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only because none of the great Mahasi Sayadaw's work is written especially for children that the curriculum consists mainly of the Mahâgandâyone Sayadaw's writings. If the Mahasi Sayadaw did have some works which were written especially for children, I am sure that Sayadaw would use the works of his "Endless Benefactor" and nothing else.
I hardly need mention that Sayadaw uses the great Mahasi Sayadaw's writings. Sayadaw, who gives his talks and interviews in accord with the advice of the great Mahasi Sayadaw, couldn't possibly go completely without some of the Mahasi Sayadaw's writings. He uses them completely and masterfully. It is because he can use them so masterfully that Sayadaw is able to carry out the propagation of the Buddha-Sâsana both at home and abroad.
Sayadaw has a habit of saying these words, honestly and sincerely, just as he feels it in his heart:
"It would be most accurate to say that the ability I have now to work for the benefit of the Sâsana is due in greater part to the genius of Mahâgandâyone Sayadaw, the great Mahasi Sayadaw, and my other benefactors than to my own."
Sayadaw does not say this to please others. He is sincerely speaking what is really in his heart.
They say it was a great burden for Sayadaw to give Dhamma talks when he first started. Not having given talks before, when he had to give a talk, he would take material from the Mahasi Sayadaw's two-volume The Method of Vipassana. Some even said, "If U Pandita was without just that two volume set of The Method of Vipassana, he wouldn't be able to give talks. He depends entirely on those two books."
Being subjected to those kind of comments, Sayadaw began to study to assimilate the great Mahasi Sayadaw's other writings and speak on them. It is precisely for that reason that he is now able to teach the Buddha-Dhamma in accord with the Mahasi Sayadaw's advice so that even those who are not Buddhists can accept it.
Sayadaw did not study and use only the Mahasi Sayadaw's and the Mahâgandayone Sayadaw's writings. He also studied and used the Thapyekan Sayadaw's and U Vâse?þabhivamsa's writings, as well. Collecting some of the talks Sayadaw gave in the united States, the author has published a book by the name, "American Dhamma Discourse", an unabridged Myanmar version of Sayadaw's English book In This Very Life. This "American Dhamma Discourse" was published also in the magazine Myat Hsu Mun over many months. Then, in order to write The Timeless and Priceless Sayings of Thapyekan Sayadaw, I read the Thapyekan Sayadaw's New Paritta Translations and a compilation of his Dhamma talks. One can see in the talks given in the U.S. contained in "American Dhamma Discourse" where Sayadaw excerpted from New Paritta Translations. Sayadaw took the whole piece the Thepyekan Sayadaw wrote on dâna to speak
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