Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982) was a renowned Burmese monastic scholar and vipassana practitioner who opened a meditation retreat center in Yangon for laypeople to undertake his method of mindfulness training primarily using the rising and falling of the abdomen as an initial object of attention. He was a prolific writer best known in the West for his Practical Insight Meditation, The Progress of Insight and Manual of Insight. As the teacher of Anagarika Munindra, Sayadaw U Pandita and generations of Western dhamma students, his impact on the practice of mindfulness and insight in the West and Asia has been significant.

Manual of Insight is the magnum opus of Mahasi Sayadaw, one of the grandfathers of the spread of mindfulness and insight (vipassana) in the West and Asia over the last century. The manual presents a comprehensive overview of the practice of insight meditation, including the foundation of ethical self-discipline, the development mindfulness for momentary concentration sufficient for insight and a detailed description of the progressive unfolding of insight knowledge to liberation.