FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Visiting the temple:
all events and tours are provided free of charge. For more information, please visit our reception site at visitdhammakaya.com
of course, all ages are welcome!
If you would like to wear your own clothes on the temple tour, then please just make sure that they are all white, loose-fitting clothing that covers your shoulders, chest, belly, and most of your legs (at least past the knees). It is a good rule of thumb to wear modest attire like this when attending any temple or sacred site in Thailand as a sign of respect and cultural sensitivity. If you do not have such clothing, then we ask that you change into one of the clean sets of white clothes that we will prepare for you upon arrival.
White is appropriate and customary attire to wear at temples and meditation retreats for a couple of reasons. Firstly, white is symbolic of purity which is at the core of all Buddhist practice: to purify our thoughts, speech, and action to be free of greed, anger, and delusion. Secondly, white also encourages us to be mindful in our movements since dirt and stains show up quite easily. Thirdly, this type of simple attire keeps us from dressing in a way that draws attention to our physical appearance. When we come to the temple and go on retreat, it is the perfect opportunity to bring our attention inward, rest our overstimulated senses, and purify our mind through the practice of meditation and mindfulness. The modest, simple dress code that we encourage everyone to wear helps create an environment supportive of your own practice and the practice of those around you.
Yes, you certainly can. We have three separate meditation halls open to the public at varying days and hours. Please check this page for more details.
If you’re in Thailand, order from Shopee or Lazada by searching for “ชุดขาว” or “ชุดปฏิบัติธรรม”.
Unfortunately, overnight stay is not available at the moment for visiting lay people or monastics. We can, however, assist in finding a nearby rental room (approx. 500 THB/person).
we will be starting our temple stay program which will be a meditation retreat and volunteer experience at the temple in the near future. If you would like to sign up for the interest list to be notified when that goes live, please use the following link. In the meantime, please visit our page to view three separate affiliate retreats that you can join in Thailand.
Buddhist & Temple Customs & Culture:
To raise your hands in prayer position (this gesture is called to “wai” in Thai) is a traditional Thai gesture to show respect. You will see Thai people doing this as a greeting or farewell, to say thank you, or apologizing among other contexts. So this gesture, in fact, is more cultural than it is religious. So although it may feel awkward or religious at first, it’s just a way to show cultural sensitivity and respect, which is always a good idea when visiting any foreign country. Thai culture has a deep respect for Buddhism and monks who have sacrificed the freedoms of their lay lives and dedicated themselves to extend the life of the religion. That is why the “wai” is performed in front of sacred Buddhist structures, when taking pictures with monks, and (for the extra respectful) when talking with a monk.
Bowing, like the “wai,” is also more a Thai cultural sign of deep respect than a religious sign of worship as may be the case in other religions or contexts where this act is performed. An example of a non-religious context where bowing is performed is the Thai New Year tradition of children bowing to their parents when asking for forgiveness. Symbolically, it is a lowering of the highest part of our head to the ground which shows humility, appreciation, and a willingness to learn. As Buddhists, we do not believe that the Buddha or our Masters are deities to be worshipped in order to gain spiritual favor or salvation, but rather, like the most excellent spiritual parent, their conduct and teachings present us with models to deeply respect and emulate in order to live a good life. Hopefully this clarifies how this is not an act of worship, however, if you are not comfortable with this gesture, you do not need to feel pressured to pay respect in this way.
When monks come to ordain, they take a vow to uphold 227 precepts of discipline that limit them from engaging in activities that take up a lot of time and energy in the lay life and distract from spiritual cultivation such as making a living, having romantic relationships, wearing normal clothes, cooking, etc. As a result, faithful lay people will offer the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, medicine, shelter, and monetary donations or equipment to help with fueling Dhamma projects in order to give the monks more time and energy to focus on meditation, cultivation of wisdom, and sharing that with others. Monks will also live a very minimalist lifestyle with few possessions and needs so as to be easy to support. The support that lay people provide not only benefits them karmically, but it also gives them the opportunity to listen to wisdom and consult the monks so that they can overcome suffering, meditate more effectively, and experience sustainable happiness in their daily lives. This is the symbiotic relationship between monks and lay people where physical support is given so that spiritual support and wisdom can be cultivated and shared in return.
