Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara on alms round at Pupanrajanives, Sakol Nakorn.

The 91st Birthday Anniversary Of His Holiness
Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara
The Supreme Patriarch of Thailand

by Venerable Kantasilo

On the auspicious occasion of the 91st birthday anniversary of His Holiness Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, on October 3rd, 2547 [2004], the World Fellowship of Buddhists Website [http://www.wfb-hq.org] has asked me to pen some personal anecdotes about His Holiness as a tribute to His Holiness -- the Supreme Head of Buddhism in Thailand.

I should begin with a brief personal history to explain who I am and, more importantly, how I ended up with His Holiness at Wat Bowonniwet .

My birth name was Karyl Bilbrey and I was born in Indiana, in the eastern part of the United States. I came to Thailand in January of 1979 when I was only 18 with the intention of ordaining as a Buddhist monk to study and practice the Dhamma. Unfortunately, my first attempt at this failed miserably and I returned to the United States after only seven days in the Kingdom.

My second attempt at ordination in Thailand took place in August of that same year. I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of Maj. Opas Ratanaburi and his wife, Dr. Sarapee, two Thai expatriate students from Texas. Dr. Sarapee had already finished her degree and was on her way back to Thailand with their two children, while Maj. Opas was a doctoral candidate and would return to Texas to finish his degree. I met Major Opas in the departure lounge of the San Francisco International Airport and when he learned of my objectives he introduced me to his wife and, to make a long story short, they became my Thai family. But even this trip would not be successful. I got news that my grandmother had cancer and I decided to return to the US, post haste.

Finally, after my third trip to Thailand I was ordained as a novice at Wat Khemapirataram, in Nontaburi Province, July 13, 1980 with Than Chao Khun Phra Rajasarasuddhi (Jap Uggaseno) as preceptor. Dr. Sarapee was a relative of the abbot and, as I did not know the language or the first thing about Thai culture, Dr. Sarapee and her family felt it would be easier for me to live there amongst relatives and friends.

At the beginning of the Rains Retreat in 1980 Dr. Sarapee learned from some close friends that there were foreign monks residing at Wat Bowonniwet, a temple located on the northeast side of Bangkok’s old Ratanakosin island. But more importantly the abbot, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, taught an English Dhamma Class every Monday and Friday. Dr. Sarapee felt that if I attended the Dhamma lectures it would be a very beneficial step in my study of the Dhamma. She then made arrangements with me to visit His Holiness at Wat Bowon to ask permission to attend the Dhamma Class.

His Holiness was very kind to me during that first meeting. Unfortunately, so much time has passed I cannot recall exactly what he said. However, I do remember that His Holiness commented on how young I was and that after my twentieth birthday, if I chose to do so, I could ordain with him.

The Stories

Over the years His Holiness has told me so many stories, about his childhood, Wat Bowonniwet, or even the odd and unusual tid bit — too many to share in this small space. Therefore, I would like to relate some of the more interesting, colorful stories that readers probably have never heard or read anywhere else.

• When Thailand was still an absolute monarchy, novices in this monastery holding Pali degrees, would receive robes from the King on Kathina  day. When His Holiness was a novice he received robes from His Majesty, King Prachatipok, the seventh king.

• Foreign Languages

Swami Satyanandapuri was His Holiness’ English and Sanskrit teacher.  His Holiness told me that Swami Satyanandapuri was born in India during the British Raj, and in the 1940s he joined a group known as the ‘Free India Movement’, which called for Indian independence—the same group that Mahatma Gandhi belonged to. The British authorities, feeling that Swami was a thorn in their sides decided to expel him from the country. His Royal Highness, Prince Dhani Nivat, learned of the situation and invited Swami Satyanandapuri to Thailand to teach English. Most bhikkhus and novices of this monastery studied English and Sanskrit with him at Samaggi Dhammadana , the old Pariyatti School build by H.H. Somdet Phra Sangharaj Chao Krom Luang Vajiranyanavongse.

During World War II, Japan occupied many countries in Asia and ‘passed through’ Thailand in their efforts to build an international railway which would connect Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma. The most infamous section of this building campaign would have to be the ‘Death Railway’, in Kancanaburi Province, in which thousands of Allied POWs perished.

