Sayadaw U Uttarañāṇa (U Ottaranyana) was born in Myanmar in 1949. He passed the higher examination in scriptural studies and was awarded several prestigious titles. From 1984 to 1986, he resided at the main Mahasi Meditation Center in Yangon as a practitioner and then as a meditation instructor. In 1992 he was awarded the academic title of Mahāganthavācakapaṇḍita for his religious and academic activities and in 2002, that of Aggamahāganthavācakapaṇḍita, and in 2011 that of Aggamaha Pandita from the Myanmar government. . He is currently the abbot of the Birmingham Buddhist Vihāra, where he teaches Majjhimanikāya, Pali grammar, Abhidhamma and vipassanā meditation.

Gautam Verma is a Vipassanā meditator of Indian origins, and has been practicing for many years under the guidance of distinguished Dhamma teachers, besides doing long periods of solitary retreat. He’s been collaborating with Pian dei Ciliegi as a translator during interviews with English speaking Dhamma teachers. He’s been an assistant of Bhante Bodhidhamma since 2017, from whom he’s been authorized to offer Dhamma teachings. He has also been authorized to teach by the Ven. Vivekananda, Hannes Huber and Beate Gloeckner

Henrich Dahm’s dhamma journey started in 1989 in Nepal, when he was introduced by Sayadaw Jhanapurnika, a senior disciple of Mahasi Sayadaw, to Vipassana meditation. Since then he has practiced in various countries and explored different meditation techniques. His extensive travelling in Asia has given him the opportunity to meditate under the  guidance of distinguished teachers like Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Janaka, Achaan Buddhadasa, Thich Nhat Thanh, etc. His practice took a new turn when he started to practice full time under the guidance of Bhante Sujiva. Most recently, he spent extensive time in Burma giving him the chance to deepen his understanding of the Burmese Satipatthana method in practice and theory.

Jean-Marie ("Jan") de Wurstemberger's beginnings as a Buddhist student lie in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, in the mid-nineteen-nineties. His teachers at the time included Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama. In a conversation Lama Zopa one day advised him to "above all, just sit". Soon after, the unexpected encounter with the Theravada monk and experienced meditation teacher Bhante Sujiva was to give this advice an very specific and incisive form: Vipassana.

Since then, Jan has been practising insight-meditation under Bhante Sujiva’s guidance for over 20 years. In German speaking countries, Jan is also active as Bhante's translator in retreats and was co-translator of Bhante’s standard work on insight meditation: "Tree of Wisdom River of no Return".

In his professional life, Jan works in Switzerland as a teacher, counsellor and systemic coach of teenagers, their families and of young independent adults.

 

 

Ven. Sayalay Daw Vimalanani is a Nepalese nun who has studied and trained with Sayadaw U Pandita in Burma since 1991. In 1999, she completed the rigorous Dhammacariya degree which qualifies her to teach the Buddhist scriptures. After many years of training and translating yogi interviews, she began to guide foreign yogis at the Panditarama Forest Meditation Center in 2006.  In addition to teaching yogis during the two-month retreat at Panditarama in December and January, she teaches meditation and Pali at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Nepal. Sayalay Ma Vimalanani is fluent in Newar, Nepali, English and Burmese.

Ven. Vīrañāṇi  began to practice meditation in 1979. In 2003, after several years spent working at the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts, USA, and training in in the Thai Forest tradition, she began a four-year period devoted to intensive practice in the Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw. She took permanent ordination in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita on New Year 2006, and now resides at the Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Centre North of Yangon. She teaches loving kindness and vipassanā meditation retreats in Burma, Europe, and Australia.  In 2008 she co-founded Metta In Action, a charity devoted to offering Burmese people in need the means and skills to help themselves.  She is passionate about the Dhamma, about nature, and about using both to help others rediscover the intrinsic goodness in all beings.

Brother Dassana has been practising Vipassana Meditation for over 20 years. He has done many years of retreats in Burma, Thailand and Malaysia under various teachers. Most of his retreats are in the Mahasi style, though he has also explored other traditions. He was a monk for 17 years, and this gave him the opportunity and time to study the Dhamma scriptures and to do long intensive Vipassana retreats.

Phd. from the University of Bologna, has a training in Yoga with the Kaivalyadhama Institute S.M.Y.M. Samiti - Lonavla - India with: Dr. Porrovecchio, Dr. Shrikrishna, Dr. M.L.Gharote, Dr. Vijayendra Pratap.

Member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, he has been teaching for 25 years,and has been a counselor for the City of Turin in activities for handicapped people over 14 years of age.

He has been practicing Vipassana Meditation since 1993.His teachers include: Padre Andrea Shnoller, Prof. Corrado Pensa, Carol Wilson, Michele Mc. Donald-Smith, Stephen Smith, Frank Ostasesky, Bhante Bhodhidhamma, Brother Dassana, etc.He has been practicing Vipassana and Metta with Ven. Bhante Sujiva as his main teacher for the last 15 years, and has been translating his intensive retreats and his book on Abhidhamma.He has been teaching the practice and application of these traditions in Hospices for elderly and terminally ill people since 2007.

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Bhante Sujiva is a Theravadin monk who was Abbot of the Santisukharama hermitage in Kota Tinggi, Malaysia from 1982 to 1996; since then he has been travelling all over the world to spread the teachings of the Dhamma and instructing in Vipassana meditation. Since September 2006, he’s been living more permanently in Europe where he follows groups of yogis in different countries and conducts Vipassana and Metta retreats, as well as seminars on the study of the Abhidhamma.

 

Ven. Vivekananda is the resident teacher of Panditarama Lumbini International Meditation Centre in Nepal. He has trained under the Ven. Sayadaw U Panditabhivamsa since 1988 and has been teaching Vipassana in the Mahasi tradition and Loving kindness meditation at his center in Lumbini as well as abroad since 1998. With his profound knowledge of the Dhamma and his enthusiastic manner, yogis feel inspired and encouraged to progress in their practice.

 www.panditarama-lumbini.info

 

Bhante Bodhidhamma was originally a student of Ven. Sayadaw U Janaka from Burma and was ordained as a monk in the tradition of Mahasi in 1986. He then followed the teachings of Ven. Sayadaw Rewata Dhamma and of Ven. Sayadaw U Pandita, and did a long training period in the Mahasi Tradition at the Kandubada Centre in Sri Lanka. From 2001 to 2005 he was a resident teacher at the “Gaia House” retreat centre in England. Since 2006 he’s been spiritual guide of the Satipanya Buddhist Trust Meditation Centre in Wales, (U.K.) 

 

www.satipanya.org.uk