The Jakkapat
The Universal Wheel Turning Monarch
The Imperial Buddha
Many people may wonder, who is Phra Maha Jakkapat? Why does Luang Ta Ma emphasise on building Phra Maha Jakkapat centres, statues and amulets?
Luang Ta told them that believe it or not, in the future, there will be many people paying homage to Phra Jakkapat and Luang Pu Doo and it will slowly spread all over the world.
Luang Ta Ma has been creating Phra Maha Jakkapat images since almost 30 years ago. Back in those days, people rarely built Phra Maha Jakkapat statues and amulets. Not so many people knew about Luang Pu Doo then, and the Maha Jakkapat Katha was not well known, except for those who have been to Wat Sakae.
Disciples would wonder why Luang Ta didn’t focus on something trendy or fashionable instead of Phra Maha Jakkapat and Luang Pu Doo. Luang Ta told them that believe it or not, in the future, there will be many people paying homage to Phra Jakkapat and Luang Pu Doo and it will slowly spread all over the world.
Phra Maha Jakkapat refers to the Universal Emperor or Maha Chakravartin. After the Dhamma has been lost from the world, there will only be Pacceka Buddhas who are self-enlightened but don’t really know how to teach the Dhamma well, in addition to Universal Emperors, who will be able to guide their citizens.
These Universal Emperors are usually Bodhisattvas with great ‘parami’ (merit). Luang Pu Doo and Luang Pu Thuad will be Maha Jakkapats in the future.
Monks such as Luang Phor Sodh, Luang Pu Doo and Luang Ta Ma emphasise on the Jakkapat because by accessing or summoning the Jakkapat’s power because it can be used to eliminate disease, poverty and all kinds of suffering and bring prosperity and happiness.
In Dhammakaya meditation, Luang Phor Sodh can connect to the inner and refined bodies through the midpoint of his body. But in the Luang Pu Doo lineage, we do not need to enter or access through the mid-point of our bodies. We just need to calm our minds as much as possible and connect Phra Maha Jakkapat, Luang Pu Thuad or Luang Pu Doo.
When Luang Ta creates a Maha Jakkapat image, or any other amulet, he will summon the ‘parami’ and draw the energy of the Maha Jakkapats throughout the infinite cosmos from the past, present and future. Because every Bodhisatta, before they attain enlightenment as a Sammasambuddha in their final life, would have been reborn as a Maha Jakkapat.
By holding on to the amulet, chanting the Phra Maha Jakkapat katha, we are able to unite body and mind to reach the Jakkapat’s energy. Luang Ta created the Jakkapat amulets to symbolise the connection of the immaterial energy itself. It is like holding on to a phone which is connected to a cellular network.
And creating a Maha Jakkapat statue in different areas, with a meditation centre for people to chant the katha, is like building a telecommunications network tower. This will allow the Maha Jakkapat energy to flow throughout the region, benefitting all beings, especially spirits, living near the area.
Phra Maha Jakkapat refers to the Universal Emperor or Maha Chakravartin. After the Dhamma has been lost from the world, there will only be Pacceka Buddhas who are self-enlightened but don’t really know how to teach the Dhamma well, in addition to Universal Emperors, who will be able to guide their citizens.
Phra Phutta Jao Ha Ong – The 5 Buddhas
When we chant the Jakkapat Mantra, the first line goes “Na Mo Put Ta Ya”, which refers to the five Buddhas of this Kalpa:
1. Kakusandha (the first Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
2. Koṇāgamana (the second Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
3. Kassapa (the third Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
4. Gautama (the fourth and present Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
5. Phra Sri Ariya Metteyya (the fifth and future Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
According to Luang Ta Ma, each Buddha is denoted by a different auric colour, with Phra Sri Ariya Metteya (i.e. Luang Pu Thuad), possessing a red aura. In contrast, the present Buddha, is denoted by an emerald hue (just like the Phra Kaew Emerald Buddha).
This is the legendary tale of the origin of the 5 Buddhas, also known as Tamnan Ka Phuak in Thai: In a former time, at the beginning of the first kappa, a white crow mother nested in a tree on the bank of the River Ganges. She carefully attended to her five eggs (the future five bodhisattvas); after days of brooding she had to search for food and left the nest. A severe storm arose, uprooting the tree that fell into the raging river dispersing the eggs. When the mother crow flew back and did not find the eggs, she was very distraught, died broken hearted and ascended to the Maha Brahma Heaven.
The eggs were swept into the Ganges River. The egg with Kokasandha was found by the queen of chickens which put it with her own eggs. Shortly after the shell cracked revealing a male offspring. At the same time, Konagamana’s egg was found by a serpent (naga), Kassapa’s egg by a mother turtle, and Gotama’s egg by the queen of the cows. The fifth egg (of Si Ariya Matteya) was discovered by a lioness. The respective foster-mothers nurtured their children with love, born at the same time, the same day, though in different places.
After 12 years, the Bodhisattvas reunited and decided to become hermits. They left their parents promising to remember the family name and lineage when attaining enlightenment. Each of the five went into the forest to practice asceticism and meditation.
One day, it happened that the five found themselves under the same beautiful nigrodha tree and discovered they had the same father and mother (the White Crow), thus being brothers. They expressed their determination to follow their ascetic ways until they reached enlightenment. At that moment their white crow mother descended from heaven, with beautiful full wings.
