We all Many think of noting practice as coming directly from Mahasi Sayadaw, but I have come across a history of Burmese vipassana that offers another, older origin. I came across this information reading a book on the legendary, though far less famous today, Tuangpulu Sayadaw (Shinzen Young talks of meeting him many years ago and saying he'd never seen another human with body language like his). Tuangpulu taught a mindfulness practice that was essentially a noting practice. The introduction to the book (search for Tuangpulu on Amazon if you're curious) says he was a direct student of Jetavan Mingun Sayadaw, the man credited with reviving vipassana in Burma based on the Sattipatana sutta.

This got me curious, so a little internet searching revealed that Mahasi Sayadaw had also studied under Jetavan Mingun Sayadaw. A little more searching turned up this history by Silananda Sayadaw, which is really worth reading if you like knowing the lineage of the teachings. Enjoy!

Silananda talk on the history of vipassana

I think you don't need the "www." on that URL. It doesn't work as is, but does if you remove that part.

No. In his wikipedia biography, it's explicitly stated, that he learnt the noting technique from U Narada (Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw, 1868−1955):



translation: Aged 28, Mahasi Sayadaw left his monastery to go look for a simple meditation technique. He found the master monk U Narada, who had developed a form of insight meditation which Mahasi Sayadaw later made famous under names such as "labelling, noting". after learning for 10 years, he returned to his hometown and started teaching.