The Master Nun Chandra Centennial Building
The world’s inner peace center
The Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong Centennial Building
Join in the Inauguration of what is to become.. the world’s inner peace center.
No matter how technologically advanced the world has become, people will always need a knowledge that can help them douse misery, develop inner peace, and discover true happiness.
On the occasion of the 100th birthday anniversary of the late Meditation Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong, Abbot Dhammajayo Bhikkhu initiated a project to build a new Pali and Buddhist school of studies to replace its original one being worn out through decades of use.
The Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong 101th Anniversary Memorial Building will house Thailand’s largest Pali and Dhamma school of studies. Studying Pali is essential for monks as the Lord Buddha’s original teachings are kept in this ancient language.
It is also designed to be the coordinating center for the Dhammakaya Temple’s overseas dissemination work that has brought the Lord Buddha’s time-tested knowledge of inner peace and happiness to people in more than 100 countries spanning as far as Qatar, Uganda, Solomon Islands, Mongolia, and even in former Buddhist lands such as Bahrain, Dubai, Indonesia and Jordan.
Today, the temple has more than 50 overseas meditation centers, each providing free meditation lessons for interested members of the general public. As the scope for dissemination work widens, there is a need to train and retrain monks to be qualified teachers to property coach new generations of monks and lay staff to be responsible and respectable role models for virtuous leaders in both word and, more importantly, action.
The World Center for Dhamma Studies and Practice.
The 15-storey building will be a place where people of all colors and races and various nationalities work together for world peace; similar to a United Nations of Buddhism. It will become a venue where Buddhist academics and expert practitioners from all over the world meet, discuss, exchange ideas as well as cooperate on educational and global peace programs.
At present, the temple’s 40-year-old Dhammachai Institute has cooperation agreements with Peking University (China), Sydney University (Australia), Otago University (New Zealand), Hsuan Chuang University (Taiwan) and Tokyo University (Japan).
The Temple’s Pali and Dhamma school of studies has been consistently ranked among the top five of all other schools in Thailand in the annual centralized Pali examinations. Besides teaching its resident monks and novices, it provides classroom lessons for those from other temples and interested lay people free of charge.
The growing number of students necessitates a move from thatch-roofed and rough-cement structures to a concretely built school with well-equipped classrooms and language laboratories.
The Functional Symbol of Giving and Universal Love.
With well over 2,000 monks and lay staff members working everyday towards the goal of creating lasting world peace through inner peace, the globe-shaped architecture will serve as a declaration of universal love for humankind.
The building is named after the late Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong or Khun Yay (Grandma) as she was—and still is—affectionately called by her disciples. At the age of 60, when most people look forward to a peaceful retirement, Khun Yay chose the a difficult path of founding a new temple despite its lack of funds and misunderstandings.
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Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong
The Founder of Dhammakaya Temple
World Peace Needs Your Helping Hand.
Let’s Make It Happen.
The merit resulting from sponsoring the construction of this Peace Generator will attract virtuous people, favorable opportunities and auspicious events to the donor’s life--not just in the present lifetime but in many future lifetimes to come.
The donor will share in the merit of all the teachers and students who teach and apply the wisdom of the Lord Buddha for the happiness of the masses; thereby, forming good karmic ties with virtuous people worldwide. As time goes by, this merit will multiply by having its Virtue Leaders passing down the torch to the future generations to ensure the continuation of the Global Peace Work.
In the rain-retreat season in 2010, the Dhammakaya Temple as well as the Sangkha of Thailand helped organize mass ordination and meditation training with over 100,000 Thai men from of 76 provinces in Thailand. Through the kind cooperation of Buddhist temples across the country, it was the world’s largest mass ordination program since the passing of the Lord Buddha 2,500 years ago.
The Master Nun Chand Khonnokyoong Centennial Memorial Building will house:
- A school for Pali and Buddhist studies (45 classrooms, including 3 language laboratories);
- Two meditation rooms for 800 people;
- An international Buddhist research library with access to electronic versions of Buddhist scriptures (Tritipitaka);
- A multimedia exhibition hall;
- A 2,000-seat auditorium for local and international symposiums;
- A museum displaying rare Buddhist scriptures and artifacts from many countries;
- The coordinating office for all of the Dhammakaya overseas meditation centers and international peace programs;
- The coordinating office for the monks’ training programs;
- The Dhammakaya Open University for long-distance degree programs;
- The Dhammakaya Foundation for various international and local charitable activities;
- The Dhammachai Institute for academic research, exchanges and staff training;
- The Peace Revolution 2010 project for global peace communities;
- Dhamma radio stations;
- Production and recording studios where Dhamma programs, including live meditation lessons, are produced for global, commercial-free broadcast everyday on the DMC satellite Channel.
- A multimedia production center where Dhamma websites, CDs, magazines, books and academic materials are produced.
The Form of Function The shape of this building emphasizes the truth that anyone can become like the sun, in that one has light within and at the same time shares their light with all living beings without discrimination. The overflowing self-sustainable happiness resulting from meditation will inspire its practitioners to share happiness with other people even beyond their immediate circles.
Donations can be made at the Dhammakaya Temple in Thailand or its overseas meditation centers worldwide.
