Marjan Naji
Founding:
In 1970, on the Buddhist festival of Magha Puja Day, a Buddhist nun, Khun Yay, established the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple in the Khlong Luang district of Bangkok, Thailand. Khun Yay encouraged her many students, led by Ven. Dhammajayo Bhikkhu and Ven. Dattajivo Bhikkhu, to continue building and upholding the new temple for “international meditation study”. The temple strives to train newer devotees and is currently home to over 1,470 monks and 443 novices, and serves around 161 laymen and 650 laywomen. It has become the largest Buddhist temple in the world.
Khun Yay’s success was established way before the building of the temple. She was a student of the Great Abbot of Wat Paknam (Phra Monkolthepmuni). The Great Abbot was a Buddhist monk who devoted his life to “rediscovering through meditation the knowledge known to the Buddhas”. The monk popularized meditation as it was previously deemed a “mental exercise”. Through his religious discovery he founded the Dhammakaya tradition in 1916. Khun Yaya Ubasika Chandra Khonnokyoong was considered his most promising student. The tradition has significantly grown and has expanded to seventeen Dhammakaya Centers, with eleven of those being outside of Thailand.
In 2001, the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple and the Dhammakaya Foundation, a non-governmental organization of the United Nations, founded the Meditation Center of D.C. in Alexandria, Virginia, about fifteen minutes from the country’s capital. It is both a Buddhist temple and non-profit organization. There are currently thirteen other centers that they are affiliated with including the Dhammakaya Meditation Center Silicon Valley, Georgia Meditation Center, and Meditation Center of Texas.
Beliefs and Meditation:
The Meditation Center of D.C. follows the Dhammakaya tradition. The emergence of the Dhammakaya tradition stems from Buddha’s path of “The Middle Way”. The beliefs stem from the Theravada school of thought because they follow the Pali Canon and try to emphasize Buddha’s original teachings. The tradition advocates for avoiding the two extreme sides of religion, self indulgence and self mortification, like Buddha advocated for. However, the true knowledge of “The Middle Way” has been lost over time. The Great Abbot of Wat Paknam, born Luang Pu Wat Paknam, rediscovered the true balance of Buddha’s teachings through meditation. In 1916, he founded the tradition by meditating until he found Buddha’s truth of the real path. The truth was the revelation of the Dhamma, called the Vijja Dhammakaya, as his teachings. These teachings are now sometimes referred to as the Ultimate Righteous Truth.
Dhammakaya is found in both Theravada and Mahayana schools of thought and translates to meaning the “Body of Enlightenment”. The Center makes sure to emphasize that the Great Abbot’s meditation practice is not limited to Buddhists and people of all religious backgrounds can find his meditation practices beneficial because “Since the outset of the Dhammakaya tradition, the inner peace of meditation has reflected an aspiration to cultivate peace in the world at large.”
Meditation is the most important practice of the Dhammakaya tradition. Their basic meditation practices rely on the three methods of concentration and the Principle of the Center. The three methods are: Kasina, meditating on an object of visualization; Buddhanussati, recollection of Buddha’s virtues; and Anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. The Principle of the Center is the position of the body while meditating. There are seven positions of the body to achieve success in meditation. While meditating you internalize the movement of a sphere at your nose, position one, and then you must mentally move it all the way down your body to position number seven. Below is a visual of the seven bodily positions that make up The Principle of the Center.
Samatha meditation is a technique focused on concentration which is used to free the mind from the five mental obstacles. The five obstacles are sensual desire, ill-will, sleepiness, anxiety, and doubt. This must be done to achieve vipassana, insight meditation. Vipassana meditation, or insight, is used to develop Right Wisdom. During Samatha Vipassana Meditation, participants repeat the word “Samma Araham”, which translates to “the righteous absolute of attainment of a human being”, all while looking at a crystal ball. This helps people concentrate and control their thoughts and body. The goal of meditation is to eventually develop Insight, where participants can fully understand and contemplate the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
Meditation Instructors:
There are three monks that run the Meditation Center of D.C. The most prominent is Phra Chayanon Kijjananto. Kijjananto was born in Thailand and lived a life of a lay person until 2005. In 2005, he visited the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple and decided to change his life to become a monk. Another monk is Phramaha Weerapan Inthapanyo who was also born in Thailand. Inthapanyo became a novice monk in 2002 and then a monk in 2009, both at the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple. Throughout his studying he dedicated his time to learning the Pali language of Buddha’s Suttas, or teachings. He received his bachelor’s degree in Buddhism from the Dhammachai Institute (DCI) and has been able to continue to teach novice monks the Pali language. Lastly, Phramaha Karn Lawakorn attended the Thammasat University in Bangkok to study economics but decided to quit after he joined the university’s Buddhist club. In 2007 he began working for the Dhammakaya temple in Boston, but now teaches classes at the Center in Alexandria.