There were many rumors floating around about Swami Satyanandapuri back then, and I’m not sure which, if any, were true but he probably joined some movement or other to force the Japanese troops to pull out of Thailand. Japan, like the British before them, felt Swami Satyanandapuri was a threat. They took him for a ‘ride’ -- a plane ride – over the Andaman Sea and kicked him out of the plane at 30,000 feet. No one ever saw Swami Satyanandapuri again.

• Luang Suriyapongse-pisutthipet (Krajang Bunnag) was French and German teacher to His Holiness, while Siri Sornsongkram taught Chinese. His Holiness studied these three languages alone at his residence, Koy Ta Pramoj, when he still held the ecclesiastical rank of Phra Sobhonganaborn.

His Holiness has shown a natural ability for language and his command of French, German and Chinese was no exception. His Holiness once told me that he could read a sign in Chinese with little difficulty. Later, his preceptor,  H. H. Somdet Phra Sangharaj Chao Krom Luang Vajiranyanavongse, then abbot of Wat Bowon, admonished him to give up his language study and spend more time in meditation practice.

His Holiness abandoned his French, German and Chinese studies but continued to study English.

• One of my duties was to help His Holiness receive foreign guests. Sometimes His Holiness would speak to his guests in French, German or Chinese depending on their place of origin, much to their amazement and delight.

• One of the daily routines His Holiness favored most was reading to me from the English newspaper — either from the Bangkok Post or the Nation. His Holiness would ask me to peruse the paper, select an article and then offer him the paper so he could read the article aloud. If he did not understand something then it was my job to supply the answer. Sometimes there were strange or humorous articles and these would evoke an equally funny or witty response from His Holiness. It was times like this that his genius in literature shone forth, he could respond instantly with a variety of logical viewpoints the rest of us hadn’t even thought of.  He knew words and their roots that the average non-native English speaker wouldn’t have a clue. His Holiness has been rightly praised as a literary genius and a talented Dhamma speaker, especially difficult to find these days.

• One morning, when His Holiness was having breakfast on some beautiful benjarong china, and I was still unfamiliar with Thai idioms, he said: “He kicked me in my eye”. I was dumb struck for a moment, thinking that someone had done him bodily harm. His Holiness finally explained the idiom, which parallels the English “it caught my eye”.

• One day His Holiness questioned me on why a lavatory is called a ‘Rest Room’ in English. I asked him what he thought it should be and with a smile he said: “Why, ‘Happiness Room’, of course. Ha, ha, ha.”

• In January of 1981 His Holiness traveled to the northeast to visit Luang Poo Khao (Analayo) and Luang Poo Thet (Thetrangsee) — two senior monks of the forest tradition. His schedule also included the royally sponsored funerals of Tan Ajaan Boonma (Thitapemo) and Tan Ajaan Wan (Phra Udomsamvaravisutthi thera Uttamo), who perished in a plane crash the preceding year.  His Holiness asked me to accompany him on this trip.

After an all-night bus ride from Bangkok we arrived at Wat Tham Klong Paen — Luang Poo Khao’s temple in Udorn Thani  — and stayed there for several days. Then we proceeded to Wat Hin Hmak Paeng, a beautiful forest temple nestled into the side of a cliff overlooking the Mae Khong River, in the Sri Chiang Mai District of Nong Khai Province.

His Holiness told me that when he was younger and free from his duties he would go to forest temples for intensive meditation practice, and on such visits he would also discuss certain Dhamma topics with well-known forest monks.

Our next destination was Sakol Nakorn to await the cremations. His Holiness and other senior members of his entourage stayed at Phupan Rajanives – a palace of their majesties — while junior members went to stay at Wat Pa Udomsomporn.

Most forest temples have a communal sala, a multi purpose, open-air pavilion that also houses the temple’s main Buddha image. Wat Pa Udomsompon was no exception, and since this temple was the former home of Tan Ajaan Fan (Acaro), a well known meditation master, his life-size image was visible near the shrine.

 One day at Wat Pa Udomsompon, after His Holiness had paid his respects at the shrine and to the image of Tan Ajaan Fan, I felt it was time to pose my question about Tan Ajaan Fan’s spiritual attainments. Past experience has shown me that if I want a good answer I should pose the question in English, otherwise a question in Thai could simply be brushed aside or not even answered at all. Not seeing the harm in it I preceded with my question: “I have heard that Tan Ajaan Fan was an Arahat”. At this, His Holiness turned slightly in my direction and in an admonishing tone said “Don’t say that!”

