Chonburi residents paid their final respects to the Supreme Patriarch at Pattaya’s Yanasangwararam Temple, which was originally built for the head of Buddhism in Thailand.
Gov. Khomsan Ekachai led the Dec. 30 ceremony to receive some of the ashes of His Holiness, who was cremated on Dec. 16 at Debsirindrawas Temple in Bangkok.
The majority of his bones and ashes are being housed permanently at Bowon Niwet Vihara Temple, also in the capital. But some ash placed in urns was given to Yanasangwararam, which was built in 1976 to celebrate Somdej Phra Yanasangworn, the then-leader of the Thai Monastic Order, and Devasangaram Temple in Kanchanaburi, where Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana Mahathera first entered the monkhood in 1927.
Officials prepare to bring some the late Supreme Patriarch’s ashes to their final resting place at Pattaya’s Yanasangwararam Temple.
Nyanasamvara took over as Supreme Patriarch in 1989, after which time Yanasangworn was rededicated to HM the King. His Holiness died in 2013 at age 100.
Khomsan led law enforcement, military, government and medical officials, along with members of the pubic, in honoring the remains granted to the Chonburi temple by His Majesty.
Jun Phomkututo, abbot of Wat Bowon Niwet Vihara, led monks in interning the ash at the temple.
