On Tuesday March 22, 2016 the Dhammakaya Foundation, one of the United Nations’ member organizations, sent the representatives from the Dhammakaya International Meditation Centers of New Jersey, Boston, California, DC, and Chicago to take part in a forum hosted by the ‘United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women’ (CSW) in New York, United States, at the Church Center of the United Nations (Chapel). The representatives from the Dhammakaya Foundation presented the topic of “Meditation as the Key to Woman’s Empowerment and its Link to Sustainable Development Goals”. They first discussed the biography of Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong (Khun Yai).
“Khun Yai was a farmer’s daughter, she was illiterate. She utilized inner knowledge or “the Inner Truth” along with only 160 dollars, equivalent to 3,200 bahts, to transform the vast open fields into one of the largest Buddhist temples.” The Master Nun made this possible by meditation. Meditation gave her inner knowledge, a knowledge more superb than external knowledge obtained through schooling. With this inside knowledge she built a temple, raised monks, and fostered people to be morally decent and kind. Eventually there were many graduates, some with a Ph.D or doctorate degree that became her devoted followers. Some dedicated their lives to Buddhism and ordained, some became the lay people for the temple, and helped to propagate Buddhism. Furthermore the temple that Khun Yai built sponsors and takes part in many humanitarian projects that promote peace for many audiences, from youth to international groups. Peace Revolution, V-Star and PeaceGen are the notable international peace instilling programs.
Interestingly Khun Yai started the temple when she was 60 years old! Usually, at this age most people would retire and stop working. However, Khun Yai was driven by an inner strength which was the sources of her infinite determination and dedication, a strength drawn from meditation. Meditation gave her the aptitude to build the temple, and to successfully create peace for humanity. Later the Dhammakaya team introduced a short-15-minute meditation session to the attendees. Everybody was greatly impressed with the meditation experience, and some attendees enthusiastically asked about the Dhammakaya Foundation programs, and thei details of participating, believing that meditation is of the utmost importance in bringing sustainable peace to the world.
