The Ledi Sayadaw

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

(Portrait of the Ledi Sayadaw)

I always marvel at Ledi Sayadaw
For always guiding all the Dagadaw
In Buddhist doctrine and righteous path
All would have prosperity and peace at last.

(Ledi Stone Inscriptions)

I recited his Buddhawun poems when young
Accompanying mother to him for errand
When I became a teenage tanning school boy
His stone inscriptions awed me to widen my eye.

(Entrance Arch to Maha Ledi Monasteries)

He was the first Burmese to receive D.Litt. degree
Honoris Causa from the new Rangoon University
Saying the certificate is not worth a tin of chicken feed
He did not go personally to get it that he did not need.

(Upper: Ledi Sayadaw Teaching the Sangha;
Lower: Ledi Sayadaw Preaching the Laity)

His fame spread far and wide
In Pali and Buddhist scriptures to be precise
Answering questions both day and night
The learned Londoners of Pali Society write.

(The Convocation Hall of the Rangoon University)

I remember his famous poem by heart
“You are the hardest of the heartless thugs
Born in a black hole at midnight when dark
You’re ignorant, insolent and unenlightened shark”.

(Logo of the Rangoon University 1920 to 1964)

“You do not know what is right or wrong
Greed, grandiosity, pride and prejudice abound
Doing exactly opposite of Sigalovada Sutta says
No man is more stupid and silly than you are any way.”

(My Parents from Monywa)

I read the Ledi Dipani at the age of forty years
I understood exactly what he meant by hell here
The size and shape of the eight strata so clear
Like Jabudipa or India it is the human world, my dear.

(The Great Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon)

So whenever I meet a man in greed
I know generosity is what he need
Whenever a man is proud of his wealth
I know what he lacks is knowledge of self
When a man has forgotten his root
What he need is a ground for his foot

When he speaks and pretends like a white man
What he need is to eat a banana often then.

(Map pf Burma showing the situation of Monywa)

I know myself that I have a brown skin
Black hair, black eyes and straight chin
I can never be a White man wearing a suit
I know my roots in Burma supplying me food.

(The Ledi Dhamma Auditorium)

O Ledi Sayadaw! You are so great
I was born so late
I should have been born with you
Learning from you too to
Practice what you teach
To follow what you lead

(The Famous Meditation Teacher Mr Goenkaji and Ledi)

So that the Nibaban I may reach
I may also preach
Hundreds of ignorant and insolent men
May I be able to get rid of them!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo
7.10.210 (Original)