Luang Por Dattajevo: A Visionary in Thai Buddhism : หน้า 5/164

Luang Por Dattajevo (monastic name Phrabhavanaviriyakhun) is a Thai Buddhist monk who was born in 1941, in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. He was educated within the public school system of Thailand and went on to receive a post-graduate university degree in Australia. When Wat Phra Dhammakaya, located in Pathum Thani, Thailand, was founded in 1970, Luang Por directed the construction of the buildings that were needed to establish a new Theravada Buddhist monastery. In 1971, at the age of thirty, he was ordained at Wat PakNam Bhasicharoen, Bangkok and studied in the Dhammakaya meditation tradition of Phramonkolthepmuni (Luang Pu Sodh Wat PakNam) with his teachers Khun Yai Maha Ratana Upasika Chandra Khonnokyoong (b.1909 – d. 2000) and Phrarajbhavanavisudh (Luang Por Dhammajayo, b.1944). Within a few years, he had become a well-known Dhamma lecturer. A set of recordings of Dhamma Sermons on the Thirty-Eight Blessings was his earliest work. He was then made Vice-President of the Dhamma Missionary Outreach. Currently, he is Vice-President of the Dhammakaya Foundation, an organization dedicated to the educational outreach of the study of Dhammakaya meditation and the Buddhist principle of World Peace Through Inner Peace. His work in Buddhist teaching was recognized by the Royal Palace of Thailand, and he was consequently elevated to the Royal Order (Ordinary Level) with the title Prabhavanaviriyakhun in 1992. He also received the Dhammacakra Sema-Pillar award from H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 1993. Luang Por Dattajevo has spent the past forty years teaching Dhamma and has spoken regularly before international audiences, as well as being a panelist at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session “World Summit for Social Development” on 30 June 2000 in Geneva, where he highlighted the importance of spirituality in addressing social development and overcoming poverty. A prolific author, Luang Por Dattajevo has written more than sixty Dhamma books published in the Thai language, ten of which have been translated into other languages.