SHORT PROFILE
Āyasmā Aggacitta is a Malaysian bhikkhu ordained at the age of 25 by Bhaddanta Mahasi Sayadaw in Rangoon in 1979. He trained under Sayadaws U Paṇḍita, U Tissara (Yankin Forest Monastery), U Āciṇṇa (Pa Auk) and U Tejaniya (Shwe Oo Min).
Besides practising meditation, he studied advanced Pāli grammar under Sayadaw U Dhammananda at Wat Tamaoh, Thailand, and the Pāli Tipiṭaka in Myanmar, researching on its interpretation and practice until his return to Malaysia at the end of 1994.
After a four-year solitary meditation retreat in Sarawak, he returned to West Malaysia in 1998 and since then 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 shares his findings with others to bring them closer to practical reality via his writings, sutta study with meditation workshops, meditation retreats and mindful hiking retreats.
In 2000, he founded Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS) near Taiping, Perak, Malaysia.
In 2012, Āyasmā Aggacitta Mahāthera was invited by the Theravāda Buddhist Council of Malaysia to be one of the founding members of its Monastic Advisory Panel.
DETAILED PROFILE
INTRODUCTION
Aggacitta Bhikkhu is a Malaysian Theravāda Buddhist monk renowned for his innovative approach to meditation and his efforts in promoting a flexible understanding of Dhamma practice that accords with the Pāḷi suttas. Ordained as a bhikkhu in 1979 in Myanmar, he trained under different masters in the Myanmar Theravāda tradition, thus gaining diverse perspectives on meditation, monastic life and scriptural interpretation. Aggacitta Bhikkhu is also renowned for his scholarly work, translating and commentating on Pāḷi texts so that the teachings of the Buddha are made more accessible and relevant to modern practitioners.
He is the founder of Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary, the first training centre for Theravāda monks in Malaysia and a centre for Buddhist learning and teaching. From this base, Aggacitta Bhikkhu has actively conducted meditation retreats and taught sutta study with meditation workshops, reaching out to a wide following in Malaysia and abroad—the latter through videos and audio recordings of his teachings. He also innovated mindful hiking retreats as an introduction to introspective mindfulness for the fit and young (at heart).
Recognised as an important figure in Malaysian Buddhism with notable influence in the global Buddhist community, he was invited by the Theravada Buddhist Council of Malaysia to be one of the founding members of its Monastic Advisory Panel in 2011.
Aggacitta Bhikkhu is variously addressed as Venerable (U) Aggacitta, Āyasmā Aggacitta, Bhante Aggacitta, Venerable/Bhaddanta Aggacitta Mahāthera; and in Chinese as 具寿奥智达.
EARLY LIFE
Born in January 1954 to Leang Keng Hong and Chan Ching Keng in Penang, Malaysia, his given name was Leang Soon Num (梁顺南). After receiving his basic education in English in Saint Xavier’s Branch School and Saint Xavier’s Institution, Penang, he went on to higher education in the School of Housing, Building and Planning at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang.
While studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia, his spiritual quest intensified to the point that he progressively lost interest in worldly pursuits. This led him to terminate his studies in 1977, after passing his 3rd year examinations, and to dedicate himself to finding his spiritual path.
MONASTIC TRAINING
On Wesak Day 1978, he was ordained as a sāmaṇera in the Thai tradition at the Malaysian Buddhist Meditation Centre in Penang. After his ordination, he spent more than a year studying the Buddhist scriptures and practising meditation in the Malaysian Buddhist Meditation Centre, and on forest fringes in Penang and Kedah.
He left for Myanmar after the vassa in 1979 and received his higher ordination on 22 December 1979 from Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana in the Mahasi Meditation Centre, Yangon. For the next 3 years he mostly stayed in the Mahasi Meditation Centre practising meditation, studying Burmese and elementary Pāḷi, as well as helping to translate for the Sayadaws and foreign yogis. During this time, his main teachers were Sayadaw U Javana and Sayadaw U Paṇḍita.
Realising the importance of understanding the scriptures at source rather than from translated works, he furthered his studies at the Pāḷi College of Wat Tamaoh in Lampang, Thailand, under the tutelage of Sayadaw U Dhammananda. While there, he was invited by the Insight Meditation Society to accompany and assist Sayadaw U Paṇḍita as his translator in an intensive 3-month meditation retreat held at its premises in Barre, Massachusetts, USA, in early 1984. His live translations of the Sayadaw’s Dhamma talks were recorded, transcribed, edited and published as In This Very Life by Wisdom Publications in 1992.
Between late 1984 and 1994, he divided his time among different forest monasteries and hermitages in Myanmar, studying the Vinaya Piṭaka extensively, while trying to put the theory of the Vinaya, dhutaṅgas and meditation into actual practice. This ended in a one-year stay in Paṇḍitārāma, Yangon, while recuperating from a lung infection under the excellent care of Sayadaw U Paṇḍita and his supporters.
With this training and education background, Aggacitta Bhikkhu is fluent in multiple languages; Chinese in his native Hokkien dialect, English, Malay, as well as Thai, Burmese and Pāli.
RETURN TO MALAYSIA
Aggacitta Bhikkhu returned to Malaysia at the end of 1994. He first spent 4 years in solitary retreat in the forests of Sarawak, a state in East Malaysia, after which he returned to his home state of Penang. In July 1999, at the invitation of the Taiping Insight Meditation Society, he relocated to Taiping in preparation for the unfolding of the next chapter in his life.
