Vajirananavarorasa (also spelled ''Wachirayan, Watchirayanawarorot'', correct
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
spelling: Vajirañāṇavarorasa, th, วชิรญาณวโรรส, full title ''Somdet Phramahasamanachao Kromphraya Vajirananavarorasa'' สมเด็จพระมหาสมณเจ้ากรมพระยาวชิรญาณวโรรส ) (12 April 1860,
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...
- 2 August 1921,
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...
) was the tenth
Supreme Patriarch of Thailand __NOTOC__
The Supreme Patriarch of Thailand or Sangharaja ( th, สังฆราช; ) is the head of the order of Buddhist monks in Thailand. His full title is ''Somdet Phra Saṅgharāja Sakalamahāsaṅghapariṇāyaka'' ( th, สมเด ...
from 1910 to 1921. He helped to institutionalize
Thai Buddhism
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by 95 percent of the population. Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, with approximately 64 million Buddhists. Buddhism in Th ...
.
Destined to become "the leading intellectual of his generation in Siam", in the words of the Thai historian
David K. Wyatt (cited in Reynolds 1979:xiii), his royal name was Prince Manuṣyanāgamānob (พระองค์เจ้ามนุษยนาคมานพ) ('he who is a ''
nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
'' among men'). ''Vajirañāṇavarorasa'' is the name he received on a gold nameplate together with the ''Krommamuen'' rank on 16 March 1882.
Early life and education
![Wachirayanwarorot (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Wachirayanwarorot_%282%29.jpg)
Vajirañana was the 47th child of King
Mongkut
Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibod ...
. He was born in the
Grand Palace
The Grand Palace ( th, พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Royal Institute of Thailand. (2011). ''How to read and how to write.'' (20th Edition). Bangkok: Royal Institute of Thailand. .) is a complex of buildings at the heart of Ban ...
as the fourth child of Phae, one of King Mongkut's concubines. She died after giving birth to her fifth child, a daughter, when he was one year old. He was then fostered by a maternal relative, Princess Varaseṭhasutā or "Putrī", a daughter of
King Rama III
Nangklao ( th, พระบาทสมเด็จพระนั่งเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว, ; 31 March 1788 – 2 April 1851), birth name Thap ( th, ทับ), also styled Rama III, was the third king of Siam ...
, and her mother, a royal concubine named Samaśakti or "Ueng".
In the palace, he was taught the
Siamese alphabet by a woman, Nok Panakngan. The nobleman Phraya Pariyatidharrmadhātā or "Piam" (then called Luang Rājābhirama), deputy head of the
Royal Pundits Department, came to the Palace to teach the young Vajirañana and other princes the
Khmer script
Khmer script ( km, អក្សរខ្មែរ, )Huffman, Franklin. 1970. ''Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader''. Yale University Press. . is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official la ...
used to inscribe religious texts in Pāli. With a teacher who was official at the Outer Court, Vajirañana studied ''Padamālā'' (Pāli grammar), the
Dhammapada
The Dhammapada (Pāli; sa, धर्मपद, Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka ...
commentary, and other texts until 1868. When his elder brother, Prince Brahmavarānurakṣa, ordained as a novice, Vajirañana was allowed to live with him in
Wat Pavaraniveśa for some while. There he occasionally studied Pāli scripture with Phra Pariyatidharrmadhātā ("Chang", then Luang Śrīvaravohāra), one of the four section chiefs in the Royal Pundits Department, who taught monks and novices at the monastery.
After his father had died in 1868 and his elder half brother
Chulalongkorn
Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร ...
had come to the throne, Vajirañana was back at the palace, receiving more education from his foster aunt, Princess Varaseṭhasutā. With her he practised reading and writing Siamese, and he was taught verse forms, Siamese arithmetic, and astrology.
King Chulalongkorn founded an English medium school on the palace grounds and hired the Englishman Francis George Patterson for providing Western education. When the school first opened in 1872, Vajirañana began to study there. Patterson instructed the brothers of the king in the morning and the boys from the Royal Pages' Bodyguard Regiment in the afternoon. Patterson could not speak Siamese, and he used European textbooks, teaching English and French (reading, writing and speaking), mathematics and also some European history and geography. Vajirañana and Prince
Damrong Rajanubhab
Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab ( Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธ ...
were the most diligent of Patterson's students. Vajirañana continued his education with Patterson until 1875.
