The Principal Teacher 

The Most Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadawgyi Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa

("the Sayadaw"), is the principal teacher of Pa-Auk Group Monastery,  (Sayadawgyi is a Burmese honorific title meaning "the most respected teacher").

Born in 1934, the Sayadawgyi was ordained as a novice monk (sāmaṇera) at age ten. He studied the Pāli Texts under various teachers and passed the three Pāli language examinations while still a novice. At age twenty, the Sayadawgyi received higher ordination as a bhikkhu. He continued his studies of Pāli Texts under learned elder monks, and passed the Dhammacariya examinations at age twenty two. This is the equivalent to BA in Buddhist Pali Studies and it confers the title of "Dhamma Teacher".

In 1964, the Sayadawgyi intensified his meditation practice and began to practise "forest dwelling". While he continued with his studies of the Pāli Texts and investigation into the Dhamma, he sought out and gained instructions from revered meditation teachers of those times.

In 1981, the Sayadawgyi became Abbot of Pa-Auk Forest Monastery, at the invitation of Venerable Aggapañña (the previous Abbot). Since 1983, both monastics and laity have been coming to study and practise meditation under the Sayadaw. Foreign meditators began to arrive at the Monastery in the early 1990's.

In 1997 the Sayadawgyi published his magnum opus, a massive five-volume work titled The Practice that Leads to Nibbāna, explaining the entire course of teaching in detail and supported by copious quotations from the Pāli Texts The Sayadaw’s teachings have been published (in English ) in several books which are highly regarded internationally.  (https://sites.google.com/pamc.org.sg/ebookpaauksayadaw)

The Sayadawgyi is both a highly esteemed Dhammācariya (Dhamma Teacher) and an accomplished Kammaṭṭhānācariya (Meditation Teacher). He speaks fluent English and has lectured and led retreats in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Germany, UK and USA.

In public recognition of his achievements, the government of Myanmar bestowed upon him the title "Agga Mahā Kammaṭṭhānācariya", which means "Most Highly Respected Meditation Teacher" in 1999. In 2009, the Sayadawgyi was bestowed the title of "Shwekyin Nikāya Rattaññūmahānāyaka" at the 17th Shwekyin Nikaya Saṅgha Conferencce in Myanmar.