# A Biography and Bibliography of Ledi Sayādaw

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**Created:** [April 9, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/a-biography-and-bibliography-of-ledi-sayadaw/1776 "2025-04-09T16:50:40Z")\
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**Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/a-biography-and-bibliography-of-ledi-sayadaw/1776/1 "2025-04-09T16:50:40Z")

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**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](https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp426s_Ledi_Manual-Of-Light.pdf)]

Renaldo

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**Author:** ![renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/renaldo/32/2033_2.png) [@renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/renaldo)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/a-biography-and-bibliography-of-ledi-sayadaw/1776/2 "2025-04-09T16:56:12Z")

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**BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LEDI SAYĀDAW**

Below are some of the ṭīkās, manuals, essays, and letters written by  
the Venerable Ledi Sayādaw.

IN PĀLI  
Anattavibhāvanā (Explanation of Not Self)  
Aṇu-Dīpanī (Manual of Atoms)  
Exposition of Buddhism for the West  
London Pā¿i Devi Pucchā Visajjanā (Questions and Answers by  
the Pā¿i Lady in London [i.e., Mrs. Rhys Davids])  
Nirutti Dīpanī (Manual of Philology) or Vuttimoggallāna Ṭīkā  
(Subcommentary on the “Gloss of the Moggallāna Grammar”)  
Niyāma Dīpanī (Manual of Cosmic Order)\*  
Padhāna Sutta (Sutta on Putting Forth Effort [Pā¿i and word for  
word meanings])  
Paramattha Dīpanī (Manual of Ultimate Truths) or  
Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha Mahā Ṭīkā (Great Subcommentary  
on the Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma)  
Paṭṭhānuddesa Dīpanī (Manual of Conditional Relations)\* \*\*  
Sammādiṭṭhi Dīpanī (Manual of Right View)\*  
Sāsanasampatti Dīpanī (Manual of Success in the Dispensation)  
Sāsanavipatti Dīpanī (Manual of Regress in the Dispensation)  
Vaccavācaka Ṭīkā (Subcommentary on Reciting/Teaching Words)  
Vibhatyattha Ṭīkā (Subcommentary on Inflection)  
Vipassanā Dīpanī (Manual of Insight)\* \*\*  
Yamaka Pucchā Visajjanā (Questions and Answers on the Book of  
Relations)  
IN BURMESE  
Āhāra Dīpanī (Manual of Nutritive Essence)  
Alaṅkāra Saṅkhitta (Brief Manual of Prosody)  
Alin-kyan (Manual of the Five Kinds of Light)\* \*\*  
Ānapāna Dīpanī (Manual of Breathing)\*\*  
Anatta Dīpanī (Manual of Not Self)  
Asaṅkhāra-Sasaṅkhāra-vinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision  
on the Conditioned and Unconditioned)  
Bhāvanā Dīpanī (Manual of Mental Development)  
Bodhipakkhiya Dīpanī (Manual of the Factors Leading to  
Enlightenment)\*  
Catusacca Dīpanī (Manual of the Four Noble Truths)\*  
Cetiyaṅgaṇa-vinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on the  
Factors of the Stupa)  
Dānādi Dīpanī (Manual of Generosity, etc.)  
Ājīvaṭṭhamaka Sīla Vinicchaya (Decision on the Eight Precepts)  
Vikālabhojana-sikkhāpada Vinicchaya (Decision on the Training  
Rule of Eating at the Wrong Time)  
Dhamma Dīpanī (Manual of Dhamma)  
Dīghāsana-vinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on Long  
Seats)  
Gambhīra-kabyā-kyan (Manual of Profound Verses)  
Goṇasurā Dīpanī (Manual of Cows and Alcohol)  
Iṇaparibhoga-vinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on Debt  
and Wealth)  
Kammaṭṭhāna Dīpanī (Manual of Meditation-subjects)  
Lakkhaṇa Dīpanī (Manual of Characteristics of Existence)  
Ledi Pucchā-visajjanā (Questions and Answers of Ledi Sayādaw)  
Maggaṅga Dīpanī (Manual of the Constituents of the Noble Path)\* \*\*  
Mahāsayana Dīpanī (Manual of the Great Seat)  
Nibbāna Dīpanī (Manual of Nibbāna)  
Nibbāna-pucchā-visajjanā Dīpanī (Manual with Questions and  
Answers on Nibbāna)  
Niyāma Dīpanī (Manual of Cosmic Order)  
Paramattha Saṅkhitta (Brief Manual of Ultimate Reality)  
Pāramī Dīpanī (Manual of Perfections)  
Paṭiccasamuppāda Dīpanī (Manual of Dependent Origination)  
Rūpa-Saṅkhitta (Brief Manual of Material Qualities)  
Sotāpanna-pucchā-visajjanā (Answers on the Stream-enterer)  
Rogantara Dīpanī (Manual of the Disappearance of Disease)  
Rūpa Dīpanī (Manual of Material Qualities)  
Saccattha Dīpanī (Manual of the Meaning of Truth)  
Sadda Saṅkhitta (Brief Manual of Words)  
Saraṇagamaṇa-vinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on  
Going for Refuge)  
ya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on the  
Higher Acceptance into the Saṅgha)  
Uttamapurisa Dīpanī (Manual of the Excellent Man)\*\*  
Vijjāmagga Dīpanī (Manual of the Path to Higher Knowledge)\*\*  
Vinaya Saṅkhitta (Brief Manual on Discipline)  
Virati-sīlavinicchaya Dīpanī (Manual of the Decision on the Virtue  
of Abstinence)  
Admonitory letter prohibiting Lotteries and Gambling  
Admonitory letter to the inhabitants of Dipeyin Township for  
abstention from taking intoxicants  
Admonitory letter to U Saing, headman of Saingpyin Village for  
abstention from taking intoxicants  
An Advice to hold a Lighting Festival at the Bo Tree within the  
precincts of Ledi Monastery, Monywa  
Brief Manual on Spelling  
Brief Manual on Alphabets  
Inscription at Sīhataw Pagoda, written by the Ledi Sayādaw at the  
request of U Hmat  
Letter of reply to U Ba Bwa, Township Officer of Dedaye, saying  
that he could not go on a pilgrimage to Ceylon that year  
Letter to U Hmat, a Ruby Merchant of Mogok  
Open letter for abstention from taking beef  
Verses on Saṃvega

The English translations of the works marked once (\*) are printed  
in a single volume: The Manuals of Buddhism and published by:  
The Deputy Director, at the Religious Affairs Dept. Press, Yegu,  
Kabā-Aye P.O., Rangoon, Burma and the Vipassana Research  
Institute, Igatpuri, India.  
The works marked twice (\*\*) are (also) published by the BPS.

[[https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp426s\_Ledi\_Manual-Of-Light.pdf](https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp426s_Ledi_Manual-Of-Light.pdf)]

Renaldo