History of DHAMMAKAYA
Evidence of the Existence of the Dhammakaya
The Dhammakaya is the true nature that is eternally present in all beings.
It doesn’t come and go, but has always been there and always will.
"When I regard all beings with my Buddha eye, I see that hidden within the klesas of greed, desire, anger, and ignorance, it is seated augustly and unmovingly the Buddha’s wisdom, the Buddha’s vision, and the Buddha’s body."
(Buddha; Tathagatagarbha Sutra).
"Dhammakaya is the eternal Buddha, the seed of enlightenment that exists within every human being. It is not something that was newly created. It has been there since the beginning of time. Everyone can attain the Dhammakaya if he or she practices the Right Meditation. The form of the Dhammakaya resembles that of the Buddha, complete with thirty-two attributes of the Great Man. The top of his crown is shaped like a lotus bud. His body is luminous and clear as a crystal."
(Luangpu Wat Paknam)
The Dhammakaya Knowledge disappeared from the world around 43 B.C. For more than two thousand years, no one knew of its existence. The Dhammakaya Knowledge rediscovered by Luangpu is a testament to the Enlightenment of the Lord Buddha. Luangpu brought forth the practical side of the knowledge taught by the Buddha to the world and enabled tens of thousands of people to attain Dhammakaya during his lifetime. Many more people continue to attain Dhammakaya to this day.
The number of enlightened beings gradually decreased not long after the Buddha passed away. Those who were able to reach the Dhammakaya level of attainment also dwindled. Eventually, the Dhammakaya Knowledge disappeared from the world altogether. Any remnants of information related to Dhammakaya that remained in the Buddhist scriptures were too scant to shed enough light on people of future generations. This led to the general misconception that "Dhammakaya" was just another name to call the Buddha.
Through a lifetime of meditation study and practice, Luangpu Wat Paknam had reached a supramundane level of meditative attainment. It gave rise to his ability to penetrate the "inner" Truth that led to the rediscovery of the Dhammakaya Knowledge. After that, Luangpu dedicated his entire life to perfecting this knowledge, using the "divine eye" of the Dhammakaya as his guide. He compared his meditative experience with various scriptural texts and the Tipitaka to confirm the validity of his discovery. He found that his discovery was consistent with what was mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures.
The name "Dhammakaya" was not invented by Luangpu. This name appeared in the Tipitaka and Buddhist texts of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions.
In the Theravada Buddhist Scripts, the word "Dhammakaya" can be found in many places:
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four times in the primary scriptures
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twenty-eight times in the secondary scriptures
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seven times in the tertiary scriptures
The word is found in two places in the Buddhist manual of meditation, the Path of Purity (Visuddhimagga), three times in the commentary on the Path of Purity, once in the ancient version of the Path of Purity, once in the Pathamasambodhigatha, once in the ancient book Samatha-Vipassana, and three times in the Buddhist engravings.
There are four mentions of the word "Dhammakaya" in Agganna Sutta, Dighanikaya; Paccekabuddhapadana, Khuddakanikaya; Atthasandasakatherapadana, Khuddakanikaya; and Mahapachabodigotamitheri, Khuddhakanikaya, in the Thai script of Pali Scriptures of 1982 (Mahamongut edition).
In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, there are countless mentions of the word "Dham-makaya" — many more times than in the Theravada.
The Dhammakaya method of meditation had been practiced since ancient times. This method was mentioned in the book Buddharangsi-tissadeeyan ("Buddharangsi-Theory of Jhana"), which spoke about Samatha-Vipassana meditation methods practiced during four historical periods of the past, namely, the Vientiane Period of Laos, the Ayutthaya Period of Siam, the Thonburi Period of King Taksin the Great, and the Rattanakosin Period of Bangkok.
A manuscript from Wat Pradurongdhamma, Ayutthaya, spoke of a meditation method called "Meditation Through the Virtues of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha (translation)." This method was recorded in A.D. 29 by fifty-six Tissapamoke masters. These writings substantiate that Luangpu did not invent the Dhammakaya meditation method, but it has existed long before his rediscovery and appeared for many centuries.
Goal of Dhammakaya Meditation
Dhammakaya Meditation aims to eradicate the roots of all evil and achieve spiritual attainment, leading to Nibbana.
The identifying feature of Dhammakaya Meditation is the meditator's attention towards the center of the body, the natural home of the mind. The center of the body is the central point of our stream of consciousness and the inner source of happiness and wisdom. It is located two finger-widths above the navel in the middle of the abdomen. It is known as the "Seventh Base" of the mind.
Every object in nature has its center of gravity, the point where it keeps its balance. For example, the center of gravity for a cup is at the center point of the cup; the center of gravity for a stick is at the middle point of the stick. If we place a cup or a stick sideways or off the center of gravity, it will fall because it is out of balance. The center of gravity of all material objects is always located at the center location.
