page_title: Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro
section_title: Introducing Buddhism in the world
hierarchical_section_title: Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro / Legacy / Introducing Buddhism in the world
caption_attribution_description: English: Booklet distributed during the ordination of British monks. Ten thousand copies were made, says the cover.
context_page_description: Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro, also known as Phramongkolthepmuni, was the abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen from 1916 until his death in 1959. He founded the Thai Dhammakāya school in the early 20th century. As the former abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, he is often called Luang Pu Wat Paknam, meaning 'the Venerable Father of Wat Paknam'. He became a well-known meditation master during the interbellum and the Second World War, and played a significant role in developing Thai Buddhism during that period. He is considered by the Dhammakaya tradition to have rediscovered Vijja Dhammakaya, a meditation method believed to have been used by the Buddha himself. Since the 2000s, some scholars have pointed out that Luang Pu Sodh also played an important role in introducing Theravāda Buddhism in the West, a point previously overlooked.
context_section_description: Luang Pu Sodh had a great interest to introduce Dhammakāya meditation outside of Thailand. Wat Paknam already published international magazines and leaflets in the time Kapilavaḍḍho, his first Western student, started living under the guidance of Luang Pu Sodh. The periodical of the temple was in both Thai and English, and at certain occasions booklets would be published in Chinese as well. In old periodicals of the temple visits from high-standing monks from Japan and China have been recorded, and Dhammakāya meditation is still passed on by Japanese Shingon Buddhists that used to practice at Wat Paknam.
  
  Luang Pu Sodh was one of the first Thai preceptors to ordain people outside Thailand as Buddhist monks. He ordained the Englishman William Purfurst (a.k.a. Richard Randall) as "Kapilavaḍḍho" at Wat Paknam in 1954. Kapilavaḍḍho returned to Britain to found and help lead the English Sangha Trust and English Sangha Association. Former director of the trust Terry Shine described Kapilavaḍḍho as the "man who started and developed the founding of the first English Theravada Sangha in the Western world". He was the first Englishman to be ordained in Thailand, but disrobed in 1957, shortly after his mentor Phra Ṭhitavedo had a disagreement with Luang Pu Sodh and left Wat Paknam. He was ordained again in England under Chao Khun Sobhana, and became the director of the English Sangha Trust in 1967. Luang Pu Sodh ordained another British monk, Peter Morgan, with the name Paññāvaḍḍho Bhikkhu. After his death he would continue under the guidance of Ajahn Maha Bua. Phra Paññāvaḍḍho remained in the monkhood until his death in 2004, when he had ordained for the longest of all westerners in Thailand. He hardly ever returned to the West, however. A third monk, formerly known as George Blake, was a Brit of Jamaican origin, and was the first Jamaican to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. He was ordained as Vijjāvaḍḍho, and later disrobed, becoming a well-known therapist in Canada.
   The ordination of Vijjāvaḍḍho, Paññāvaḍḍho and another British monk called Saddhāvaḍḍho (Robert Albison) was a major public event in Thailand, attracting an audience of 10,000 people. Namgyal Rinpoché (Leslie George Dawson), a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, also studied for a while under Luang Por Sodh, but he was not ordained under him. One of the last Western students in the time of Luang Pu Sodh was Terrence Magness, who learnt Dhammakāya meditation at Wat Paknam as well, from the lay teacher Achan Kalayawadee. He was ordained under the name Suratano, and wrote a biography about Luang Pu Sodh.
  In summary, Luang Pu Sodh had a significant impact on Thai Buddhism, both in Thailand and abroad. He helped pioneer the combination of study and meditation, traditionally two separate monastic vocations. Newell points out that in this he even preceded Phra Phimontham, the administrator monk who introduced the New Burmese Method of meditation in Thailand. Luang Pu Sodh ordained a British monk that helped pioneer Buddhism in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, he started many developments that were continued by Wat Phra Dhammakaya, later to become the largest temple of Thailand.
  In Wat Phra Dhammakaya a memorial hall was built in honor of Luang Pu Sodh, and in Wat Paknam, a charity foundation was started in his name. In some years, on 3 February, Wat Paknam holds a national memorial of him, which is joined by hundreds of monks. Wat Phra Dhammakaya holds city pilgrimages along important places in the life of Luang Pu. In 2020, the pilgrimage was held for the eighth time.
caption: Booklet distributed during the ordination of British monks. 10,000 copies were made, says the cover.
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