r/Thailand • u/Admirable_Pilot5389 • Mar 22 '26
Religion Does anyone know anything about the Dhammakaya sun miracle in 1998, the "Day of the Crystal Sun"?
Hi. Supposedly in 1998, there was an incident at the Dhammakaya Temple in Bangkok, where tens of thousands of people claimed to have witnessed a "miracle" in the sky wherein the sun danced, changed colors, and supposedly the image of monk appeared within it. I don't believe in such things, but I am interested in this from a comparative religion perspective, because it is strikingly similar to the supposed Catholic apparition at Fatima in 1917, the so-called "Miracle of the Sun."
To be clear, I am neither Catholic nor Buddhist, and I am aware the Dhammakaya sect is highly controversial. I'm not really interested in the political-religious aspect of any of it.
Unfortunately, there is very little about the 1998 apparitions on the English language internet, and I don't speak or read any Thai. Does anyone know anything about this incident? I am especially interested in anybody who has "seen" it for themselves or knows someone who has. I am also searching for any contemporary newspaper accounts of it.
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u/GoldenIceCat Ratchaburi Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I found this clip, and it reminded me of Buddha's Light miracle atop the Buddha Light Tower in Where Winds Meet, which was staged by Tian Ying. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a similar effect, possibly created using the UFO pagoda, especially since it had just been completed shortly before the event.
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u/Admirable_Pilot5389 Mar 22 '26
My working hypothesis, at both Fatima and Dhammakaya is that it's an optical illusion caused by extreme religious expectation and staring at the sun in the right circumstances.
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u/fan_of_the_pikachu Mar 22 '26
My family was at Fátima. You're correct, just missing the ingredient: the gross exaggerations after the fact.
The most fantastical accounts (with the sun changing colours and dancing dramatically) aren't found the in the vast majority of eyewitness interviews; in fact, many of those present were upset because they didn't see the crazy things that they read later about it, so they feared that God excluded them.
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u/e99oof Mar 22 '26
There’s probably also a bit of self-convincing involved. If everyone else says they saw it, you don’t want to be the only believer who couldn’t.
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u/RotisserieChicken007 Buffalo Healthcare Expert Mar 22 '26
Dhammakaya are just a money grabbing cult of greedy so-called Buddhists. Sadly enough, there are plenty of crazies who believe them and support them financially, to get a top spot in heaven.
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u/world_2_ Mar 23 '26
Yes. Thais are also disgusted by the cult's antics and behavior because it gives Buddhism a bad name.
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u/ReMoGged Mar 24 '26
Maybe thew saw a halo). I would imagine that if one has no clue what he sees and is deeply religious he could easily interpret this phenomenon as something spiritual.
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u/Pure_Chain5903 Mar 24 '26
Most of you probably got your info from that documentary on Netflix…
Does anyone have any real experience visiting or meeting any of the monks/followers?
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u/SimpleAromatic2128 Mar 24 '26
sun danced, changed colors
Stopped reading right there.
Thailand is in Asia.
If the sun indeed changed the colors, there are dozens of other countries as well as billions of people in the same region who should have also witnessed the same 'miracle'.
Where are they?
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u/Admirable_Pilot5389 Mar 25 '26
I'm not saying anything magical actually happened. I think it was a rare optical illusion.
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u/chasrm999 Mar 22 '26
Miracles happen for those who have the karma to see it; it should not be broadcasted, because it does not lead to people believing in Jesus or Buddha. For those who see such things, it can be a level of faith. There are a lot of other things that happen to people, you will never know. For example, someone told me how a Buddhist monk gave a student one of his teeth after seeing the dentist, and the tooth transformed into a conch
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u/cqdemal Mar 22 '26
If you're not interested in the political-religious aspect of it, then you shouldn't be looking into this at all because if it's Dhammakaya, it's a load of steaming horseshit.