Global Vipassana Pagoda

The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a Meditation Hall near Gorai, North-west of Mumbai, India. The Pagoda was inaugurated by Pratibha Patil, then President of India on 8 February 2009. It is built on donated land on a peninsula between Gorai creek and the Arabian Sea. The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony. The Global Vipassana Pagoda has been built out of gratitude to Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899 - 1971), Vipassana teacher and the first Accountant-General of Independent Burma, who was instrumental in Vipassana returning to India, the country of its origin.Built entirely through voluntary donations, the purpose of the Global Vipassana Pagoda is to: 1) share information about Vipassana, and 2) remove misconceptions about the Gotama the Buddha and his teachings. "The Buddha did not teach Buddhism. During his lifetime, he did not convert a single person to Buddhism", said the late Principal Vipassana Teacher S.N.Goenka (whose idea it was to build the Global Vipassana Pagoda), in his article 'Why the Vipassana Pagoda'."One will be surprised to hear this and will not want to believe it, because we have been hearing, speaking, reading and writing contrary to this fact for such a long time. But the historical truth is that the Buddha neither taught Buddhism nor made any person a Buddhist." Vipassana is the practical quintessence of the universal, non-sectarian teachings of the Buddha.Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar for preserving the practice of Vipassana. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda (Golden Pagoda) in Yangon, Myanmar. It was built combining ancient Indian and modern technology to enable it to last for a thousand years.