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The Dhammakaya Masters

The Great Master

Phramongkolthepmuni (Sodh Candasaro)

The Re-discoverer of Dhammakaya meditation

Phramongkolthepmuni was born as Sodh Mikaewnoi on October 10, 1884 to the family of a rice merchant in Amphoe Song Phi Nong, Suphanburi, a province 100 km to the west of Bangkok. At the beginning of July 1906, aged twenty-two, he was ordained at Wat Song Phi Nong in his hometown and was given the Pāli name Candasaro.

The Master Nun Chand

The founder of the Dhammakaya temple, which has become the biggest Buddhist temple in the world

On January 20, 1909, Khun Yai was born in a farming family in Nakhon Pathom province, of Thailand. She never had a formal education. She claimed that her original reason for practicing meditation was to reach her late father in his afterlife realm to apologise to him for her childhood wrongs and that she wanted to overcome the curse of deafness put on her by her drunken father. Her father died in 1921, but without the opportunity for Khun Yai to ask him to lift the curse.

Luang Por Dhammajayo

The abbot whose dream has become a big inspiration of millions

He was born Chaiyaboon Suddhipol on the April 22, 1944 to Janyong Suddhipol (his father) and Juree Suddhipol (his mother). At Suan Kularb School, Bangkok, Thailand, Chaiyaboon during his adolescence, started to be interested in Buddhism. Having matriculated from Suankularb Wittayalai School (Secondary) in 1963, Chaiyaboon was enrolled in the Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University.

After his graduation from Kasetsart University with a BSc degree in Economics, he was ordained at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen on the August 27, 1969 and was given a monastic name “Dhammajayo”, which means “Victory through the Dhamma”

Luang Por Dattajeevo

The vice abbot

Luang Por Dattajeevo was born Padet Pongsawat on December 21, 1940 to an agricultural household in Pakplaak District of Kanchanaburi province. He graduated in agricultural science from Kasetsart University and studied in Australia at post-graduate level.

Luang Por Dattajeevo’s path on his pursuit of Perfections is filled with lots of extraordinary thoughts and ideas. Since a young age, he has always enjoyed practicing meditation and reading books on all subjects, especially about the practice of meditation found in various ancient scriptures. He sought out numerous well known meditation masters to train him in meditation in order to dispel any doubts about ‘merit, demerit, and the existence of heaven and hell’ that remained in his mind.

Luang Por Dattajeevo ordained in 1971 and became known as Luang Por Dattajeevo, which means “He who gives his soul (to Buddhism) and quickly became a well-known teacher and speaker.