At the age of 13, Vajirañana was ordained as a novice for 78 days on 7 August 1873, with
Prince Pavareś (สมเด็จพระมหาสมณเจ้า กรมพระยาปวเรศวริยาลงกรณ์, "Prince Roek" ฤกษ์, 1809–1892) as his preceptor. As a novice, he lived in
Wat Pavaraniveśa, in a small residence known as "The Printshop": His father, King Mongkut, had once lived there as a monk and had printed his Ariyaka script there.
After having disrobed from his novicehood, Vajirañana got his first bigger amount of money to spend and discovered the world of consume. But in 1876, he met the young (between 25 and 30) Scottish physician Dr. Peter Gowan. Dr. Gowan taught him English here and then and a little about medicine, and he had a big influence on Vajirañana's life conduct (stop smoking, drinking and some prodigal or even dissolute habits). Getting more and more attracted to the monastery, Vajirañana went to visit his uncle, the reigning
Supreme Patriarch
Sangharaja (Pāli: ''sangha'' religious community + ''raja'' ruler, king, or prince) is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity ( nikaya), or of the ''Sangha'' t ...
Prince Pavareś. By him, Vajirañana was given instruction in poetry, astrology, and Buddhist scripture in 1876. He learned some additional astrology (i.e. how to do calendars) from two other teachers, Khun Debyākaraṇa ("That") and "Pia" (Phrakrupalat Suvaḍhanasutaguṇa at
Wat Rājapratiṣṭha). Under the guidance of Prince Pavareś, Vajirañana also took up the study of Dhamma. He also invited one of his former Pāli teachers, Phra Pariyatidharrmadhātā ("Chang"), to come to the monastery to instruct him in Pāli again.
Vajirañana has always been very critical about the methods by which students learned Pāli and would later rewrite the texts for Pāli studies.
Although Vajirañana frequented the monastery, he could not yet decide himself to become a monk. From 12 July 1877, he also worked as a legal secretary for King Chulalongkorn for two years. King Chulalongkorn needed a reliable person such as Vajirañana in the
Sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
, and he tried to persuade him to remain a monk even after his ordination according to custom. Though still unsure, Vajirañana promised that if he were to leave the monkhood, he would do so at the end of the first Rains. If he lasted beyond that, he would not disrobe. King Chulalongkorn then promised him to confer on him a princely rank and title if he remained in the monkhood for three Rains – a promise he fulfilled in 1882.
Ordination and early years in the Sangha
![Wachirayanwarorot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Wachirayanwarorot.jpg)
On 27 June 1879, Vajirañana was fully ordained in the Royal Chapel with Prince Pavareś (aged 71) as his preceptor. Another senior monk, Phra Candragocaraguṇa (Candrarańsī), Abbot of
Wat Makuṭakṣatriya, assisted in the ceremony as ''kammavācācariya''.
After the ordination rite, Vajirañana spent the first Rains in
Wat Pavaraniveśa, studying Pāli (e.g. with the Dhammapada commentary) and Buddhist scripture. One of his former Pāli teachers, Phra Pariyatidharrmadhātā ("Chang") taught him again.
After the Rains, in November 1879, Vajirañana moved to Wat Makuṭakṣatriya (then called Wat Nāmabaññati). There he studied Pali (the ''Mańgalatthadīpanī'') under Chaokhun Phra Brahmamunī (Kittisāra).
On 3 January 1880, Vajirañana was reordained in the orthodox Dhammayuttika manner on a raft, with Chaokhun Dharmatrailoka (Ṭhānacāra) being his preceptor. He continued to live in Wat Makuṭakṣatriya as a pupil and personal attendant of Phra Candragocaraguṇa, and as a Pāli student of Phra Brahmamunī.
On 25 December 1881, Vajirañana began his Pāli exam, the Supreme Patriarch being his examiner. He advanced to ''prayōk'' 5 at a stroke and was succeedingly raised to ''krom'' rank as promised before. He was also appointed Deputy Patriarch of the Dhammayuttika Sect (''Chaokhana Rōng Khana Thammayuttikā'').
Middle years
In 1892, Prince Pavareś died. Vajirañana became his successor as Abbot of
Wat Pavaraniveśa and as Patriarch of the
Dhammayuttika
Dhammayuttika Nikāya (Pali language, Pali; th, ธรรมยุติกนิกาย; ; km, ធម្មយុត្តិកនិកាយ, ), or Dhammayut Order ( th, คณะธรรมยุต) is an Buddhist monasticism, order of ...
order, while
Sa Pussadevo became the new
Supreme Patriarch
Sangharaja (Pāli: ''sangha'' religious community + ''raja'' ruler, king, or prince) is the title given in many Theravada Buddhist countries to a senior monk who is the titular head either of a monastic fraternity ( nikaya), or of the ''Sangha'' t ...
