According to received information The World Fellowship of Buddhists (near Emporium, Suk 24) has invited Venerable Bhasakorn to lead the monthly workshop on Sunday June 6th.

Phra Bhasakorn did a talk on karma for us last year. He is a Thai monk, but with more than adequate English. In fact you night see a book of his in English around bookstores called Karma for Today’s Traveler. It is the result of years researching the topic both academically and from the standpoint of practise. Phra Bhasakorn lectures on the topic frequently all over Thailand, and claims that if you can get Karma, then the rest of Buddhist practise unfolds before you.

Karma: For Today’s Traveler

A new look at the Buddhist concept of cause and effect, the dazzling processor we call mind, and the fantastic creative power of human intention.

by Phra Bhasakorn Bhavilaikarma

The book itself has some history. It was originally a Master’s Thesis, but the conclusions that it made were not acceptable to the Thai Sangha University. They wanted to steer the findings to fit with the standard theory. In other words they wanted him to toe the party line.

Instead of changing what he considered to be the correct findings to fit the Thai clerical view, he went ahead and published the book himself – an action that forced him to surrender his hard earned Degree.

“I feel that what I wrote is right” he says, “so how can I change it?”

It put him on the outside of the Sangha academic fold, but he persevered and carefully translated the book into English with the help of his friend David Freyer, self publishing it with some success; the book can be found in many places. Though the Thai clergy rejected the work, his jovial nature, and clear thinking have gained him ground as a speaker on the topic, and he is repeatedly invited out to give lectures, even to the point of excess. And being the underdog always has an added appeal for Westerners.

Details from Little Bang.

thanks Camerata, karma has always been one of my favorite subjects. I marked this on my calender and will be sure to attend...

More info on the book:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Karma-Today-...938#entry907938

The book itself has some history. It was originally a Master’s Thesis, but the conclusions that it made were not acceptable to the Thai Sangha University. They wanted to steer the findings to fit with the standard theory. In other words they wanted him to toe the party line.

Instead of changing what he considered to be the correct findings to fit the Thai clerical view, he went ahead and published the book himself – an action that forced him to surrender his hard earned Degree.

In nutshell what was the specifics of the disagreement?

I don't know. If I have a chance to attend the session, I'll try to find out.

According to Ven Bhasakorn, the university wanted him to toe the Buddhadasa line, which means heaven and he11 are internal states only and not actual realms (which nice as it sounds, is definitely NOT what the suttas teach). He also thinks that basically everything happens due to Karma - the niyamas other than karma, are he says, 'environmental karma' which is another way in which results of actions come back at you.

However, I am sure the university has a different story of what happened to his MA.

His last talk in English started off well, but after the first 5 or 6 slides the Powerpoint presentation suddenly switched to Thai language. And his timing was off, and the organisers ended up having to stop him when he was not even part way through as the allotted time had long passed.

I missed this talk but a friend got me a copy of the book. It seems the author's English was difficult to understand at times.