For a few moments I was in a daze – a murky fog of uncertainty; I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my question or how it was inappropriate. I have great respect for His Holiness, my preceptor and teacher, and have given him few reasons to admonish me. Therefore, I remained silent. I didn’t mention the subject of that day to him again for another seven years.

During one of my daily audiences I mentioned to His Holiness my former ‘ill-posed question” and after a brief summary from me recapitulating that day’s events he had long since forgotten, he explained. His Holiness explained spiritual attainments in a scholarly fashion, employing metaphor and analogy. However, I still could not reconcile the conflict in my mind as to why such a statement is inappropriate. Not to annoy him any further with my dimly-lit wisdom, I quickly retreated to the safety of my dwelling and did not mention it again for seven days.

In a subsequent audience and another entreaty from me, His Holiness explained the situation. A ‘stream-enterer’  would know the mind of another stream-enterer but not someone with a higher attainment. A ‘once-returner’  would know the attainments of both a stream-enterer and a once-returner but nothing superior to that. The same is true for a ‘non-returner’ .  The Arahat would know all of these.

His Holiness continued. ‘Sometimes, laymen praise certain monks, through some type of personal tie or other, saying: “our monk is an Arahat”, or “That monk is an Arahat”, when there is no basis in truth. That is bad enough. Others, through some bias say: “that monk is not really an Arahat”, when it is true and factual. That is really bad. If we don’t know Tan Ajaan Fan’s attainments we should compare his teachings to those of the Buddha and it will become clear that Tan Ajaan Fan was a “Supattipanno” (good practice) “Ujupattipanno” (straight practice).

This was simply another example of Holiness scholarship and experience. He was able to remove doubt in his disciple and replace it with understanding.

• All of this academic talk does not mean, however, that His Holiness is a humor-less, introverted scholar with a pessimistic view of the world; just the opposite.

His Holiness has a wide variety of guests, representing different groups, religions and organizations.  One day, His Holiness asked me to help him receive Sri Chin Moy, an Indian Guru with a large foreign following. I just happened to see an article in the paper reporting Sri Chin Moy’s visit to Bangkok and his unique beliefs. He taught a mix of spiritual values and music as a path to inner peace and success.

At the appointed time I went to the building where we usually received guests. As I entered the reception area in front of the room I noticed a group of people erecting some type of metal structure and a seat for a VIP, oblivious to the fact that in a few moments hence my life would be dangling from a man’s hand – literally.

After Sri Chin Moy arrived he exchanged pleasantries with His Holiness and the two engaged in a philosophical discussion.  When the discussion ended, Sri Chin Moy said ‘Venerable Sir, I would like to lift you up’.  I was taken aback at such a suggestion and lack of decorum. As I was a junior monk at the time I thought it best for His Holiness to decline the invitation himself. This he did with his trademark gentlemanliness, and with a gesture of his hand he pointed in my direction and said: “lift him”.  “Me?” I thought in shock, trying to figure a way out of my predicament.

The group exited the room to watch the spectacle. I thought of just slipping away quietly and my absence would force them to choose another victim. However, upon further examination of my escape route I discovered that it passed directly in front of where His Holiness was seated. Once again, His Holiness had me cornered.

The metal contraption I was to stand on wasn’t really that high; only about the level of a second story residential building. But it was the thought of scaling up the tower amidst all those watchful eyes, fidgeting with my robes while trying not to plummet earthward that put me off. To make matters worse, I was obliged to weigh myself so the whole world would know just how much weight the guru was lifting. The numbers used were big, like those announcing the latest prices of fuel at the gas station.

After I got up on my perch Sri Chin Moy positioned himself below, preparing himself mentally. When he forced the platform up it swayed and tilted a bit, causing shivers to go racing down my spine. But the thing that startled me the most was at that precise moment Moy’s disciples broke out into song; celebrating their guru’s success. Later, reflecting on the day’s events I couldn’t help but laugh to myself and think the whole situation was like a Bollywood movie — the ones where all the actors break into song at the climax,  their heads bobbing back and forth to the beat of the Indian rhythm.

• In the 1950s Cambodia gained independence from France, and to mark the occasion the government arranged a wide variety of activities to celibrate. The Cambodian government borrowed a portion of Arahanta Dhatu  from the museum in Calcutta, India, and these were brought to Phnom Penh for special worship services. The Cambodian government invited four Thai monks  from Bangkok to observe the functions, which took place on Sunday, October 5, (2495) 1952.  His Holiness attended the ceremonies when he held the ecclesiastical rank of Phra Soponganaborn. One of the Cambodian officials invited His Holiness to view the relics close up and he observed their characteristics, describing them as long and slender. When His Holiness returned to Bangkok, he discovered a relic had miraculously appeared at his residence. His Holiness told me that during the renovation of Wat Bowon’s great golden cetiya several years later, he had the relic enshrined in the top-most portion of the finial.

