DOING THE BUSINESS tice ofdogged solicitation for donations OF FAITH: THE to build a grand Maha Dhammakaya Jedi Structure worth nearly one billion CAPTALISTIC US$, in the face of severe economic re• DHAMMAKAYA MOVE• cession. Some Buddhist monks and MENT AND THE SPIRI• scholars, both orthodox and radical, at• TUALLY-THIRSTY THAI tacked the movement as a distortion and commercialization of Buddhism. If the 1 MIDDLE CLASS Dhammakaya movement offers a novel religious package as alleged by some Rungrawee critics, it is worth examining why this 2 Chalermsripinyorat consumer product has gained an upsurge of popularity among urban middle Abstract classes in modern Thai society. This paper argues that even though capitalis• tic as the Dhammakaya has been viewed, Dhammakaya, an active, affluent and it is ironically one of the most success• expanding Buddhist religious move• ful resurgent Buddhist movements in ment, became a focus of public atten• contemporary Thailand. It offers the tion and media scrutiny in the last quar• urban middle classes an alternative path ter of 1998 due to its controversial prac- to realize their novel vision ofBuddhism and construct their new identity. The 1 An earlier version of this paper was pre• popularity of the movement, in turn, sented at the Seventh International Confer• ence on Thai Studies, held at the University manifests the failure of the Sangha in of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 4- 8, coming to terms with changing Thai so• 1999. The author would like to thank the ciety. The first section of this paper dis• Thai Studies Section for providing financial cusses how Buddhism has been trans• support for the trip. I would like to express formed in the process of modernization. heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Suwanna In the second section, I examine the case Satha-anand of the Philosophy Department, of Wat Phra Dhammakaya as a new re• Chulalongkorn University, for her stimulat• ligious movement in contemporary ing ideas and comments as well as her en• Thailand. The last section discusses the couragement, hospitality and continuous Dhammakaya controversy and its impli• support. I am also indebted to Dr.Sunait Chutintaranond and Dr.Therayut cations. Banomyong of the Thai Studies Section, Introduction Chulalongkom University, for their full sup• port, both morally and financially. Last but We want to be a religious establishment not least, thanks also go to Dr. Chaiwat for the new generation. What's wrong Satha-anand and Dr.Kasian Tejapira of the with that? We are not going to look like Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat small wooden temples which attract University, for their advice and moral sup• port. only those seeking lottery numbers and 2 Student in the Thai Studies Section, not those wanting to find substance in Chulalongkorn University religion.
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Manit Rattanasuwan, former success in gaining popularity particu• advisor of the Bangkok Gover• larly among the urban middle class dur• nor and owner of a property ing the past three decades of 'modern• project undertaken with Wat ized' Thai society. This paper, therefore, Phra Dhammakaya (The Na• attempts to discuss the rapidly-expand• tion, Jan 25, 1999) ing Dhammakaya Buddhist movement, placing it in the context ofthe wider so• Dhammakaya,3 an active, affiuent and cial transformation of modem Thai so• expanding Buddhist religious movement ciety. This paper argues that even though located at Wat Phra Dhammakaya near Dhammakaya has been viewed as capi• Bangkok, has been a focus of public at• talistic, it is paradoxically the most suc• tention and media scrutiny since the last cessful resurgent Buddhist movement quarter of 1998. This is due mainly to -at least, measured by the number of fol• the movement's controversial practice lowers- in quenching the spiritual needs, of dogged solicitation for donations to fulfilling the psychological void and cre• build the grand Maha Dhammakaya ating a new identity for the newly• Cetiya, at an estimated cost of nearly emerging urban middle class. In this re• US$1 ,000,000,000, regardless of the gard, the achievement of the movement fact that Thailand was then in a state is, in tum, a manifestation of the failure of economic turmoil. The movement of the Sangha to come to terms with has thus been attacked as a distortion social change in Thai society. and commercialization of Buddhism by some monks and Buddhist scholars. The This paper will discuss, firstly, how controversy has led the Sangha and state Buddhism has changed in the transfor• authorities to seriously investigate the mation process from traditional to mod• Dhammakaya temple. em society. Secondly, the case of Wat Phra Dhammakaya as a new religious Whatever the accusations are, it is in• movement to cope with the changing teresting to examine the social under• society i.e. what it has done to fulfill the pinning ofDhammakaya's unparalleled needs of the newly-emerging middle class in Thailand, will be examined. Thirdly, the recent Dhammakaya con• troversy and its implications for Thai 3 There are three religious groups promot• Buddhism will be discussed. ing Dhamrnakaya meditation, namely Wat Paknam, Wat Phra Dhamrnakaya and Wat The Reconciliation of Buddhism Luang Phor Sod Dhamrnakayaram, all of with Modernization which derive their teachings from the same source i.e. Luang Phor Sod, a former abbot of Wat Paknam who claimed to have redis• In traditional Thai society, the temple covered Dhamrnakaya meditation. However, or wat was an indispensable component the focus of this paper will be limited to the of a community. As Richard A. Phathumthani-based Wat Phra O'Conner argued, traditionally the wat Dhamrnakaya. is the moral, social and symbolic center
