What Is a “Mahāsi-Style” Retreat?

It’s funny because that’s a term that we’ve started using at IMS relatively recently. But in fact, most mindfulness meditation that we encounter in the west is “Mahāsi style” to some extent. Munindra, who was an important teacher for Joseph Goldstein, Kamala Masters, and other senior teachers at IMS, was trained by Mahāsi Sayadaw. Dipa Ma, another important teacher, trained at the Mahāsi Center in Yangon. On our upcoming retreat, our group of teachers all practiced with and were very influenced by Sayadaw U Pandita, another meditation master trained by Mahāsi Sayadaw. The influence of Mahāsi Sayadaw’s style of meditation has propagated throughout the western mindfulness movement, but most people who practice mindfulness have never heard his name.

Does what a “Mahāsi -style retreat” entails depend on the teacher, or teachers, leading the retreat?

It can, yes, because Mahāsi Sayadaw’s influence has filtered down through so many different channels and taken so many different forms. For me, this means going back to the source and offering teachings and guidance that are based directly on what Mahāsi Sayadaw himself taught. We received a practical understanding of that from our own Asian teachers, and have a great resource in the Manual of Insight. But we’ve also seen how teachings from a Burmese monk born in the Victorian era are more accessible and useful to 21^st century western practitioners when they are translated into modern language and adapted to modern experience. Our goal is to keep the essence of Mahāsi’s approach, which is still so brilliant and effective, but to present it in a way that works for us now.

In general, what distinguishes a Mahāsi-style meditation retreat from other retreats?

Mahāsi Sayadaw tailored his style of meditation specifically so that laypeople, with limited free time, could access levels of insight historically only available to monastics. So, he instructed us to jump right in with careful attention to a “primary object” of meditation – the breath when sitting, and the steps when walking. He also developed the “noting” tool – applying a soft mental note to help us recognize the nature of our experience in the moment. These aspects will be familiar to many mindfulness meditators. But, on a Mahāsi-style retreat, there will likely be more emphasis on continuity of awareness throughout the day, and on connecting with experience in a non-conceptual way. What do we really feel in the body? What do we see playing out in the mind and heart moment by moment? By applying our attention in this way, we can come to see the elemental nature of experience, the tiny building blocks that make up what we call “Me.” We learn to see what lies beneath the conceptual level of ordinary experience, which in turn leads to deeper wisdom. This type of retreat can give new meditators a strong foundation on which to build their practice, and experienced meditators a vehicle to take their practice to the next level.

When did you first start practicing in the Mahāsi style, and what was your experience like?

I would say I started practicing the Mahāsi method when I attended my first Three-Month Retreat at IMS decades ago, although I didn’t know it at the time. I had done some classes and retreats before that. But at the Three-Month I received instructions for very careful and continuous noting from my Western teachers who had studied with Mahāsi teachers. It was difficult, but it had a huge effect on my practice. When I later went to Myanmar to practice with Burmese teachers, I already had a good foundation, but I was expected to be even more diligent and committed. It was grueling at first but became easier as I went along and learned how to shift into the non-conceptual way of seeing things. You learn to see everything through a different lens that is clearer, freer, gentler. That is “the sure heart’s release,” which is the title of the IMS retreat we’re doing in August. It’s a powerful letting go in the heart that comes from seeing impermanence on a much deeper level. Seeing that there’s nothing you can hang on to, and that there’s no one to hang on anyway.

Anything else folks should know about the Mahāsi style, or the retreat you’re co-leading in August?

Mahāsi Sayadaw believed completely in the ability of ordinary people like us to experience transformative insight, and we believe that too! It’s terrific that there is fresh interest arising to experience the style of practice that the founders of IMS did. It’s important to keep that connection with our roots and lineage, even as so much innovation and flowering of mindfulness is happening in the west. We’ve been teaching Mahāsi-style retreats for a few years now, and it’s such a delight. It’s wonderful to be able to share what we learned from our teachers. And, so many people say they really benefit. They say they gain a much clearer and fuller understanding of the path of practice, and are able to access new and deeper levels of insight. We hope people will join us in August to explore the teachings of our dharma “great-grandfather,” Mahāsi Sayadaw.