SunLun Sayardaw
Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya (August 5, 1914 - October 6, 2012) was the presiding Abbot of Kaba-Aye Sunlun Meditation Monastery in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Early life
Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya, known as U Hla Pe until his ordination, was born on Wednesday, 5 August 1914, in a village named Pyor Bwe-Gyi of Da-la Township. He was the seventh of nine children. His family moved to Yangon when he was three years old. At the age of five, he attended the Myoma National School for elementary and secondary education. He then studied at Yangon University and graduated in 1933 with a B.A. degree with majors in the Pali and Myanmar languages. After graduation, he went through Public Health Inspection Training and studied at Cralon Diploma College for Accountancy. He worked as an assistant accountant at a bank for a year, and later set up a business in trading. He worked as a banker until 1950, when he heard of the Sunlun group and began to register.
Ordination as Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya
In 1952, U Hla Pe joined a group traveling from Yangon to Myingyan for the inauguration of the Samsara-Aye Ceti pagoda. This newly constructed pagoda was the place where the body of the late Sunlun Sayadaw U Kawi of Myingyan, the founder of Sunlun Meditation Method, would be entombed in a decorated glass case. Kawi had performed the act of parinibbana in 1952, and as a result, his body was reported to have not decomposed, but instead exuded a pleasant odor.
There were many ceremonies in the inauguration, one of which was a drawing where the winner would be ordained as a monk. U Hla Pe won the draw. At the age of thirty-eight, on 22 March 1953, he was ordained to become a monk at Bauk-taw Sunlun Meditation Monastery in Yangon, changing his name to Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya. Thereafter, he traveled to Myingyan to practice the method in solitude for three years.
Establishment of Sunlun monasteries
After he returned to Yangon in 1956, Vinaya began to teach Sunlun Meditation at a residence belonging to Working People’s Daily chief editor U Khin Maung Latt and author and journalist Daw Khin Myo Chit. Retreats were held every Sunday and during the Burmese New Year period. After 1960, due to an increasing number of people coming to meditate, the New Year retreats were moved to a nearby sports stadium of the Yangon Institute of Education.
In 1966, four acres of land were purchased to establish the Kaba-Aye Monastery at 7th Mile, Pyay Road, Yangon. It officially opened in 1969 with Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya as the presiding abbot.
In 1977, a Sunlun meditation Group formed in Upper Burma to practice the method regularly, with Sayadaw leading retreats annually in December. In December 1985, the Chauk Pa-daung Sunlun Monastery was established in that location as a branch of the Kaba-Aye Monastery.
There had also been small groups of people practicing Sunlun meditation in Mogok. In 2004, another branch was formed in Mogok, and the Mogok Sunlun Monastery officially opened in March 2005.
Proselytization
Vinaya traveled to several countries to preach the Sunlun Vipassana Meditation Method, often accompanied by the vice-presiding abbot of Kaba-Aye Sunlun Monastery, Sayadaw U Wara. Their destinations included Thailand, Singapore, and India.
He visited Hong Kong in March 1981, 1987, March 1998 and 1999. After his 1987 visit, several practitioners including Dr. Myo Thaw, Dr. Thynn Thynn and Dr. Susan Lee formed a small Sunlun meditation group at Dr. Lee's residence. Under Vinaya's guidance, the group expanded into a number of small groups throughout Hong Kong. Since 1988, the group has gone for retreats at Kaba-Aye Sunlun Monastery in Yangon, Myanmar every year between October and November for intensive meditation under Sayadaw’s guidance. In 2003, Vinaya helped form Hong Kong's Sunlun Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Association Ltd.
During his lifetime, Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya mainly devoted his energy to preaching meditation. Consequently, he did not leave behind many publications, except for one Sunlun Vipassana Meditation brochure on the meditation method, which he co-authored with two disciples. This brochure was distributed in Myanmar and Hong Kong, available in Chinese and English language versions.
Death
Toward the end of his life, Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya experienced physical impairment, and spent much of his time resting in his residence at the Kaba-Aye Monastery. Day-to-day monastery and meditation activities were managed by Sayadaw U Wara. On October 6, 2012, Sayadaw A Shin Vinaya died at the age of 95. Two days later, his body was put inside the pagoda in the monastery compound for yogis to pay homage.