Venerable Aggacitta Mahāthero

Ayasma Aggacitta Mahathera, a member of TBCM's Monastic Advisory Panel

Venerable Aggacitta Mahāthero is a Malaysian Buddhist monk ordained at Mahasi Meditation Centre, Rangoon, Burma, in 1979. He trained under various teachers, notably Sayadaws U Paṇḍita (Paṇḍitārāma), U Tissara (Yankin), U Āciṇṇa (Pa Auk) and U Tejaniya (Shwe Oo Min).

Besides practising meditation, he studied advanced Pāli and translation in Thai and Burmese under Sayadaw U Dhammananda at Wat Tamaoh, Lampang, Thailand, 1983-84. He continued to study the Pāli Tipiṭaka in Myanmar and researched its interpretation and practice until his return to Malaysia at the end of 1994.

After a 4-year solitary meditation retreat in Sarawak, he returned to West Malaysia at the end of 1998. Since then he has been investigating popular interpretations and practices of Buddhism in the light of the Pāli scriptures, real-life experiences, and contemporary research findings. Using a critical yet constructive approach, he has been sharing his findings with interested parties in order to bring them closer to a practical reality they can more easily connect with. The titles of his published Dhamma resources can be viewed at www.sasanarakkha.org.

In 2000 he founded Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, a Theravāda monk training centre nestled among secluded valleys and brooks near Taiping, Perak, Malaysia.

Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary

Sima Hall at Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS)

In 2012, at the invitation of the Theravāda Buddhist Council of Malaysia, he consented to be on its Monastic Advisory Panel.