A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF LEDI SAYĀDAW
Known to scholars of many countries, the Venerable Ledi
Sayādaw, Aggamahāpaṇḍita, D. Litt., was perhaps the outstanding
Buddhist figure of this age. With the increase in interest in
Buddhism in Western lands, there is a great demand for his
Buddhist discourses and writings.
Bhikkhu Ñāṇa who was later known as Ledi Sayādaw was
born on Tuesday, the 13th Waxing of Nattaw, 1208 Burmese Era
(1846 C.E.) at Saing-pyin Village, Dipeyin Township, Shwebo
District. His parents were U Tun Tha and Daw Kyone. Early in life
he was accepted into the Sangha as a sāmaṇera and at the age of 20
as a bhikkhu, under the patronage of Salin Sayādaw U Paṇḍicca.
He received his monastic education under various teachers and
later was trained in Buddhist literature by the Venerable Sankyaung Sayādaw, Sudassana-dhaja-atulādhipati-sīripavaramahādhamma-rājādhi-rāja-guru of Mandalay.
He was a bright student. It was said of him: “About 2000
students attended the lectures delivered daily by the Venerable
Sankyaung Sayādaw. One day the Venerable Sayādaw set in Pā¿i
twenty questions on pāramī (perfections) and asked all the students
to answer them. None of them, except Bhikkhu Ñāṇa, could answer
those questions satisfactorily.” He collected all these answers and
when he attained 14 rains retreats (vassa) and while he was still in
San-kyaung Monastery, he published his first book—the Pārami
Dīpanī (Manual of Perfections).
During the reign of King Theebaw he became a Pā¿i lecturer
at Mahā Jotikārāma Monastery in Mandalay. A year after the
capture of King Theebaw, i.e., in 1887 C.E., he moved to a place to
the north of Monywa Town, where he established a monastery
under the name of Ledi-tawya Monastery. He accepted many
bhikkhu-students from various parts of Burma and imparted
Buddhist education to them. In 1897 C.E., he wrote the Paramattha
Dīpanī (Manual of Ultimate Truths) in Pā¿i.
Later, he toured many parts of Burma for the purpose of
propagating the Buddha Dhamma. In the towns and villages he
visited, he delivered various discourses on the Dhamma and
established Abhidhamma classes and Meditation Centres. He
composed Abhidhamma rhymes or abhidhamma-saṅkhitta and
taught them in his Abhidhamma classes. In some of the principle
towns he spent a vassa, rains-retreat, imparting Abhidhamma and
Vinaya education to lay devotees. There are still monasteries in
Burma, such as Kyaikkasan Ledi Meditation Centre in Rangoon
and Leditawya Monastery, which was established by Ledi
Sayādaw himself near Monywa, where his teachings and
expositions are preserved and continue to be studied.
During his travels he wrote many essays, letters, poems, and
manuals in Burmese. He has written more than seventy manuals
(see bibliography below), of which seven have been translated into
English and published in The Light of the Dhamma journal. The
Vipassanā Dīpanī (Manual of Insight) was translated by his
disciple Sayādaw U Ñāṇa,18 Paṭhamagyaw. The Paṭṭhānuddesa
Dīpanī (A Concise Exposition of the Buddhist Philosophy of
Relations) was originally written in Pā¿i by the late Ledi Sayādaw
and translated by Sayādaw U Ñāṇa. The Niyāma Dīpanī (Manual
of Cosmic Order) was translated by U Ñāṇa and Dr Barua and
edited by Mrs Rhys Davids. The Sammādiṭṭhi Dīpanī (Manual of
Right Understanding) and the Catusacca Dīpanī (Manual of the
Four Noble Truths) and the Alin Kyan (An Exposition of Five
Kinds of Light), translated in part only, were all translated by the
editors of The Light of the Dhamma. Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī
(Manual of the Factors Leading to Enlightenment) was translated
by U Sein Nyo Tun, I.C.S. (Retd.), and the Maggaṅga Dīpanī
(Manual of the Constituents of the Noble Path) was translated by U
Saw Tun Teik, B.A., B.L., and revised and edited by the English
Editorial Board of the Union Buddha Sāsana Council.
In the year 1910, while residing at the Masoyain Monastery
in Mandalay, the Venerable Ledi Sayādaw, together with the
Abhidhaja-mahāraṭṭhaguru Masoyain Sayādaw of Mandalay
(President of the Sixth great Buddhist Council), the Venerable
Sayādaw U Ñāṇa and U Shwe Zan Aung B.A., founded the Burma Buddhist Foreign Mission. This project was carried on by the
Masoyain Sayādaw of Mandalay until the death of his Englisheducated colleague in this undertaking, the Sayādaw U Ñāṇa, who
died about 1936.
Ledi Sayadaw was awarded the title of Aggamahāpaṇḍita by
the Government of India in 1911 C.E. Later, the University of
Rangoon conferred on him the degree of D. Litt. (Honoris Causa).
In his last years he settled down at Pyinmana where he died in 1923
C.E. at the ripe old age of 77.
It is well known that in 1856 King Mindon (1852–1877)
conceived the meritorious idea of having the Pā¿i Tipiṭaka carved
on 729 marble slabs in Maṇḍalay in order that the Teaching might
be preserved. The work took place from 1860 to 1868. It is not so
well known outside Burma, however, that a similar mark of respect
for the works of Venerable Ledi Sayādaw was made by his
supporters in Monywa in Upper Burma after his death. This
recognition and treatment of a Buddhist monk’s works is unique
and it gives some indication of the immense importance attached to
his writings.
The reputation of Ledi Sayādaw still lives on in Burma and in
the Buddhist world. He was a bhikkhu of great learning and a prolific
writer with a unique style of exposition. He was an austere bhikkhu,
yet a very humane one, who would often write a whole treatise or a
long letter in reply to a question asked by a student or listener.
[https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp426s_Ledi_Manual-Of-Light.pdf]
Renaldo