Making a profit in this life and in the hereafter

The late Apple founder Steve Jobs liked to “connect the dots”. So, if he actually has been reincarnated as a half-angel, half-giant – as suggested by Dhammakaya – he probably can’t blame the controversial Thai Buddhist sect’s supporters for trying to establish who he “is” now and who he “used to be”. 

Dhammakaya’s alleged penchant for commercialism and promotion of contentious beliefs has found an interesting subject. The sect’s “analysis” of how Steve Jobs came to be and where he is now has caught the attention of the international media, bemused or otherwise.

Like Jobs, Dhammakaya has loyal disciples and staunch critics. For decades, the sect has attracted a massive following through its meditation teachings and unique concepts of “heaven” and how to get there. There is peculiar comradeship among its members. Followers are basically encouraged to donate as much money to the sect as they can, and many do so obediently as they take to heart the repetitive sermons about what donations can do for life after death. Non-followers frown upon the “donate-donate-and-donate” doctrine, saying that measures of “goodness” should include deeds other than giving away wealth, which most people simply do not have.

Even the “analysis” of Jobs’ so-called past lives revolves around the sect’s relentless demands for donations. Dhammakaya says Jobs was smart, wealthy and successful because he was quite generous in his previous incarnations and liked to encourage others to be a giver like him. This may sound like “creative” religious teaching, but Dhammakaya’s preaching of generosity has always been criticised for placing far too much emphasis on the need to donate to the temple.

Sympathisers, who are not necessarily followers or supporters, argue that Dhammakaya is little different from other religious flag-bearers. Fund-raising is common in most religions, distinguished only by levels of subtlety when the issue of financing is concerned. Regarding past lives and life after death, who are we to judge whose ideas are right or wrong?

Dhammakaya boasts countless high-profile followers, including big names from virtually every walk of life and professional field, be it business tycoons, beauty queens, politicians or celebrities. Previous attempts to take legal action against Dhammakaya patriarch Dhammachayo have been basically futile.

The Steve Jobs analysis regards the Apple founder as having some weak points – like a personal ambition so strong that it strained his relationship with those who worked for him. It also suggests that he may have left this earth feeling unfulfilled in certain ways. But by and large, it is a very positive analysis, one that glorifies a man whose revolutionary visions transformed our world, despite being marred by monopolistic, if not selfish, approaches.

Here we have a contentious sect talking about a contentious man. It’s not an overstatement to say that one requires very strong faith to believe absolutely in Jobs or Dhammaka, and in what the latter says about the former. If someone had told Jobs before he died that in one of his past lives he’d been a merchant selling kitchen utensils, and that he would be reincarnated as an angel-cum-giant, he would likely have greeted the idea with much scepticism.

In its own controversial way, Dhammakaya has been addressing the two fundamental questions facing human beings: where did we come from and what happens when we die? Since nobody can ever provide definite, foolproof answers, many people have embraced its theory. Given the prices of iPhones and iPads, though, Steve Jobs may not have been as generous in his latest life as he had been in a previous one as an appliance hawker. If we are to believe Dhammakaya, his relatively low degree of generosity might have been compensated for by his creativity, which became one of his main merits as Apple chief.

As for Dhammakaya, to incorporate Jobs in its teaching is indeed “creative”. Other than that, like the man the sect has analysed, it’s all open to question and debate.