Our temple plays a very active role in spreading Buddhism, meditation, and practical wisdom to the rest of the world. Technology is a tool that enables monks to create and share educational material, study wisdom, collaborate and coordinate effectively with team members on Dhamma projects, communicate with others while traveling, and otherwise play their role in society of helping to bring ethics, compassion, inner peace, and wisdom into the modern world. Some temples are more reclusive and less engaged in such teaching efforts, and therefore do not use technology. Both environments have their benefits depending on the mission of the temple in question. The mission of the Dhammakaya temple is to promote world peace through inner peace and therefore our monks utilize cell phones and other devices with mindfulness and intention to strike a balance between deep devotion to self cultivation and efforts to share the transformative wisdom of Buddhism with the world.
Unfortunately in Thailand, there are no opportunities for women to ordain as monks (or more appropriately named ‘Bhikkhunis’) since the lineage for the female sangha was broken around 500 years after the Buddha’s passing. The Thai Sangha, being quite traditional, does not see it fit to revive the female tradition since it is not passed directly from the Buddha. However, we have come across some programs online that offer ordination for English speaking women in different countries that we have compiled into this list here. We have no affiliation with these temples whatsoever, but would like to help give interested women a place to start their research. We hope you find it helpful and wish you the best of luck on your spiritual journey!
Many people are a bit surprised by the design of the cetiya and memorial hall of Phramongkolthepmuni saying that it looks like a UFO and seems to be a bit extravagant. However, the design is in line with historical Buddhist pagodas/cetiyas, specifically the Sanchi Stupa in India which was built more than 2,000 years ago. The dome-shaped peak leading to angled support walls was originally designed to mimic the shape of the monks alms bowl laid topside down atop a set of folded robes. Modern sci-fi imagery of extra terrestrial space crafts certainly came after the creation of this pagoda design and so any similarity is merely coincidence. The Buddha images on the outside and inside of the cetiya are silicon bronze and covered with a spray on gold coating to allow for a radiant monument that properly elevates the sacredness of the triple gem. The memorial hall has similar materials with the same intention. You will see other large stupas and statues across Thailand that are also gold, so this design choice is common practice across Buddhist countries to properly honor the triple gem and not a display of extravagance unique to our temple.
Addressing Common Critiques:
Although the following answers are a bit lengthy, common critiques that you will find online about our temple are often mischaracterizations that arise from people drawing conclusions while lacking the full context surrounding why our temple operates and looks the way it does. Understanding the full story requires nuanced explanations, which is what we seek to provide in the following answers. As always, we invite you to come see for yourself by joining our tour, events, or other programs we offer and drawing your own conclusions. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and understand this context that will paint a more complete and balanced picture than some media coverage or opinion pieces that you might find online.
At first glance, the size of the structures and vastness of the temple grounds may seem excessive, especially if you visit on a day when there are no ceremonies taking place and these spaces are largely empty. But when you understand that the temple has about 3,000 ordained monks, 600 novice monks, well over 1,000 full and part time staff, volunteers, and employees, and that virtually the entire temple fills up with hundreds of thousands of lay people and visiting monastics coming from across Thailand and abroad during the large ceremonies we hold to promote meditation, precepts, generosity, and wisdom to the world, the size starts to make sense.
