What is Dhammakaya?

[sm2019]

According to Wikipedia, The Dhammakaya tradition is a Thai Buddhist tradition and is distinguished from other Thai Buddhist traditions by its teachings on the practice of Dhammakaya meditation, a method which scholars have connected to the Yogavacara tradition. The Dhammakaya tradition is known for its teaching that there is a "true self" connected with Nirvana, a belief that is rejected by the majority of the Thai Theravada community, who have criticized this as contradicting the Buddhist doctrine of anatta (not-self).

I just learned that this tradition is not good and that there are many people speaking ill of them. Could anyone clarify more on the subject and talk a little about your experience with this tradition? It is the first time I hear about it.

[Coëmgenu]

Here is a paper on the esoteric teachings of Wat Phra Dhammakāya. I would highly recommend reading this article. It is not too jargon-filled IMO.

Wat Dhammakāya almost took over the Thai State-Sangha. They are becoming a dangerous element to contend with.

[Lucas Oliveira]

Wat Dhammakaya
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=3247#p3247

[greenjuice]

One can practice Yogavacara methods of meditation without accept the specific Dhammakaya methods and doctrines. Regarding techniques, personally I have found the Yogavacara method of visualizing a sign and imagine it entering and moving in the body - to be useful for meditation, but Dhammakaya adds how you should imagine a bluish sphere and then when you move it and position it, you should imagine layers of lotus-seated bodies until you reach the innermost lotus-seated body within that imagined sphere, all of which has some theological significance, it's just weird.

Regarding doctrines, Dhammakaya movement is very unorthodox, having it's own creation myth and very strange superstitious belief. According to their doctrine where at the beginning there were three beings: White Dhammakaya, Silver Dhammakaya, and Black Dhammakaya, and three of them made the samsara, and White Dhammakaya made the nibbana (which is a sphere, literally a huge round place, like a ball, with very thick walls, like millions of kilometers thick walls). White Dhammakaya sent it's most powerful created being to incarnate as Sodh Candasaro, the founder of Dhammakaya tradition, but then seeing this is not enough White Dhammakaya himself incarnated as Dhammajayo, the current honorary abbot of the Dhammakaya monastery - temple. That Dhammakaya monastery has a million (yes, a million) small (15cm high) gold plated Buddha statues, and at the center of the temple is a big statue of Buddha made out of 14 tons of silver. They got all that money by preying upon people's superstition, telling them they must donate to the temple or at least buy amulets in order to ensure well-being and good afterlife. The temple complex can receive more than half a million of people, all arranged to sit or stand in rows, you can look at the pictures online, it looks very imposing, and was actually inspired by Nazi mass rallies which were similarly neatly arranged in rows, and Both Candasaro and Dhammajayo were /are fans of Hitler and conser(ed) him a part of the "Army of Light", a groups of good begins made by the White Dhammakaya and sent into samsara with the goal of doing great good deeds. And BTW, the government lead a crackdown against the temple in 2017, for financial crimes, and Dhammajayo has been in hiding since then.

[Coëmgenu]

One can practice Yogavacara methods of meditation without accept the specific Dhammakaya methods and doctrines.

The issue is they aren't based on Yogavacara. They aren't based on any kind of Buddhist precedent at all. The article I posted above is eye-opening IMO. There is nothing wrong with practicing out of the Yogavacara manual. Wat Dhammakaya is not Yogavacara Buddhism.

[greenjuice]

Yes, I know about that article, I think I already read it, being that I know about things it talks about, the weird doctrines of the Dhammakaya. I remember I was shocked when I first found out what kind of doctrines they had. And also disappointed, because I myself believe in an Adi-Buddha and Adi-Mara, but they have an entire mythology and believe that their leaders are divine figures, which is nonsense.

[Mr Man]

One can practice Yogavacara methods of meditation without accept the specific Dhammakaya methods and doctrines.

The issue is they aren't based on Yogavacara. They aren't based on any kind of Buddhist precedent at all. The article I posted above is eye-opening IMO. There is nothing wrong with practicing out of the Yogavacara manual. Wat Dhammakaya is not Yogavacara Buddhism.

Hi Coëmgenu

The link is not working for me.

[Coëmgenu]

One can practice Yogavacara methods of meditation without accept the specific Dhammakaya methods and doctrines.

The issue is they aren't based on Yogavacara. They aren't based on any kind of Buddhist precedent at all. The article I posted above is eye-opening IMO. There is nothing wrong with practicing out of the Yogavacara manual. Wat Dhammakaya is not Yogavacara Buddhism.

Hi Coëmgenu

The link is not working for me.

I'm too computer-illiterate to know any way to link it other than this:

http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/ ... 388400.pdf

Is that working? It should lead directly to a PDF download.

[Mr Man]

The issue is they aren't based on Yogavacara. They aren't based on any kind of Buddhist precedent at all. The article I posted above is eye-opening IMO. There is nothing wrong with practicing out of the Yogavacara manual. Wat Dhammakaya is not Yogavacara Buddhism.

Hi Coëmgenu

The link is not working for me.

I'm too computer-illiterate to know any way to link it other than this:

http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/ ... 388400.pdf

Is that working? It should lead directly to a PDF download.

Nope, server is timing out. But don't worry. Maybe it's just not working for me.

[Ceisiwr]

Doesn’t work for me either.

[Coëmgenu]

I'll PM Ceisiwr and Mr. Man the manually scanned pages in a bit. If anyone else cannot open it and wishes to, just PM me.

[form]

I already know Theravada meditation method when I went through their basic and intermediate meditation course. I would say up till intermediate it is Orthodox Theravada meditation. And they taught people to keep to five or and meditate twice a day.

[Mr Man]

I'll PM Ceisiwr and Mr. Man the manually scanned pages in a bit. If anyone else cannot open it and wishes to, just PM me.

It's working now so must have just been a server issue. Thank you Coëmgenu, I see it is by the former Mettanando Bhikkhu. I remember him from when he stayed at Amaravati in the early 80's.

[form]

I already know Theravada meditation method when I went through their basic and intermediate meditation course. I would say up till intermediate it is Orthodox Theravada meditation. And they taught people to keep to five or and meditate twice a day.

I meant keep to the five precepts and meditate twice a day.

[Pascal2]

I think it is a school of Buddhism that is considered not genuine by most traditional monks but I may be wrong on this