devotee".[5][note 1] Although illiterate, she was widely respected for her experience in meditation, which is rare for a maechi. She managed to attract many well-educated students, despite her rural background and illiteracy.[7] Some scholars have raised the example of Maechi Chandra to indicate that the position of women in Thai Buddhism may be more complex than was previously thought.[4][8]
Early life
Chandra was born on 20 January 1909 into a middle class farming family in
In 1927, Chandra heard that a meditation master in Thonburi was able to use meditation to communicate with beings in the afterlife.
Dhammakaya tradition believe that she eventually attained the state in meditation called Dhammakaya and was able to contact her father in the afterlife.[4]: 72 [12][13]
Wat Phra Dhammakaya often emphasizes Maechi Chandra's illiteracy, to make the point that she became a spiritual leader solely because of her character and spiritual maturity, rather than academic knowledge.[4]: 75 [14] The temple's biography states that "she made a classroom of the vast paddy fields of her youth".[15]: 14
Life at Wat Paknam
Document recording Khun Yai's ordination as a mae chi
In 1938, with the permission of the mistress of the house, Chandra was taken by Achan Thongsuk to meet Luang Pu Sodh for the first time. She was going to spend a month at Wat Paknam. When she met Luang Pu Sodh, he addressed her with the words: "You are too late!" as though they had known each other previously.
abhiñña (mental powers) coming from her meditation practice.[4]: 72–4 Maechi Chandra is believed by some practitioners to have prevented several bombs from hitting Bangkok during World War II.[3]
Luang Pu Sodh would often assign Maechi Chandra to teach different groups in different provinces. Because of her lack of formal education, at times she felt uncomfortable about this. Eventually, she managed to do this well.[13] She became known for being able to explain difficult teachings.[14] She emphasized self-discipline and practicing virtues such as respect and patience.[10]: 273–80 Though Maechi Chandra would travel and help to teach Dhammakaya meditation at times, most of her time was spent on meditating. Maechi Thongsuk had a much busier teaching schedule. After Luang Pu Sodh's death in 1959, Maechi Thongsuk got cervical cancer. Maechi Chandra took care of her in her last months, and organized a suitable funeral for her.[15]: 67–9
After Luang Pu Sodh died in 1959, Maechi Chandra transmitted the Dhammakaya tradition to a new generation at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen.
Magha Puja Day, 20 February 1970, and called "Sun Phutthachak Patipattham" (ศูนย์พุทธจักรปฏิบัติธรรม; 'the Dhamma practice center of the Buddha-sphere'). Luang Por Dhammajayo and Maechi Chandra took responsibility for the finances of the establishment, and a lay-supporter, who later ordained as Luang Por Dattajivo, took responsibility for building on the site. Every canal in the temple compound was dredged and excavated by the volunteers and the trees in the temple were planted by hand. Villagers from the area became familiar with Maech Chandra and started to help her. In the beginning, the soil was very acidic.[15]: 108 [11]
Maechi Chandra Khonnokyoong at Wat Phra Dhammakaya
While working to plant the trees, Maechi Chandra became seriously under-nourished and at one time came dangerously close to death. She recovered under medical attention.[15]: 157 In 1978, the meditation center became an official temple, and eventually was named "Wat Phra Dhammakaya".[17][18]: 656 Despite the initial difficulties, in the 1980s and 1990s the temple grew to be the largest in Thailand.[18]
During the period of establishment, Maechi Chandra sought finance to support the center and set the regulations for those living in the temple. Luang Pu Sodh was her model in this. An example of such a regulation was that a monk had to receive guests in public rooms rather than in their living quarters.[15]: 117–8 Asian Studies scholar Jesada Buaban believes that Maechi Chandra made Wat Phra Dhammakaya attractive, because most other Thai temples are male-led, with no women in a leading role.[19] Spokespeople of the temple describe the role of Maechi Chandra in the early period of the temple as a 'chief commander' (Thai: jomthap), whereas Luang Por Dhammajayo is depicted as a 'chief of staff' (Thai: senathikan) developing proper plans, and Luang Por Dattajivo is described as the practical manager.[20] During the years to follow, Maechi Chandra's role would gradually become less, as she grew older and withdrew more to the background of the temple's organization.[13]: 41–3
Yearly ceremony held in front of the Memorial Hall of Khun Yai Achan
Death and heritage
In her old age Maechi Chandra was still active in the temple, though she had to be hospitalized from 1996 to 1997.
Memorial chanting was held every day during this period.[11] When her funeral was held, on 3 February 2002, it was claimed that over 250,000 monks from thirty thousand temples throughout Thailand attended to show their final respects, which is unusual, even more so for a female renunciant in Thailand.[4]: 507 The heads of the monastic communities of several countries came to join.[4][9][22] Maechi Chandra's remains were burnt in a grand ceremony, using glass to ignite the fire by sun light. Her ashes were kept in a small stupa.[23][24]
In 2003, Wat Phra Dhammakaya built a monument in honor of Maechi Chandra, called the "Mahavihara Khun Yai Achan Mahā-ratana Upāsika Chandra Khonnokyoong". This is a hexagonal building with a meditation hall and a life-size golden image of Maechi Chandra in it,[4][5][15]: 201 which was cast earlier in 1998.[25] The temple has also named two other buildings after her. Also, the temple still organizes regular commemorations of Maechi Chandra, and the day of her cremation is commemorated in a "Day of the Honorable Teachers" (Thai: Wan Maha Puchaniyachan).[11]
^To refer to a maechi as "Khun", combined with an honorary kin term, is a common way of addressing a maechi on familiar, yet deferential terms.[6]
^This was because of traditional attitudes about a woman's role in society, but according to Lovichakorntikul et al. it was also related to the fact that schools were run by male monastics.[10]
^Gombrich, R. (1996). "Freedom and Authority in Buddhism". In Gates, B. (ed.). Freedom and Authority in Religions and Religious Education. London: Cassell. p. 11.
^ abcdefghiFuengfusakul, Apinya (1998). ศาสนาทัศน์ของชุมชนเมืองสมัยใหม่: ศึกษากรณีวัดพระธรรมกาย [Religious Propensity of Urban Communities: A Case Study of Phra Dhammakaya Temple] (Ph.D. thesis). Buddhist Studies Center, Chulalongkorn University.
^ลูกศิษย์คุณยายจันทร์รวมจิตเป็นหนึ่ง ทำบุญ 3 หมืนวัด [Students of Khun Yay Chandra make merit for 30,000 temples in unity]. Dokbia Thurakit (in Thai). 28 January 2002. p. 1. Retrieved 5 December 2016 – via Matichon E-library.
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