International Meditation Centres (Sayagyi U Ba Khin tradition)

The International Meditation Centres (IMC) teach Vipassana in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as it was handed on by his disciple Mother Sayamagyi (Daw Mya Thwin). IMC shares its roots with S. N. Goenka's courses but is a separate organisation, and it runs its courses differently: a live teacher gives the talks and daily interviews, the concentration stage lasts about five days, and there is a suggested donation.

This page describes the tradition from what IMC publishes. The technique itself is taught on a course.

Where it comes from

Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899–1971) learnt meditation from Saya Thetgyi, a lay student of Ledi Sayadaw, while working as a government accountant in Burma. In 1952 he founded the International Meditation Centre in Rangoon (Yangon), and designed and built its Light of the Dhamma Pagoda as a place to meditate. IMC credits him with designing the ten-day course and a technique that lay people could learn. He taught students from many countries. Spirit Rock names Ruth Denison (1922–2015) as his most prominent Western student; she later taught at the Insight Meditation Society and at Spirit Rock.

Mother Sayamagyi (1925–2017), whom IMC calls his foremost disciple, practised and taught with him from 1953 until his death in 1971. She taught at IMC Rangoon until 1978, when she and her husband, Sayagyi U Chit Tin (1918–2001), left Burma to fulfil U Ba Khin's wish that meditation be taught in the West. A permanent centre in England, Splatts House at Heddington in Wiltshire, was bought in 1979 and opened as IMC UK in 1980. Mother Sayamagyi went on to establish centres in several countries, five of them with a pagoda for meditation, and she died at IMC UK on 28 January 2017.

IMC's courses are now led by teachers in her tradition. Roger Bischoff, whom IMC calls her leading disciple, lives at IMC UK, leads most of the courses there and teaches in other countries. Saya U Khin Zaw leads a monthly course at IMC Yangon, and other regional teachers lead courses in Australia, Austria, the United States and elsewhere.

What happens on an IMC course

The ten-day course follows the three trainings of sīla (morality), samādhi (concentration) and paññā (wisdom), which IMC presents as the Noble Eightfold Path in practice. See The three trainings.

• Morality. Students keep five precepts for the course, with total celibacy in place of the usual rule on sexual conduct.
• Concentration. For the first five days students practise ānāpāna, with attention resting on a spot at the base of the nose, aware of the in-breath and the out-breath. IMC's own description says that, little by little, conscious awareness of breathing falls away and the student becomes mindful only of a small point of light and warmth.
• Wisdom. For the rest of the course students practise Vipassana. IMC describes this as turning attention inward to observe the changing physical and mental components of oneself, and their unsatisfactory and non-self nature.

IMC's public pages do not set out how the Vipassana stage is practised step by step, and whether its details match Goenka's courses is not something this site could confirm. It is learnt from the teacher on the course.

The course guidelines ask students to give up their previous practices and all spiritual activities for the length of the course, and not to wear or bring spiritual objects or reading material. Students keep noble silence among themselves but may speak to the teacher and staff at any time. There are daily interviews, in which each student gets personal guidance and is asked to give an accurate account of their experience.

The day starts with a 4 am wake-up and ends at 9 pm. It has a morning discourse at 5:30, an evening discourse at 6, three hour-long group sittings in the hall, and individual instruction every morning.

How IMC differs from Goenka's courses

Both organisations present themselves as continuing U Ba Khin's teaching, and they run independently of each other. As their own pages describe them in 2026:

	IMC	Goenka (dhamma.org)
Who teaches	A live teacher gives the discourses and daily interviews	Assistant teachers conduct courses using Goenka's recorded instructions and talks
Concentration stage	About five days of Anapana, on a spot at the base of the nose	About three and a half days, observing the natural breath at the nostrils
Money	Suggested donation (£300 at IMC UK) for food and lodging	No charge; donations accepted only from students who have finished a course
Minimum stay	Newcomers normally accepted for at least three days	Every student commits to the full course
How it describes itself	Buddhist Vipassana meditation	Non-sectarian and not a religion
Lineage after U Ba Khin	Mother Sayamagyi and Sayagyi U Chit Tin	S. N. Goenka
Size	Six centres, plus contacts and courses in other countries	272 centres and 135 non-centre sites (September 2026)

The different self-descriptions reflect how each organisation presents its teaching; neither is a criticism of the other. Both courses begin with precepts and a period of breath concentration before turning to insight, and both ask students to set other practices aside while they are on the course.

Retreats and cost

Ten-day residential courses are usually held once a month at IMC UK. They start on a Friday evening and end early on a Monday morning.

IMC says there has never been a charge for the Buddha's teaching, but it suggests a donation of £300 for a ten-day course at IMC UK, which goes towards the cost of food and accommodation. First-time students are normally accepted only if they can stay at least three days, since IMC says it takes that long for the benefits to become evident. It is also possible to come for just the first weekend and practise the first two steps, morality and concentration.

To apply, students read the course guidelines, choose a date, and fill in IMC UK's printable application form, then post it or email a scan. Applications for courses outside the UK go to the IMC contact in that country. Students from outside Myanmar who want to sit a course at IMC Yangon send their form to IMC UK, which forwards it to the teacher there.

Where to learn it

The global IMC site lists six International Meditation Centres:

• IMC Yangon, Myanmar: the original centre, with a monthly course led by Saya U Khin Zaw
• IMC UK, Heddington, Wiltshire: opened in 1980, its pagoda dedicated in 1989
• IMC Western Australia, Mundaring: first course in March 1981
• IMC USA, Westminster, Maryland
• IMC New South Wales, Sunshine: first course in November 1990
• IMC Austria, St Michael ob der Gurk

IMC's course calendar for 2026 and 2027 also lists courses in Cambodia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, and weekend courses in Germany. Its contact list has no entry for Nepal as of September 2026; it gives a contact in India, where course dates were still to be announced.

In Nepal, U Ba Khin's line is taught through S. N. Goenka's centres: see Goenka (U Ba Khin) and Vipassana centres in Nepal.