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of a community, and certainly a village function from the practice conditioned needs a wat to be complete. (O'Connor by social place to beliefs freely chosen. 1993:331) Thai Buddhism was hetero• (O'Connor 1993) In other words, Bud• geneous and decentralized. More impor• dhism changed from 'a way of life' to tantly, it was inherent in people's cos• 'a sphere of life'. (see Robertson mology and laid the foundation for the 1993:15) It became merely a choice Thai social structure, without which the among many other religions offered for society could not function. People in the shoppers to purchase and consume in the past were inclined to regard Buddhism competing sphere of a liberalized mar• simply as their culture rather than a dis• ket. Within Theravada Buddhism itself, tinct religion. As Robertson noted, a number of religious movements have also continuously emerged to compete The fact ofthe matter is that the in the 'business of faith'. concept ofreligion was alien to the East when it was first Plenty of evidence shows that, having brought from the West, although undergone the process of modernization since the late nineteenth century and industrialization influenced by ra• much attention has been de• tional and Western-influenced ideas, voted to reconciling Western religious beliefs and practices have by conceptions of religion with no means become less plausible nor Eastern notions of apparent have they lost social significance in family resemblance '. In the pro• Thailand. As Bellah noted 'seculariza• cess there has been a strong ten• tion does not mean the disappearance dency for some Eastern societ• ofnational religion, and ... in the process ies to f eel constrained neverthe• of modernization, religion may appear less, to use the category ofreli • in many ' new guises'. (cited in Taylor gion to reinterpret their tradi• 1993: 65) tions ofthinking about 'way of life '. (Roberson 1993:15) Thai society has gradually transformed from close-knit community-based struc• With the influence of Western colonial tures to the impersonal urban structures powers in the late nineteenth century, of societal relationships and controls. Siam was coerced to begin the project Individuals have encountered a new so• of nation-building and modernization cial reality of modernity, which, ex• which led to the consolidation of the plained Clammer, makes life increas• Sangha. In so doing, it subsequently ingly abstract, routinised and reduces the changed the structure ofThai Buddhism possibility of genuine human encoun• from, to use O'Connor's words, 'a ters and removes mystery from the uni• wat-localized to a Sangha-centred reli• verse. (Clammer cited in Goh 1999:90) gion'. Thai Buddhism became homoge• Living in this sort of environment, indi• neous and centralized, less local but viduals are inclined to feelings of alien• more national. Furthermore, it is impor• ation, isolation and powerlessness. This tant to note that, as O'Conner argues, then leads to the individual's search for Thai Buddhism also changed its social the meaning of his/her existential self,
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hence, religion, as a source of psycho• vision." (Taylor 1990, p.153) logical gratification, comes to the fore again. The rise of the Dhammakaya It was under these social circumstances, movement best exemplifies this point. that the Dhammakaya Buddhist Medi• tation Center (Soon Phutthachak Quenching the Thirst of the Patibattham Phra Thammakai) was Newly-Emerging Urban Middle founded in 1969 under the leadership of Classes two Kasetsart University graduates, Chaijabun Sitthiphon (Phra Dhamma..: With the rapid process of economic de• chayo-the abbot) and Phadet Phaung• velopment, industrialization and urban• sawat (Phra Dhattachiwoo-the deputy ization, traditional communities, where abbot) and with the support by Khun Yai temples perform a central role in the Chan Khonnokyung, a disciple of Luang world of close, emotional, face-to-face Phor Sod. The center was later granted ties, have been undermined. The num• official registration as Wat Phra ber of urban inhabitants has accelerated Dhammakaya by the Royal Thai alongside the unprecedented growth of Government's Department of Religious · urban society. These dislocated urban• Affairs in 1978. Since then, the temple ites thus aspire to 'a surrogate commu• has expanded in incredibly terms of the nity' which provides them with a new number of followers as well as the sense of psychological and moral iden• temple's lands and assets. The leaders tity, and hence the temples are expected dream of building the temple into the greatest center of Buddhism in the ~o play a new role. world, based on the strong support of Nidhi Ewsriwong, a leading Thai histo• the urban middle class. rian, argues that Thai Buddhism gov• The Quest for a Utopian Com• erned by the Sangha authority tradition• munity ally communicated with a simple two-class division in Thai society; the Many Dhammakaya followers royal/elite ruling elements and the peas• had been disillusioned by main• antry . (Nidhi 1994:1 04) The modern• stream temples that thrived on ization process brought about the emer• giving lottery numbers or per• gence of a new disjunctive middle-class. forming other senseless rituals. The inability of the Sangha and conven• Why (should we) destroy a good tional temples to come to terms with · alternative? asked Leelawadee problems of the middle class in the mod• Watcharo-bon, former beauty em world has frustrated them. Taylor queen and·actress. argues that, "the new disjunctive bour• geoisie are seemingly ill-fitted to the Wat Phra Dhammakaya is set in serene, persisting social structure and political shady grounds. At the center is a simple, order and instead have attempted to elegant modem-looking white ubosot carve out a niche for itself, one that is (convocation hall) set amidst lush gar• reflective and responsive to their par• dens, snaking streams, and refreshing ticular needs and 'streamlined' religious fountains. On entering the temple com-