The meditator's goal is to tune or adjust the mind through a single point of concentration and to still one's mind at the point of balance at the center of the body. When the mind reaches its perfect point of balance, it will have a clear-seeing quality that enables it to penetrate into a higher form of knowledge, insight, and wisdom. Think of the mind as a camera's lens or a radio receiver's dial. You can adjust the focus of the camera lens to capture the most precise picture; you can tune the radio dial to find the right wavelength to reach a desired station. The same principle applies to the mind: when the "focus" or "wavelength" of the mind is adjusted to the right point, it becomes the most powerful.
Luangpu explained how to do it is to bring (the four components of the mind) "seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing" into a single point at the center of the body.
Many meditators may expect the achievement of their meditation practice at two stages or levels: Samatha and Vipassana. These levels of meditation have been widely considered as types of meditation techniques and are known for their unique practices. These two levels of meditation are the stages in developing the practitioner's inner experience from the Dhammakaya Meditation point of view. At the same time, some groups of meditators may consider them as separate types of practices.
Samatha Level
Dhammakaya Meditation has both samatha and vipassana stages. The goal of Dhammakaya Meditation at the Samatha level is to overcome the Five Hindrances (consisting of sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, distraction, and doubt). When the mind becomes peaceful and stable as the result of successful practice for tranquility, the mind will overcome the Five Hindrances and reach a state of one-pointedness (samadhi), known as the 'standstill of the mind'— a state where it is free of thought. The indication of reaching this stage is that a bright clear sphere will arise spontaneously at the center of the body. The mind should then be directed continuously at the center of this sphere, helping to transport the mind towards the inner path that leads to eventual attainment.
There are several ways of focusing the attention at the center of the body and achieving the Samatha stage, namely:
Following down through the seven bases of the mind: the nostril, the inner corner of the eye, the center of the head, the roof of the mouth, the center of the throat, the middle of the abdomen, and a point two finger breadths above the navel.
Visualizing a mental image at the center of the body: characteristically, a crystal ball or a crystal-clear Buddha image and repetition of the mantra 'samma-arahang' (a Pali word which means 'the Buddha who has properly attained Enlightenment).
Those who have difficulty visualizing can also do it without visualization, by simply placing their attention at the center of the body, calmly and relaxingly.
When one visualizes the mental object continuously, the mental object will gradually change in nature in accordance with the increasing subtlety of the mind in the following sequence:
Preparatory Image: the meditator perceives a vague, partial, or undetailed version of the image they have imagined. Such a mental object indicates that the mind is in a state of preparatory concentration where it is still only momentarily.
Acquired Image: this is where the meditator is able to perceive the image they have imagined with 100% of the clarity and vividness of the external image it is based on.
Counter Image: once the mind comes even closer to a standstill so that it is no longer distracted by external things or thoughts but is captivated by the image at the center of the body, the image will change to one which the meditator can expand or contract at will. The image will change from an image that is colored to one which is transpar-ent. The Acquired Image and the Counter Image, both indicate a state of mind on the threshold of the first absorption (jhana). This threshold state indicates that the mind has become unified or one-pointed.
Although the meditator may start with as many as forty different paths of practice, once the hindrances are overcome, all methods converge into a single path of mental progress, leading to meditation at the Vipassana level.
Samatha Level
Dhammakaya Meditation embarks on the Vipassana level at a higher stage than some other meditation schools. In Dhammakaya Meditation, insight relies on purity of 'seeing and knowing' —penetrative insight into the reality of life and the world. Such insight will allow the meditator to have a deep, penetrative knowledge of the Five Aggregates (khanda), the Twelve Sense Spheres (ayatana), the Eighteen Elements (dhatu), the Twenty-Two Faculties (indriya), the Four Noble Truths, and Dependent Origination.
Through insight knowledge gained from deep meditation, the meditator sees and knows clearly that all things exhibit the Three Marks of Existence. For the meditator, dispassion and detachment arise, and the sequential shedding of the defilements is accomplished until an end to defilements can be reached. The meditator sees and knows with the divine eyes what the Buddha himself attained.
The purification process corresponds with that described in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, where the divine eye, the knowing, the wisdom, and the knowledge accompany the rising of brightness. The meditator will see the nature of the Dhamma in the forms of inner mental phenomena. Thus, in Dhammakaya Meditation, the Buddha's words are taken literally as seeing one's inner body of enlightenment, which is in the form of a Buddha sitting in meditation. The level of attainment is usually explained in terms of equivalent inner bodies, which start with the physical human body and the transcendental body and which go in successively deeper layers until reaching the Body of Enlightenment known as Dhammakaya-the number of bodies totaling eighteen.