More than merely a place to run inspirational events, serve the faithful Buddhist community, and house monks and staff to focus on spiritual cultivation, the Dhammakaya temple also has many departments that balance their self cultivation with diligent work on projects to extend the life and impact of Buddhism as a whole and help people of all faiths and nationalities globally attain true inner peace. These projects include but are not limited to: running meditation retreats and trainings; operating over a hundred domestic and over a hundred international branch centers to service local populations; providing standard and religious education for novice monks from Age 12 -18; creating books, videos, apps, animations, art, and other educational material for children and adults alike; providing relief to temples in violent areas that cannot conduct alms round to collect food to survive; running ethics and meditation programs for schools nationwide; translating Dhamma texts to many languages; teaching the Pali language to lay people and monastics; collaborating with and supporting Sanghas in neighboring countries; and so much more.
Such innovative initiatives are among the many reasons why there is such a high degree of faith and support from temple members around the world. They understand that these initiatives require significant infrastructure, manpower, and resources to conduct effectively, and that is why the temple grounds have expanded so much to support these massive operations that are comparable in scope to some of the biggest NGOs in the world.
Some people prefer the more intimate feel of smaller scale temples tucked away in nature and solely focused on serving the local community, and this is very understandable and a core part of Buddhist practice across Thailand and the world. Many people seek out forest temples for such an environment. We have meditation retreat centers with meager facilities and situated in more secluded environments for this purpose as well. And ultimately, we believe both styles of temples can coexist and work together for the prosperity of Buddhism and to serve people with different preferences and aims. For us, the vision of our Great Masters is to serve people globally and take a very active role in outreach and sharing the wisdom with people at all levels of society. This requires a larger-sized temple with a design that serves the operations that fuel this mission.
With different intentions and scope of work comes different designs and temple layouts. We don’t see one as better than the other. Just different. People fond of the traditional imagery and strictly secluded and detached form of Buddhism may not resonate with the scale and design of our facilities and events and the more active role we play in society. And that is ok. We encourage everyone to practice the Dhamma and support monastics at a place and in a way that resonates with them. We have nothing but respect and appreciation for Buddhism in all its forms and hope that our differences can be a strength that helps maximize the spread and positive impact of the Dhamma as it meets a modern world with diverse tastes and preferences.
Our abbot, Luang Por Dhammajayo, has had a long standing vision to create world peace through inner peace, and one of his ways of making this a reality is by creating inspirational large scale projects like mass candlelight meditation events for Magha Puja, mass ordinations of 100,000 men, V-Star events where 300,000 elementary students came to the temple from across Thailand to celebrate the completion of a year long meditation and self discipline program, an event conducting offerings to 40,000 non-Dhammakaya temples around Thailand and neighboring countries to keep Buddhism alive amidst its current decline, and much more.
The beautiful images and inspirational backstories that emerge from these ceremonies and projects can inspire those wishing to be a part of such a display of solidarity and commitment to the study and practice of Buddhist mind training to join in and light that inner candle of goodness inside themselves to spread to their family, friends, and spheres of influence as that inner peace creates world peace, one person at a time. Unfortunately, these images and projects can also be spun in a negative light into criticisms of extravagance, ulterior motives, and materialism. Without the context of the broader vision of the temple and how its being executed globally, these assessments are easy to arrive at and believe. But in light of the context, pure intentions and positive outcomes emerge.
Praise and blame, as the Buddha taught, will always exist, and it is natural for a temple of our size to get plenty of both. But as the Buddha always said, “Ehipassiko.” You don’t need to take our word for it or believe the negative (or positive) reviews online at face value. Come and join a ceremony and see for yourself. You never have to donate a single baht, and you will always be greeted with a smile, a free meal cooked by our wonderful staff and sponsored by our temple members, and a community of individuals committed to keeping the Buddha’s teachings alive via diligent practice while helping others do the same.