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pound, one has an impression of clean• ior. The temple s personnel are liness, order, purity and peace. This is those who are ready to devote in stark contrast to many conventional themselves to others. Its a feel• temples in Bangkok, where the commo• ing that is difficult to explain, tion of temple business i.e. fortune-tell• but I've found the people 1 have ing, lottery numbers-dispensing, amulet• been searching for. (Deeply selling, merit-making rituals, pervade Delving into Wat Phra the general atmosphere of the temple Dhammakaya, p.82) compounds. When the attack against the Dhammakaya movement reached its Wat Phra Dhammakaya substitutes for peak early this year, the temple's follow• the traditional communities, which have ers sent letters to editors of some news• been undermined in modem Thai soci• papers, elaborating why they decided to ety. It provides the middle class with, to take spiritual refuge in this temple de• use Malcolm B. Hamilton's term, 'a spite all the scathing criticism. part-time quasi-community expressing a partial utopianism'. (Hamilton 1995, Chawiwan Supakijchanusorn, a p.207) What is gained from participat• Dhammakaya adherent, wrote in her let• ing in the movement is a sense of com• ter to The Nation in response to The munity, close bonding and friendship, Nation's harsh criticism of Wat Phra all of which are scarce in urban society. Dhammakaya: Apart from psychological dependence, I want to live in an ideal world concrete mutual help in daily life is also and the Dhammakaya Temple is crucial. Close relationship in a like• the place, because it is where minded community generates trust e\)eryone respects.forgives and among followers. By way of illustration, is polite to one another. Every• a businessman follower, whose name one smiles and helps each other. was not identified, can be cited. This It is where people uphold the story was told by his friend, Khun Poj, five precepts and morality. (The who asked him to make a donation for a Nation, Jan 5, 1999) personal Dhammakaya image.4 Khun Poj says: In another quotation from a Dhammakaya publication, Anan My friend made a donation for Atsawapokin, the president of the Land a personal Dhammakaya im• & House Public Company Limited and age. Soon after, he met a gen• the owner of a property project under• erous businessman who is a taken with Wat Phra Dhammakaya, said: Dhammakaya adherent and the owner ofa big housing project. What impresses me most is the characteristics ofpeople in the 4 Those who make a donation for Bht 30,000 temple. 1 am so overwhelmed (about US $800) will have his or her per• when I look in their eyes, and sonal Dhammmakaya image enclosed within watch their carriage and behav- the Maha Dharnmakaya Cetiya in exchange for the donation.
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He and my friend happened to Have you ever dreamt of a sit near one another one day. peaceful place near the temple After talking to each other for where you can spend time hap• a while, that generous guy un• pily with your close expectedly decided to contract Kallayanamit (true friends) and out the job ofinstalling sanitary where you could make an offer• facilities in his housing project ing to monks every morning and to my friends company. It is a practice meditation every very big project, which could evening? Now, your dream will earn my friend a lot of money. come true at the Muang Keaw My friend later told me that Manee. making merit at Wat Dhammakaya is really worth• The building is neo-classic in design, while. I thus told him that it is decorated with luxurious furniture im• certainly a result ofyour merit. ported from Finland. At the top of the (Tawin, 1995, pp.8-9) building is a high-ceilinged room used for practicing meditation; from there one A big housing project has been initiated can view the Maha Dhammakaya in response to the dream of many dis• Cetiya. Moreover, the project provides ciples to build a Buddhist community. a recreation center, comprising a Manit Rathanasuwan, a religious busi• 200-seat modem seminar center, sauna, nessman and former advisor of the exercise room, swimming pool and, Bangkok Governor, has run a condo• more interestingly a 'Dhamma Theater', minium project called Muang Keaw together with a shopping arcade featur• Manee. Muang, in Thai, means city, ing minimarts, restaurants, hair salons, while both Keaw and Manee mean crys• laundry shops, clinics, bookstores, etc. tal. A Crystal ball is the symbol of Wat Phra Dhammakaya. According to the This is a perfect utopian place in line Dhammakaya meditation method;· a with bourgeois taste. Chaiwat crystal ball can be visualized at the cen• Satha-anand argued interestingly that ter of one's body when a certain stage 'modem economy is spiritualized using of Dhammakaya meditation has been religious injunctions and idioms, while achieved. religion is being commoditized when utilized as an appendix to business trans• An advertisement for this project is actions.' (Chaiwat, 1997 pp.2-3) By found inside the front page of the merging Buddhist ideals with business Kallayanamit Dhammakaya's monthly transactions, the distinction between ·magazine. (Kallayanamit, Vol 10, these two separate realms -- the mun• No.ll3 May 1995) Across the top ofthe dane and supramundane world -- be• page lies the persuasive headline: "Let's comes blurred. Holy religious practice live near the temple", followed by a fan• has been incorporated into the profane tastic description: business world.
