How is the Mahasi method being taught now different from how Mahasi Sayadaw taught

[Kumara]

Bhante Aggacitta once told me that the way the Mahasi method is being taught now is different from how Mahasi Sayadaw taught. I later asked him by email if he could to list down how they differ. Here's what he provided:

1. He didn't emphasize R&F of the abdomen as much as the teachers now who tend to treat it like a samatha object.
2. He didn't ask yogis to forcibly stop the movements of the body, but to just be mindful of them.
3. He was more varied in the labelling of mental activities, such as planning, wandering, imagining, instead of just lumping everything together under the common label of thinking.
4. He did encourage yogis to move slowly like a sick person, but not exaggeratingly slow.

[SarathW]

Why does it call the Mahasi method?
Didn't he teach Satipathana?
If not what is in Sutta he taught?

[mikenz66]

Bhante Aggacitta once told me that the way the Mahasi method is being taught now is different from how Mahasi Sayadaw taught. ...

Thanks for the post Bhante. It is not easy to know exactly what teachers such as Mahasi Sayadaw taught without some personal contact, since much is developed from teacher-student interaction. Unfortunately, there is a tendency by commentators to treat instruction pamphlets intended for beginners as representative of teachings.

Did Bhante Aggacitta have any comments about U Pandita, and how his approach may have differed? I understand that Bhante was a translator for U Pandita for a time.


Mike

[Kumara]

Did Bhante Aggacitta have any comments about U Pandita, and how his approach may have differed? I understand that Bhante was a translator for U Pandita for a time.

Although BA was ordained by MS, he practised under SUP before becoming his translator. He didn't say about any difference in teachings between the 2.

In my personal experience, Chanmyay Sayadaw introduced quite a few radical ideas though.

[mikenz66]

Thank you Bhante. Ven Aggacitta visited us here in NZ a dozen or so years ago, and was a very interesting teacher. My experience with Mahasi-based teachers (actually of any teacher I found helpful) is that they were concerned to tailor instructions help the students develop, rather than teaching them to mindlessly follow a technique, so the experiences of different students might be quite different. Ven Aggacitta demonstratged this even in the context of presentations to dozens of people, by leading short guided meditations then passing round the mic to get everyone to comment on what they experienced. This was a powerful lesson to me about how there could be both commonality and variety of experience and development.


Mike

[Kumara]

Thank you Bhante. Ven Aggacitta visited us here in NZ a dozen or so years ago, and was a very interesting teacher. My experience with Mahasi-based teachers (actually of any teacher I found helpful) is that they were concerned to tailor instructions help the students develop, rather than teaching them to mindlessly follow a technique, so the experiences of different students might be quite different. Ven Aggacitta demonstratged this even in the context of presentations to dozens of people, by leading short guided meditations then passing round the mic to get everyone to comment on what they experienced. This was a powerful lesson to me about how there could be both commonality and variety of experience and development.

His teaching hasn't been Mahasi-based for a long time.

[mikenz66]

His teaching hasn't been Mahasi-based for a long time.

Hi Bhante,

Sure, but my point was that good teachers have a student-centric focus and vary what they teach to suit the students. This makes it difficult to pin them down to a "method".


Mike

[SamD]

Did Bhante Aggacitta have any comments about U Pandita, and how his approach may have differed? I understand that Bhante was a translator for U Pandita for a time.

Although BA was ordained by MS, he practised under SUP before becoming his translator. He didn't say about any difference in teachings between the 2.

In my personal experience, Chanmyay Sayadaw introduced quite a few radical ideas though.

Could venerable explain what these few radical ideas are ?

[Kumara]

In my personal experience, Chanmyay Sayadaw introduced quite a few radical ideas though.

Could venerable explain what these few radical ideas are ?

Off the cuff, I can mention 2 here:
1. "slowing down as much as possible" This has lead yogis to move in an exaggeratedly slow way.
2. "Note the thoughts quickly as if you are hitting them with a stick."