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."
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(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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