Events:
The Meditation Center holds at least six events a week for their members. They have a Sunday Service at 9am. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are Late Night Meditation at 10pm. Thursdays are Peace Time. And Saturdays often have two events titled Saturday Meditation Session at 3pm and Inner Peace Time at 5pm. Monthly, on the nights with a full moon, the center holds a Full Moon event at 9pm. All events also have a zoom option.
Sunday Services are marketed as a day full of “gaining merit”. Followers can gain merit by practicing generosity, following the five precepts of Buddhism, and meditating. To fulfill all three aspects, Sunday Services begin with morning chanting, meditation, Dhamma Summon, food offering and monk blessings, and then alms offerings. All these activities are done to cultivate good deeds and merit.
The Late Night Meditation, Peace Time, Inner Peace Time, and the Saturday Meditation Session are offered to help practitioners relax, destress, and have a good night’s sleep. Peace Time additionally offers tips to improve your meditation and guidance to stay focused. The Saturday Meditation Session is specifically designed for beginning practitioners.
Lastly, on the monthly night of the full moon Eastern spiritual traditions have thought that the moon gives people “special spiritual energy”. To encapsulate the energy, the Center begins by giving a small lecture about wisdom and then proceeds with candle lighting and meditation. The event ends with loving kindness and opportunity for questions with a monk.
Community and Funding:
It is difficult to find the demographics of the Meditation Center of D.C. However, based on the images provided it seems like the Center largely provides services to an Asian American audience. The tradition is mainly in Thailand and has Thai followers, so many of their members are likely of Thai descent. Below is a picture taken from the Meditation Center of D.C.’s website of the monks and the temple’s members.
The Center seems to have a strong relationship and support for the local community. They openly invite any organizations such as schools, universities, or personal groups to set up a time to visit their Center and learn more about Buddhism and meditation. The Center encourages volunteers to help lead conversation meetings, especially volunteers who speak English, to help all followers. Due to the temple’s status as a non-profit, all of its events are funded entirely by donations from their local community. The Dhammakaya tradition as a whole advocates for the expansion of an international community and awareness.
The Dhammakaya Tradition:
The Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple and the Dhammakaya Foundation’s status as a non-profit have actually led to the Dhammakaya tradition facing a plethora of media scrutiny from Buddhists and the Thai community. Since 1999 there have been multiple accusations of misconduct in the larger community. Some have been completely baseless, such as being accused of having ties to Nazis and using magic in their temples. Others have to do with the religion itself. The Dhammakaya tradition, although originally stemming from the Theravada school of thought, has been argued that it strays too far from the original teachings due to the strong emphasis on meditation. Additionally, some Buddhists do not agree with the extreme, strict orders that Dhammakaya monks must follow. Other accusations may be more serious. For example, the tradition has been criticized for having political ties, gun smuggling, and misuse of funds; there have been legal issues with some leaders, and the extravagance of temples and consumerism–all things that people argue contradict all original Buddhist teachings. It is hard to say if any of these accusations are accurate or substantial. Perhaps it is just the effects and responses of the public to a relatively new Buddhist tradition.
References:
“Dhamma Center.” ., www.dhammacenter.org/page-view/sub- main/dhammakaya%20meditation/practice/14.
Gluckman, Ron. “Documentary Gives Thais Rare Glimpse into Controversial Sect.” Nikkei Asia, Nikkei Asia, 9 June 2021, asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Life/Documentary-gives-Thais-rare-glimpse-into-controversial-sect.
Liusuwan, Nicholas. “Why Is Wat Phra Dhammakaya so Controversial?” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/why-is-wat-phra-dhammakay_b_10422798.
MEDITATION CENTER OF D.C., meditationdc.org/about/our-history.
Severson, Lucky, and Rachelle Scott. “Dhammakaya Temple.” Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, 2014, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2014/06/13/june-13-2014-dhammakaya-temple/23323/