This is a mischaracterization of the temple’s teachings. In fact, it is well-documented in the scriptures that practicing generosity generates merit (or puñña) which, for the non-Buddhists, is essentially like positive spiritual energy that is generated within the mind whenever we do good deeds (see the 10 Meritorious Deeds to learn more about this Buddhist teaching). The Buddhist scriptures also clearly state that donating to monks or those who have purified themselves through Buddhist practice is especially meritorious and that one of the fruits of generosity is being reborn in wholesome realms like fortunate births as a human or a celestial being in a heaven realm. Our masters and temple teach in line with these well-known Buddhist teachings. However, enlightenment is a much loftier goal and requires the highest level of deep meditation in order to purify the mind until it reaches this point. The temple and our masters have never claimed that enlightenment can be reached through generosity alone. It is merely one of the ways in which you can generate merit, release greed from the mind, and experience fortunate circumstances in this life and the next, but meditation is always elevated as the highest priority by our masters and the practice that will lead to both enlightenment and world peace through inner peace.
General questions
The temple gets support from its follower who acknowledge numerous works benefitting people in the society done by the temple and would like to support the temple.
The teachings in Buddhism is like the heartwood. The ceremonies and art are like the bark and the sapwood. A tree can stand strong and tall only if it has all the heartwood, the sapwood, and the bark.
Buddhist ancestors understood this concept well and so they organized the ceremonies in Buddhism such as the chanting of the Buddhist metaphysics (Abhidhamma) at funerals, chanting in happy ceremonies, walking clockwise around religious buildings to pay respect, etc., in order to attract people to come and participate in Buddhist ceremonies, which lead to the studies of the teachings and using them in real life.
The truth is Buddhist teaching has two levels. The basic level is to live your life in this world. The advance level is a path to enlightenment. Somepeople cannot distinguish between the basic and the advance one. They use the advance teaching to show that they are cool. Indeed, they are careless, have no responsibility, and lazy. For instance, garbage around the room, when the elder teach them. They said that take it easy and let it go. Everything was controlled by the mind, or, poor people don’t go to work. They always ask others for help. When people told them to find jobs, they said don’t attach yourself to materialism. You need to let go of everything.
Temples are similar to schools. There are temples at the neighborhood level, the district level, and the city level. Temples are schools of morality for the communities and there is a need for a large temple that acts like a university for morality, like a central for education for all other temples to help spread the benefits to the people all over the country.
A large temple is, thus, the central for innovation and event planning to spread Buddhism, to inspire excitement towards the development of morality. It is like the locomotive that pulls the train into motion.
Building a large temple that brings together people to study Dhamma and practice meditation is very important and beneficial as long as it is true to its purpose.
When all factors are considered, large temples such as the Dhammakaya Temple is more economical than the cost of building just one large university.
Dhammakaya Monk had society qualification that was ordained by ideology, intense training program, dressed up properly, good manner, having Buddha’s Dhamma, team player, simple quality of life(basic necessities) , dedicated spreading the Buddha’s Dhamma.
The temple’s followers arefrom all kinds of social statuses: The society of the temple is a great mixture of scholars and lower-educated people, metropolitans and suburbans, senior and young citizens, rich and poor people who meditate together.
Current there are 3,000 monks and 600 novice monks in the temple.
The reason a multitude of people come to the temple because the temple does give Buddhist teachings and provide actual trainings. After following the teachings, they saw improvement in their lives, careers, and happiness. In some cases, when they first came to the temple, they donated small amounts, but once they had more, they usually donated more as sharing to make society better is the basic teaching at the temple. Those people who received these precious experiences also invited their friends and family to the temple, and that grew the number of the temple’s followers and this number is still growing.
The Dhammakaya Cetiya
The Dhammakaya citiya is built correctly by the standards in Buddhism in every way. It is not a deviation from the traditions and the Buddha’s standards in any way. In Buddhism, there are 4 kinds of cetiya.
First, Relic Cetiya contains the relics of the Lord Buddha, or the remains of an enlightened monk. The Dhammakaya Cetiya contains the relics of the Lord Buddha
Second, Memorial Cetiya contains the necessities of the Lord Buddha or enlightened monks such as alms bowl, robes, and other necessary belongings. However, those items are rare and difficult to acquire in the modern age. The Dhammakaya Cetiya contains the necessities of modern monks, so that a thousand year from now people would see the way of life of monks in this era.
