As previously described in my plea for help in Thailand, there has been trouble stirred up against Wat Phra Dhammakaya in strange circumstances. After Article 44 was invoked by the Thai government in mid-February, more than 4,000 police and military were involved in an operation under the direction of the Department of Special Investigation to try and seize Ven. Dhammajayo, the Honorary Abbot. They raided the temple in large numbers and were also looking for material treasures, but at the end of this oppressive and costly operation they came away empty-handed. According to one analyst, who sees a much more sweeping goal it was like "surrounding the forest to catch a mouse".
Some media reports have claimed that life proceeds as normal. But how can it be ‘normal’ if your home has been trampled on by intruders, family members starved, medical treatment curtailed and the head of the household under a barrage of allegations you regard as false? Furthermore, authorities have charged several more senior monks, including Ven. Dattajeevo, the Vice Abbot, for claims of financial inpropriety that seem absurd. All I have ever known them to do is teach the way to inner peace, day in, day out.
It's as though the temple is being attacked for being successful in three areas, which are easy to recognise... :-)
I. Generosity
These are manifest materially in offerings of food and requisites to monks, donations for buildings and facilities to sustain the monastic community and for the development and maintenance of facilities. Fruits: anyone can go to the monastery and participate with or without donating. What was a highly inhospitable land has been transformed over many years into an environment amenable for many people to practise (the key was just to keep planting good seeds).
In Good Question, Good Answer on DMC.TV, Ven. Dattajeevo explains in particular the value of making merit. (YouTube video in Thai with English subtitles — sorry if there are adverts displayed, but they shouldn’t last that long.)
II. Moral virtue
This is training of conduct in body, speech and mind; for lay people it means observing Five Precepts in everyday life and Eight Precepts at the monastery and on observance days. Fruits: Path of Progress quiz, V-Star and many other programmes for the public that have spread globally, as in World PEC.
For monks the training is far more rigorous with the observance of the Vinaya; and very many thousands have been ordained.
III. Meditation
Millions around the world have been introduced to the path of inner peace, whose practice leads to brightness and clarity of mind, helpful to people of all walks of life. The Dhammakaya method is particularly successful at bringing the mind to a standstill, making it perfectly clear like a limpid pool of water. In the following YouTube video, Ven. Dhammajayo leads meditation in English.
Those who attack the temple bring cloudiness by trying to drag the temple and its practitioners into murky socio-political spheres and the use of sophisticated language designed to deceive.
But truth is pure and simple, felt in the heart. It will be clearly seen.
[Last updates: 4 March 2017 (links to footage of confrontation and Al Jazeera report), 5 March (reports of food contamination - clarified 23 March), 6 March (link to article by James L. Taylor) and 9 March (update on new phase of escalation), 11,12 March (DSI concludes searches, Sangha developments).], 31 March: Just noticed Line timeline photos that used to be displayed are no longer available.
It is with sadness that I write this post. During the past couple of weeks an already serious situation in Thailand has been getting a lot worse, threatening the peaceful livelihood of thousands of monastics and lay supporters at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the temple to which I belong.
I was given a copy of a short film taken during the past few days outside the temple in Pathum Thani that shows police or security personnel manhandling, even trampling on, some monks from the temple as they sit on the ground in non-violent resistance, in the manner of Gandhi. Now footage has been posted with a commentary on the situation. I've never seen that kind of rough treatment before in Thailand.
On 2 March I received the following account:
... yesterday a ... woman with asthma who lives close to the temple was in distress and asked for an ambulance to bring her to a hospital. However, Internet and phone connections in the temple and surrounding areas are shut down. After an about an hour or so they managed (through a chain of Bluetooth connections!) to reach an ambulance which tried with emergency lights and alarm to get to her. The nearest way was through the temple area. The vehicle was denied access by the army. They were told to go around the temple area which was a long and slow way. After another hour of delays and controls at several army and police checkpoints they reached the woman's house, but she had already passed away.
The main problem at the moment is lack of food at the temple - which is the subject of the photo above. A friend reports:
For the thousands of people currently at the temple, only 300 boxes of food are being let in. When the people in the temple set up a big poster "we need food" as a signal to the outside world, the police took it down referring to section 44.
But it sounds like there is a further problem: I've been told that food let in to the temple has been contaminated, which probably explains why there have been reports of people inside becoming unwell and needing to call ambulances.
[Update 23 March: on further investigation, it was found that the food had just gone bad because it had been left for a long time, probably held up. Sorry for the previous inaccuracy.]
The escalation has followed an action taken by the Thai Prime Minister, head of the military junta. As that news item indicates, he has applied Section [or 'Article'] 44 against the temple to give the Department of Special Investigations the power to apply whatever pressure it takes to seize the Abbot, Ven. Dhammajayo, wanted to a number of charges. The temple is resisting because it feels strongly he would not receive a fair trial. Its stance is explained at: http://en.dhammakaya.net/frequently-asked-questions/
About Article 44
Article 44 was introduced in 2014 by the present military government in order to maintain a certain kind of stability. The original constitution document devised by them is too lengthy to list in full here, but there's a paragraph that indicates the sweeping powers. Translated into English it reads:
"Section 44. In the case where the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order is of opinion that it is necessary for the benefit of reform in any field and to strengthen public unity and harmony, or for the prevention, disruption or suppression of any act which undermines public peace and order or national security, the Monarchy, national economics or administration of State affairs, whether that act emerges inside or outside the Kingdom, the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order shall have the powers to make any order to disrupt or suppress regardless of the legislative, executive or judicial force of that order. In this case, that order, act or any performance in accordance with that order is deemed to be legal, constitutional and conclusive, and it shall be reported to the National Legislative Assembly and the Prime Minister without delay." http://www.isranews.org/isranews-article/item/31533-translation.html
Some analysis from James L. Taylor, Adjunct Associate Professor, Anthropology & Development Studies, University of Adelaide, considers the wider political picture and finds the actions against the temple perplexing.
