A DISCOURSE ON THE PURĀBHEDA SUTTA

by The Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw

Editor’s Preface
A number of the late Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw’s lectures have been translated into English for the benefit of a wider audience. Most of these valuable books have been reprinted before in Malaysia but this new edition has been specially prepared for disibution in the UK.

The Venerable Sayādaw’s discourses were addressed to meditators practising intensively at Mahāsi Sāsana Yeiktha, in Rangoon. They therefore contain many Pali words which, though familiar to those who have heard regular discourses, may not be so familiar to others. I have prepared this edition of the Sayādaw’s discourse on the Purābheda Sutta bearing in mind that it will be read by many who may be unfamiliar with Pali terms. Nevertheless many Pali terms remain for the benefit of those who are familiar with them.

In the footnotes, references are to the page numbers of the Pali texts of the Pali Text Society which, in the anslations, are given at the top of the page or sometimes in the body of the text. But in the case of the Dhammapada or Sutta Nipāta, references are simply given to verse numbers.

This edition, which was first published in 1982, was not completed before now due to the large number of changes required. Even now, I am hesitant to publish it with so many alterations from the original without being able to consult the translators. I apologise for any errors I may have introduced in my attempt to fill in gaps that I found in the translation of the Pali verses of the Purābheda Sutta. I hope that readers will benefit from the Sayādaw’s teachings in spite of any
shortcomings in this edition.

The discourses were delivered in Burmese, and the recorded discourses were later translated to English and published in book form. They were never written as books, but I have done my best to adapt them, so that my edition will be easier to follow.

Please do not host the PDF file on your own web site, nor link directly to the PDF file hosted on mine, but by all means post a link to the page on my web site where visitors can read the book in its proper context.

Bhikkhu Pesala
August 2013