Third, Dhamma Cetiya contains the Tripitaka, or the Buddhist Scriptures. The Dhammakaya Cetiya contains the Tripitaka in several different languages, including CD-ROMs of the teachings in Buddhism today.
Fourth, Votive Cetiya contains the statue(s) of the Lord Buddha. The Dhammakaya Cetiya is covered with 300,000 Buddha statues.
In conclusion, the Dhammakaya Cetiya may be considered as all 4 kinds, and is not considered as a non-Buddhist cetiya in any way.
Press are welcome to have an exclusive interviews with the temple’s spoke-person. Please make an appointment here.
Response to DSI allegations
Scandals about the biggest temple sell well in the headlines. We have been providing clarification about all accusations but those were not published elsewhere. If you are interested to learn more about them, all the responses are given here.
Credit Union Case
Mr. Supachai Srisup-aksorn, former Chairman of Khlongchan Credit Union made monetary donations to Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Later, Khlongchan Credit Union filed a claim accusing Mr. Supachai of embezzling over 10,000 million baht from the Credit Union.
The Fact is Wat Phra Dhammakaya has nothing to do with the Credit Union embezzlement case. The unsolicited donations from Mr. Supachai were used to construct buildings and facilities for the benefit of the general public. Followers of Wat Phra Dhammakaya have subsequently raised the full amount in dispute, which has already been paid to the Credit Union, who have issued a letter of appreciation, and withdrawn all complaints against Wat Phra Dammakaya.
On the further allegations that says the temple supports the receiving of stolen property, it should be noted that most charitable organizations rely on monetary donations from the public, and it is inappropriate to question the source of these donations. Not to mention that the donations made by Mr. Supachai was not the largest, nor was it more notable than any average donators. Imagine the inconvenience for every party involved if the whole world decided to regulate all donations made by imposing a rule that every temple, religious organizations, and non-profit organizations must check the sources for all of the donations made to them every time, no matter how large or small the sum is.
Download PDF of Press Release
Released on 28th April, 2016
Download PDF of Press Release
Released on 3rd May, 2016.
Responses to other allegations found in media
Scandals about the biggest temple sell well in the headlines. We have been providing clarification about all accusations but those were not published elsewhere. If you are interested to learn more about them, all the responses are given here.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya was formally established on Magha Puja Day, February 20, 1970, and declared a legally consecrated temple in 1977. Since its establishment, Wat Phra Dhammakaya has endeavored to propagate Buddhism, and currently has over 4,000 monks and novices, and millions of supporters worldwide.
The motto of Wat Phra Dhammakaya is: “building a true temple, training true monks and promoting people to be truly virtuous.”
Wat Phra Dhammakaya has initiated a number of projects for the dissemination of Buddhism, and to support Buddhism and Thai society. Such projects include:
- Monthly ceremonies to offer robes, dry goods, supplies, and monetary donations to the 323 temples in the southernmost provinces of Thailand for the past 11 years (a total of 121 occasions). Additionally, the temple has established a fund to support teachers in the South, from which monetary support is provided on a monthly basis. These activities aid and lend moral support to the monastic community and Buddhists living in this region.
- Studies of Buddhist Scriptures and the Pali language. Wat Phra Dhammakaya has ranked first in the passing rate of the Sanamluang Pali Examinations on ten separate occasions. It has organized annual congratulatory ceremonies for monks and novices attaining the Pali Level 9 and has offered educational funds to exemplary Pali programs throughout Thailand since 1988. Thus, Wat Phra Dhammakaya has been actively involved in promoting and championing the study of Pali.
- Collaborations with and provisions of support to the monastic community throughout the country to organize bi-annual mass ordination programs for 100,000 monks from every province throughout Thailand, held annually during the summer months since 2010. These programs strive to preserve the rich Buddhist tradition of partaking in higher ordination for the rainy season (vassa), a declining practice in many large cities. These programs have led to an increased number of monks in Thailand since many have decided to remain in the monkhood, taking up residence at various temples throughout Thailand and becoming valuable members of the monastic community. Accordingly, this resolves the issue of the increasing number of abandoned temples and shortages of heirs to Buddhism.
