What This Website is About
This website is dedicated to the memory of the Great Meditation Master Luang Phor Mongkol-Thepmuni, the late venerable Chao Khun (Abbot) of Wat Paknam, Basicharoen, Bangkok and his Teachings of the Vijjā Dhammakāya and its Method of Meditation. Luang Phor (Venerable Father) re-discovered this unique Method of Meditation in the 11th year of his monkhood after it was lost in the mist of time since the MahāParinibbāna of Lord Buddha Gotama.
Soon after becoming a monk, he realised that there were very few accomplished meditation and Dhamma teachers. He felt that without knowing what the Buddhas behold, his life as a monk would be wasted. On a full moon night of September 1918, he staked his life in one superhuman effort to attempt to plumb the depths of the Sublime Dhamma. He was triumphant and discovered the Vijjā Dhammakāya used by Buddhas to attain to Enlightenment and Nibbāna. Read more ....
Thereafter, for more than 43 years, he tirelessly expounded the Dhamma in its original condition and pristine purity preserving the unity of the Dhamma without differentiating whether it was of the Mahāyana or Theravāda traditions.
The Vijjā Dhammakāya is Luang Phor’s eternal priceless legacy to all but for non-Thais, that legacy could be claimed only from 1960 in English when the first translations of his Teachings appeared. Mr. T. Magness, (Venerable Suratano Bhikkhu) who became a lay disciple of Luang Phor in 1958, undertook the earliest translations in English.
His first work concerned the Eighteen Kayas (or Bodies) and the book title was called The Dhammakāya and its Metaphysical Implications; its first printing appeared in 1960. The book was later expanded and renamed Sammā Samādhi I, 1961 and, later further expanded and called Vistas - Buddhist Insights into Immortality. Another work, The Life and Teaching of the Venerable Chao Khun Mongkol-Thepmuni, was also published in 1960. Later works were Sammā Diṭṭhi (1962); Samatha-Vipassanā – An Exposition of Attainments (subsequently renamed Sammā Samādhi II, 1963) and Altitude & The Buddhist Experience (early 1970s). The Long View – An Excursion into Buddhist Perspective and others were published in later years. Click here or the tab on Books.
The author ordained as a bhikkhu in Wat Doi Suthep, Chiangmai, 12 years after meeting Luang Phor himself. A year or so after his ordination he was based in Wat Paknam and remained there for some years. The venerable author is known simply to his disciples as Phra Terry. With his permission we are making available all his works, online and printed versions, on this website for the benefit of all earnest seekers.