A DISCOURSE ON THE ANATTALAKKHAṆA SUTTA – MAHĀSI SAYĀDAW

A DISCOURSE ON THE ANATTALAKKHAṆA SUTTA

MAHĀSI SAYĀDAW

Editor’s Preface
This discourse by the late Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw was given in twelve talks over a period from the New Moon of June to the Full Moon of September 1963. An edition was published in 1996 by the Buddhadhamma Foundation in Bangkok (ISBN 9789747890525). It was edited by Bruce Evans, an Ausalian who was formerly a bhikkhu (Ajahn Puriso) at Wat Pah Nanachat, so there was no urgent
need for me to repeat the task in my own style.

However, that book is not easily available. Searching the Internet reveals only a few second-hand copies for sale. I don’t know of any copy of that edition available online for reference or reading on a computer. That being the case, I have edited the original English edition published by the Buddha Sāsanānuggaha Organization in 1983, which was available as a PDF file.

That PDF edition uses the ANSI fonts that I developed in the days before Unicode, so searching for Pāḷi words in it is impractical, even if they were correctly spelt, which is often not the case. I have done
my usual editorial work of reducing excessive use of Pāḷi where it is not helpful, and restoring the correct original Pāḷi of the Sutta or Commentary where it is. To make a useful English book from twelve
long discourses originally given in Burmese, is a major undertaking.

I hope I have retained the essential meaning of the Sayādaw’s valuable teachings in the process. Those familiar with his teachings and the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna Vipassanā meditation will derive great benefit from reading these discourses carefully to stimulate and guide their meditation practice.