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Meditation Island
Story of
Prasert Uthaichalerm
Before turning to the study and practice of Dhamma
Master Prasert Uthaichalerm was a businessman. He earned his master’s degree from the United States in 1980, and went on to build a career in import and real estate businesses.
However, in 1996, during the IMF economic crisis, the economy experienced a severe downturn, and his businesses collapsed. Facing profound suffering and financial devastation, he reached a breaking point. It was during this difficult time that Khun Mae Yindee, his mother, encouraged him to begin practicing Dhamma.
Turning Toward Dhamma Practice
Master Prasert Uthaichalerm began his Dhamma journey in 1997. During his first meditation retreat, when his mind became calm and firmly concentrated, various Dhamma experiences began to arise sequentially. These experiences stirred a deep inner question "What is the truth between what I see and what I actually am?" One day, while practicing, he bowed before a Buddha statue, and as he raised his head, a sudden thought flashed through his mind:
"Where has the suffering gone?"
In that very moment, the suffering was simply not there. Typically, those who suffer feel as if the suffering never leaves them. But with a concentrated and stable mind, he began to see that suffering was a phenomenon that arises and passes away—at times present, at times absent.
Then another thought arose clearly within him "If my suffering is due to debt… the debt hasn’t gone down at all… so how can the suffering have disappeared?"
"Could it be that the suffering doesn’t actually come from the debt?"
And finally, a realization surfaced:
"What if… the suffering comes from me?"
At the time, he didn’t fully understand the significance of that final question, but it left a lasting impression. That deep inner inquiry became the compass guiding him forward on his path of continued practice.
He continued meditating consistently from 1997 to 2006, and eventually, amid life's confusion and the weight of suffering, he made the decision to ordain as a monk. His guiding question became:
"Is there truly a path to the end of suffering? What exactly did the Buddha realize?"
With this inquiry burning in his heart, he entered the ordination program of the Young Buddhists Association of Thailand at Center 2 in Pathum Thani, where he practiced under the guidance of Venerable Ajahn Nuanjan Kittipanyo, a Vipassana master.
Entering Monastic Life
Upon ordaining, Master Prasert committed himself wholeheartedly to the practice of meditation and inner cultivation. Having witnessed monks in the Buddhist Sangha who were at times careless or failed to uphold the monastic code—some even making headlines for misconduct—he held a personal conviction:
“If we want to see monks who embody the true spirit of Buddhism, it has to start with ourselves. There's no point in criticizing others—do it right through your own conduct.”
With this determination, he practiced diligently and eventually came to a level of clear understanding of the Dhamma as taught by the Buddha. This deepened insight became the inspiration for his book,
“Doo Jit Nueng Phansa” (Observing the Mind for One Rains Retreat)—
a personal journal of his practice during one Buddhist Lent. The book went on to become a bestseller published by Amarin Publishing House.
However, after seven months in the monkhood, he was forced to disrobe due to an ongoing legal case that was being brought to court and awaiting judgment. Despite leaving the robes, his Dhamma journey and commitment to sharing the teachings continued to grow.
From Then Until Now
Although Master Prasert had gained deep insights during his time as a monk, a lingering question remained:
With so many different teachers and traditions—each with their own approaches, styles, and methods—which path was truly aligned with what the Buddha originally taught?
This inner question led him to wonder:
"During the Buddha’s time, how exactly did He teach?"
Determined to seek the truth at its source, he turned to the Tipitaka (Pali Canon) and began studying the original teachings of the Buddha. Through this exploration, he came to understand more clearly the true journey and destination of the path. From that point onward, he committed himself to walking the path that the Buddha laid out—exclusively following the Noble Eightfold Path.
Around this time, he met Luang Por Ian, a direct disciple of Ajahn Buddhadasa, whose teachings were firmly grounded in the principles of the Noble Eightfold Path. Master Prasert formally became his student, supported and served him closely, and occasionally invited him to teach and guide others when appropriate.
The Mission of Spreading the Dhamma
Master Prasert’s work in spreading the Dhamma focuses on guiding those who are suffering—and those sincerely interested in the path—to understand and trust in the Buddha’s enlightenment and the truths He proclaimed to the world.
