page_title: History of Wat Phra Dhammakaya
section_title: Educational and scholarly programs
hierarchical_section_title: History of Wat Phra Dhammakaya / Wider public engagement (2007–2013) / Educational and scholarly programs
caption_attribution_description: English: City pilgrimage organized by Wat Phra Dhammakaya
context_page_description: Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a Buddhist temple in Thailand. It was founded in 1970 by the maechi Chandra Khonnokyoong and Luang Por Dhammajayo. The temple's founding has roots in the Dhammakaya tradition founded by Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in the early twentieth century. Wat Phra Dhammakaya is known for its modern dissemination methods and use of technology.
  The temple was initially founded as a meditation center, after Maechi Chandra and the just ordained monk Luang Por Dhammajayo could no longer accommodate the rising number of participants in their activities at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, becoming an official temple in 1977. The temple experienced rapid growth during the 1980s, when the temple's programs became widely known among the urban middle class. Wat Phra Dhammakaya expanded its area quickly during this period and started building its iconic stupa.
  During the period of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, however, the temple was subject to widespread criticism for its fundraising methods and teachings, Luang Por Dhammajayo was eventually charged with embezzlement and removed from his office as abbot.
context_section_description: In April 2007, while a government-appointed council was working on drafting a new constitution, a march of two thousand monks and lay people was held to press the council to include in the new constitution that Buddhism become the state religion of Thailand. Wat Phra Dhammakaya supported the march. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont stated, however, that such a clause was not feasible, as it would lead to rejection of the draft.
  From 2008 onward, the temple extended its youth activities to include a training course in Buddhist practice known as  V-star, and a yearly national day of Buddhist activities. In the V-star course, children were encouraged to observe ten daily practices, among which paying respect to their parents, and chanting Buddhist texts before sleeping. Students were also encouraged to lead Kathina ceremonies in local temples. The point of these practices was to create good habits, fostered through a cooperation between parents, teachers and monks (Thai: บ้าน วัด โรงเรียน, shortened as บวร). On a yearly V-star day the children normally meditated and chanted, but also listened to Buddhist teachings, watched an exhibition and solved problems about those teachings. They confirmed their Buddhist faith through a refuge ceremony. The day closed by watching a 3D movie with a Buddhist theme. As of 2014, five thousand schools joined the program.
  Together these programs were called the 'World Morality Revival' (Thai: ฟื้นฝู่ศิลธรรมโลก) project, using the slogan "knowledge combined with virtue". The project became noticeable quite soon, when former PM Thaksin Shinawatra and Deputy PM Somchai Wongsawat were guest speakers on the 2008 V-Star Day. To promote these programs further, Wat Phra Dhammakaya started cooperating extensively with the Ministry of Education, the temple's education department signing an MoU (Memorandum Of Understanding) with the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) in 2010. Shortly after signing the MoU, however, the Minister of Education asked a commission to review the programs mentioned in it. The ministry was criticized by a network of scholars, led by Sulak Sivaraksa, for being too personally involved with the temple. The contents of the proposed programs were also questioned. The minister issued a press release, stating the involvement was merely professional, but he would be careful as the project would become more concrete. As the plans evolved, it became clear the temple wanted to offer training programs to millions of youth through the entire country. Essential to the project was the idea that teachers would work more together to promote good morals in education. Criticism did not stop, however, and the program was brought to a halt, only to be revived by Yingluck Shinawatra's government. Three nationwide training programs were held in the period of 2010 to 2013. Programs involved meditation, Buddhist teaching and keeping eight precepts. The OBEC often defended the project, saying that nationwide many temples were involved in the project, not just Wat Phra Dhammakaya, as well as many organizations promoting Buddhist education.
  Also, in this period, Wat Phra Dhammakaya started to invest more resources in its own education and scholarship. In 2009, Wat Phra Dhammakaya had the highest number of Pali (language of the Theravada Buddhist canon) graduates in the central area of Thailand. The temple was continuously ranked as one of the five highest in the country in Pali studies. In 2010, Wat Phra Dhammakaya started the Dhammachai Tipitaka Project, providing facilities for scholars worldwide to work together collecting ancient manuscripts, mostly from Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, to make a critical edition of the Pali Canon, the Theravada Buddhist scriptures. This edition was to provide the technology and comparative data for scholars to come to a reconstruction of the Tipitaka texts as they were known in the fifth century CE, when they were first written down. There were over a hundred staff members working on the project worldwide, divided in manuscript reading teams. The work was
caption: In 2011, Wat Phra Dhammakaya started to organize pilgrimages passing important places in the life of Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro.
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