Their story
Satya Narayan Goenka was born in 1924 in Mandalay, Burma, into a wealthy Indian Hindu business family, and became a successful industrialist.
Seeking relief from severe migraines, in 1955 he attended a meditation course with Sayagyi U Ba Khin, a senior government official and lay teacher in the lineage of Ledi Sayadaw. He studied with him for fourteen years.
In 1969 he went to India, initially to teach his ill mother, and began holding ten-day residential courses. He taught for the rest of his life, founding Dhamma Giri at Igatpuri in 1976 and inspiring the Global Vipassana Pagoda near Mumbai, opened in 2009. He died in 2013.
The world they lived in
In the late 20th century, interest in meditation grew rapidly across India and the West, often outside traditional religious settings.
Their contribution
He taught vipassanā as a universal, non-sectarian technique, in standardised ten-day silent courses offered without charge and funded by donations from former students.
Teachings and works
Recorded discourses
The evening talks played at every ten-day course, summarised in William Hart's The Art of Living.
Related teachings
Their legacy
Centres following his method operate in more than ninety countries, and courses are held in prisons, notably at Tihar Jail in Delhi from 1994.
History and tradition
What history can establish
His life is fully documented.
