Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana

Suvaḍḍhana Mahāthera (1956)

Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara or Ñāṇasaṁvara ( Thai สมเด็จ พระ ญาณ สังวร , RTGS Yanasangwon ), religious name Suvaḍḍhana Mahathera ( สุ วั ฑ ฒ โน , Suwatthano), civic Charoen Gajavatra ( เจริญ ค ช วัตร , Khochawat; * 3. October 1913 in the province of Kanchanaburi ; † October 24, 2013 in Bangkok ) was a Thai Theravada - Buddhist monk and religious scholar. From 1989 until his death he was the supreme monk patriarch of Thailand (Saṅgharāja) .

Life

childhood

Charoen Gajavatra was born in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand. His parents were named Noi and Kimnoi. On his mother's side, he was of Chinese and Vietnamese descent; his paternal grandfather was a senior government official. Charoen's father was a monk for two years, but then decided to lead a secular life, became an officer in the Ministry of the Interior in Kanchanaburi and raised a family. He died when his three children (Charoen and two younger brothers) were very young. Charoen was also very ill as a child and his family swore that they would consecrate him as a monk when he recovered. Later he often played "monk", made appropriate props, imitated religious acts and gave "sermons". He attended temple elementary school at Wat Devasangharam in his hometown for five years.

Novitiate and monasticism

At the age of 14 he fulfilled the earlier vows of his mother and aunt and was ordained a novice. Soon after, he went to Nakhon Pathom to study the Pali language. From 1929 he continued his training at Wat Bowonniwet in Bangkok. There he was also given the spiritual name Suvaḍḍhano, which means "cultivated". He failed the fourth-level Pali exam on the first attempt because he had not properly prepared. The following year, however, he passed it, as well as the highest level of Dhamma studies. In 1933 he was ordained a monk (bhikkhu) in his home monastery Wat Devasangharam in Kanchanaburi. There he taught at the newly established Dhamma school. After a Vassa (exam period), however, he returned to Bangkok in the Wat Bowonniwet. There he was rededicated according to the rules of the Thammayut order , with the abbot and later Supreme Monk Patriarch Vajiranyanavangsa being his preceptor. Although he was now officially a member of Wat Bowonniwet, he traveled back and forth between Bangkok and Kanchanaburi for two more years to continue teaching Dhamma in his hometown. In 1941 he passed the Pali exam of the ninth and highest level. At the same time he studied with the Indian scholar Swami Satyananda Puri, among others, and learned Sanskrit, English, German, French and some Chinese. He was fluent in English. However, his preceptor Vajiranyanavangsa advised him not to overdo his studies and language learning and rather to meditate more.

After the new, “democratic” Sangha law came into force in 1941, Suvaḍḍhano became a member of the Sangha Council, a kind of parliament of the monastic community. He also became director of the Wat Bowonniwet Institute, so he coordinated the Pali and Dhamma training in the monastery. In 1945 he became a judge at the spiritual court and a member of the educational council of the Mahamakut Buddhist University . The following year he became the personal secretary of Vajirayanavangsa, who had meanwhile become Supreme Patriarch (Saṅgharāja) and whom he saw as his model. During this time he gained experience in leading the Buddhist monastic community and religious education, but also devoted himself to Vipassana meditation. In the following decades Suvaḍḍhano were repeatedly awarded new, ever higher honorary titles. When the young King Bhumibol Adulyadej went to the monastery for two weeks in 1956, Suvaḍḍhano acted as his tutor. In 1960 he was appointed Sanghamontri ("spiritual minister") for the nationwide mission of the Thammayut order according to the then Sangha law .

