Growth of Dhammakaya Foundation's Global Influence : หน้า 71/91

ROM QUALITY GREW QUANTITY The reputation for training offered by the Dhammakaya Foundation has spread primarily by word of mouth, increasing the popularity of activities held, as the years pass by. Participants have found that things they have learned can be put to benefit in their everyday lives. They have found that all aspects of their lives have improved. As the word has spread and different walks of society have recognized the value of these teachings and the size of congregations has swelled accordingly. As the scale of the work has expanded, there have been many developments in the approaches the Dhammakaya Foundation has made to the logistical problem of educating the larger number of trainees studying the tradition; Local Branches In an attempt to reduce the distance which students have to travel in order to study meditation and virtue, the Dhammakaya Foundation has been invited to set up local branch centres in both Thailand and abroad. Each centre is staffed by qualified teachers of meditation from the Dhammakaya Foundation headquarters in Thailand and offers a range of activities for training in the quality of mind for people of all ages in the locality. In 1999, there were forty local centres in Thailand and thirteen overseas. Using the concepts of distance education to help groups abroad obtain access to the teachings for raising the quality of the mind, the Dhammakaya Foundation has adapted telephone conferencing facilities to allow those interested, in different parts of the world, to practice along with meditators led in meditation on the first Sunday of the month at Wat Phra Dhammakaya by Ven. Phra Dhammajayo, President of the Dhammakaya Foundation. In 1999, more than hundred groups abroad simultaneously received live monthly transmissions of meditation teaching from Thailand. International Centres Dhammakaya Foundation has founded the first international branch on 1 January 1992 as a meditation centre in Los Angeles. Since then branches have been established in nine other countries. The main objective of the international branches focuses on bringing benefit to the society, by for example, providing moral teaching in school, training youth leaders, organizing meditation courses, and organizing activities that enhance the peacefulness of the society. As and example of the success of the international branch centres, on 10 September 1994, the City of Los Angeles presented an awarded to the Dhammakaya International Society of California for its contribution to society. International Broadcasting of Meditation Teaching Every first Sunday of the month, the Dhammakaya Foundation broadcasts meditation teaching around the world via the Internet and telephone conference. Currently, there are approximately 100 broadcasting centres on five continents.