Inst. The first chapter of 30 pages or so is titled "The Manual of Insight", trans. by U Nyana. I guess this chapter might be a condensation or a separate work on the same subject or ...???

If anyone knows about this 'chapter' vs the Wisdom big book, it would clarify for me.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Mahasi Sayadaw: Manual of Insight

Post by bodom »

Will wrote:Whether the Wisdom edition is first complete translation into English or not, I do not know.

But some years ago I got The Manuals of Dhamma pub. by Vipassana Research Inst. The first chapter of 30 pages or so is titled "The Manual of Insight", trans. by U Nyana. I guess this chapter might be a condensation or a separate work on the same subject or ...???

If anyone knows about this 'chapter' vs the Wisdom big book, it would clarify for me.
That work is by Ledi Sayadaw not Mahasi.

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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