Dhamma Talk by Sayadaw U Thitzana :: 4-Sept

The Buddha often spoke about four states of mind as the four "Brahma-viharas": loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

These four attitudes are said to be excellent or sublime because they are the right or ideal way of conduct towards living beings.

They are called abodes (vihara) because they should become the mind's constant dwelling-places where we feel "at home". They should become our inseparable companions, and we should be mindful of them in all our common activities. As the Metta Sutta, the Song of Loving-kindness, says:

When standing, walking, sitting, lying down,
Whenever he feels free of tiredness
Let him establish well this mindfulness -
This, it is said, is the Divine Abode.

BIOGRAPHY OF SAYADAW U THITZANA
Sayadaw U Thitzana who is currently the Chief Abbot of the Dhammasukha Monastery in Los Angeles, USA was born in December 1951, in a village about 140 miles to the North-West of Mandalay, Upper Myanmar. He entered the monastic order as a young novice in 1960 after completing his elementary education.

Sayadaw mastered Pali at an early age and studied some of the major Buddhist texts under the special guidance of a very well-known and skillful Pali master, Venerable Sayadaw U Kondanna, the Chief Abbot of Kan Oo Monastery at Hlaw-gar village.

Sayadaw later pursued his advanced monastic studies in Tipitaka Buddhist Pāli canonnical texts in the Ma-Soe-Yein Thaik-Thit Monastery in Mandalay , which is a center of Buddhist Studies where nearly three thousand Buddhist monks and young novices receive their monastic education in present day Myanmar.

In 1970, Sayadaw started teaching Pāli courses, Abhidhamma (Buddhist psychology) and scriptures for seven years in this monastery before moving on to Pinsanikāya Sāsanabeikman monastery, Yangon, to take up a leading presiding teacher's role, responsible for teaching Buddhist monks and novices from 1978 to 1995.

Sayadaw holds the title of Dvipitakadhara, a title conferred to him after having passed the exams of Dvipitaka and in memorizing the Vinaya Pitaka & Suttanta Pitaka. Sayadaw also obtained his Sasanadhajasiripavara Dhammacariya degree and was able to memorise five volumes of the Vinaya. Sayadaw passed his Vinayadhara exams when he was still a samanera.

Sayadaw achieved many educational degrees for outstanding achievements conferred by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Myanmar, among which are:
- Sāsanadaza Siripavara Dhammācariya (The equivalent of lecturer in Pāli Language).
- Vinaya Pali Pāragu (an equivalent of Ph.D in Pāli Language)
- Vinaya Dhara, Vinaya Kovida (Master of Vinaya Pitaka Buddhist Texts)
- Dighabhānaka , Dighanikāya Kovida (Master of Suttanta Pitaka Texts)
- Ābhidhammika , Ābhidhamma Kovida (the Master of Abhidhamma Texts)

From 1973, Sayadaw had taken up intensive meditation in the Mahāsi meditation center under the guidance of the late Venerable Sayādaw U Sujāta and Venerable Shwe-taung-gone Sayādaw U Pandita. He also learnt ānāpānasati under Venerable Sun Lun Sayādaw and Kani Shwe-Thein-Daw Sayādaw.

Since May 1995, Sayadaw is based in United States where he has established a Buddhist temple in Southern California. Presently Sayadaw conducts Vipassana meditation retreats, Buddhist sudies, Pāli grammar courses in Canada , California and Florida.