Buddhadasa Bhikkhu Named One of the World’s Great Personalities

Thai people will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the late Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, who has been honored as one of the world’s great personalities by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The UNESCO’s General Conference on October 20 decided to include the 100th anniversary of the birth of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in the UNESCO’s Calendar of Anniversaries of Great Personalities and Historic Events, 2006 and 2007. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in his weekly radio address on 22 October 2005, said that Thai people rejoiced at the UNESCO’s resolution to honor the Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. 

He said that Buddhadasa had strived to achieve his three wishes in life. The first wish was that he would like to see people, regardless of their religion, deeply understand the principles of their religion. In the second wish, he intended to create better understanding among various faiths, and in the third wish, the revered monk wanted to drag human beings out from the tyranny of materialism.

Prime Minister Thaksin said that he read many books written by Buddhadasa and that the books made him understand himself and other people better. He quoted Buddhadasa as saying that whether democratic administration will bring about prosperity or not depends on the quality of political personnel. So good politicians must love people, who, like them, were born to be old, become ill, and die. The Prime Minister said that, in the book Dhamma and Politics, Buddhadasa told people to be mindful of development and the destruction of the community lifestyle. Buddhadasa said that a mind is empty, or chit wang, when it is free of lust, hatred, and delusion. With the state of true emptiness, wisdom will arise. The monk also taught people to solve problems at their root causes.

Born on May 27, 1906 in the southern province of Surat Thani as Nguam Panich, the Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu was the eldest of the three children of a merchant. He went forth as a monk at the age of twenty. After a few years of study in Bangkok, he was inspired to live close with nature in order to investigate the Buddha-Dhamma. Thus, he established Suan Mokkhabalarama, or the Grove of the Power of Liberation in 1932 near his hometown in Chaiya District. His chosen name Buddhadasa literally means a slave of the Buddha.

Recognized as one of the most influential Buddhist teachers in Thai history, Buddhadasa worked painstakingly to establish and explain the correct and essential principles of original Buddhism. He wrote numerous books, a number of which were translated into foreign languages, especially English. One of them is The Handbook of Mankind. 

The Venerable Bhuddadasa Bhikkhu died in 1993 after a series of heart attacks and strokes, at the age of 87.

 

[ขอบคุณผู้สร้างพุทธทาสพิกขุ]

ขอขอบคุณผู้สร้างพุทธทาส ที่พบว่าท่านมีศักยภาพพอที่จะแสดงสิ่งที่ดีงามให้มนุษยชาติประจักษ์

จึงใช้ท่าน เป็นเครื่องมือ แสดงความดี ขอบคุณและขอกตัญญูอย่างสูงสุด