Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen

Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen (RTGS: Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen) is a royal wat ('temple') located in Phasi Charoen district, Bangkok, at the Chao Phraya River. It is part of the Maha Nikaya fraternity and is the origin of the Dhammakaya tradition. It is a large and popular temple, supported by prosperous community members. Wat Paknam was established in 1610, during the Ayutthaya period, and received support from Thai kings until the late nineteenth century. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the temple had become nearly abandoned and had fallen into disrepair. The temple underwent a major revival and became widely known under the leadership of the meditation master Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro, who was abbot there in the first half of the twentieth century. Seven years after Luang Pu's death, Somdet Chuang Varapuñño became the new abbot until his death in 2021. Somdet Chuang made international headlines when his 2015 appointment as Supreme Patriarch, acting head of the Thai monastic community, was stalled and finally withdrawn, due to reasons generally interpreted as political, leading to heated debate and protests in Thailand. Somdet Chuang and his assistant were accused of tax fraud, but Somdet's charges were dropped, and his assistant was acquitted due to lack of evidence, two days after Somdet Chuang's nomination as Patriarch was withdrawn. Wat Paknam

Monastery data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).