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The emerging bourgeoisie is searching to remain powerful. The Dhammakaya's for a venue where their 'new identity' publications play an important role in can be differentiated and then asserted. repeatedly reinforcing the belief in the They dislike buying lottery tickets and power of amulets as well as the good consulting fortune-tellers in a small and fruit of making merit by, for example, dilapidated temple and regard them as reproducing stories of a miraculous sur• 'nonsense'. Rather, they perceive them• vival after a severe car accident, an un• selves as pioneering Buddhists in the age explainable recovery from malignant of globalization, aspiring to erect a cancer and incredible success in busi• world-class modem Buddhist center and ness after making merit at the temple, the grand Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya. and so forth. Their ultimate dream can best be cap• tured by Phra Dhattachiwoo's utterance: One might think that the middle class "the Catholics have their Vatican, the adherents, who obtain Western-oriented Moslems their Mecca, we Buddhists education,5 the foundation of which lies therefore await our World Dhammakaya in rational thinking, should no longer be• Center". (cited in Apinya, 1993) An lieve in the supernatural power of sa• analogy could be drawn between this cred entities. Evidence however shows 'think-big' project and a number of ex• that this is not the case. It has been ar• travagant multi-million-baht projects, gued that the rational mode of thinking which flourished in the secular world can not provide human beings with a during the economic boom. While those satisfactory answer for every question. living in the temporal realm scrambled Social reality becomes more and more to become 'a new tiger', those in the complex in the age of globalization; it spiritual world have also been driven by is beyond the individual's grasp, under• their ambition to build a global Buddhist standing and control. Thus, individuals empire. feel powerless and uncertain. Having an amulet, one can at least have a sense of Superstition versus Rationality certainly and psychological confidence,
Amulets are a key component of con• 5 It should be noted thatDharnrnakaya is the temporary Thai Buddhism, for they are most popular religious movement among a major source of temples' revenue. university students and graduates. Unfortu• They are therefore crucial to the eco• nately, there is no figure of adherents' edu• cational level provided. However, accord• nomic survival of the temples. Amulets ing to figures provided by Dharnrnakaya, it are given to those who make a donation is interesting to note that 289 monks out of to the temples. The Thai people believe 652 possess a Bachelor's degree and 22 that an amulet is a protecting entity, monks a Master's degree, whereas 3 16 which is believed to bring happiness, Ubasikas (female personnel) out of359 hold prosperity, and good life to those who a Bachelor's degree, 9 Ubasikas a Master's have it. An amulet in itself has no in• degree and I a Doctorate degree. trinsic use, but its worth comes from its (Dhammakaya 1999: 26-27) It is evident symbolic value and thus people must be therefore that the Dhammakaya movement is strategically run by highly-educated confident in its efficacy in order for it people.
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no matter if the expectation is or is not of an associate professor from finally realized. Spiro argued interest• Chulalongkorn University, Thailand's ingly that 'althought religious ritual may first and most widely-recognized univer• not, in fact, be efficacious for the elimi• sity. It challenges the general idea that nation of poverty, the restoration of those who acquire high education do not health, the bringing of rain, and the like, believe, and even look down on, super• the belief that it does achieve these ends stition. serves the important psychological (real) function of reducing hopelessness and The temple has been attacked by Bud• its attendant anxiety concerning their dhist scholars as making use of the otherwise impossible attainment. (Spiro miracle to deceive people. 1966:114) Dhamrnakaya insists that the miracle did happen despite the fact that we are un• Dhammakaya has repeatedly promoted able to explain it in scientific terms. In the supernatural power of amulets as order to justify their faith, the followers well as other miracculous occurrences further argue that many miracles are at the temple in order to draw more fol• mentioned in the Tripitaka. For ex• lowers. One of the most controversial ample, immediately after Prince photos published in the temple's book Siddhartha was born, he walked seven is the one portraying the September 6 steps and could talk. When he was about miracle witnessed at Wat Phra to attain enlightenment, he could re• Dhammakaya in September 1998 by a member past lives and see the past lives gigantic gathering of meditation enthu• of other creatures, and his body shone siasts. It aroused a number ofcriticisms. with a special radiance. (The Nation, A Chulalongkorn University associate Dec 9, 1998) To be fair, this seems to be professor, Saowalak Piempiti who at• an understandable argument as plenty tended the mass mediation and wit• of stories concerning superstition are nessed the September 6" Sun Miracle," easily found in daily newspapers. It explained: seems to fit nicely with Thai society. Hence, why has only Dhamrnakaya been During the event, the sun be• questioned? came like a drawing. It was easy to look at it without pro• Nevertheless, the Dhammakaya move• tecting ones eyes, she said. ment must also come to terms with sci• Then, the image ofLuang Phor entific rationality, given that formal Wat Paknam slowly emerged, knowledge in Thai society has changed his saffron robe appearingfirst. from communal-based religious belief It was not a dream. It was a real to an urban-based scientific one. An ar• experience. " (The Nation, Dec ticle in Kallayanamit, Dhamrnakaya's 2, 1998) monthly magazine, regarding the con• struction of the Maha Dhammakaya What is fascinating is, in fact, not the Cetiya, exemplifies the point. explanation ofthe miracle, but rather the (Kasemsuk 1998) person describing it. It is the testimony
