Luang Por Dhammajayo

Dhammajayo
Luang Por Dhammajayo, taken in the old section of Wat Phra Dhammakaya
Title	Honorary Abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya
Personal
Born	(1944-04-22) 22 April 1944 (age 80) Sing Buri, Thailand
Religion	Buddhism
Nationality	Thai
School	Theravada, Maha Nikaya
Lineage	Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen
Senior posting
Teacher	Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro, Chandra Khonnokyoong
Based in	Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Website	Biography of Luang Por Dhammajayo

Luang Por Dhammajayo (Thai: ธมฺมชโย, RTGS: Thammachayo, Luang Por being a deferential title), also known by the lay name Chaiyabun Suddhipol, is a Thai Buddhist monk. He was the abbot of the Buddhist temple Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the post he held until 1999 and again from 2006 to December 2011. In December 2016, he was given the post of honorary abbot of the temple. He is a student of the nun (maechi) Chandra Khonnokyoong, and is the most well-known teacher of Dhammakaya meditation.^[1] He has been subject to criticism and government response. However, he continues to be a spiritual leader that has significant influence in Thai society.^[2] Luang Por Dhammajayo's approach to Buddhism seeks to combine the ascetic and meditative life with modern personal ethics and social prosperity.

Luang Por Dhammajayo met Maechi Chandra in his student years, and learnt about Buddhism from her. During his student years, he met his fellow student who later became known as Luang Por Dattajivo. Luang Por Dhammajayo started teaching together with Maechi Chandra, and in 1970, they started their own temple in Pathum Thani province, later called Wat Phra Dhammakaya.

The temple became extremely popular in the 1980s. However, from the 1997 Asian financial crisis onward, the temple and Luang Por Dhammajayo came under heavy criticism for unorthodox fundraising methods, culminating in several charges against him. The charges were withdrawn in 2006, and Luang Por Dhammajayo revived the temple. He organized several notable activities in this period, including a campaign against smoking and drinking for which he was rewarded by the World Health Organization.

After the 2014 coup d'état, Luang Por Dhammajayo again was charged by the Thai government, by then a military junta, for conspiring in money-laundering and receiving stolen goods. These charges have been widely described as politically motivated, but did lead to an arrest warrant and highly publicized standoff in 2017. The junta was, however, unable to find Luang Por Dhammajayo. As of December 2017, the whereabouts of Luang Por Dhammajayo was still unknown, with Phrakhru Sangharak Rangsarit being assigned as official abbot instead.