Mano Laohavanich
[5] Following his work on the military junta's National Reform Council, Mano began a political campaign as secretary-general of the Prachachon Patiroob (People Reform Party), a pro-junta political party that advocated military dictator Prayut Chan-O-Cha remaining in power after the 2019 Thai general election.
[10] After ordaining as a Buddhist monk, Mano went on to study abroad, earning degrees in Indian literature and theology at Oxford and Harvard University, financed by Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
[12] In contrast, Mano has claimed that he was a "founding member" and a "top leader" at Wat Phra Dhammakaya,[13] as well as "a rising star envied by other followers".
[12] One incident that Mano was particularly famous for being involved in was the case of Johnathan Doody, a suspect in the Arizona Buddhist temple shooting in 1991.
Mano stated that "[i]t was inconceivable that a person born of Thai parents would commit such a crime against monks"[17] and published several writings on the case arguing for Doody’s innocence.
[18] In 2014, a third trial concluded that Doody was indeed guilty on all counts, including armed robbery and all nine murders and was sentenced to nine life terms in prison.
[23][24] While he was living at Wat Rajorasaram, he published an article speculating that the Buddha died of a blood disease brought on by eating too much, rather than by food poisoning.
This, as well as some of Mano's other theories, resulted in authorities taking away his monastic ID card, effectively forcing him to leave the monkhood.
[29] Mano claims that, with the exception of Ananda, that Mahakassapa and all of the other monks at the First Buddhist Council were not really Arahants, or fully enlightened beings, as the Pali Canon states.
[23][24][26] In 2003, following the publication of his theory on Bhikkhuni, Mano said of himself that he "may be the most controversial figure in Thai Buddhism at present".
[33] The monastic scholar P. A. Payutto, also known as Somdet Phra Buddhakosajarn, accuses Mano of manipulating facts to mislead people.
Payutto has called Mano's scholarly works a type of "academic mysticism", in which he finds bits of information and makes up logic without investigating the meaning.
[13] Mano also gave a disputed biography of the life of Luang Por Dhammajayo including allegations that he was a secret Nazi sympathizer and an admirer of Adolf Hitler.
[8][37] Mano has also stated that Wat Phra Dhammakaya is a threat to Thailand's military junta and that the temple had been secretly stockpiling weapons.
[41][42][43] Several major supporters of the temple are also publicly known as members of the Yellow Shirts political pressure group, which strongly oppose PM Thaksin.
[42][44][45] In an interview with the Bangkok Post, Mano gave a disputed account of the layout of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, stating that the temple possesses a secret escape tunnel that only Luang Por Dhammajayo knows about, a heavily fortified luxury residence with expensive furniture guarded by five hundred monks, a "cyber command centre" with six hundred "cybertroops", and a fortified safe house that holds a stash of gold and treasure.
[49] In drawing a comparison with the persecution of Falun Gong in China, Voice TV journalist Kham Paka mentioned they were also accused of having a secretive tunnel complex, and Paka continued to list several other similarities with Wat Phra Dhammakaya, both in accusations made and prosecution methods used by government officials.
[53] This was met with backlash and threat of legal action from board members of the affected credit union,[54] who did not support the case.
[55] In regards to the same case, Mano also claimed that the honorary abbot had a lifetime visa to the United States and was planning to flee before trial.