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Beginning the article by citing a dread• Belief in the supernatural in Thai Bud• ful doomsday prediction, the author dhism has always been a problematic states that no astronomer has yet to find issue. The true Buddhist might argue a way out of this coming catastrophe. that any attempt to gratify psychologi• The argument is underpinned by a so• cal dissatisfaction, which is caused by phisticated scientific explanation, em• holding fast to worldly happiness, is in ploying a good amount of astronomical contradiction to the Buddha's teachings, jargon. Mentioning doomsday, the au• for the .Buddha taught that life is suffer• thor points out that 'there are large num• ing and impermanence and hence, to be bers of things that are beyond the ca• free from all suffering is to completely pacity and wisdom of human beings to reject worldly desire and search for nir• grapple with.' She then tries to introduce vana. However, pure text-based Bud• an answer, if not the only answer: 'here, dhism alone seems unlivable and, in we have a solution: the Maha fact, it has never been the dominant Dhammakaya Cetiya'. The great disas• mode of belief in Thai Buddhism. The ter, she further claims, will affect only I reinforcement of worldly happiness th~se who do not observe the five pre- tends paradoxically to ensure the sur• cepts (Sila). To escape the calamity, vival ofThai Buddhist institutions. It can there are two possible answers: one is also be argued that the idea of to· achieve the high level of world-accepting is more prevalent Dhammakaya meditation (which is among the middle class than rather difficult for ordinary people); and world-rejecting because it is consistent the other is to make donations in order with, and even strengthens their social to have the donor's name inscribed in position in the hierarchical cosmology. the structure of the Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya, where all victorious entities will Commodification of Merit reside, as soon as possible. "We were born to 'sasom baramee"' Referring to a doomsday prediction from which means 'we were born to accumu• an astronomical viewpoint, the author late merit' is a slogan-cum-ideology of exhibits logic and a familiarity with sci• Dhammakaya. Merit-making has long entific discourse. Nevertheless, she finds been part and parcel of every Buddhist scientific knowledge inadequate, if not ceremony and it is the most popular ex• hopeless, to save people from this di• pression of lay religiosity. The Sangha saster. Consequently, other sources of has enjoyed a legitimate position as a power must come into play to help hu• 'field of merit' throughout the long pe• mankind; that is, the victorious power riod of Thai Buddhist history. Accord• of ·the Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya, ing to Yoneo Ishii, a field of merit is which can be attained only by whole• defined as a beneficiary of good deeds hearted support from adherents. By un• performed by people for the fulfillment dermining the legitimacy of science, on of their desires for heavenly happiness.' which knowledge in the modern world (Ishii 1986, p.l3) The driving force for is based, the Dhammakaya discourse merit accumulation lies in the belief of creates a substitution for it. Thai Buddhists that, to use Lucien M.
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Hanks' formulation, all living beings fortune, prosperity, a last chance for sur• stand in a hierarchy of varying ability vival and all other good things. Yet, by to make actions effective and of vary• no means can the benefits from such ing degrees of freedom from suffering . reminders be guaranteed, nor can the re• ... This hierarchy depends on a compos• sults of accumulated merit itself. ite quality called 'merit' (bun) or 'vir• Merit-making is, Ishii argues, 'strictly a tue' (khwaamdii).' (Hanks 1962, symbolic act'; therefore, 'the actor must p.1247) Thus, Buddhists are expected be confident of its efficacy.' (Ishii 1986, to make as much merit as they can so as p.l6) to uplift their social status in a hierar• chical society. The transcendence ofthe Amulets and other kinds of reminders cycle of reincarnation, or the attainment have no intrinsic use, but their worth of nirvana, is far less relevant to their accrues from cultural value i.e. their pro• daily life. Most Buddhists do not think tective power- as long as people believe that far and they believe that it is be• in them. Kasian Tejapira analyses the yond the capability of ordinary people logic underpinning the consumption of to achieve enlightenment in this life. goods in a capitalistic society thus: "the Some Buddhist scholars e.g. most important thing being consumed Buddhadasa, have tried to challenge this by consumers under consumerism is not view. On the contrary, Dhammakaya the material objects ofcommodities but makes use of this traditional discourse the abstract meaning which