Dipa Ma: Buddhist Saint

WQ (This updates and replaces the article Knee Deep in Grace)

Dipa Ma literally means "Dipa's mother" (Dipa was her eldest daugther and also a prolific Buddhist meditator). But figuratively it means "Mother of Light." Dipa Ma was born Nani Bala Barua (1911-1989) in East Bengal (Bangladesh). From a young age she displayed an interest in Buddhist rituals, preferring study to play.

Unlike other local girls, she insisted on attending school. However, by the age of 12 she was married off to a man in Rangoon, Burma. After her husband's death in 1957, she took up vipassana meditation under her guru Anagarika Munindra and made swift progress. In 1963, under this same guide in Bodhgaya, India, Dipa Ma began to study and successfully attained the siddhis or "magical powers."

In 1967, she moved to Calcutta where she began teaching meditation to a wide range of Indian housewives and foreign students including the Americans Joseph Goldstein (photographed circa 1970 in India with Dipa Ma), Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg, who later became prominent teachers. In the early 1980s she was invited to America to teach at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.

Her story was originally brought to light by author Amy Schmidt (mindfulmom.com) in the book Knee Deep in Grace. The book has subsequently been updated and republished as Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master.

• See the Zensite book review.
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) account of Dipa Ma's life

Dipa Ma's teacher Anagarika Munindra: Begin to See (teachings on DVD/CDs)