Dhamma Mahimār

This meditation center regularly runs 10-day retreats in the Sayagyi U Goenka meditation tradition. The name of the center translates to “The Excellence of Dhamma,” and was established in 2002. While there is no pagoda built here as yet, the small and friendly confines make for a very pleasant and peaceful course experience, particularly if one happens to be in the country during hot season. The center can accommodate a maximum of one hundred yogis, although it is usually only at capacity during Water Festival. It is located on Shou Road, just off to the right as one heads out towards Mandalay.

Significantly, Pyin Oo Lwin played a special role in the biography of the center’s primary teacher, Sayagyi U Goenka. As a youth, he traveled here from his hometown in nearby Mandalay, and would always recall how “the enchanting mountains and plateaus in that region left a lasting memory.” Then later, as a meditation pupil of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, his teacher asked U Goenka to accompany him to Pyin Oo Lwin to assist in giving a retreat. This was the first time U Goenka would do so outside of the near-perfect conditions of IMC, and he realized that he “was being given a preview of what I should soon have to face and deal with”… that is, when U Goenka would start leading courses on his own across India.