Activities of Wat Nak Prok for the Development of Peace

By Nagasen
 
Introduction 

 Nowadays peace is lacking everywhere in the world. People have so much attached to materialistic world forgetting the sense of brotherhood. There has been war for religions, wealth, power and dominations. However, there are many organizations working for peace whether small or big they have contributed to bring peace in the family, society, nations and in the world. Wat Nak Prok is also one of the temples which are contributing to the society, family, nations and some parts of the world to understand the value of peace through the Lord Buddha’s message. My temple also teaches people to generate the Foul Sublime States. My temple has set up many activities in the temple as well as outsides. Monks are able to teach to the young generation as well as elders the value of inner peace. Once inner peace is developed that one can understand how important it would be if people are peaceful all around.

 Establishment of Wat Nak Prok 

 It was established in the reign of King Rama III. A Chinese trader man who was Phra Boriboontanakorn built this temple and donated to Sangha. It is the community temple because the builder is Buddhist people not the king. According to Nak Prok background confirmed that he (Phra Boriboontanakorn ) travelled to Thonburi side for sale his trades at that time which he got married with Thai woman. Then, on words he and his wife lived near the Taradpool (the name of Market) in Thaonburi side. He believed deeply in Buddhism due to his wife was Thai and his family was rich family. So he became a good supporter to Wat Nak Prok at that time by start from built a Uposatha first which the wall of Uposatha was built in Chinese style especially the picture on the wall of Uposatha concerned with Chinese’s story , Chinese’s picture and so on. At the moment, Wat Nak Prok has become very big temple by the support of the pious devotees. The presently the abort name is phra Kru Plad Satthuwat (setthakit Samahito). 

 Sunday school

novice in Thailand

  "If we wish to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children." Mahatma Gandhi So for that base children should have an opportunity to learn the Dhamma at least one day of their life. Therefore, Wat Nak Prok temple also provides Sunday school in the temple. It was setup for the young generations to learn the Buddhist teachings and to be good citizen. Especially monks teach the children how to live peacefully in the in the society, with friends, neighbors. The monks teach the basic principle of Buddhism. The five precepts are taught with examples. The principle of honesty is taught to children. This is one of the five precepts. So I think by teaching honesty at their young age is very good. Because when they are taught like that they will not be able to do any crime. Those children will be good citizen. The children are very fortunate to learn in such a locality. The Buddha mentioned that in Mangala Sutta of Kuddhaka Nikaya “To reside in a suitable locality... is blessing”. One of the social disharmony causes is hatred. Nowadays, there are people who lover only their community, own religion, own nation. But they have forgotten that people have mixed up because of globalization. So children should be taught to get rid of such baseless thoughts too. When, one hates each other how can there be peace. Therefore, children learn the example of the Buddha who was so compassionate and could live peacefully among society nations. Children should be taught also how to practice love so as to develop peace. 

 Spreading Buddha’s Teaching for Peace 

Wat Nakprok

 “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” Buddha There are many missionaries monks who involve propagating the Buddhism inside and out of the country. They have understood the value of peace therefore they also teach how to attain the inner peace through the practice of Buddhist meditation called Vipassana. The Buddha was very much compassionate for the all human beings. He realized how the human beings are suffering mentally and physically. Therefore, he urged the first sixty well disciplined disciples to go in different direction individually to propagate the Dhamma and to teach to attain inner peace. The Maha vaggha pali has the following records: “Caratha bhikkhave carikam bahujana hitaya bahujana sukhaya lokanukampaya atthaya hitaya sukhaya sadevamanussanam. Desetha bhikkhave dhamman adikalyanam majjhekalyanam pariyosanakalyana sattham sabyanjanam kevelapparipunnam parisuddham brahmacariyam pakasetha” O monks! Go on tour for the good of the many people, for happiness of many people out of compassion to the world, for the good and well being and happiness god and men. O monks! Preach the doctrines good at the beginning, good at the middle, good at the end, proclaim the pure noble life with meaning, in full completely As a result of that tradition, monks still keep on propagating the Dhamma. Presently, westerners are very much keen about Buddhist meditation. Because many of the foreigners are benefited by practicing Buddhist meditation such as inner peace, cure of disease, mentally worries. They have got to know about Buddhist meditation form Buddhist monks as well from Buddhist books. There are many branches of Nakprok temple such as Wat Buddhasamokki in New Zealand, Wat Thaicharoenrat in India, Wat laueng in Argentina and Wat Thaikusinara. These temples are main branches of Wat Nakprok. These temples are set up with the sole purpose to teach the people to live peacefully by learing the Buddha’s teaching. The rest of the monks who stay at Wat nakprok, they promote Buddhism in several ways like teaching Dhamma in School, teaching meditation to teenager student in temple, teaching Dhamma on Sunday etc. In every year, the abbot of Nak Prok temple will sent his monks to other countries for preaching the Dharma to world. Novice Ordination Project "If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work." "If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace." Thich Naht Hanh The aim of novice project is to teach the people to live happily and peacefully as the above two quotations spoken by Thich Naht Hanh. 

Novice ordination project 

Novice Ordination

takes place during the summer season. In summer season schools are closed. The ordination starts at the beginning of the April. This is another huge project of my temple to teach the Dhamma to the new generation and to learn to develop peace within. Every year many hundreds of boys get ordination and practice in peaceful path. The boys are given the train for ten days before they are ordained. Firstly, they are given eight precepts and wear the white cloth. They are thought to know each other well and become friendly. When the ordination time come. The boys have to reflect how much their parents care about them and how much difficulties they face to bring up them. Then, they have to worship the parents. This is a good lesion to teach to children to be grateful to parents and to look after them when the son earns money. The Buddha has explained in Mangla sutta of Angutta Nikaya ‘The support of father and mother, the cherishing of wife and children, and peaceful occupations- this is the Highest Blessing.’ After, they are ordained they are though many things such as meditation to develop inner peace, Buddha’s life, importance of precepts, importance of metta, karuna, compassion and upekkha. The Buddhist meditation helps every individual to create peace within when practices. The teachers teach them to do meditation in the morning and evening. The rest of the time they are taught to chant. The chanting also helps to generate peace. The novices are also taken to Buddhamonthon for meditation practice for ten days. The four Buddhist important places are introduced to them in practical way. It means there is copy of the four places of the Buddha at Buddhamonthon. The teacher explains them taking the novices there. The life of the Buddha is explained in the same way. Teachers from outside are invited to teach the novices. The teachers are very clear at teaching the children. They use technique of visualization. For example, today the topic is on “the importance of precepts” the teachers they will bring a video of that type. This way of teaching is very effective. 

Conclusion

 Form the above discussion we can conclude that peace can be attained among societies, nations and in the world if monks are actively work in such activities. Not only teach the children to earn money but also should be taught the moral way of life. As long as one doesn’t realize the value of peace within oneself he is unable to maintain peace. This inner peace can be attained only through meditations. If one practice meditation well he can be able to eradicated the hatred, delusion and ignorance.

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