The Era of Founder Has Gone, The Time of The Successor Brings the Breathtaking Change
Author: Witcoin Miner
Keywords: #meditation, #research, #supramundane, #magic, #heir, #Dhammakaya
Length: 1413 words Date: 1st November 2020
During the times of the founder, the most useful help which Venerable Candasaro could give to the majority of his followers was providing the time, space and opportunity for them to perfect their skill and first-hand experience in meditation. He was always looking for better ways to increase the degree of understanding of Dhamma of his followers. He taught both those delivered in front of the congregation and those given in the secrecy of the workshop.
In his meditation workshop, Vijja Dhammakaya was the main focus. In the initial stages this meant an understanding of the knowledge taught by Lord Buddha, namely, the Threefold Knowledge, Eightfold Supra-normal Knowledge and the Sixfold Superknowledge. Once adept in these forms of knowledge, the meditators would apply that knowledge to free all beings from Samsara. The perpetual meditation schedule was unprecedented in that it allowed the wisdom of Dhammakaya to be verified again and again.
The workshop meditators gave up everything even their own free-time. They had almost no time to sleep, especially the Venerable who had to keep up his public appearances for the general welfare of the temple. It is evident from his teaching that his wisdom and compassion were beyond measure.
During his final years, when the first signs of illness started to manifest themselves, he seemed anxious, not because his own life was coming to an end, but, as he later confided to close relatives, because he had no heir to the Dhammakaya Tradition. He was afraid the tradition would disappear soon after his death.
Later in 1944, he revealed to his relative that the one who would perpetuate the Dhammakaya Tradition had just been born in Singburi province. He said that to find an heir to this tradition was the hardest thing in the world but that heir had been born, his adeptness in meditation would be unrivalled and his power more potent than his, sufficiently powerful to spread Vijja Dhammakaya throughout the world.
About 1954, Venerable Candasaro had his students summoned from throughout the temple, saying that within five years he was going to die, but that all should continue to propagate the method of Dhammakaya meditation throughout the world and that it would be very important and beneficial for humankind.
He appealed to all to continue persevering with the activities he had set in motion. He said that before long the temple would be enlarged, become very popular and there would be many new students coming to join the congregation, even though he would no longer be present. His disciples pleaded for him to stay on longer, but he said that he must surely die.
Everyone present immediately knew how concerned he was for the welfare of the tradition to have publicly appealed to his disciples to take responsibility for the work especially for perpetuating and spreading the Dhammakaya Tradition.
He ordered the nuns not to cremate his body but rather to embalm it. His corpse would continue to ensure the prosperity of the temple: ‘nurturing’ those who lived on by attracting pilgrims to visit Paknam Temple and pay homage.
Instructions for meditation would be received from a tape recording of his voice in the chamber where his body lay. All these pilgrims would thus continue to make donations for the prosperity of the temple. Venerable Sodh Candasaro passed away on 3rd February 1959 at the age of seventy-four.
As if in response to his prophecy, a new generation of students interested in meditation started to come to Paknam Temple and sought out Khun Yay Chandra, the star meditation student of the founder at her humble ‘kuti’. Khun Yay did not think much of it, but remembering the Abbot’s words, she started to teach them to the best of her ability, until the group outgrew both her ‘kuti’ and the limited space in the compound of Paknam Temple. She had realized that this was the start of what the Great Abbot had meant when he had talked about ‘taking meditation to the world’.
One the day, the successor, a school student named Chaiyaboon came to Paknam Temple to find Khun Yay to study meditation with her, on their first meet, Khun Yay did not waste much time with pleasantries but had her student sit for meditation, teaching him the method.
With a determined attitude towards meditation, along with his respect for the teachings of his teacher, he excelled in his progression when it came to meditation. This pleased Khun Yay greatly.
In the beginning, when he started to study the knowledge of Dhammakaya for himself, Khun Yay would always be there to give him encouragement. She passed on a recipe for success to him, saying that he should strive continuously, while making sure that his technique was correct. And he had to meditate every day without exception.
Once he meditated deeply and attained inner peace, his confidence in the knowledge found in Buddhism continued to increase. He saw that the fruits of meditation could release human beings from their suffering, and had indisputably answered the many unresolved questions he had in his mind.
A short time later, he graduated and soon afterwards on the 27th of August 1969, he entered into the monkhood, accomplishing his intention for his life’s dedication to Buddhism as Venerable Dhammajayo. This ordination was a great milestone for Dhammakaya community which now had in its midst, a very talented meditation teacher.
At this point, it seemed very certain that Paknam Temple could no longer fulfil the strong and virtuous ambitions of the members if they were to complete their mission to spread of Dhammakaya meditation to foreign countries, bringing peace to all countries in the world. It was about this time that Khun Yay and the community knew it was the right time to start building a temple of their own.
To make the plan of work manifest, Venerable Dhammajayo started to build the Temple with his own two hands and the determination to build the ideal place for meditation and Dhamma practice. He prayed that when people came to see the driving force of virtue in the Temple, that they too would be inspired to give a helping hand with his scheme.
Life at the new Temple was full of hardship. As seen from the old pictures, the Temple was no more than barren land. There was hardly any drinking water because all the soil in the area was highly acidic. To render the groundwater potable, they had to dose it with alum to precipitate out the toxins, boil it and carefully pour off the drinkable part leaving a thick scum at the bottom of the pot. However, such difficulties failed to discourage the pioneers who were more intent on the meritorious task of constructing the new Temple.
Once the fundamental amenities of the Temple had been completed, in 1972, the Dhammadayada Training had been announced around the universities as a ‘Summer Course in Meditation Training’. It was the first major project of the Temple and from that time onwards became an annual fixture.
Venerable Dhammajayo became the first abbot of the newly built Temple. He looked for graduates with a Bachelor’s’ degree for whom meditation was the keystone in life to join the Temple members because the basic standards for personnel were high,
In 1981 the Temple was consecrated. With the consecration of the Temple, the number of people attending increased dramatically. The work of the Temple, whether it be outreach, personnel training or construction work had to be done hand-in-hand. The community resident at Dhammakaya Temple became gradually larger whether it be monks, novices or resident laymen or laywomen.
Khun Yay at the age of about eighty years old would join the major ceremonies held at the Temple and, she seemed to enjoy seeing laypeople from all over the world participating. She would often exclaim:
‘I never thought that there would be so many laypeople coming to our temple. When Venerable Dhammajayo was ordained, we expected only twenty acres of temple land. Now even 1,000 acres is full of laypeople.’
And this is how Dhammakaya Meditation Tradition was passed on to the present time, how Dhammakaya Temple started, has been through and turned into an enormous viable Buddhism center in present time.
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