these com• to legitimize their solicitation and wealth modities have been made to signify by accumulation. advertising." (original emphasis- Kasian 1997 cited in Chaiwat 1997:13) Simi• Operating under a capitalist mentality, larly, the Dhammakaya's disciples con• Dhammakaya makes merit calculable so sume abstract meanings attached to that people will be tempted to make those reminders e.g. Dhammakaya, Bud• merit. Tapping into a marketing strat• dha, heavenly happiness, Nirvana, etc. egy, they preach that 'the more you do• but not the object per se. nate, the more 'merit' you receive.' (The Nation, Dec 1, 1998) The tangible ben• However, it should be noted that, hav• efits of merit accumulation have repeat• ing encountered heavy criticism by Bud• edly been asserted by the publicity of dhist intellectuals that -such reminders stupendous stories resulting from the are rather obstacles to achieving real sacred power of accumulated merit . wisdom, the temple is thus reluctant to fully endorse their necessity. An official Furthermore, rewards are given for those ofthe temple, however, argues that 'only who make a donation e.g. giving them a few people have the spiritual strength amulets, having their names inscribed to do good deeds and expect nothing in at the Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya. Thus, return, while most people still need in• the adherents will be happy that they centives ....To encourage people to do receive something in return for their good, sometimes we need to use tricks.' money. Such reminders can signify (The Nation, Dec 2, 1998) These heavenly happiness, better lives, good business-oriented strategies have been
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extremely successful in expanding the this. (see Suwanna 1990: 400-401) In movement and increasing the number of 1998- I 999, there was a heated debate disciples. However, Dhammakaya has on the philosophical definition of nir• often been questioned if it is a true Bud• vana. Buddhist scholars argued that nir• dhist movement or a business organiza• vana is a state of nothingness and de• tion in disguise. tachment from self, whereas Dhammakaya proposes that it is that of Dhammakaya Meditation: heavenly happiness, which one can at• New Expression of Lay Religi• tain if merit has been sufficiently accu• osity mulated. However, Dhammakaya fol• lowers seem not to be bothered by the doctrinal controversy at all. For them, Dhammakaya meditation, believed to be the ,achievement of nirvana seems be• rediscovered by Luang Phor Sod and yond their imagination and has little rel• originally taught to a limited number of evance to their present lives. Their con• Luang Ph or Sod's close disciples, has cern is rather placed upon the realiza- . been popularized since Soon Phuttha• tion of a happy state of mind. Medita• chak Patibattham Phra Thammakai tion is also beneficial for their life in (Dhammakaya Buddhist Meditation the worldly realm. Some meditators be• Center) was founded in 1970.1t became lieve that meditation practice is tremen• an alternative for middle class religious dously helpful for achieving greater suc• involvement. cess in studies and work because helps enhance their memory and improve their Forbidding the traditional ritualistic lay concentration. form of Thai Buddhism practiced in other conventional temples which of• Since meditation can be practiced indi• fends the middle classes' modem out• vidually, it enables meditators to real• look, the Dhammakaya religious move• ize their inner strength. The empower• ment offers a new venue of direct par• ment of the self is consistent with the ticipation through practice resembling bourgeoisie's idea of 'individualism'; the Mahayana interpretation of that is, the emphasis on the importance Dhammakaya and Tantric Buddhist vi• of individual choices and interests sualization of the Buddha in the womb. through freedom. Even though the prac• In meditation, devotees are taught to cul• tice of meditation is individual by na• tivate their inherent Buddha nature ture, Dhammakaya transforms it into a through visualization techniques. collective form of mediation, which (Schober 1995:321) It is claimed that gives those attending the ritual an im• Dhammakaya speeds attainment of nir• pression of sacredness and power ofcol• vana and that advanced Dhammakaya lective action. Apinya calls it the may visit past lives and other medi~tors 'publicization of a private affair'. planes of existence, and thereby affect (Apinya 1998: 70) The sacred atmo• present circumstances. (Zeh~er sphere at the meditation site, accordi~g 1990:407) It is also said that all medita• to Apinya, stirs many people to cry with tive practice leads to Dhammakaya and happiness. (Apinya 1998: 70) Nidhi ar- there is no other way to nirvana except
