Famous farang Buddhist Monk Ajahn Jayasaro Becomes Thai

(CTN News) – Famous foreign Buddhist monk Ajahn Jayasaro may have received Thai citizenship from HRH the King in 2020, but it took him over three years to get a Thai ID card.

On Sunday, in northeast Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province, Phra Ajahn Jayasaro had his picture taken for a new Thai identification card.

The monk received Thai nationality on March 9, 2020, due to “exceptional circumstances” arising from his contributions to Dharma’s propagation in Thailand and abroad.

The 64-year-old monk has previously held significant positions, most notably as the abbot of northeast Thailand’s Wat Pah Nanachat (Bung Wai International Forest Monastery) from 1997 to 2002.

Shaun Michael Chiverton, the birth name Ajahn Jayasaro, was on the Isle of Wight in England in 1958. He had asthma as a youngster and often missed school as a result. He would educate himself at home since he was eager to learn.

Ajahn Jayasaro was most intrigued by philosophical issues and was especially curious about the benefits of being a human.

What universal truth applies to all people, he pondered? Why can’t people stop murdering and fighting while claiming they want to live peacefully?

Jayasaro learned about Buddhism as a youngster via literature and emigrated to India at 16. He traveled and learned for a few years before hitching back to England.

Jayasaro discovered this was the route he sought when he learned about the Thai forest culture from Ajahn Sumetho at the Hampstead Temple in England.

Before being completely ordained by trailblazing forest monk Ajahn Chah in 1980, 43 years ago, Jayasaro was first ordained as a novice at Wat Nong Pa Phong in the province of Ubon Ratchathani.

He now lives in a hermitage close to Khao Yai National Park and often conducts meditation sessions and Dharma speeches for ordinary Buddhists and monks at a local retreat center.

Ajahn Jayasaro has devoted his life to learning about Buddhism and passing it on to others. He speaks, reads, and writes Thai at a very high level since he has spent much of his life in Thailand.

Ajahn Jayasaro published Stillness Flowing, a biography of Ajahn Chah, in 2018.

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