Most people who know the name S.N. Goenka have never heard of his teacher. That is a little strange, since without this one man, Goenkaji never learns Vipassana at all. His name was Sayagyi U Ba Khin, and he lived two full lives at once: one as one of Burma’s top government officials, and one as a quiet meditation teacher working out of his own home.
A Government Career, Almost by Accident
U Ba Khin was born on March 6, 1899, in Rangoon, then part of British-ruled Burma. He was a brilliant student. He placed first in the whole country in his final high school exam and won a gold medal and a college scholarship. But his family needed income, so he had to stop studying and start earning.
He took a job as an accounts clerk in the Accountant General’s office. He was good at it. He rose steadily for over two decades, passing the Accounts Service exam in 1926, and on January 4, 1948, the exact day Burma became independent, he was made the country’s first Accountant General. That job put him in charge of the country’s public finances, one of the most demanding posts in the new government. At one point later in his career, he was trusted to run up to four different government departments at the same time. He did not retire from government service until 1967.
The Day He Discovered Meditation
On January 1, 1937, a visitor explained a breathing meditation called Anapana to U Ba Khin. He tried it and felt his concentration sharpen almost immediately. Within a week, he had arranged leave from his government post and traveled to meet the man behind the technique: Saya Thetgyi, a wealthy farmer who had become one of the first lay Vipassana teachers in Burma.
Saya Thetgyi himself had trained for seven years under Ledi Sayadaw, a respected Buddhist monk and scholar. Meditation in Burma had mostly stayed inside monasteries. Saya Thetgyi was part of a small shift that let ordinary working people learn it too. U Ba Khin became one of his students, and eventually a teacher in his own right.
Two Lives, One Person
In 1952, U Ba Khin opened the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon, teaching in the evenings and on weekends around his government job. He believed meditation was not just for monks. A busy working life, he showed, was no excuse to skip it.
His students were mostly Burmese civil servants, but a few Western diplomats and scholars in Rangoon studied under him too, since he spoke fluent English at a time when few Vipassana teachers did. “Sayagyi” itself is simply a Burmese term of respect for a senior teacher, not a formal title he gave himself.
The Businessman Who Almost Gave Up
In 1955, a Burmese-Indian businessman named S.N. Goenkaji asked to join one of U Ba Khin’s courses. Goenkaji wanted relief from severe migraines that no doctor could cure. U Ba Khin turned him away at first. He told Goenkaji that coming only to cure a physical illness would devalue the technique, and that he should come instead to work on his mind, with any physical relief following on its own.
Goenkaji thought it over for months before agreeing. He studied under U Ba Khin for the next 14 years. On June 20, 1969, U Ba Khin formally authorized Goenkaji to teach, and Goenkaji carried the technique to India days later, a story covered in our piece on how Vipassana returned to India.
A Quiet End
U Ba Khin never traveled outside Burma to teach. He died in Rangoon on January 19, 1971, at age 71, having spent his last years exactly as he spent his working life: at his desk in the morning, and on the meditation cushion in the evening.
He is remembered today less for any single famous teaching, and more for proving something simple by example. A person can hold real responsibility in the world and still keep a serious inner practice alive. He never had to choose one over the other.
Related reading:
- How Goenkaji’s Discourses Were Translated Into Other Languages Over Time
- How the Assistant Teacher System Actually Began
Want to actually learn Vipassana? This article is independent, informal writing, not official teaching. The technique itself is taught only at free, residential 10-day courses run by the Vipassana Research Institute in the tradition of Goenkaji. You can find a course near you at dhamma.org.