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gues that "human beings need rituals as materials for the Maha Cetiya structure an important venue enabling them to are all imported as their quality is higher have close spiritual communication with than those produced in Thailand. Hence, holy entities as well as with human• when the baht was floated, the price of kind." (Nidhi 1994, p. 97) ln this regard, materials inevitably shot up. The temple the mediation ceremony fulfills the need lost a lot of money (for that reason). of the middle class, in both individual• Thus, those who can wholeheartedly de• istic and collective manners. vote their money for the construction wiJI be extremely helpful for Buddhism The Dhammakaya Controversy at this critical time.' (the Kallayanamit Magazine, Jan 1998 cited in Matichon Dhammakaya has always been a con• Sutsupdu. Vol. 19 No.959, Jan 5,1999 troversial movement. lt was accused of p.l 1) The Matichon Sutsapda noted being a communist movement in the 80's that, while the cost ofthe project almost when the storm between left and right doubled the 'purchase power' (Kamlung ideologies raged. Ironically, since the Sua) or 'merit power' (Kamlung Bun) last quarter of 1998 the Dhammakaya was in decline. The temple then at• movement has encountered the heavi• tempted to boost ' purchasing power' by est attack in its history and one of the advertising miracles repeatedly and re• major accusations is that it is 'a capital• leasing many types of amulets, e.g. duud ist version of Buddhism' . (Sanitsuda sub (sucking wealth) and khra ruay 1998) As far as I am concerned, the con• (dare to be rich), to stimulate people to troversy was sparked when a family make more donations. (Matichon member of a Dhammakaya disciple Sutsupda. Vol. 19 No.959, Jan 5,1999 made a complaint on a news program p. l I ) As a result, many people were on the lTV channel concerning a fam• angry with Dhammakaya's solicitation ily rift caused by one of her family mem• tactics and also unhappy with its invest• bers who is a devoted adherent of the ment in the extravagant Maha Cetiya. Dhammakaya temple. The media fol~ lowed the issue and began to criticize The controversy has continued. The the 'direct sale' tactic that the temple House Committee on Religious Affairs has used to entice followers to make made the followers allegations against donations. Phra Dhammachaya, the temple's abbot: 1) the violation of rules on the construc• It is undeniable that a crucial factor tion of Buddha statues, 2) the misinter• which made this an issue was the eco• pretation of Buddha's teachings, 3) the nomic situation in Thailand during that promotion of miracles, 4) the commer• period; that is, the economic downturn cialization of merit-making, 5) improper following the Chavalit Administration's conduct by the abbot towards female decision to float the baht. Most prop• followers, 6) the accumulation of land, erty projects in Thailand were affected 7) the temple's business empire, 8) fi• and the building of the Maha nancial irregularities related to dona• Dhammakaya Cetitya was no exception. tions, and 9) the ordination of female Tawin Wattirangkul said that 'building- novices. (The Nation, Feb 18, 1999)
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The house committee on Religious Af• ity, for it brings him-- whose power ac• fairs finally concluded its report on the crues from being in the symbolic, sa• Dhammakaya controversy, recommend• cred and unworldly realm-- into the em• ing the removal of the temple's abbot pirical and profane world where he is on grounds of threatening national se• treated merely as an ordinary citizen curity, violating religiousous principles subject to secular laws. The future of and undermining the monarchy. Atthasit Dhammakaya and how the prosecution Supsit, committee spokesman, said that process will end remain to be seen. Dhammachayo's controversial propaga• tion of the faith could erode the founda• There are a few points worth making tion of Buddhism, causing divisiveness here. Firstly, it is evident that the state in the country; that Wat Phra authority fears the unparalleled capac• Dhammakaya often cited the monarchy ity for mass mobilization of as a pretext for soliciting donations and Dhammakaya, which could pose a seri• that their religious violations could tar• ous threat to the state. The erection of nish the country's most revered institu• the grand Maha Dhammakaya Cetiya tions. In the report, the committee pro• project reflects the think-big mentality posed that the temple and abbot should ofDhammakaya, which is likely to lead urgently correct any misinterpretation of it into trouble. Dhammakaya likens its the Buddhist canon; that the abbot dream to other extraordinary pagodas, should adjust his mobilization of follow• located in many significant places in ers and donations to conform with so• Buddhist history e.g. India's archaic cial norms, since prevailing public opin• Saggi Cetiya erected in the reign of King ion has been against making unjustified Asoka, Indonesia's Borobudur, and solicitation; and that the temple should Thailand's Phra Pathom Cetiya. (Delv• be allowed to continue propagating the ing into Wat Phra Dhammakaya, 1998: faith after making the necessary adjust• 74-75) It should be noted that all these ments. (The Nation, Feb 25,1999 -em• great pagodas were initiated by charis• phasis added) The committee's report matic kings who exclusively merited the was submitted to the Sangha Supreme right to do so. In this regard, the desire Council and the House of Representa• ofDhammakaya to build a grand pagoda tives. To date, the Sangha Supreme arouses the suspicion of loyalty to the Council has done nothing substantive re• present king. The dissatisfaction is re• garding the matter. It is due mainly to flected somehow in the rejection of ap• the fact that the Dhammakaya temple plications for royal decorations for fol• has long been a major source of finan• lowers who make donations to the Maha cial support for the Council, which Dhammakaya Cetiya on grounds that it makes it difficult for the Council to ex• will do no good for the public. (The amine the issue without fear and favor. Nation, Feb 5, 1999) The abbot was later sued and then sent to court. Secondly, a serious dispute, which could lead- to defrocking the abbot, is the Legal action against the abbot has sig• embezzlement of the temple's assets. It nificantly destroyed his moral author- is reported that some 1, 700 rais of land
