Sayalay Dipankara

Sayalay Daw Dipankara Theri was born in 1964 in Myanmar. At a young age, Sayalay started the meditation practice without external instruction. As she matured, she continued her practice but with guidance from various great meditation masters. She accomplished the practice within a very short period, under the guidance of her skilful teacher, Ven. Pak-Auk Sayadaw.

In 1990, she was ordained as a Buddhist nun at Pak-Auk Tawya Monastery, Myanmar. Since then, she was trained to be a meditation teacher. Sayalay Dipankara is experienced in teaching any of the 40 Kamatthana as mentioned in the Visuddhi Magga (e.g. Anapanasati, Four Elements Meditation, Metta, Buddhanussati, Asubha, Marananussati and 8 Samapatti (1st to 8th Jhana), Kasina meditation, etc) and Vipassana Meditation.

In 1996, she was invited to Sri Lanka by the highly respected Mahathera, Venerable U Ariya Dhamma to assist her teacher, Ven. Pak-Auk Sayadaw in guiding the yogis. Since then for 25 years till present, she has been invited by various Buddhist Centres to conduct talks and intensive meditation retreats in different countries such as USA, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, England, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Australia, Vietnam etc.

In 2000, Sayalay founded Cakkavala Meditation Centre in Singapore and is the spiritual advisor of the centre till the present.

In 2001, while Sayalay was in England, the Oxford University and the Manchester University invited her for discussion on mind training. Sayalay was also invited for the Western Conference on Jhana at Jubilados Foundation/Leigh Brasington, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2006, Sayalay founded Brahma Vihari Meditation Centre (Myanmar) to conduct longer meditation retreats for local and international meditators. Sayalay is also the founder and abbess of three other international Brahma Vihari Meditation Centres in Muar (Malaysia), Penang (Malaysia) and Subang (Indonesia).

On 20th March 2019, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture (Myanmar) and the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar conferred upon Sayalay Daw Dipankara Theri the hononary title of "Great International Meditation Master (Mahakammaṭṭhānacariyā)" in recognition of her extensive Dhamma teachings worldwide for the benefit of all.

On 4th January 2021, the President of the Republic of Myanmar conferred her with another highly distinguished title: "Great Expounder of the True Dhamma (Mahā Saddhamma Jotikadhaja)".

燃灯禅师于1964年出生在缅甸。禅师年幼时就已经在无人指导下自行禅修了。后来继续修习，期间并得到过许多资深的禅修大师指导。然而在帕奥大长老的指导下，她在很短的时间内修完了禅修所有课程。

1990年，她在缅甸毛淡敏帕奥禅林总院出家，受训成为禅修指导老师。燃灯禅师对于清净道论里的40种业处（如入出吸，四界分别观，慈心观，佛随念，不净观，死随念，四禅八定，遍禅等）和观禅等具有丰富的教学经验。

于1996年，燃灯禅师并受到圣法大长老的邀请，到斯里兰卡协助帕奥禅师指导禅修。至今25年里，她受到了很多国家的各个佛教中心邀请，在美国、德国、意大利、加拿大、日本、英国、台湾、香港、韩国、中国、马来西亚、印度尼西亚、新加坡、斯里兰卡、澳大利亚、越南等不同国家主持禅修营和开示佛法。

禅师于2000年在新加坡成立了Cakkavala禅修中心，至今仍是该中心的禅修导师。

2001年燃点禅师在英国时，被牛津大学和曼彻斯特大学邀请来讨论心灵训练。另外，位于墨西哥圣塔菲德Jhana西部研讨会也有邀请燃点禅师来到Jubilados基金会（Leigh Brasington）。

于2006年，禅师在缅甸的眉缪成立了梵住国际禅修中心，更方便于为本地和国际禅修者举办更长的禅修营。并且，禅师也是麻坡（马来西亚），槟城（马来西亚）和梳邦（印度尼西亚）三个国际梵住禅院的创始人和禅修指导导师。

在2019年3月20日，缅甸的宗教事务文化部和缅甸联邦共和国政府并授予燃灯禅师荣誉名衔「大业处导师」，以此表彰她25年来在世界各地广泛弘扬佛法的教学工作，以及为佛教事业做出的伟大贡献。

2021年1月4日，燃点禅师被缅甸总统授予「正法大讲师」之荣誉。