His approach centers on helping practitioners generate true understanding within themselves, using clear, practical Dhamma teaching tools. This enables people to live their lives in alignment with the Noble Eightfold Path, which ultimately leads to the cessation of suffering.
Through this path, practitioners are gradually able to penetrate the Four Noble Truths with direct wisdom, realizing the truth not just intellectually, but through their own inner experience.
Developing wisdom to truly understand and realize the nature of reality.
When one sees clearly that suffering does not arise on its own, it becomes evident that the solution is not to fight suffering directly, but rather to understand its true cause. Suffering arises due to causes—and those causes are not truly other people, animals, things, or external environments. The real cause is ignorance—the not-knowing that leads us to cling, to become attached, and to mistakenly form a sense of self.
This mistaken identity begins as a belief in "self", in "me", and from there grows into “mine” and “yours.” This sense of identity shapes a mental world enclosed by the illusion of selfhood—a false structure that covers the truth like a dome, blocking the light of wisdom from reaching the mind.
We become entangled in a false sense of self, constructing an inner world built on illusion. We tightly hold onto this world, believing it to be real—defending and justifying the self we have unknowingly created. As a result, we generate both causes and consequences in service of this false identity, becoming lost in a cycle that prevents us from seeing we are trapped in a prison of our own making.
This is how suffering arises in the mind, in countless forms, all stemming from ignorance and delusion.
And from that delusion, we grasp at everything—at every level—mistaking what is impermanent and not-self as truly ours.
That is the very cause (samudaya) that gives rise to suffering. In truth, the external world—be it people, animals, or things around us—is simply governed by the natural law of arising, persisting, and ceasing. These phenomena arise and pass away according to their nature.
But when the mind creates a false inner world, even if just for a moment, suffering arises within that imaginary world.
Therefore, when one walks the path of the Noble Eightfold Path, wrong view is gradually destroyed, layer by layer, as the power of defilements weakens. At the same time, insight and clarity begin to arise in stages. As wrong view fades and ultimately vanishes, the result is nirodha—the cessation of suffering, a radiant, growing clarity that leads to seeing the world as it truly is.
The illusory parallel world within the mind dissolves, and a realization arises:
“All things—internal and external—simply are the way they are. When the causes are present, they arise. When the causes cease, they disappear.”
Even the causes that arise moment by moment are countless and beyond our control, and thus their effects are immeasurably complex and unpredictable.
Realizing this, the mind lets go of clinging—because it now sees the impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha), and non-self (anatta) nature of all phenomena. With this, wrong view fades away, replaced by a deep understanding that everything is simply dhamma—including the very wrong view that gave rise to a false “self.”
When we create the sense of self—this “I” and “mine”—we give suffering a place to settle. In other words, suffering arises because ignorance leads us to cling, to fabricate a self that claims ownership over form and mind (rūpa and nāma). But in truth, these phenomena have never once cooperated with our delusions—not even for a second.
This means that the entire world lives under a shared delusion—believing in a self where none exists. Clinging to what is empty, ownerless, and without identity, we suffer.
But when this truth is seen with total clarity—leaving no room for doubt—the mind returns to its natural state. Everything is seen as part of one unified, undivided nature. Boundaries dissolve. Stillness arises. This is peace. This is emptiness. This is Nibbāna.
From the very first day of practice, the question had arisen:
"Could it be that suffering comes from me?"
Now, at this point of deep realization, the answer becomes crystal clear:
"Yes, that's right… because I was deluded into creating a 'me'."
And from that mistaken identity, all forms of suffering followed, manifesting within the false inner world of all sentient beings who identify as “I.”
So, regardless of who one is—whether great or small, wealthy or poor, monk or layperson, believer of any religion—if one does not walk this Noble Path, there is no way out of suffering.
Contributions and Accomplishments
Construction of Religious Sites
Development of Religious Practitioners
Special Projects
Propagation of the Dhamma
Donated Dhamma Cabinets (containing MP3 teachings and Dhamma materials) to temples in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces affected by unrest, making digital Dhamma more accessible to local communities.
Preserving and Protecting Buddhism
Social Welfare Efforts