.
On 1 October 1893, the
Mahāmakuṭa Royal Academy (Mahamakut Buddhist University) was opened. Vajirañana now could carry out his reforms concerning the study of Pali and the Dhamma. Vajirañana wrote a Pāli grammar and several textbooks. He also designed the university's curriculum. It consisted of secular subjects such as reading and writing Siamese, history, and some science beside religious studies and the preparation for the Pali exam, as the new academy also served the purpose of training monks to become teachers. In 1898, King Chulalongkorn ordered Prince
Damrong
Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab ( Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธ ...
and Vajirañana to find a possible solution for providing the whole country with a primary education. Due to the lack of money the solution was to let the educated monks be the teachers of the villages in the outer provinces. (This plan, however, was not further pursued after 1902.)
In 1894, Vajirañana established ''Dhammacakṣu'' ('Eye of
Dhamma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ''d ...
'), the first Buddhist journal in Siam. It contained news on the academy, articles on Buddhism, and the texts of sermons.
While the
Mahāmakuṭa Royal Academy belonged to the
Dhammayuttika
Dhammayuttika Nikāya (Pali language, Pali; th, ธรรมยุติกนิกาย; ; km, ធម្មយុត្តិកនិកាយ, ), or Dhammayut Order ( th, คณะธรรมยุต) is an Buddhist monasticism, order of ...
order, King Chulalongkorn also strengthened the school of the
Mahānikāya order in the
Wat Mahādhātu which in 1896 became the
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยมหาจุฬาลงกรณราชวิทยาลัย, ) is one of two public Buddhist universities in Thailand, as well as being the oldest Budd ...
. The Sangha unity was also strengthened by the decision to hold the Pali examination in two sets: one at Mahamakuta Academy, where Vajirañana's new curriculum and a written examination format would be used, and one at the Royal Chapel, where the traditional oral translations would be heard.
The First Sangha Act of 1902 established a new administration of the Sangha in the country.
In 1906, King Chulalongkorn raised Vajirañana's princely rank to ''Krommaluang'', although it was not royal custom to promote prince-monks until they reached advanced age. But Vajirañana should not be at a disadvantage in comparison with his brothers.
From 1900 to 1910, the position of Supreme Patriarch of Thailand remained vacant. Reynolds speculates that King Chulalongkorn didn't want to appoint a successor to the 9th Patriarch because a senior monk might have been too conservative to support the ongoing reforms, and Vajirañana might have been still too young to be able to assert his reforms against the will of the conservative senior monks.
Later years
After the accession of King
Vajiravudh
Vajiravudh ( th, วชิราวุธ, , 1 January 188126 November 1925) was the sixth monarch of Siam under the Chakri dynasty as Rama VI. He ruled from 23 October 1910 until his death in 1925. King Vajiravudh is best known for his efforts ...
in 1910, Vajirañana was appointed Supreme Patriarch. In 1921, King Vajiravudh created the honorary title ''Phramahasamanachao'' for the Supreme Patriarch. Vajirañana continued his work in religious education, Sangha administration and scholarship. He breathed new life to the Council of Elders (''Thera''), founded by the Sangha Act of 1902. The Publication of ''Thalaeng kan khanasong''
nnouncement of Sangha Affairswhich spread rules for the whole Sangha within the country. In 1912, he created a new curriculum for Dhamma studies that does not require previous Pali studies.
Between 1912 and 1917, Vajirañana travelled to the provinces of Siam to examine the situation of the Sangha. He later died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in Bangkok on 2 August 1921.
Ancestry
References
*Reynolds, Craig J. (1979). ''Autobiography: The life of Prince-Patriarch Vajiranana of Siam, 1860-1921''. Athens, Ohio: University of Ohio Press.
{{Authority control
Theravada Buddhism writers
Thai Theravada Buddhist monks
Supreme Patriarchs of Thailand
1860 births
1921 deaths
People from Bangkok
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
19th-century Chakri dynasty
20th-century Chakri dynasty
Tuberculosis deaths in Thailand
Thai male Phra Ong Chao
Sons of kings