Reminiscences of Sayagyi U Ba Khin
Sunda Khin, daughter of U Chan Htoon, offers firsthand insights into Burma's historical landscape. Raised among the elite, her narratives blend personal experiences with broader historical context, shedding light on influential figures and events. Her recollections provide a unique lens into Burma's transformation, capturing her family's connections to key individuals like U Nu, Ne Win, Aung San, Sao Shwe Thaik and S.N. Goenka, among others. Sunda Khin's perspectives offer a multifaceted understanding of her country's past, reflecting her family's role in shaping its trajectory.
“U Ba Khin’s name was always mentioned, by my father and my mother. They were always talking about it and they were always sending their friends to U Ba Khin’s meditation center.”
“I never met U Ba Khin, but my father had always thought of him as being this disciplined person, a self-made kind of a person, and into religion. He said that his father was not a monk, or like some people who had background like that. He said that he did very well in becoming that kind of a person. And then my father always had big respect for the meditation per se, as the answer to your life, where you are controlled, your discipline. My father was a very disciplined person also. So, get up at this time; you do this, you do that, and all that kind of thing. So he tried to tell us. And U Ba Khin’s name was always mentioned, by my father and my mother. They were always talking about it and they were always sending their friends to U Ba Khin’s meditation center. Yes. They would refer. They said, ‘You have to. You should go!’ U Ba Khin’s, I think it was somewhere out in the suburbs as well, not too far from where we were. I remember. Inya Myaing.
At that time, we were living in the Government House, which we were the first Burmese persons to live there. It was the home of the Chief Justice of Burma; it was always inhabited by the British people. It had a huge compound and a beautiful house. It's what you would call a mansion now, I guess. And then we had one place, it was a library, and all that. Of course, in those years, the 1950s, we had to have a barbed wire all around it because of things. We had guards there; yes, four from the Gurkhas, and we had a big staff place in there. That's where they stayed. But I know that my father had great regard for U Ba Khin. He must be younger than my father; I don't know. When my father passed away, he was 82 years of age. He passed away in 1988, before the uprising. He didn't see what happened. He didn't see it. He was born in 1906. So, I think U Ba Khin may be younger than he, or they are the same age; I'm not sure. But I always hear about this U Ba Khin as being vibrant and all that; that's why in my mind, he may be younger. My younger sister, who, then of course, earlier on, in my years, I left the house to get married very young, and my younger sister, would remember all this.
My father, after the military released him, he had these Dhammapada classes at home for relatives and friends. And Dhammapada, he had one teacher come, and they would learn that the Dhammapada at home. I have no connection with U Ba Khin. All I know is what I hear from my parents, and then Mr. Goenka as well.”