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donated by followers were registered References under Phra Dhamrnachayo's name. He has been forced to transfer land to the Works in English temple on grounds that owning too much property violates Buddhist precepts. His Apinya Fuengfusakul, "Empire of Crystal reluctance to transfer the land arouses and Utopian Commune: Two Types of people's curiosity as to his sincerity in Contemporary Theravada Reform in the propagation of Buddhism. Thailand" Sojourn, Vol.B, No. I (Feb 1993) pp.153-183. Concluding Remarks Chaiwat Satha - anand, "Spiritualizing The rapid growth of the Dhamrnakaya Real Estate, Commoditizing Pilgrim• age: Globalization and Islamic Re• movement lies in its capacity to fulfill sponses in Asia-Pacific" a paper pre• the psychological needs of the sented at the Regional Conference on rapidly-expanding middle classes. Mod• "Globalization: The Perceptions, Expe• ernization has brought about a situation riences and Response of the Religious in which there has been, to use Taylor's Traditions and Cultural Communities in formulation, 'a dislocation between past the Asia Pacific Region" 4-6 July 1997, cultural values, symbolic systems and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. present context. Traditional perspectives and ways of ordering the universe are Goh, Deniel P.S, "Rethinking Resurgent being seen as largely ineffective and Christianity in Singapore," Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, possibly even amoral.' (Taylor 1990: Vol.27, No. l , pp.89-ll2, 1999. 153) Hamilton, Malcolm B. The sociology of The quest for a new religious identity religion : theoretical and comparative by the alienated middle classes is a perspectives. London ; New York: struggle for meaning in the profane Routledge, 1995. modern world. Where there are sincere and devout believers, there have always Hanks, Lucien M. "Merit and Power in been wicked people who make use of the Thai Social Order," American An• them. And Phra Dhamrnachayo might thropologist 64, 6 (1962) p. 1247-1248. probably be the case. Nevertheless, it Ishii, Yoneo. Sangha, State and society: does not matter whether the abbot will Thai Buddhism in History. Honolulu: be defrocked and whether Dhamrnakaya University of Hawaii Press, 1986. will be able to continue its movement. Other new religious movements will Jackson, Peter A. Buddhism, Legitimation continue to emerge so long as the and Conflict: the Political Functions of Sangha and other conventional religious Urban Thai Buddhism. Singapore: In• institutions fail to quench the thirst of stitute ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 1989. the spiritually-impoverished middle Kasian Tejapira, "Consuming Thainess: class. Global Commodities and National Iden• tity" A research report during the Asia Leadership Fellow Program, Interna-
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tiona! House of Japan and Japan and ------"Buddhist Revitaliza• Japan Foundation Asia Center, March tion, Modernization, and Social Change 1997. in Contemporary Thailand", Sojourn, Vol.8, No. 1, pp.62-91. 0' Conner, Richard, ' Interpreting Thai Religious Change: Temples, Sangha Zehner, Edwin, "Reform Symbolism of Reform and Social Change.' Journal of a Thai Middle-Class Sect: The Growth Southeast Asian Studies 24 (2) 1993, and Appeal of the Thammakai Move• pp. 330-339. ment'' Journal of Southeast Asian Stud• ies, Voi.XXI, No.2 (Sep 1990) pp.402-426. Rob,ertson, Roland, "Community, So• ciety, Globality, and the Category ofRe• ligion," in Eileen Barker, et.al. (eds) Works in Thai Secularization, Rationalism and Sec• tarianism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, Anonymous. Deeply Delving into Wat 1993, pp. 1-17. Phra Dhammakaya. ( Joa Luk Wat Phra Dhammayaka) Bangkok: the Sanitsuda Ekachai, "Keeping the Faith", Dhammakaya Foundation, 1998. (in Bangkok Post. Dec 21 , 1998. Thai)
Schober, Juliane, 'The Theravada Bud• Apinya Fuengfusakul, "Religious Propensity dhist Engagement with Modernity in of Urban Communities: A Case Study Southeast Asia: Whither the Social of Phra Dhammakaya Temple" Paradigm of the Galactic Polity?," Jour• (Sassanathat Khong Chumchon Muang nal of Southeast Asian Studies 26, 2 Mamai Mai Suksa Karani Wat Phra (September 1995) : 307-325. Dhammakaya) Puttasat Suksa Journal, Yo 1.5, No. I (Jan-Apr 1998) Spiro, Melford. "Religion: Problems of definition and explanation," in Michael Dhammakaya Temple, 29 Years of the Pro• Banton (ed.) Anthropological ap• .duction of Good Men. Bangkok: proaches to the study of religion. Lon• Dhammakaya Foundation, 1999. don: Tavistock Publications, 1996. Kasemsuk Pamomsatit, "Why Does Suwanna Satha - anand, "Religious Dhammakaya Mean Victory? Part II" Movements in Contemporary Thai• in Kullayanamit, Vol. I 3, No. I 49 (May land," Asian Survey, Vol.XXX, No.4 1998) p.38-43. (April 1990), pp.395-408. Kallayanamit Magazine, Vol. 10 No. 113 Taylor, J. L., "New Buddhist Movements (May 1995) in Thailand: An ' Individualistic Revo• lution', Reform and Political Disso• Nithi Ewsriwong, The Chao Mae Kuan nance" Journal ofSoutheast Asian Stud• Im Cult (Lutti Piti Chao Mae Kuan Im) ies, Vol.XXI, No. I (March 1990) , Sillapa Wattanatham, Vol. 15, No. I 0 pp. l35- 154. (Aug 1994) pp. 79-I06.
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Tawin Boonsong Wattirangkul. We Are Agents of Merit. Bangkok: Wat Phra Dhamrnakaya, 1995.
Newspapers
Assortment of news in The Nation, Dec 98- Feb 99.
Matichon Sutsupda. Vol. 19 No.959, Jan 5, 1999.
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