Museum-quality posters with vivid
prints made on thick and durable
matte paper.

Taungpulu Sayadaw, a forest monk
(bhikkhu) residing in Upper Burma,
lived a solitary life for many years
practicing the age-old meditation
methods that lead to the spiritual
\realizations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

He would have practiced this way
contentedly his entire lifetime were
it not for the public recognition of his
spiritual accomplishment that began
with the visit of a young army doctor,
Albert Sircar, stationed in the area
where Taungpulu was living. Dr. Sircar
had been called to attend the Sayadaw
who had become very ill. When Dr. Sircar
attempted to give him an injection,
the Sayadaw pointed to a plant in the
corner of the room and told him to
give the medicine to the plant, which
he did. The Sayadaw then recovered,
and Dr. Sircar invited the Sayadaw to
visit his family in Rangoon. This was
the beginning of a thirty-year friendship
between Taungpulu Sayadaw and
the Sircar family ...

In 1978, at the age of eighty, Taungpulu
Sayadaw left his native Burma
for the first time and traveled to
the United States on the first of
four visits at the invitation of his
senior student, Rina Sircar
(Dr. Albert Sircar's sister), professor
of Buddhist Studies at the
California Institute of Integral
Studies in San Francisco.

During these visits to the U.S., the
Sayadaw gave discourses, performed
ordinations, established a forest
monastery-the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye
Monastery in Boulder Creek,
California-and oversaw the building
of the Boulder Creek Shwe Thein
Daw World Peace Pagoda, the first
pagoda in the Burmese style
constructed in North America.

In 1990, four years after the Sayadaw's passing, a relic from his body was
enshrined in the Kaba-Thukha Aye Zedi Memorial Stupa, also built at the Boulder Creek monastery.

Book:
Blooming in the Desert: Favorite Teachings of the Wildflower Monk Taungpulu Sayadaw
https://www.amazon.com/Blooming-Desert-Teachings-Wildflower-Taungpulu/dp/1556432232
Anne Teich
---

Note from the author - Raul: I was
ordained as a Theravada Monk under
Taungpulu Sayadaw while
he was at TKAM. I was privileged to
spent many months under his care.
His name ‘Taungpulu derived from
his secluded meditation
(he was many years in caves)
Near a new dam called ‘Taungpulu'
– so he was considered a ‘reservoir
of Peace’. He laid great emphasis
on the virtue of Patience.

There is no way of explaining the
amount of spiritual power that
emanated from him!
The entire zone of the Monastery
was charged, a clear bright light
pervaded the place
and all actions were illumined in his
extraordinary mindfulness.

But at the same time there was a dark
deep place - an immeasurable
stillness that seemed impenetrable.
But it was always there, seeing us
from the depths...

In one ceremony after his passing,
the Monastery (TKAM) was filled with
hundreds of devotees. At noon a
rainbow-like ring appeared on the
sun and it was just during a ceremony
inside. I called all to see the miracle...
But then a few hours later
I was watchful about how he would
made himself known? Then about
2pm i noticed something
extraordinary ... totally beyond
all senses.

I clearly sensed - felt an incredible
infinity just all around us to the end
of space, such a sense of immensity
that the location seem like a drop
in an infinite ocean. It was like my
head had bursted and it was no
longer there - no more mental walls...

Indeed the Burmese believed that
Taungpulu had attained all powers
a human being has access to. One
of them is that he was aware of the
infinitude of space. It is one of the
stages of meditation taught by the Buddha.