SĀSANĀRAKKHA BUDDHIST SANCTUARY
On 28 January 2000, Aggacitta Bhikkhu presided over a meeting of representatives from Buddhist organisations together with active Buddhists, at the Buddhist Wisdom Centre in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. This was the first of many meetings that led eventually to the founding of Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS).
SBS is a national project fully funded by public donations and was originally managed by a committee that had representatives from all over Malaysia as well as Australia and South Africa. Set amidst a durian orchard more than 200 metres above sea level, it is planned along the lines of a forest monastery with a distinctive Malaysian flavour. On 1 July 2000, Sāsanārakkhā Sīmā was formally demarcated and consecrated by a gathering of senior Malaysian monks.
SBS is the first training centre for Theravāda monks in Malaysia. As its founder, Aggacitta Bhikkhu’s original vision was that SBS would help shape a Malaysian Theravāda Buddhist identity by serving as a training centre of a new breed of Malaysian monks who will be guided by rigorous study of the original scriptures at source, rather than simply following contemporary cultural or folk Buddhist practices.
However, since 2018, under the leadership of Ariyadhammika Bhikkhu, SBS developed into an international training centre for Theravāda monks, with a preference for teachings from the Early Buddhist Texts (EBT).
TEACHINGS
After his return to West Malaysia, in 1999, Venerable Aggacitta taught meditation according to the Mahasi method for several years, although he personally preferred to watch the mind more than the body. In 2004, after less than a month of practising under the guidance of Sayadaw U Tejaniya in Myanmar, he began to develop a unique approach to meditation, initially called “Open Awareness”, but which he now prefers to call “Open Mindfulness”. This is the result of years of training under renowned meditation masters and studying the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka.
His approach emphasises a more flexible, holistic method of practising mindfulness. It invites practitioners to open up mindfulness to all the five senses instead of just focusing on a single object, such as the breath. This entails keeping the eyes open, contrary to the popular idea and practice of closing the eyes during meditation. (For this reason, some practitioners call this method “Open-eye Meditation”!) Then when the practitioners become more settled, they are guided to notice how the mind responds to whatever is perceived through all the six senses.
This practice encourages the mind to remain open and receptive, observing experiences without rejecting the unpleasant, following the pleasant or ignoring them. The aim is to cultivate experiential understanding of the true nature of all phenomena and develop equanimity in the face of change. By letting go of preferences and allowing each moment to unfold naturally, meditators gain insight into how the mind responds to stimuli according to causes and conditions, revealing patterns of craving, aversion, and delusion.
Ven. Aggacitta’s open mindfulness approach is grounded in the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness (sati) and wisdom (paññā), offering a practical path to experientially understanding the three characteristics of existence (impermanence, suffering and not-self). This method allows practitioners to cultivate a pervasive sense of non-attachment and mindfulness throughout their wakeful hours—not merely confined to formal sitting meditation—making it accessible for both beginners and advanced meditators.
Ven. Aggacitta has been sharing his open mindfulness approach through meditation retreats, sutta study workshops, and mindful hiking programs nationwide. He emphasises that this practice is not confined to sitting meditation alone but should be applied throughout daily life, allowing mindfulness to become a continuous, natural process. Open mindfulness practice helps transform every moment into an opportunity for insight, leading to a more peaceful and mindful way of living, with reduced mind-rooted suffering and increased contentment and happiness.
Publications in Various Media
Aggacitta Bhikkhu has published numerous books and articles in various journals, such as Vipassana Tribune and Eastern Horizon. SBS Website provides links to most of his publications, including edited transcripts of his talks, as well as edited audio recordings on SoundCloud. His talks and workshop discussions are also available on YouTube and Satipatthanasbs.com website.
Among his major literary contributions are:
- The Gradual Training Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2024)
- Cessation Experiences and the Notion of Awakening (authored, 2024) 3.
- Entering the Stream and Beyond Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2022)
- Cittānupassanā Sutta Study Workbook (Authored, 2022)
- Saṅkhāra in Theory & Practice Sutta Study Handout (authored, 2019)
- How to Die a Good Death Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2018)
- How to Diminish the Effects of Bad Past Kamma Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2016)
- Samatha & Vipassanā Sutta Study Coursebook (authored, 2014)
- Saṭipaṭṭhāna Sutta Commentarial Course Book (authored, 2012)
- Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2011)
- Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta Study Workbook (authored, 2011)
- The Importance of Being Morally Virtuous (authored, 2010)
- Dhamma Therapy Revisited (retranslated, 2009)
- Be Present, Be Prudent (authored, 2009)
- Be Present (authored, 2007)
- Honouring the Departed (authored, 2004)
- Coping with a Handful of Leaves (authored, 2004)
- Discourse on Āṭānāṭiya Protection (translated, 2003)
- Role of the Saṅgha in the New Millennium: The Monastic Perspective (authored, 2002)
- Kathina Then and Now (authored, 2001)
- Dying to Live: The Role of Kamma in Dying and Rebirth (authored, 1999)
- Cessation Experiences and the Notion of Enlightenment (authored, 1995)
- Raindrops in Hot Summer (edited, 1995)
- In This Very Life (translated, 1993)