Satya Narayan Goenka

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S. N. Goenka (* 30th January 1924 in Mandalay , British India (now Myanmar ); † 29. September 2013 in Mumbai , India ), usually only S. N. Goenka called, was a leading teacher of Vipassana - Meditation .

Life

S. N. Goenka was born in Mandalay to Indian parents and grew up as a Hindu . From early adulthood he became a successful businessman and leader of the Indian community of Burma. When he was looking for a way to get rid of his recurring, violent migraines , he came into contact with Sayagyi U Ba Khin . In the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of Burma's top state officials and also the founder of a meditation center in Rangoon . Subsequently Goenka studied Vipassana meditation under U Ba Khin for 14 years.

In 1969 Goenka moved to India with his wife and began teaching Vipassana courses there. Dhammagiri, north of Mumbai (Bombay), was founded in 1976 as the first center for this technology . Since then, Goenka has led hundreds of meditation courses in Asia, Europe and the USA and has accompanied the establishment and development of more than 130 other meditation centers around the world, which exclusively serve to spread Vipassana meditation. The first course in Vipassana in Germany took place in 1983.

The Global Vipassana Pagoda near Gorai

At the end of the 1990s, S. N. Goenka initiated the project of the Global Vipassana Pagoda , the cornerstone of which was laid outside Mumbai in 1997 and which was completed in 2008. More than 8,000 people can meditate at the same time in this traditional-style pagoda . With a diameter of almost one hundred meters (280 feet ) and height (325 feet), it is the world's largest self-supporting dome structure made of natural stone.

Goenka was of the opinion that the Buddha did not teach religion , but Dharma , the way to universal liberation. Accordingly, the teaching he represents would be open to everyone, regardless of their beliefs and denominations . He saw it as his task to spread the Buddha's teaching in today's India and beyond all over the world and saw himself as a restorer of an original Buddhism. Vipassana should show people a possible way to get rid of their suffering.

In 2012 Satya Narayan Goenka was awarded the Padma Bhushan , the third highest civil order in India.

literature

  • William Hart: The Art of Living - Vipassana Meditation according to SN Goenka. dtv, Munich 2006. ISBN 978-3-423-34338-1 .
  • SN Goenka: Meditation Now - Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom. Vipassana Research Institute, Seattle 2002. ISBN 978-1-928706-23-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Vipassana guru SN Goenka passes away at 90" , The Himalayan Times , accessed October 10, 2013
  2. ^ "The historical background of Vipassana" (PDF 15 kB), events.dhamma.org, accessed on April 18, 2010
  3. ↑ Information on globalpagoda.org (English), accessed on September 30, 2013

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Goenka, Satya Narayan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goenkaji; Goenka, SN
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian teacher of Vipassana meditation
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Mandalay , Burma Province , British India
DATE OF DEATH 29th September 2013
Place of death Mumbai , India