Resources for Mahasi Sayadaw’s book “The Manual of Insight”
About the book
The Manual of Insight is the most comprehensive book/manual for the practice of Mahasi Vipassana (Insight) meditation.
It is considered to be the magnus opus of Mahasi Sayadaw and it is a must read - or even better a must study - for practicioners interested in Mahasi Vipassana.
Alternative translation
Below you may find an older (1984) and freely distributed translation of the same book by U MIN SWE (Min Kyaw Thu), under the name of “The Treatise on Vipassana Insight Meditation”:
Sources for the alternative translation: Dharma Overground, Saraniya Dhamma
Additional material
Book summary/analysis on Reddit (r/streamentry)
Back in 2017, people from r/streamentry organised an online study group for this book. Below you will find the outcome of their discussions, divided per chapter:
E-book: A r/streamentry summary of Mahasi Sayadaw’s book “The Manual of Insight”
This e-book created by MVMR, is a collection of texts from the above r/streamentry online study group. It contains the summaries of 3 r/streamentry members: u/filpt, u/TetrisMcKenna and u/xugan97.
The purpose of this book is not to be read instead of or before the “The Manual of Insight”, but as an additional resource that will assist the reader to better understand Mahasi Sayadaw’s book.
Downloads:
e-book version: 1.9 - 2019-03-08
This is the link of the discussion about this e-book on r/streamentry.
Progress of Insight Map by MVMR
This map is just a simplified version of Steve Armstrong’s map included in the Abhidhamma Reference Tables.
Abhidhamma Reference Tables by Steve Armstrong
The following tables were originally designed by Steve Armstrong in 1987-88. They are currently a part of the Appendix of “The Manual of Insight” by Wisdom Publications.
Appendix 1 is the “Progress of Insight” map, as covered in book’s chapter 6.
Steve Armstrong’s series of talks regarding “The progress of insight”
In July of 2016, Steve Armstrong gave a series of talks in West Coast Dharma Society, regarding the progress of insight as presented in Mahasi Sayadaw’s “Manual of Insight”. Below you will find the direct download links from Dharma Seed:
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight#1: Overview of the Progress of Insight
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight #2: Introduction to Mahasi Sayadaw’s Manual of Insight
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight #3: Purification of Conduct, Mind, View, Doubt
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight #4: Spiritual Goodies: Ecstasy, Bliss and Beyond
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight #5: Refining the Knowledge of Dukkha
- Map of the Journey: The Progress of Insight #6: Enlightenment, Completing the Journey
Steve Armstrong’s “The Map of the Journey” lecture
In July 21th of 2016, Steve Armstrong gave a lecture in Seattle Insight Meditation Center, regarding the progress of insight as presented in Mahasi Sayadaw’s “Manual of Insight”. Below you will find a link to the video:
George Haas Podcast
George Haas has created a 47 episode (in fact 45, as 2 of them deal with a different subject) podcast about (a part of ) the “Manual of Insight” named Deepening Your Practice (DYP).
Note: George Haas does not teach a pure Mahasi Vipassana technique, but a mixture of Metta/Vipassana. The above podcast deals with both the “Manual of Insight” book analysis and his own approach on meditation.
At the end of each lecture you may find meditation instructions that are not related with Mahasi’s famous noting technique.
Last Modified Mar 27, 2019