In Thailand, Phra Dhammachayo, the head of the Wat
Dhammakaya Buddhist Temple—Thailand’s largest—could be heard, as of 2016 at
least, exhorting non-monk meditators, “Be rich, be rich, be rich!”[1]
This pro-wealth message, with its “endorsement of worldly comforts,” has
attracted worshippers even as it has “unsettled the government and the Buddhist
hierarchy.”[2]
Indeed, the top body of Buddhism accused him of heresy—a charge you don’t
typically hear in that religion—and stripped him of his religious title. Yet
his popularity at Wat Dhammakaya was undiminished. It is no wonder the Temple’s
popularity continued to grow, with cash machines placed near a meditation
room—the machines’ screens declaring, “Shortcut to making merit.” By giving
money, and even credit-card points, to the temple, a Buddhist’s merit can be
enhanced. Other things equal, the additional good karma results in a better
reincarnation in the next life. The worshippers, or more strictly speaking,
meditators, at the temple could presumably be rich in this life and be born
into a better life next time around simply by practicing Buddhism.
The full essay is at "A Pro-Wealth Buddhist Temple."
1. Seth Mydans, “Parsing Buddhism in a Shrine to Abundance,” The New York Times,
December 21, 2016.
2. Ibid.