Thae Inn Gu Sayadaw

Thae Inn Gu Sayadaw (1913–1974) was a Burmese Theravāda Buddhist monk and meditation teacher. He was known for his dedication to Vipassanā practice and the founding of Theinngu Vipassanā Kammaṭṭhāna Monastery in Hmawbi Township, Yangon Region.

Early life

Thae Inn Gu Sayadaw was born in March 1913 in Nyaung Kone Village, Hmawbi Township, Yangon Region, the third of seven siblings in the family of Thaw Dar and Me Ant.^[1] He attended local monastic schools but left after reaching basic literacy in Burmese script.^[1]

At the age of fifteen, he married and lived as a layman for several decades. In his mid-forties he encountered the biography of Sunlun Sayadaw, which deeply inspired him to pursue a religious life.^[1]

Religious practice

On 21 September 1959, he began practicing Satipaṭṭhāna meditation in his native village. According to traditional accounts, through intensive effort he attained successive stages of spiritual realization, culminating in what followers regard as attainment of the Third Path by March 1960.^[1]

In the same year, he accepted lay sponsorship and was ordained as a bhikkhu under Bhaddanta Pannindaya at Nyaung Kone Monastery, receiving the monastic name U Ukkatha.^[1]

He continued meditation practice and, in the tradition of his followers, was believed to have realized the Fourth Path on 18 May 1961 at the home of a lay supporter in Hmawbi.^[1] Shortly thereafter, on 15 July 1961, he established the Theinngu Vipassanā Kammaṭṭhāna Monastery at Pyinthan Taung Hill, east of Nyaung Kone village, which became a center for lay and monastic meditation practice.^[2]

Teachings and reputation

Sayadaw was known for delivering Dhamma instructions in straightforward Burmese that appealed to lay practitioners.^[3]

Local traditions hold that he possessed extraordinary abilities, such as reading the thoughts of others and foretelling future events. Among the predictions attributed to him were the construction of the Hmawbi highway and the arrival of electricity in the region, both of which later occurred.^[1] Reports of miraculous events, including levitation in deep jhāna, are also part of his hagiographical legacy.^[4]

Death

Thae Inn Gu Sayadaw died in 1974 at the age of 61, after 12 vassas (rains retreats) in the monastic order. He passed away on the 9th waxing of Waso 1335 ME (1974) at 4:45 PM, and his followers regard his death as an entry into parinibbāna.^[1]

Legacy

The Theinngu Vipassanā Monastery that he founded continues to operate as a meditation center, drawing practitioners from across Myanmar.^[5] His teachings remain influential among lay Buddhists who emphasize direct meditative experience.