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{{Infobox person/Wikidata|qid=Q5279681|fetchwikidata=ALL|caption=Dipa Ma in Barre, Massachusetts, 1978}}

'''Nani Bala Barua''' (March 25, 1911 - September 1989), better known as '''Dipa Ma''', was an Indian meditation teacher of [[Theravada]] [[Buddhism in Bangladesh|Buddhism]] and was of [[Barua (Bangladesh)|Barua]] descent.<ref name="lionsroar">{{cite web|title=Mother of Light: The Inspiring Story of Dipa Ma|url=http://www.lionsroar.com/mother-of-light-the-inspiring-story-of-dipa-ma/|publisher=[[Lion's Roar (magazine)|Lion's Roar]]|date=March 1, 2003|accessdate=March 5, 2016}}</ref> She was a prominent Buddhist master in Asia and also taught in the United States where she influenced the American branch of the [[Vipassana movement]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/dipa-ma-an-extraordinary-female-buddhist-master-in-the-twentieth-century |title=Dipa Ma - An extraordinary female Buddhist master in the twentieth century |last=Dipananda |first=BD |date=May 14, 2014 |publisher=Buddhistdoor Limited |access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Nani Bala Barua was born in on March 25, 1911 in a small village in [[Chittagong]], [[East Bengal]], then in [[British India]] but now part of [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Amy |date=2005 |title=Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master |publisher=BlueBridge |isbn=9780974240558}}</ref>

In her childhood she showed an exceptional interest in [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] rituals and preferred to study rather than play.<ref name="lionsroar"/> She very much wanted to attend school but in 1923 at the age of twelve she was married and later went to live with her husband, an engineer, in [[Rangoon]].<ref name="lionsroar"/> He soon left to work in [[Burma]], leaving her with her in-laws. Eventually she moved to Burma to join her husband. In 1929 when Nani was 18 her mother died unexpectedly, leaving behind a baby boy named Bijoy which Nani and her husband took to raise in Burma, as they had not yet had a child.

At the age of 35 Nani conceived and gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, who fell ill and died at three months of age. Four years later, in 1950, Nani gave birth to a daughter, Dipa, whereupon Nani began to be called Dipa Ma "Mother of Dipa"<ref name="lionsroar"/> as her daughter's survival was a momentous event. This was followed by yet another loss of a child (her first son) at birth, the sudden death of her husband in 1957, and subsequent extreme grief and physical pains.

==Meditation==
After her husband died, Dipa Ma was extremely unhappy. One day a doctor suggested that she learn how to meditate. She attended her first meditation retreat at the Kamayut Meditation Center in Rangoon.<ref name="lionsroar"/> She soon after attended her second retreat, at the Thathana Yeiktha center, where the Venerable [[Mahasi Sayadaw]] was teacher-in-residence.<ref name="lionsroar"/> There she experienced the first stage of [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]].<ref name="lionsroar"/>

In 1963 she was chosen to study the [[siddhi]]s or spiritual powers with the Indian master [[Anagarika Munindra]],<ref>{{cite web|title= Enlightenment In This Lifetime: Meetings With A Remarkable Woman - An Interview With Dipa Ma|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/enlightenment-lifetime-meetings-remarkable-woman|publisher=[[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]]|accessdate=March 25, 2016}}</ref> a senior student of [[Mahasi Sayadaw]]. According to scholars, the ''[[Visuddhimagga]]'' is one of the extremely rare texts within the enormous literatures of various forms of [[Jainism]], Buddhism, and [[Hinduism]] to give explicit details about how spiritual masters were thought to actually manifest supernormal abilities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jacobsen|first1=edited by Knut A.|title=Yoga Powers|url=https://archive.org/details/yogapowersbrills00jaco|url-access=limited|date=2011|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004212145|page=[https://archive.org/details/yogapowersbrills00jaco/page/n105 93]}}</ref> Abilities such as flying through the air, walking through solid obstructions, diving into the ground, walking on water and so forth are performed by changing one [[Mahābhūta|element]], such as earth, into another element, such as air.<ref name="Yoga Powers">{{cite book|last1=Jacobsen|first1=edited by Knut A.|title=Yoga Powers|url=https://archive.org/details/yogapowersbrills00jaco|url-access=limited|date=2011|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004212145|pages=[https://archive.org/details/yogapowersbrills00jaco/page/n95 83]–86}}</ref> The individual must master ''[[kasina]]'' meditation before this is possible.<ref name="Yoga Powers"/> Dipa Ma, who trained via the ''[[Visuddhimagga]]'', was said to demonstrate these abilities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schmidt|first1=Amy|title=Dipa Ma|date=2005|publisher=Windhorse Publications Ltd|page=Chapter 9 At Home in Strange Realms}}</ref>

==Teaching career==
In 1967, she returned to India, moving to [[Calcutta]] where she taught meditation.<ref name="lionsroar"/> Her first formal student was her neighbor, Malati Barua, a widow trying to raise six young children alone. Believing that enlightenment was possible in any environment, Dipa Ma devised practices that her new student could carry out at home.

In the 1970s, she was a teacher of [[Sylvia Boorstein]], [[Joseph Goldstein (writer)|Joseph Goldstein]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Joseph|title=One Dharma|url=https://archive.org/details/onedharmaemergin00gold|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onedharmaemergin00gold/page/29 29]|publisher=[[HarperOne]]|year=2002|ISBN=978-0-06-251701-2}}</ref> [[Jack Kornfield]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Kornfield|first=Jack|title=The Wise Heart|url=https://archive.org/details/wiseheartguideto00korn|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Bantam Books]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/wiseheartguideto00korn/page/76 76]|year=2008|ISBN=9780553382334}}</ref> Michelle Levey, and [[Sharon Salzberg]],<ref>{{cite web|title=My Teachers|url=http://www.sharonsalzberg.com/influences/|publisher=[[Sharon Salzberg]]|accessdate=March 5, 2016}}</ref> who later became prominent teachers in the United States. In the early 1980s Dipa Ma taught at the [[Insight Meditation Society]] in [[Barre, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Dipa Ma's Dharma Talks at Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center|url=http://imsrc.dharmaseed.org/teacher/54/|publisher=DharmaSeed|accessdate=March 5, 2016}}</ref>

==Death==
She died at the age of 78, in 1989 in India,<ref name="lionsroar"/> while bowing before a statue of the Buddha. She was survived by her daughter Dipa, an employee of the Indian government, and her grandson Rishi during her final years.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last =Findly | first = Ellison Banks | year = 2000 | title =Women's Buddhism, Buddhism's Women: Tradition, Revision, Renewal | publisher =Wisdom Publications}}
* Knaster, Mirka Ph.D., "Living this Life Fully: The Stories and Teachings of Munindra". (2010) Shambhala Publications, Boston. {{ISBN|978-1-59030-674-1}}
* Amy Schmidt, ''Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master''. {{ISBN|0-9742405-5-9}} (USA); {{ISBN|1-899579-73-7}} (Europe)
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://dipama.com/ Dipa Ma talks, videos and biography]
* {{YouTube|3LKrKWI7b54|Video of Dipa Ma in San Francisco}}
* [http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/54/ Dipa Ma's dharma talks at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, 1984]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Dipa}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Chittagong]]
[[Category:People from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Theravada Buddhist spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:Indian Theravada Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhism in the United States]]
[[Category:Students of Mahasi Sayadaw]]

Dipa Ma - Revision history

109.252.100.132 at 15:00, 31 October 2021