LBDFI was awarded the Sema Dhammacak Pillar award from the Kingdom of Thailand and the Ministry of Religion during May 2011.
The Sema Dhammacak Pillar Award is an honorary award given to individual or organization who made contribution to Buddhism. This award is given to an individual or organization once in a lifetime as this is considered to be the highest honorary award of the life.
Sema Dhammacak Pillar award is made of a simple material in the shape of Dhamma wheel on a pillar. This symbolizes the dissemination of Buddhism and the contributor is regarded as the principle pillar of Buddhism. He/she holds an important role in preserving Buddhism and disseminates Buddhism far and wide.
Currently, the royal ceremony of awarding Sema Dhammacak Pillar Award is organized annually at the ceremonial ground of Sanam Luang (in front of the Emerald Buddha Temple) on the occasion of Visakha Puja day (Vesak). The ceremony presides over by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. HRH Princess hands over the award to all nominees who made contribution to Buddhism.
Background of the award
Selection of people who made contribution to Buddhism was initiated in 1982 which was the first year of the selection. However, the award was halted for one year till 1984, the year of founding the Center for Promoting Buddhism of Thailand. Department of Religious Affairs under Ministry of Education of Thailand and the Center for Promoting Buddhism of Thailand took this project to continue once again from selecting people who had contributed to Buddhism starting from 1982 to present day. Up to 2009 there were all together 2,758 people who have received this award both monastics and lay.
Qualification of awarding the Sema Dhammacak Pillar Award
The Sema Dhammacak Pillar Award is the highest honorary award given to an individual who made contribution to Buddhism and is selected by the Award Selection Committee. This award is given as a praising and recognizing the goodness of the nominees comprised of an individual, organization or government office and to announce their contribution among Buddhist public. This is to parade a good role model to society and youth of the nation as well as to honor and give mental support to their work of dissemination of Buddhism. The selection sub-committee carefully selects the nominees and the Selection Committee of Buddhism Promotional Week Project on the Occasion of Visakha Puja Day approves the nominee list
A selected individual will receive the Sema Dhammacak Pillar Award and the certificate from HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn who will be inaugurating the Buddhism Promotional Week on the Occasion of Visakha Puja Day at the Sanam Luang royal ground every year.
Currently, the government office responsible for selecting the nominees for this award is the Department of Religious Affairs under Ministry of Culture. The Ministry annually appoints a special selection sub-committee to select the nominees for award. The award is considered within 10 different types of contribution such as dissemination of Buddhism in Thailand, Buddhist writing and so on. Nominee selections is made by two methods i.e. a well-known individual who has contributed to Buddhism and select through all documents proposed respectively by the provincial cultural offices. Generally, the award is given one or two awards to each province based on the size of population.