• One day, while attending His Holiness, I mentioned the increasing number of drug addicts entering the temple grounds to steal the hapless turtles from the canals which, the culprits would, in turn, sell back to the fish hawkers for resale, or worse, to restaurants where they would become soup. His Holiness related how, years earlier, when he would walk the temple grounds alone at night to check for anything amiss, he came up to the area in front of the Uposatha Hall at about three a.m. There they were, two men climbing up the tall pillars to steal the hamsas, the mythical swans of himavanta lore. The thieves had already relieved one from its perch and were working on the second when His Holiness interrupted them. Of course, when His Holiness appeared they disappeared.

• One night, about one a.m., there was a devastating fire behind our monastery. It started in a single house in Bowonrangsee Lane and quickly spread to the other old, wooden structures that surrounded it. I was sleeping at the time but slowly awoke to the sounds of loud voices and the banging of the metal fence that separates the monastery from the houses, located just behind the residence of His Holiness. I went to investigate, crossing the bridge that spans the canal, connecting my residence with that of His Holiness. At that point I heard one of the acolytes banging on the second story door of His Holiness’ quarters, in an effort to wake him and flee the fire. I told the boy that I would go and get the key but by the time I returned the door was already open. I entered the bedroom to find the boy kneeling, tearfully explaining to His Holiness that there was a raging inferno heading our way. In a calm tone His Holiness said “A fire, eh”? He robed himself and we all descended the stairs to the courtyard below to exit the area. Tan Chao Khun Brommuni (Vijamai Punnaramo), the vice abbot, was already seated in the secretary’s office with a grim look on his face – his residence being closest to the fire.

Some of us had planned to take His Holiness to the 150 Year Sala, a pavilion located in the middle of the monastery, on the north side of the canal. The reason for this was not only to make His Holiness as comfortable as possible in this time of crisis but also to keep as much distance between our Patriarch and the fire as possible.

His Holiness would have none of that and, much to our panic, walked directly into the area of the fire. After inspecting the sections closest to the wall, His Holiness took up a position in Gana Dang where we could easily see the flames leaping high into the night sky. The heat and smoke were intense. The firefighters finally arrived and tried to find a point to best fight the fire. Despite my constant pleas to flee, His Holiness stayed in that spot until the fire died down.

The next day some of the Thai papers carried stories explaining how His Holiness used a Kasina meditation technique to douse the fire. Now, I don’t know anything about that but it was strange how the fire died down rather quickly, with only minimal damage to the Wat even thought the blistering inferno was right next door.

• One day, His Holiness sent an acolyte to me with a pillow as a gift. The very next day the same person returned and asked for the pillow back in exchange for another. I was a little surprised but happy to comply. In private His Holiness said “This pillow is so comfy. It’s firm and really supports my back, too” We both laughed and seeing this I was happy for the exchange.

• His Holiness enjoys a walk around the monastery grounds, not only for exercise but also for inspection to see if everything is in working order. However, as he aged it was sometimes necessary to give a little extra encouragement to sufficiently motivate him to make a round. One day, after an audience, I asked him if he would walk. As I turned to leave, he said: “Wait there a moment”, and rang the buzzer to call the boy. We walked all around the monastery, entering one gate and exiting another. We passed in front of the Uposatha Hall where many Buddha images are enshrined. He explained the history of these relics as we walked. When he returned to his residence he exclaimed “Oh, I feel much better!”

• One day, while H.H. was signing a large number of Mahamkut Buddhist University diplomas, to be given to their prospective owners at a later date, he commented: “I don’t like to scribble my signature, people can’t read scribble. We must write legibly.” And with a smile he asked:  “Kantasilo, do you scribble your signature?”

• In conclusion, His Holiness, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, is an embodiment of scholastic excellence and practice, with a joyful sense of humor. He has shown exemplary compassion for those who stray far from their homes in search of the Path.  As a grateful student I bow down to my teacher and offer my best wishes for his continued prosperity in the Dhamma.

September 28th, 2547 [2004]