Mass meditation to honour Luang Pu Mun

Buddhists have been invited to join mass meditation ceremonies countrywide to mark the 150th birthday of Phra Ajarn Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera, who was named by Unesco as one its world Eminent Personalities for his contributions to promoting peace.

The ceremonies are part of religious and academic activities aimed to fete the venerated monk, who was born in 1870 and died in 1949, as well as celebrate the prestigious status recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

“We invite everyone to practise concentration and meditation for peace for 15 minutes,” Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome said yesterday, adding the ceremonies will start at 6.15pm on Monday 20.

Wat Pathum Wanaram in the capital’s Pathumwan district will be the main venue of the commemoration to be presided over by the Supreme Patriarch.

Phra Ajarn Mun Bhuridatta Mahathera, also widely known as Luang Pu Mun, is credited with spending his life reviving and later popularising a form of traditional meditation practised by the kingdom’s “forest monks”.

The practice is known among Buddhists as Dhutanga Kammatthana, and forest monks are often referred to using the honorific Phra Dhutanga.

Dhutanga is a group of 13 ascetic practices in Theravada Buddhism.

His devotion to Buddhism led to him becoming renowned for following the path of the Lord Buddha and coming to terms with the temporariness of existence.

Unesco announced the monk as one of the world’s Eminent Personalities on Nov 25 last year.