Dhammakaya meditation (also known as Sammā Arahaṃ meditation) is a method of Buddhist Meditation developed and taught by the Thai meditation teacher Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (1885–1959). In Thailand, it is known as Vijjā dhammakāya, which translates as 'knowledge of the dhamma-body'. The Dhammakāya Meditation method is considered one of the most prominent in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. It has been described as a revival of both "samatha" (tranquility) and "vipassanā" (insight) meditation practices in Thailand.
The Dhammakaya Tradition believes the method to be the same as the original method the Buddha used to attain enlightenment, which was lost and then rediscovered by Luang Pu Sodh in the 1910s. The most important aspect of the meditation method is the focus on the center of the body, which leads to the attainment of the Dhammakāya, the Dhamma-body, found within every human being. Similar to other meditation traditions, the Dhammakaya Tradition believes the meditation technique leads to the attainment of Nirvana, and in advanced stages, can give the meditator various supernatural abilities, or abhiññā.
Dhammakaya Meditation is taught at several temples of the Tradition, and consists of a stage of samatha (tranquility) and vipassana (insight), following the structure of the Visuddhimagga, a standard fifth-century Theravāda guide about meditation. In the method, the stages are described in terms of inner bodies (), but also in terms of meditative absorptions ().
Scholars have proposed several possibilities for the origin of the method, with the Yogavacara tradition as the likely source, as well as acknowledging that Luang Pu Sodh may have independently developed it through his own psychic experiences.
Dhammakaya Meditation has been the subject of considerable discussion among Buddhists as to its authenticity and efficacy, and also has been the subject of several scientific studies.
Nomenclature Dhammakaya Meditation is also referred to as Vijja thammakai or Vijjā dhammakāya. The word vijjā is derived from the Sanskrit term vidyā or knowledge, while dhammakāya means "Dhamma-body". Together, it connotes 'knowledge of the Dhamma-body'. The tradition itself, as for example expressed in books of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, defines Vijjā Dhammakāya as "Clear knowledge that arises from insight through the vision and knowledge of the Dhammakaya."
History
Thai 19th-century reform movement
In 19th and early 20th-century Thailand, public perception of the practice of Buddhism changed. Originally, Thai people saw meditation mostly as a personal and quite esoteric practice. In response to threats of colonial powers, the Thai kings and the reformed Dhammayut fraternity attempted to modernize Buddhism. Mahayana and Tantric practices were considered "devotional and degenerate", while the orthodox Theravada tradition as the more legitimate one with closed canonical scriptures.
The royal family of Thailand sought to reform Thai Buddhism with its ritualized and mystical practices, encouraging instead the direct study and adherence to the Pali canonical and commentarial texts. This was, in part, similar to the European Protestant tradition, reaching back to normative scriptures, in this case the 5th-century Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosa. In this process, meditation tradition was devalued among monastics, as the study of scriptures was more valued. Thai temples in the Mahānikāya fraternity were forced to adjust to new reforms, including the meditation method used and taught. Education in Buddhist doctrine was standardized and centralized, and some local meditation lineages such as of Ajarn Mun gradually died out.
Meditation traditions responded by reforming their methods, and looking for textual support for their meditation system in the Buddhist scriptures, in an attempt to establish orthodoxy and survive. Meditation became less esoteric, as temple traditions and their local teachers adapted to this pressure for uniform orthodox meditation practice.
Luang Pu Sodh
According to biographies published by Dhammakaya-related temples, the principles of Dhammakaya meditation were rediscovered by Luang Pu Sodh at Wat Botbon, in Nonthaburi Province sometime between 19151917. The tradition was started by Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro in the early twentieth century.
One night, after three hours of meditating on the mantra sammā araham, "his mind [suddenly] became still and firmly established at the very centre of his body," and he experienced "a bright and shining sphere of Dhamma at the centre of his body, followed by new spheres, each "brighter and clearer." According to Luang Pu Sodh, this was the true Dhamma-body, or Dhammakaya, the "spiritual essence of the Buddha and nibbana [which] exists as a literal reality within the human body," what became known as the attainment of the Dhammakaya, the eternal Buddha within all beings. The dhammakaya is Nibbāna, and Nibbāna is equated with a person's true self (as opposed to the non-self).
Yogavacara origins
Luang Pu Sodh's approach may have roots in the Yogavacara tradition (also known as tantric Theravāda or borān kammaṭṭhāna); not to be confused with the Yogācāra School in Mahāyāna Buddhism). The Dhammakaya meditation method managed to survive the pressures to reform Buddhism in modern Thailand. Its ancestry may be related to the Suk meditation system and to Wat Ratchasittharam, the former residence of Supreme Patriarch Suk Kaitheun, "the heir to the teaching of Ayutthaya meditation masters," and the temple where Luang Pu Sodh used to study the Suk system before he went on to develop Dhammakaya meditation.
