Abstract:
This research aims to study (1) the Buddhist teachings on the law of kamma
based on Tipitaka, commentaries, sub-commentaries and contemporary Buddhist
literature; (2) Maechee Dasaphorn Chaiprakhongs teachings on the laws of kamma as
found in her book, Kerd Tae Kam; and (3) views, on Maechees teachings, of 364
fourth-year monk students from Mahachulalongkornrajavidhayalaya and Mahamakut
rajavidhayalaya Universities. Questionnaires were used to survey the views and data
analyzed with means, standard deviation, T-test and F-test.
It was found that Maechee Dasaphorn's teachings on the law of kamma are
based on the Buddhist doctrine of kamma. However, many of her instructions are
distinct. Examples are "kamma disease," which is an illness caused by spirits with
malice or communicative wish, and "genetic kamma," which is an action whose fruits
are reaped by descendants. Moreover, Maechee teaches about how to abate results of
bad kammas, which is based on the Buddhist ways of merit making. Yet, some
methods are distinct such as a use of psychic power and other idiosyncratic
suggestions. And the survey showed that the samples moderately agreed with
Maechee on (1) possibility to abate kamma results (2) ways to abate kamma results
(3) identification of past kammas and (4) pairings of kammas and their results.
Besides, it was found that the views of samples (with different levels of knowledge in
Pali, Doctrine, and periods spent in monkhood) were not different with statistical
significance at the level of 0.5.
It is suggested that further studies be conducted with different population e.g.
those who have and have never received meditation instruction from Maechee
Dasaphorn and those from different meditation centres.