- Effective dissemination of Buddhism overseas. Wat Phra Dhammakaya presently has 93 international branch centers in 35 countries. And each year several ordination programs catered to local residents in each geographic region are organized. These branch centers have strong relations with Buddhist organizations in their respective countries.
It is quite puzzling for a 45-year old temple with numerous recognitions, leading to the bestowal of ecclesiastical royal titles by HRH the King of Thailand to six of its monks: the abbot, vice-abbot, and several executive assistants to the abbot, to even be considered “non-Buddhist”
Wat Phra Dhammakaya is accused of not having respect for the Lord Buddha and considers itself superior to the Lord Buddha. This accusation is completely baseless. In fact, to commence and conclude every ceremony at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the entire congregation pays homage to the Triple Gem, having the Lord Buddha as the principal of the three, and the chanting of these words: “Araham Samma Sambuddho…” the chant that upholds the Lord Buddha. The temple teaches all its followers to venerate and have utmost respect for the Triple Gem, and aspire to be like the Lord Buddha.
The temple is alleged to be providing inaccurate teachings of Buddhism and not teaching about the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and Insight Development. In reality, Wat Phra Dhammakaya fully supports Buddhist studies and has been recognized for having the highest number of monks and novices in the country to successfully pass the Sanamluang Pali examination on ten separate occasions. It has the highest pass rate for scriptural examinations in Thailand and encourages followers to undergo study by providing a systematic approach to Tipitaka and Insight Development Studies. The temple’s Dhamma publications consistently refer to the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Insight Development, and numerous other Dhamma subjects. Some individuals make these allegations due to ignorance of facts.
The temple is alleged to have initiated a new monastic tradition by allowing monks to wear shirts. In fact, monks and novices at Wat Phra Dhammakaya don their monastic robes neatly and are highly regarded by the lay community. However, our 71-year old abbot, who in recent years has developed allergies, must wear a long-sleeve waistcoat under his outer robe to be shielded from any breeze. Similarly, Thai monks who are involved in Buddhist dissemination abroad in colder countries must rely on long-sleeve waistcoats for the very same reason. The Lord Buddha permitted such adaptation to protect the monks’ health. Thailand is a very tropical country, and no individual, unless necessary, would want to wear a long-sleeve waistcoat and generate additional heat.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya is alleged to have used money to garner support of senior monks throughout Thailand to try and monopolise Buddhism in Thailand. This is clearly a conspiracy theory that is based on no solid facts, nor is it a plausible theory for many reasons.
Thailand has many senior monks who have been ordained for 50-70 years and have devoted much of their lives to Buddhism. It would go against all of their doctrines and moral codes as devoted monks to simply be bought by money to destroy Buddhism. Also, there are over 40,000 temples throughout the whole country. Even if by any chance it was easy to “buy” senior monks, there are too many temples. No one would be able to take over that many temples in just one generation, so there is no reason to actually even try to do so.
It has been alleged that the Abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Venerable Phrarajbhavanavisudh, took land from the temple and only returned it after being contested.
The fact is that the donors have verified their full intention to donate the land to Phrarajbhavanavisudh because of their faith in him, and the title deed clearly indicates that the donated land was intended for religious purposes. Donors of additional plots of land have also confirmed that their gifts are made specifically to Phrarajbhavanavisudh due to their faith and appreciation for his efforts in Buddhist dissemination.
The Department of Religious Affairs has argued that the land was really gifted to the temple, and not an individual, which was clearly not the intention of the donors. To resolve this matter, Phrarajbhavanavisudh donated the land to Wat Phra Dhammakaya in order to resolve this dispute and to demonstrate his highest respect for the Supreme Patriarch.
