Talk:Rangsit

Dhammakaya

	WARNING: Thais who are outside of the Dhammakaya sect (i.e. normal Buddhists) consider this sect a cult. It is accused of brainwashing its follower and taking their money, not unlike the Church of Scientology. The sect was extensively investigated by the government in 1999. Proceed at your on risk.

• Seth Stevenson Slate article describes a personal experience inside the Dhammakaya temple.

The Slate article is funny, but this hardly merits a warningbox — converting daytripping tourists to cults when they don't speak the local lingo is pretty hard. (WT-en) Jpatokal 22:09, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

Sigh. I'm the original editor who edit in the warning box. You may think that the Slate article is funny, but the Dhammakaya threat is real. It's a well-known cult with powerful members including lots of politicians. It has infiltrated schools' and universities' Buddhist clubs for decades, turning bright young minds who just want spiritual guidances into their fold. The worst thing is, just like America's Church of Scientology, nobody can do anything about it. The investigation only turned up the fact that the former abbot was stealing the temple's fund. He was stripped out of his title but nothing else had been done (despite the fact that stealing is one of the four deadly sins for Buddhist monks.) The cult is still very active today and tries to participate in the 2007 Constitutional draft to make Buddhism the state religion (so they will be protected as a sect of Buddhism.)

Yet when I try to warn the reader of them, you think it's not THAT danger.

I've never been to the cult (and never will.) But I think they'll always have someone who can fluently speak English on stand by (remember they convert hundreds of university students every year), just in case some unsuspecting tourists decide to visit. They have a web page in English after all. - 203.155.1.252 15:24, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

P.S. Thanks anyway for not removing the "cult" part. I think at least the Slate article should be put back in though.

This is a travel guide -- it's not particularly relevant to the traveler if Dhammakaya is trying to alter the Thai constitution, just like it's not particularly relevant to a traveler in the US that Scientology doesn't like psychology. I've been to the temple and the only hassle was that my girlfriend was asked, in sign language, to cover up her shoulders. No money, no conversion attempts, nada. (WT-en) Jpatokal 00:54, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

Rangsit and Pathum Thani

The articles of Rangsit and Pathum Thani show quite some overlap — where do we draw the line between both? --(WT-en) globe-trotter 16:48, 15 February 2010 (EST)