Facts about Wat Phra Dhammakaya: Theravadha Buddhism Thai

Facts about Wat Phra Dhammakaya:

           Venerable Phrarajbhavanavisudh (Luangpor Dhammajayo), Abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, is alleged to have swindled land from the temple and returned it only after being contested. What are the facts surrounding this issue?

The facts are as follows:

        The land donors have verified their full intention to donate the land to Phrarajbhavanavisudh (Luangpor Dhammajayo) because of the strong faith they have in him. The full title deed also clearly indicates that the donated land is intended for religious purposes.

Once land or property is donated to a temple, it becomes monastic property but with specific restrictions, i.e., a new temple cannot be built on that land even if it is located in a different province. Otherwise, it would be considered an overlapping of an existing temple, which violates the Vinaya (Monastic Disciplinary Code).

Donors of several plots of land have appeared in court to verify their donation of the land to Phrarajbhavanavisudh due to their strong faith and appreciation for his efforts in Buddhist dissemination.

The plaintiff in this lawsuit, an official from the Department of Religious Affairs, nevertheless, advances the argument that when the full title deed specifies “the land plots were donated to Phrarajbhavanavisudh to be used for purposes in Buddhism”, it signifies the land was really granted to the temple, and not the individual monk. This interpretation is peculiar and contradictory considering the land donors precisely indicated that the land was donated specifically to Phrarajbhavanavisudh. Yet, the official from the Department of Religious Affairs presumed to know better than the donors and filed charges against the temple.

  

The same official from the Department of Religious Affairs also mentioned, “in order for the land to be used for religious purposes, the land must belong to a temple only.”  When the official stated this, the defense lawyer asked, “If Phrarajbhavanavisudh wishes to use this land to build a meditation center, would this be deemed as an effort related to Buddhism?”

The official replied, “No, it is not considered related to Buddhism; it has to be a temple only.”

The lawyer continued, “If so, would Buddhamonthon (a Buddhist park), which is not a temple, fall in the spectrum of affairs related to Buddhism?”

The official paused to think, prompting the lawyer to reiterate, “Please consider it carefully before answering because members of the royal family also make visits there.”

Finally, the official replied: “Buddhamonthon is an exception; it does fall under affairs related to Buddhism.”

***(Why was he willing to consider Buddhamonthon in the spectrum of affairs related to Buddhism when it clearly is not a temple? It is something to consider. Yet, when Phrarahbhavanavisudh used land offered to him to construct a meditation center to conduct Buddhist activities, the official did not view it as Buddhist-related.)

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When taking everything into consideration, most honest people will immediately recognize this as an instigation of problems – creating issues out of a trivial matter in order to attack the temple.

To this day, supporters continue to donate land to Phrarajbhavanavisudh (presently Phrathepyanmahamuni) at land offering ceremonies witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people. The donors repeat their intention as many as three times: “I intend to donate this land to Phrathepyanmahamuni for his own personal use or toward religious work. Should the land prove to be unsuitable for religious purposes, the land can be sold and the money be applied to projects related to Buddhism.”  This live event is also captured on video as verification of the donor’s intent and to prevent problems that may arise.

The caption printed by the press, “Phrarajbhavanavisudh returned the land to the temple” is misleading and has led to much misunderstanding. In fact, Phrarajbhavanavisudh donated the land to Wat Phra Dhammakaya and was not committing fraud. He did so to bring an end to the situation and to kindly comply with the epistle authored by the late Supreme Patriarch, as a demonstration of highest respect to the Supreme Patriarch.  

Phrathepyanmahamunni (Luangpor Dhammajayo) devoted the entire 46 years of his monkhood to Buddhism. He co-founded Wat Phra Dhammakaya and established 161 branch centers throughout the world in order to propagate Buddhism to millions of people. He has made great contributions to Buddhism. At over 70 years of age, he continues to dedicate all his time to teaching meditation and disseminating Buddhist teachings to the public. Therefore, the allegation of him defrauding the temple is baseless. Why would someone who has personally established these meditation centers wish to embezzle these places when they were built to be used by the general public?     

“Deeds performed by a person his entire life have more credibility than any accusations could.”
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