The Five Bodhisattas rejoiced at being reunited and agreed to honour their mother and her compassion by making a replica of her footprints. She agreed and gave them strands of cotton twisted in the shape of a crow’s foot to make a votive lamp to use for puja until they reached enlightenment. Later, they made the vow to come regularly to the nigrodha tree and construct a special place to enshrine the relics. They returned to the forest, performing puja with the offering of lamps whose wicks were made in the shape of a crow’s foot. The first to attain enlightenment was Kakusandha, followed by Konagamana, Kassapa and Gotama. The fifth Buddha will be reborn as Sri Ariya Metteyya, for whom the four had agreed to build a very large reliquary (cetiya) so that humans can pay respect to relics by paying homage to, physically or mentally.
Phra Maha Jakkapat refers to the Universal Emperor or Maha Chakravartin. After the Dhamma has been lost from the world, there will only be Pacceka Buddhas who are self-enlightened but don’t really know how to teach the Dhamma well, in addition to Universal Emperors, who will be able to guide their citizens.
Excerpts from the ‘Wheel Turning Monarch Sutta’ (Cakkavatti Sutta, Digha Nikaya 26)
2.1. The Noble Duty of a Wheel-Turning Monarch
‘But sire, what is the noble duty of a wheel-turning monarch?’
‘Well then, my dear, relying only on principle—honoring, respecting, and venerating principle, having principle as your flag, banner, and authority—provide just protection and security for your court, troops, aristocrats, vassals, brahmins and householders, people of town and country, ascetics and brahmins, beasts and birds. Do not let injustice prevail in the realm. Provide* money to the penniless in the realm.
*[‘Provide’ (anuppadeti) is used elsewhere in the sense of paying back a loan (AN 3.20:3.5), serving honored guests (SN 7.2:2.6), paying wages (DN 31:32.2), or a king supplying provisions for essential workers to do their job (DN 5:11.8). It is thus more about fulfilling a moral obligation of fairness than offering charity.]
And there are ascetics and brahmins in the realm who refrain from intoxication and negligence, are settled in patience and sweetness, and who tame, calm, and extinguish themselves. From time to time you should go up to them and ask and learn: “Sirs, what is skillful? What is unskillful? What is blameworthy? What is blameless? What should be cultivated? What should not be cultivated? Doing what leads to my lasting harm and suffering? Doing what leads to my lasting welfare and happiness?” Having heard them, you should reject what is unskillful and undertake and follow what is skillful.
This is the noble duty of a wheel-turning monarch.’
2.2. The Wheel-Treasure Appears
‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ replied the new king to the royal sage. And he proceeded in the noble duty of a wheel-turning monarch.
While he was proceeding in that duty, on a fifteenth day sabbath, he had bathed his head and gone upstairs in the royal longhouse to observe the sabbath. And the heavenly wheel-treasure appeared to him, with a thousand spokes, with rim and hub, complete in every detail. Seeing this, the king thought, ‘I have heard that when the heavenly wheel-treasure appears to a king in this way, he becomes a wheel-turning monarch. Am I then a wheel-turning monarch?’
Then the anointed king, rising from his seat and arranging his robe over one shoulder, took a ceremonial vase in his left hand and besprinkled the wheel-treasure with his right hand, saying, ‘Roll forth, O wheel-treasure! Triumph, O wheel-treasure!’
Then the wheel-treasure rolled towards the east. And the king followed it together with his army of four divisions. In whatever place the wheel-treasure stood still, there the king came to stay together with his army. And any opposing rulers of the eastern quarter came to the wheel-turning monarch and said, ‘Come, great king! Welcome, great king! We are yours, great king, instruct us.’ The wheel-turning monarch said, ‘Do not kill living creatures. Do not steal. Do not commit sexual misconduct. Do not lie. Do not drink liquor. Maintain the current level of taxation.’ And so the opposing rulers of the eastern quarter became his vassals.
Then the wheel-treasure, having plunged into the eastern ocean and emerged again, rolled towards the south. … Having plunged into the southern ocean and emerged again, it rolled towards the west. …
Having plunged into the western ocean and emerged again, it rolled towards the north, followed by the king together with his army of four divisions. In whatever place the wheel-treasure stood still, there the king came to stay together with his army. And any opposing rulers of the northern quarter came to the wheel-turning monarch and said, ‘Come, great king! Welcome, great king! We are yours, great king, instruct us.’ The wheel-turning monarch said, ‘Do not kill living creatures. Do not steal. Do not commit sexual misconduct. Do not lie. Do not drink liquor. Maintain the current level of taxation.’ And so the rulers of the northern quarter became his vassals.
And then the wheel-treasure, having triumphed over this land surrounded by ocean, returned to the royal capital. There it stood still by the gate to the royal compound at the High Court as if fixed to an axle, illuminating the royal compound.
… And the heavenly wheel-treasure appeared to him, with a thousand spokes, with rim and hub, complete in every detail. Seeing this, the king thought, ‘I have heard that when the heavenly wheel-treasure appears to a king in this way, he becomes a wheel-turning monarch. Am I then a wheel-turning monarch?’…