Biography S. N. Goenka
Born in Mandalay, Burma to Indian parents, Goenka was raised a Hindu and, as an adult, became an industrialist and leader of the Burmese Indian community. After developing an interest in meditation in an effort to overcome chronic migraines, he began studying with U Ba Khin, a senior civil servant in the newly independent Burmese government. U Ba Khin was a renowned meditation teacher who had played an important role in the Sixth Buddhist Council of 1954-1956 and was one of the leaders of a Vipassana-centered reform movement that had exerted a positive influence on standards in public life. U Ba Khin had a number of students who teach U Ba Khin's style of vipassana meditation. Goenka became U Ba Khin's most prominent student and went on to found an international network of teaching centers, based at Dhammagiri in India. U Ba Khin's original center continues to function in Rangoon, Burma, guided by Mother Sayamagyi, along with 6 branch centres around the world.
Goenka is a prolific orator, writer and a poet. He writes in English, Hindi and Rajasthani languages. He has traveled widely and lectured to audiences worldwide including at the World Economic Forum, Davos, in the year 2000 and at the “Millennium World Peace Summit” at the United Nations in August, 2000. For four months in 2002, he undertook the Meditation Now Tour of North America.
Goenka has envisioned a nearly 100-meter-tall Global Pagoda to serve as an inspiration for spreading vipassana meditation around the world. The construction is in progress as of 2008
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