What's happening now
The Thai media have been pumping out many columns, but I strongly recommend trying to get in touch with temple supporters who have been seeing first hand the restrictions in place and hear what they have to say. There are many accounts on social media:
Unfortunately, news from Thailand gets worse. The Thai government has now intensified its efforts, initiating a 5 day period of heightened activity, which appears to be aimed at controlling the temple before 13 March when Thailand’s human rights record will be reviewed on 13 and 14 March 2017 by the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, which scrutinises States’ implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (as reported on: https://www.facebook.com/UNHumanRightsAsia/). Live transmission and archives are available from the UN.
Whilst the military government constrains media reports still further, it seems they will seek to arrest as many monks as possible to reach a position where they think they will force unreasonable terms. So far they have already arrested 2 monks who have been informing the public about the situations at the temple as it really is. The monks and lay people still have severe food, water and medicine shortages (and supplies are contaminated).
Ebb and Flow [11,12 March]
The DSI have concluded their searches on this occasion and come away empty-handed: there's no material wealth and no sign of Ven. Dhammajayo. Whilst the DSI are reducing the overall numbers of the military and police there, they are maintaining control of the area and may apply to administer it as a step to take over the temple's affairs. For now, they are at least allowing everyone access to the temple through all the gates, which includes police and the military — with a noticeable increase in their numbers inside the temple. The monastics and lay people now have sufficient sustenance, but I think the damage done already to people's health needs to be properly assessed ahead of the UN Human Rights Committee meeting this coming week.
Meanwhile there are other wider developments concerning the State's relationship to the Sangha; both Ven. Dhammajayo and Ven. Dattajeevo, who as Abbot and Vice Abbot respectively were awarded high-ranking royal titles by the late King Bhumibol the Great, have had their titles removed whilst the DSI has been pressing ahead with its heavy-handed actions. Now more subtle arguments are resurfacing (as happened almost 20 years ago) by opponents presenting particular scholarly views on what they consider is 'true Buddhism'. It's largely with the same goal of shutting down the temple, trying to defrock monks, and generally destroy all it stands for. Ven. Dhammajayo's response then was: "I shall never disrobe." I expect it's the same now, but help is needed to protect this vocation.
We should all wish for peace in Thailand - everyone at Wat Phra Dhammakaya certainly spends a lot of time developing peace through meditation.
The Most Venerable Dhammajayo (known formally by his royal title as Phrathepyanmahamuni), the Abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Thailand, has been guiding millions of practitioners in developing the virtuous path to nirvana through the practice of dana (generosity), sila (ethical conduct) and samadhi (concentration). I would like to share a succinct appreciation.
Luang Phor, as is reverently addressed (as are other senior monks), has been a really keen meditator since the early 1960s, when he realized that it was the means to answer once and for all key questions about life (and death). It prompted him to ordain for life as a bhikkhu and practise intensively under the the guidance of Khun Yay Chandra, the founder of Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Since then over the decades Luang Phor has encouraged visitors to the temple to sit and bring the mind to a standstill to attain clarity, purity, brightness, leading to true happiness and knowledge. He normally teaches in Thai, so for overseas guests there is usually an interpreter service broadcast through FM radio and we can listen through headphones. However, a few recordings have been made in English, including the following Meditation Guide for Beginners.
For the sitting practice itself, you just need the audio, so you can turn down the brightness of the monitor and gently close your eyes.
Refined Cultivation of Virtue
I observe that Luang Phor has an exceedingly refined mind, and the Wat's organisation is very orderly; there's a lot of geometry and symmetry in the site's architecture, which is pleasing to mathematicians. :-) Internally, the refinement that Luang Phor has developed covers many aspects. In order to support practice in large numbers in a sustainable way, much has been standardised — such as the Wat’s objects of devotion, where there is a single Buddha image style; mats and seats for meditation are of specific dimensions — and processes have been made efficient, even down to the way plastic bags are folded into compact triangles, all of which saves space and allows greater re-use.
Routines for Buddhist practitioners have traditionally included chanting the refuge in the Triple Gem. The Wat continues with this practice and under Luang Phor's direction has extended a particular Thai tradition called Sarapannya with the use of multimedia, culminating in a song of devotion to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha:
I have met Luang Phor several times, only briefly. The first time was 1 January 2000, just after a ceremony at Wat Phra Dhammakaya to welcome the new millennium, when Luang Phor came to personally greet and thank participants. He was radiant, very happy, and dignified.
I was sponsored partly by the University of Derby and the International Interfaith Centre in Oxford to join this special gathering, conducted in association with the United Nations as an occasion for everyone to make a resolution for World Peace. I believe that resolution still lies in the heart of many people at Wat Phra Dhammakaya, especially its Abbot, the Most Venerable Dhammajayo, who always reminds us of the motto: "world peace through inner peace."
