Thamanya Sayadaw

Thamanya Sayadaw U Vinaya was a prominent and influential Burmese Buddhist monk of Pa-O descent, best known for his doctrinal emphasis on metta.

He was first ordained as a novice at the age of 13 and received higher ordination on 3 June 1932 at the age of 20. He established a monastery and meditation retreat near his hometown, on Thamanya Hill, where he taught meditation and discourses. The area around his monastery was declared a sanctuary where nonviolence and vegetarianism were practiced. By the mid-1980s, followers established a thriving community around Thamanya Hill, comprising 5,000 households in the late 1990s, as the Sayadaw doled out free land tracts around his monastery.

He died on 29 November 2003 and had suffered from diabetes and heart problems. On 2 April 2008, his corpse was mysteriously removed from its tomb. Four days later, the unknown perpetrators notified monks that the corpse had been burnt, and was found at the site of a small stupa in Kawkada village. This act was widely considered a yadaya ritual.