Blooming in the Desert ─ Favorite Teachings of the Wildflower Monk : Taungpulu Tawya Kaba-Aye Sayadaw Phaya

In 1978, at the age of 80, the Burmese forest monk Taungpulu Sayadaw left his native country for the first time and came to California, where he taught and established the West's first Burmese Buddhist temple and monastery. Revered as a saint in his lifetime and after his death in 1986, Taungpulu Sayadaw's calm, joyful presence, forged in a lifetime's dedication to the austere spiritual path of the Theravada forest tradition, was a beacon of hope to Burmese people in exile and a radiant example of living Buddhism for all who encountered him. This selection of the Sayadaw's favorite discourses, parables, chants, and meditations distills the essence of the fundamental Buddhist practices of mindfulness, non-attachment, and loving-kindness.

Editor Anne Teich has been a student of Buddhism since 1975, and is a founding member of Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Monastery in Boulder Creek, California. She received her doctorate in Buddhist Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 1990.