Wat Phra Dhammakaya bills itself as a place where devotees can escape the troubles of the outside world. It's a philosophy the temple's controversial abbot, facing arrest on money laundering charges, appears to have taken quite literally.
Beneath the surface of the sprawling 2,000-rai temple grounds, a secret escape tunnel has been constructed, according to a former high-ranking monk turned whistleblower.
Ostensibly built as an "exercise passage" for the abbot, Mano Laohavanich said the passage runs from a building near the temple's northern perimeter and emerges inside a house in a gated community next door.
"No one knows which house hides the secret door from the tunnel, since no one has seen it before and only Dhammajayo himself has an access to it," Dr Mano told the Bangkok Post Sunday.
Officers from the Department of Special Investigation have been locked in a tense standoff for the past week with around 10,000 of the temple's monks and supporters, who are intent on preventing an impending operation to arrest the abbot.
But there are still many unanswered questions -- the most notable being exactly where authorities will be able to find Phra Dhammajayo, amid rumours he was planning to flee to the US where the Dhammakaya sect has 19 temples.
Dr Mano believes the abbot is still holed up inside the Pathum Thani temple, and that only a small force will be needed to launch a successful raid -- so long as authorities know where to look. And Dr Mano, who has been liaising with the DSI, believes he knows exactly where Phra Dhammajayo will be.
"People may think that it is impossible to raid the temple since it is so big and the DSI might be stopped by his army of worshippers. But let me tell you something: Phra Dhammajayo is not in the main temple area," Dr Mano said.
He said that among the more than 150 buildings that make up the temple complex, there are a handful of important ones that are off-limits to all but the most senior temple personnel, and it was here that the abbot is likely to be hiding.
Dr Mano said the abbot's luxury residence is located on a piece of land separate from the main temple complex. The home is heavily fortified, surrounded on all sides by high walls, atop which up to 500 monks are usually seated.
Dr Mano said Phra Dhammajayo's bedroom is located on the second floor of the main residential building, and is decorated with lavish furniture, big-screen televisions and expensive carpet. He is able to draw back his electric curtains to take in the sunrise each morning, looking out through large windows to a view of an artificial lake, water fountain and roaming peacocks.
Within the same compound, said Dr Mano, lies a round, white building. From the outside it appears nondescript, but on the 16th floor is a "cyber command centre", where a veritable army of 600 temple devotees wage an online war against temple detractors. Their main task is to monitor social media for negative comments about the temple or Phra Dhammajayo, and remove or respond to them, using VPNs to conceal their location.
Not too far from the command centre is a white, windowless two-storey structure, considered the temple's most important building. The building boasts thick, fireproof walls. Inside, Dr Mano said, is where Phra Dhammajayo stashes his vast treasures: cash, gold and important documents such as land title deeds.
Dr Mano said the abbot's long-term ambition is to turn Wat Dhammakaya into a Buddhist version of Mecca or the Vatican.
But that now appears unlikely, as DSI agents prepare to move in and arrest Phra Dhammajayo, who has used claims of ill-health to repeatedly shun meeting with authorities.
Dr Mano, a medical doctor, confirmed that Phra Dhammajayo is genuinely ill, suffering from deep vain thrombosis as a result of his diabetes. But he was baffled by the recommendations of the abbot's doctors, who have reportedly ordered Phra Dhammajayo to avoid walking -- advice used as an excuse for the abbot to skip the DSI meetings.
Dr Mano said an operation would be launched soon. "The plan is still confidential. When and how the DSI will raid the temple is still not confirmed," he said.