According to Mackenzie, Yogavacara ideas are the most likely influence on Dhammakaya meditation system, though this is not definitely proven. According to Buddhist Studies scholar Catherine Newell, "there is no doubt that Dhammakaya meditation is based upon the broader Yogavacara tradition." She presents evidence of the borrowing of Luang Pu Sodh's Dhammakaya system from Somdet Suk's system of meditation. She and Asian studies scholar Phibul Choompolpaisal believe a Yogavacara origin to be most likely. If this would be the case, the tradition's meditation method would be an exoteric (openly taught) version of what initially was an esoteric tradition. Thai Studies scholar Barend Jan Terwiel has argued for a connection between Dhammakaya meditation and Thai meditation practices since the Ayutthaya period (1350–1776), in which the crystal ball at the center of the body plays a key role. He bases his conclusions on depictions of Nirvana in the manuscripts of the text Trai Phum Phra Ruang. He believes that this tradition may be identified as Yogavacara. Choompolpaisal lists a number of similarities between Dhammakaya meditation and Yogavacara practices from 56 anonymous Ayutthaya meditation teachers. Some of these methods focus on a similar point in the body, and feature the same objects used in visualization, that is, a Buddha image and a crystal ball. The meditative experiences which follow after visualization are also similar in nature between the 56 teachers and Dhammakaya. In both, the words dhamma sphere (duangtham) and dhammakāya are used to describe some of the experiences. Finally, the Ayutthaya teachers refer to inner bodies in some of their techniques, which have similar features to some of the inner bodies in the Dhammakāya system.
An alternative theory suggests an origin in Tibetan or other forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism. According to Mackenzie, it is possible but unlikely that someone who knew the Tibetan meditation methods met and shared that knowledge with Luang Pu Sodh in the early 1910s. There are similarities between the two systems, states Mackenzie, as well as with the concepts such as chakra (tantric psycho-physical centers), "crystal sphere" and Vajra. Though these commonalities are widely accepted, no proof has emerged yet of the cross-fertilization of Tibetan Buddhist practices into Dhammakaya system. Crosby doubts the link, because of the two systems using different terminology.
It is also "quite possible" that Luang Pu Sodh developed the Dhammakaya meditation approach through his own "psychic experiences", in Mackenzie's words, or partly based on older tradition, and partly a new invention.
Growth and popularisation
After discovering the method of Dhammakaya meditation, Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro first taught it to others at Wat Bangpla, in Nakhon Pathom Province. Luang Pu Sodh was given his first position as abbot at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, a temple that has been associated with Dhammakaya meditation ever since.
In 1931, Luang Pu Sodh set up what he called a 'meditation workshop' () with meditation practitioners meditating in six-hour shifts throughout the day. According to a textbook of one temple, the meditation workshop was reserved for gifted practitioners able to practice Dhammakaya meditation on a higher level. The purpose of the workshop was to use meditation to study certain subjects, which included understanding the nature of the world and the universe, "to learn the truth about the worlds and the galaxies".
Since Luang Pu Sodh's death in 1959, Dhammakaya meditation has been taught by his students at several major temples, including Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani, Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram in Damnoen Saduak District, Ratchaburi Province, and Wat Rajorasaram in Bang Khun Thian District, Bangkok, as well as in branch centers of these temples across and outside of Thailand. Of these, Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram have published instruction books on Dhammakaya meditation in English. Both also offer training retreats for the public. The method has become very popular in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, and has been described as a revival of samatha (tranquility) meditation in Thailand.
Method Dhammakaya meditation includes three techniques, namely concentration on breath, repetitive chanting of the mantra samma araham, and concentrating upon a bright object. The types of practices, such as visualization or use of a mantra, are not unique to Dhammakaya meditation, but its specific methods for practice are.
Dhammakaya meditation has both samatha and vipassana stages, like other Buddhist traditions. The process of concentration in Dhammakaya meditation correlates with the description of samatha meditation in the Visuddhimagga, specifically kasina meditation.
Essential in Dhammakaya meditation is the "center of the body," which Luang Pu Sodh describes as being at a point two finger widths above the navel of each person. The center of the body has also been described as the "end of the breath", the point in the abdomen where the breath goes back and forth. According to the Dhammakaya tradition, the mind can only attain a higher level of insight through this center and it is where the Dhammakaya, the Dhamma-body, is located. It has the shape of a Buddha sitting within oneself. This center is also believed to play a fundamental role in the birth and death of an individual.
The samatha stage
As is common with traditional samatha practice, the first step of Dhammakaya meditation at the samatha level is to overcome mental hindrances to concentration. This enables the meditator to focus and access the meditative center.
Focusing on the center