Dept

In 1961 he was promoted to abbot of Wat Bowonniwet. At the same time he became head of the Mahamakut University, whose headquarters are located on the monastery grounds. In this function he had the textbooks for Dhamma training translated into English in order to make them accessible to foreign novices and interested parties. He also had the canon of the teachings of the Buddha (tipitaka) written in Pali, including commentaries, translated into Thai. He also founded a department for foreign books in the Mahamakut Foundation. After the Sangha law was given a new, stricter hierarchical version in 1962, Suvaḍḍhano was appointed to the Mahathera Samakhom (Council of Elders). In 1967 he first met Tenzin Gyatso , the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, with whom he entered into close contact and who saw him as an "extraordinary spiritual friend" and "older brother". In 1971 he gave a lecture on the basics of Thai culture at Thammasat University together with the later Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj .

The king elevated him to Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara in 1972 , a title no monk had previously held for 150 years. He should reflect his particular strength in Vipassana (insight). From 1976 he taught Samatha and Vipassana meditation at Kasetsart University . When Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn became a monk for 15 days in 1978, he was - as with his father - his personal advisor and advisor.

patriarch

When he was ordained Supreme Monk Patriarch in 1989, he kept his special name and did not take on the title Ariyawongsakhatayan , which his predecessors in this position had carried. In addition to Wat Bowonniwet, which he continued to head as abbot, he founded Wat Yannasangwararam in the province of Chon Buri (south of Pattaya ), where in-depth meditation techniques from the Thai forest tradition are practiced. As a patriarch, he also promoted the building of schools, hospitals and temples in rural areas, as well as the establishment of wats for Thai emigrants abroad. Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara is characterized as a traditionalist who, however, dealt with the development and modernization of society. He is also characterized as very humble and generous. So he gave alms that were placed in his bowl to novices to whom fewer had been donated. Unlike some Thai monks, he categorically refused to donate money.

Because of his poor health, the Patriarch was unable to chair the Sangha Council from 1999 onwards. From 2002, he was under constant treatment at Chulalongkorn Hospital . Since he could in fact no longer exercise his office, a special committee was set up in 2003 to take over the duties of the patriarch. In 2005, the government of Thaksin Shinawatra installed Somdet Phra Phutthachan ( Somdet Kiao ), the abbot of Wat Saket of the Mahanikai Order, as the incumbent Supreme Patriarch, while Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara remained formally Supreme Patriarch. This triggered the protest of the popular forest monk Ajahn Maha Bua , who complained that there should not be two patriarchs.

Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara died three weeks after his hundredth birthday. The government of Yingluck Shinawatra extended the 15 days of national mourning for the death of a Supreme Monk Patriarch to 30 days.

Works (selection)

The Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara publication list comprises more than 150 titles, including numerous articles in Dhamma Chakshu , the journal of the Mahamakut Rajavidyalaya Buddhist Foundation, and other journals and anthologies. His most important works include:

• Principle of Buddhism , 1959
• Forty-five years of the Buddha , 1961
• Solasa Panha ("Sixteen Questions"), 1981
• The Characteristics of Buddhism , 1983
• Sammaditthi or Right View as Explained by Venerable Sariputta Thera , 1984
• Dasaparami and Dasarajadhamma , 1987

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography: Early Life. , Sangharaja.org, accessed October 14, 2015.
2. ↑ Biography: Ordination and Education , Sangharaja.org, accessed October 14, 2015.
3. ↑ HH Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch. P. 47.
4. ↑ Biography: Ecclesiastical Responsibility , Sangharaja.org, accessed October 14, 2015.
5. ↑ HH Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch. P. 25.
6. ↑ His Holiness Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch of the Thai Sangha. Pp. 20-21.
7. ↑ HH Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch. Pp. 23-24.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Peel: Patriarch revered for humility. In: Financial Times , November 1, 2013.
9. ↑ HH Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch. P. 24.
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Usnisa Sukhsvasti: Luminous journey comes to an end. In: Bangkok Post , October 25, 2013.
11. ↑ nation in mourning. In: The Nation , October 26, 2013.
12. ↑ HH Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, The Supreme Patriarch. Pp. 41-47.