Wat Pathumwanaram

Wat Pathumwanaram stands in the middle of Bangkok’s shopping district, between Siam Paragon and CentralWorld. King Mongkut (Rama IV) founded it in 1857 as a place of worship near his Sa Pathum Palace, when the area was still rice fields. It is a third-class royal temple of the Thammayut (Dhammayut) order.

Its place in the forest tradition comes through Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, who calls it Wat Sra Pathum in his autobiography. He re-ordained in the Dhammayut order on 27 May 1927, after meeting Ajahn Mun, with a monk of this temple, Phra Paññabhisara (Nuu), as his preceptor. His own account places the ceremony at Wat Burapha in Ubon; English Wikipedia says it was held here, but the autobiography is the first-hand record. In his autobiography, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Ajahn Lee says he spent his first Rains Retreat after re-ordination in Ubon Ratchathani and then three rains in Bangkok at Wat Sra Pathum. From there he went on to Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachinburi, and eventually Chanthaburi and Wat Asokaram.

The sources used for this page do not describe a meditation course for foreign visitors here. It is a working city temple, best understood as a stop in the life of a teacher rather than a retreat. If you read Ajahn Lee first, the visit gains some context; his autobiography is free on dhammatalks.org.