On 22nd March 1999, The Sangha Supreme Council announced that all charges against Phrarajbhavanavisudh (Luangpor Dhammajayo) were being dropped because complainants had withdrawn their cases.
Not true. The abbot lives a very simple way of life. The abbot’s residence is of similar size as other monks’ residence in the temple at the original 77 acres of the temple’s land.
The monks’ residence area is very simple and serene. It is partitioned away from the public areas and the ceremonial area because it was made to support a monks life, ones who dedicate their lives for Buddhism, meditation, and peacefulness. Originally, before the need for land to accommodate more followers, the abbot only wanted there to be 21 monks at the Dhammakaya temple, because that was the maximum number of monks that is absolutely needed to perform any Buddhist ceremony. Thus, the original residence was built with small residence for each monk to sleep, keep the minimum necessities, and meditate. There are trees and shrubs planted to give the feel of a forest and minimalistic living, full of peacefulness and serenity.
Other than having a minimalist residence, the abbot is also very conscious with utilising resources that have been funded by faithful supporters. He showers with only one small bucket of water each day, carefully using every drop with purpose, so to appreciate every single bit of resources without wasting any. This habit is not of a luxurious person.
This is not true because If the temple teaches their followers to donate everything until they become penniless, the temple should have only poor, indigent followers. How can the temple have only wealthy followers?
The reality is, the temple teaches people to be economical, diligent, and never associate themselves with all vices. Instead, it teaches people to make donations, follow the precepts, and meditate. When merits bear fruits, their financial status improves, so they contribute part of their wealth in donation because they faithfully see the value of supporting Buddhist activities.
The only purpose of all spendings of the temple is to return morality to the Thai and global society. The temple spends large sums of money on many projects to improve life of people in Thailand and abroad through morality development, for example, the mass ordination of 100,000 monks, encouraging sharing the Dharma teachings in the youth of Thailand and spreading Buddhism to other countries in the world.
Yes, there are apologies made by media after the cases were over and Luang Por Dhammajayo was declared innocence. Here are some examples. The full list of apologies can be found here.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya’s objectives and its activities have been to teach meditation, morals and ethical values based on Buddhist philosophy. We have been conducting activities based on these objectives for the last 45 years. Wat Phra Dhammakaya has not involved in any political affairs or anything other issues which are not related to our objectives.
There have been many allegations against Wat Phra Dhammakaya. We hereby that all allegations are unsubstantial and lack of evidences. Wat Phra Dhammakaya has absolutely not involved in political affairs.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a Buddhist temple, not an independent state
The disinformation campaign which has been directed at Wat Phra Dhammakaya and its ailing Abbot, took a new turn, when some local media claimed that the temple is an untouchable “state within a state”. This, like many of the ill-informed media claims about Wat Phra Dhammakaya is totally incorrect.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya received its consecrated boundaries on 12 January 1979 (B.E. 2522) and the announcement of this was made in the 96th issue of the Thai Government Gazette, Section 15, on 6 February, 1979. According to the 1992 Sangha Act (B.E. 2535), Article 31, in order to gain a monastery’s complete status, receipt of consecrated boundaries bestowed by His Majesty the King is a requirement.
There are 33,902 Buddhist temples throughout Thailand, and all of them have gained the monastery’s status upon their receipt of consecrated boundaries bestowed by His Majesty the King. Wat Phra Dhammakaya has therefore been established correctly, and for the media and individuals to claim otherwise is to show great disrespect to the Supreme Sangha Council.
The continuing onslaught of unsupported claims against Wat Phra Dhammakaya and the abbot, Phrathepyanmahamuni, is clearly an attempt by those who wish to seize control of Thailand’s largest Buddhist temple. With millions of supporters and a resident population of 3,000 buddhist monks and novices, the devotees of this 46 year old temple will resist any and all illegal actions to discredit Wat Phra Dhammakaya and its seriously ill abbot who has devoted his entire life for the benefit and propagation of Buddhism in Thailand.
