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Goenka (U Ba Khin) · 1924–2013
Burmese-born Indian teacher who took U Ba Khin's Vipassana to India in 1969 and spread free ten-day courses.
S. N. Goenka was a Burmese-born Indian businessman who became a student of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. From 1969 he taught Vipassana in India in ten-day residential courses, and he trained assistant teachers who now conduct courses in his tradition around the world. In Nepal he helped found the first centre in his tradition, Dhamma Shringa, in 1981.
Satya Narayan Goenka was born in 1924 in Mandalay, into an Indian family settled in Burma (Vipassana Research Institute, VRI; Tricycle). He became a successful businessman and industrialist. His wife, Illaichi Devi, was known to his students as "Mataji" (VRI).
Severe migraines led him to U Ba Khin, who at first refused to teach him, because he would not teach meditation "to cure a physical disease" (VRI). Goenka took his first course with U Ba Khin in 1955 according to VRI; Tricycle's obituary puts their first meeting in 1956. He went on to train with U Ba Khin for 14 years (dhamma.org).
Burma's nationalisation of industry in 1963 took over his businesses and ended his career in trade (VRI).
U Ba Khin could not travel abroad, so he sent Goenka to India as his "Dhamma-duta", a messenger of the teaching (VRI). Goenka flew from Yangon to Kolkata in June 1969. His first course ran in Mumbai from 3 to 13 July 1969, with 14 students (VRI Timeline). The first course in English followed at Dalhousie in October 1970.
The courses followed U Ba Khin's ten-day format. Goenka gave his discourses and chanting in Hindi, Rajasthani and English, usually delivered to students as recordings (Tricycle). dhamma.org says there is no charge for the teaching or for room and board, and that teachers receive no payment.
Dhamma Giri, the centre at Igatpuri near Mumbai, officially opened in October 1976 (VRI). The first course outside India was held in France in July 1979 (VRI Timeline). He began training assistant teachers from late 1981 according to VRI, or in 1982 according to dhamma.org; the first course led by an assistant teacher took place at Bodh Gaya in March 1982 (VRI Timeline).
Goenka's Myanmar passport had no endorsement for travel to Nepal. So in November 1975 he held a course for Nepali students at Raxaul, on the Indian side of the border (VRI). His first course in Kathmandu was held at Ananda Kuti Vihara in 1981, for a small group drawn mainly from the business community (VRI; LeVine and Gellner, Rebuilding Buddhism, 2005). An earlier article by LeVine had dated his first visit to 1982.
Two Nepali students, Sahu Maniharsha Jyoti and Yadukumar Siddhi, urged him to teach in Kathmandu. Yadukumar Siddhi gave 3.5 ropanis of land at Budhanilkantha, and Dhamma Shringa, the Nepal Vipassana Center, was founded there in April 1981. VRI calls Maniharsha Jyoti "the main driving force" behind it. The first course at the centre itself was held in 1985, and Goenka personally taught about 2,800 students in Nepal (VRI).
As of September 2026, dhamma.org lists 20 centres in Nepal. The list of centres in Nepal and the article How to join a Vipassana course in Nepal explain how to apply.
He first returned to Myanmar in 1990 (VRI). In April 1994 he led a course for about 1,000 prisoners at Tihar Jail in Delhi; the article Vipassana in prisons tells that story. On 29 August 2000 he addressed the UN Millennium World Peace Summit, and in 2012 the Government of India gave him the Padma Bhushan (dhamma.org).
The Global Vipassana Pagoda near Mumbai was inaugurated on 8 February 2009 (VRI Timeline). It is listed on this site as Global Vipassana Pagoda.
He died at his home in Mumbai at 10:40 pm on 29 September 2013 (VRI). Sources differ on his age: dhamma.org says 89, while VRI and Tricycle say 90.
Courses in his tradition are still conducted by assistant teachers using his recorded instructions and discourses. On 24 September 2026 the dhamma.org directory counted 272 centres and 135 non-centre course locations in over 100 countries and territories. The course itself is described in The 10-day course, day by day, and the method in Vipassana as taught by S. N. Goenka. The centre at Igatpuri where he taught from 1976 is listed at Dhamma Giri.
1846–1923 · Myanmar
Burmese monk-scholar who wrote Dhamma for ordinary readers and opened Vipassana practice to lay people.
1873–1945 · Myanmar
Rice farmer who became one of Burma's first lay Vipassana teachers and taught Sayagyi U Ba Khin.
1899–1971 · Myanmar
Accountant General of Burma and lay teacher who designed the ten-day Vipassana course and taught S. N. Goenka.
