An ox by the Webu Sayadaw Dhamma Hall

In Winter 2014, an ox is seen lumbering past the historic Dhamma Hall used by Webu Sayadaw, and scratching itself on the palm tree. Little does this poor animal know the great events that too place here not so long ago...

If it could but know, this is what it might learn:

In Ingyinbin, one finds a very large open-air Dhamma hall with full-length photos of a standing Webu Sayadaw towards the front, and a Buddha statue at the center. Towards the front are stairs leading downwards to a collection of meditation cells underneath. However, these are now flooded and it is no longer possible to enter the structure. The original Dhamma hall during Webu’s life was a simple bamboo structure that was much smaller in size. After he began to attract a following, this was constructed in the 1950s for the larger audiences that began making their way to Ingyinbin. Webu Sayadaw himself would preach to over 300 meditators staying on these grounds throughout much of the 1950s through 1970s. Sayagyi U Goenka ten-day courses are now held here most years in March, often scheduled with concurrent children’s courses. The Dhamma Hall was one of the first beneficiaries of a new renovation project beginning to happen on the Patipatti side, as a team of workers spent several weeks giving it a fresh coat of paint.