Phra Payom Kalyano

Phra Payom Kalyano was born Payom Chanpetch on 24 April 1949 in Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi. He was ordained as a monk in 1970 in his home district. Thai Wikipedia says he passed the highest level of the Dhamma examinations (Nak Tham Ek) in 1973 and then spent a Rains retreat at Suan Mokkh with Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. It calls him one of Buddhadasa’s notable students.

In the late 1970s he and two other monks from Suan Mokkh asked Luang Por Teean Cittasubho for permission to run a summer novice ordination programme at Wat Kaew, an abandoned temple in Bang Yai where Luang Por Teean was staying. Luang Por Teean later left the temple in their care. Payom restored it, renamed it Wat Suan Kaew, and set it up, in the temple’s own account, as a city version of the Suan Mokkh Buddhadasa had spoken of. In 1986 he founded the Suan Kaew Foundation. Its stated aims include spreading Buddhism, promoting ethics, supporting education and cooperating with other charities.

He is known in Thailand as a preacher and public speaker, and as a monk who runs social welfare work through the foundation. Thai Wikipedia describes him as a preacher, lecturer and social worker. The temple’s website carries his Dhamma talks, which are in Thai, and notes that he preaches on Sundays throughout the Rains retreat.