S. N. Goenka

S. N. Goenka (1924- ) is perhaps the most famous lay Buddhist in modern times. He was born a Hindu in Burma (of Indian descent) and learned vipassana from U Ba Khin after suffering many migraine headaches and other ailments. He was healed through his meditation practice and went on to be the founder of a worldwide vipassana retreat organization centered around a 10 day vipassana technique that now has courses on every continent except Antarctica.