Statement of the Problem
Ven. Sao Dhammasami, a Ph.D. student at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), is the custodian of the Buddha Tooth Relics, which have been scientifically examined (DNA,Carbon-14) and recognized as highly sensitive religious artefacts requiring strict temperature control and daily offerings. Proper preservation therefore demands a private, secure room with continuous air-conditioning, refrigeration for offerings, and safe placement of a safe box.
However, MCU’s dormitory regulations at International Dormitory C (Inter-C) prohibit students from using air-conditioners, refrigerators, cooking/food-offering equipment, and even fruit storage in student rooms. Repeated requests over an extended period—to Inter-C officers, Dormitories A and B, Old A (Student House), Student Affairs (A-300), International Relations (D-300), and the IBSC Director’s Office—for a temperature-controlled private room or a formal permission letter to remain at Apartment were either rejected, ignored, or left without any written response. In one case, the IBSC coordinator informed the custodian that the director would not accept the written request at all and ordered that the letter be taken back. In another, a senior officer responded with hostile language and explicitly refused to become involved even after being told that a police report had already been filed.
At the dormitory level, Inter-C officers consistently denied permission to
(1) bring the safe box to Room,
(2) keep the safe box in the room, and
(3) install or use air-conditioning and a refrigerator, despite being informed that high temperature had already damaged one relic. With no stable, climate-controlled space either on campus or at apartment (where monks were later told they could not stay), the relics remained in a vulnerable, overcrowded, high-temperature student environment.
On 12 November 2025 the first police report was filed after items including the Buddha Tooth Relics, passport and Myanmar ID were found missing.
A second, more detailed report was filed on 19 November 2025 after a guest in Room 430 reported that the Buddha stupa containing the Tooth Relics and additional Buddha statues were no longer present in Inter-C. Despite these reports and the seriousness of losing sacred relics and official documents on university premises, MCU has not provided a clear written response, internal investigation report, or remedial arrangement for safe accommodation.
In summary, the core problem is:
MCU’s failure to provide or authorize a safe, temperature-controlled, and secure room for the Buddha Tooth Relics—combined with repeated refusals, non-responses, and obstructive dormitory rules—directly created the conditions in which the relics and important personal documents were lost from International Dormitory C, and this institutional failure remains unaddressed.
Sao Dhammasami
Date - 28th Nov 2025
