Dhammakaya

…Santi Asoke (founded 1975) and Dhammakaya, are especially interesting. Santi Asoke, a lay-oriented group that advocates stringent discipline, moral rectitude, and political reform, has been very much at odds with the established ecclesiastical hierarchy. The Dhammakaya group has been much more successful at gathering a large popular following but has…

One example is the Dhammakaya group, a very large, well-organized, hierarchical, and commercialized sectarian group that is centred in Thailand. Sometimes labeled “fundamentalist,” the Dhammakaya group propagates meditational techniques that promise the immediate attainment of nirvana, as well as patterns of ritual donation that claim to ensure immediate business…