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PHRASUDHARMAYANATHERA (Venerable Dhammajayo Bhikkhu) enerable Dhammajayo Bhikkhu was born Chaiyabul Sutthipol on the 22 April 1944. developed a distinguished quality of self-con fidence, strong determination and leadership. At Suan Kularb School, Bangkok, Thailand, Chaiyabul during his adolescence, started to be profoundly interested in Buddhism. In his own words: 'The life of a layman is full of suffering and only a few happinesses can be found. There is no freedom. It is a fight for survial. A struggle to satisfy human desires, to consume and obtain social honour. Nothing but all these vanities. One has to make a choice for one's own way of life. For me, if I'm leading a worldly life, I shall try my best to achieve the highest possible position in life. If, on the other hand, I am taking up a life of Dharma, I shall try to attain the Ultimate Truth as taught by the Buddha. Moreover, I shall try to spread the Dharma thoughout the world.' Having matriculated from Suan Kularb Se- condary School in 1963, Mr. Chaiyabul was enrolled in the Faculty of Agriculture, Ka- setsart University. The student life gave him much more freedom and provided him with more opportunities to pursue the study of Dharma. He became an ardent student of meditation at Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen. It I was here that he first met his mentor and spiritual guardian, the Buddhist nun Kuhn Yay Acharn Jan Kohn nok yung. She was one of the most respected Buddhist meditation teachers in the country at the time. Under Kuhn Yay's close supervision, Mr. Chaiyabul attained a certain level of knowledge and realisation of Dharma. Mr. Chaiyabul also got to know many fellow students both in Kasetsart University and in other universities who were interested in practising medita- tion. One of these early acquaintances later became his assistant in the great endeavour to establish the Wat Phra Dhammakāya. His assistant was Mr. Phadet Phongswasdi who became a Buddhist monk and is now well- known as the Venerable Dattajivo Bhikkhu: the vice-president of the Dhammakaya Founda- tion. After his graduation from Kasetsart University with B.Sc (Economics), Mr. Chai- yabul made it known to his family that he intended to spend the rest of his life as a Buddhist monk. He was ordained at Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen on the 27 August 1969. After six years of monkhood, Ven.Dhamma- jayo became the abbot of Wat Phra Dham- makaya. In more recent years, Ven.Dhammajayo has expanded his vision of the work of the Buddhist religion not simply to creating an exemplary temple as an example to the world, but to spread the Dhammakāya tra- dition for the happiness, peace and harmony of the people of the world. Thus, from Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the Dhammakaya Foun- dation emerged under Ven. Dhammajayo's leadership at an early date as a non-profit organization to take responsibility not just for the temple itself, but for branches throughout Thailand and abroad too. For his achievements in teaching the Dhammakaya tradition in Thailand an abroad, and for his vision in establishing the World Dhamma- kaya Centre as an international centre for Buddhist studies, Ven. Dhammajayo was given the royal title of 'PHRASUDHARMA- YANATHERA' by H.M. the King of Thailand in 1992 and was awarded an honourary doctorate degree by Mahachulalongkorn rajavidyalaya Buddhist University in 1994. กัลยาณมิตร กุมภาพันธ์ ๒๕๓๗ ๖๓