The radio waves of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

Through a combination of his technique of “distant control” and the ritual sanctification of meditation spaces, U Ba Khin could provide his students with the means to teach his methods to others in the least hospitable of circumstances outside Burma. This was the model of teaching that Goenka, and the American and European students selected by U Ba Khin to teach abroad, came to enact from 1969 onward. In describing his unique method of distant control, U Ba Khin used the metaphor of radio waves. By way of experiment, he had discovered how to extend his psychic influence in a targeted way to his students anywhere around the globe. His students could likewise “tune in” to this influence at prescribed times and get the support of his “thought waves charged with Nibbana Dhatu” and his mettā (Sanskrit/Hindi: maitrī), or “loving-kindness.” Access to these psychic forces also entailed the support of powerful guardian deities karmically associated with U Ba Khin.

An excerpt from Daniel Stuart’s S. N. Goenka: Emissary of Insight (Lives of the Masters), describing how U Ba Khin hoped to carry out his teaching mission despite being unable to travel outside of Burma. Future posts here will look more deeply into this work, and we hope to have Daniel on the Insight Myanmar Podcast as well to discuss his new book.