page_title: Wat Phra Dhammakaya
section_title: The miraculous
hierarchical_section_title: Wat Phra Dhammakaya / Principles, practices and beliefs / The miraculous
caption_attribution_description: English: Novices sweeping
context_page_description: Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a Buddhist temple in Khlong Luang District, in the Pathum Thani Province north of Bangkok, Thailand. It was founded in 1970 by the maechi Chandra Khonnokyoong and Luang Por Dhammajayo. It is the best-known and the fastest growing temple of the Dhammakaya Tradition. This tradition, also known as the Dhammakaya meditation tradition, was started by the meditation teacher Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro in the early-20th century. Wat Phra Dhammakaya is one of the temples that emerged from this tradition and is part of the Mahanikaya fraternity. The temple is legally represented by the Dhammakaya Foundation. It aims to adapt its traditional Buddhist values in modern society. It deploys modern technology, marketing methods and interprets Buddhist doctrines in ways that have led to controversy and a government crackdown. The temple plays a leading role in Thai Buddhism with East Asians religion writer Edward Irons describing it as "the face of modern Thai Buddhism".
context_section_description: Although Wat Phra Dhammakaya does not involve itself in traditional magical rituals, fortune telling and giving lottery numbers, it doesn't oppose everything that is miraculous. In the biographies of Luang Pu Sodh and Maechi Chandra, the temple often relates of miraculous events relating to the meditation prowess of these two masters, thereby establishing the value of the lineage. Mackenzie points out that not everyone who comes to the temple is interested in the miraculous, but it is nevertheless a part of the temple's appeal: "Some members especially appreciate the logic and relevance of the Dhamma talks, others draw much from the effect the cetiya and other buildings have on them, others place a special value on meeting their friends and clearly many have a very strong focus on meditation. I have also met members who look to experience the miraculous at the temple..." On a similar note, practitioners believe that meditation not only calms the mind, but also has a miraculous effect on the outside world, especially the meditations every first Sunday of the month. (See § Other activities)  Fuengfusakul points out, however, that the temple tends to downplay the gap between the miraculous and the rational or scientific, and draws on science to explain the miraculous or psychic.
caption: Novices sweeping the temple
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