Honouring Eminent Asian Buddhist Women in the Modern Era
B. Pioneers in Dhamma Propagation - Scholars and Teachers
B. Pioneers in Dhamma Propagation - Scholars and Teachers
2. Bangladesh - Dipa Ma (Mother of Light) (1911-1989), is a lay Theravada Buddhist
from Chittagong
who studied meditation in Myanmar under the Mahasi
Sayadaw tradition. She practiced
meditation diligently and reached very high spiritual attainment.
Her Teachings
Her teaching was “to be aware and to
be present and to bring in mindfulness to daily activities. You cannot separate
meditation from life.”
She had hundreds of students
including monks who sought her advice on her meditation technique. Among them
was Ven Dr Rastrapala, a bhikkhu who
was ordained for eighteen years at the time when he met her. In 1970, he
established the well-known International Meditation Centre in Bodhgaya.
Her concentration was so deep that,
once at a retreat, the need for sleep and food vanished. At one point, a dog
sank its teeth into her leg for a few hours without her realising it and it had
to be pulled away by the bhikkhus who
then brought her to the hospital.
Dipa Ma developed psychic abilities
from an Indian master, Munindra, in the form of mind-reading, visitations to
heavenly and hell realms, dematerialization, time travel and knowledge of past
lives.
Spreading
the Dhamma
She spread the Dhamma, first in Myanmar, Bangladesh, then in India and USA influencing the Vipassana movement there. She
was invited to teach meditation in USA by her students who are now renowned
Buddhists meditation teachers like Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and Jack
Cornfield.
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