page_title: Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen
section_title: Appointment as Supreme Patriarch stalled (2013–15)
hierarchical_section_title: Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen / History / Appointment as Supreme Patriarch stalled (2013–15)
caption_attribution_description: English: Somdet Chuang Varapunno presiding a ceremony
context_page_description: Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen is a royal wat located in Phasi Charoen district, Bangkok, at the Chao Phraya River. It is part of the Maha Nikaya fraternity and is the origin of the Dhammakaya tradition. It is a large and popular temple, supported by prosperous community members.
  Wat Paknam was established in 1610, during the Ayutthaya period, and received support from Thai kings until the late nineteenth century. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the temple had become nearly abandoned and had fallen into disrepair. The temple underwent a major revival and became widely known under the leadership of the meditation master Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro, who was abbot there in the first half of the twentieth century. Seven years after Luang Pu's death, Somdet Chuang Varapuñño became the new abbot. Somdet Chuang made international headlines from 2015 onward, when his appointment as Supreme Patriarch was stalled and finally withdrawn, due to reasons generally interpreted as political. This has led to heated debate and protests in Thailand. As part of this process, Somdet Chuang and his assistant were accused of tax fraud.
context_section_description: After the deaths of Somdet Phra Yanasangworn and caretaker Somdet Kiaw in 2013, Somdet Chuang became the acting Supreme Patriarch. However, he did not receive the full position, as the Thai junta refused to forward the nomination to the King for approval.
  In December 2013, during the protests which led up to the 2014 coup d'état, Somdet Chuang made a public statement opposing the protests, asking protest leaders Phra Suwit Dhiradhammo and Suthep Thaugsuban to stop causing civil unrest, in respect of King Bhumibol's birthday. After the coup d'état, the junta started a National Reform Council to bring stability to Thai society, which the junta stated was required before elections could be held. As part of the council, a panel was started to reform Thai religion. This panel was led by Paiboon Nititawan, a former senator who had played a crucial role in the coup. Backed by the bureaucracy, military and Royal Palace, Paiboon sought to deal with any shortcomings in the leading Thai Sangha through legislative means. He was joined by coup leader Phra Suwit Dhiradhammo (known under the activist name Phra Phuttha Issara), a then monk and former infantryman.
  On 5 January 2016, Somdet Chuang had been nominated by the Supreme Sangha Council to take the post of Supreme Patriarch officially. Phra Suwit objected to this nomination, and held a petition to stop it, which succeeded. Moreover, in February 2015, Paiboon tried to reopen the 1999 case of Luang Por Dhammajayo's alleged embezzlement of land. Somdet Chuang and the rest of the Sangha Council were also involved in this, as they were accused of being negligent in not defrocking Luang Por Dhammajayo. First, the Sangha Council reconsidered the embezzlement and fraud charges, but concluded that Luang Por Dhammajayo had not intended to commit fraud or embezzlement, and had already returned the land concerned; after that, Phra Suwit enlisted the help of the Ombudsman, who asked the General-Attorney and the National Office of Buddhism to reconsider the criminal law case of embezzlement.
  Next, Phra Suwit Dhiradhammo led two hundred soldiers and civilians to pay a visit to Wat Paknam. He made an offering to Somdet Chuang and asked several critical questions with regard to the verdict of innocence of Luang Por Dhammajayo. The questions were answered by Sangha Council secretary Phra Suchat Dhammaratano  on Somdet Chuang's behalf. Critics interpreted Phra Suwit's visit, followed by his PR through social media, as aggressive, disrespectful, and inappropriate for a monk, and Phra Maha Show, administrator at the MCU, filed a lawsuit against Phra Suwit. At this point, criticism against the reform panel rose. Several Thai intellectuals and news analysts asserted that Paiboon and Phra Suwit were abusing the Vinaya (monastic discipline) for political ends, and did not really aim to reform Buddhism. A number of Buddhist organizations, as well as the National Office of Buddhism, started to charge online news outlets for libel with regard to Somdet Chuang's person and spreading panic, only to be halted by Somdet Chuang himself. He stated simply: "There is no real problem, you don't have to do anything against them". In February 2016, Chao Khun Prasarn, vice-rector of the MCU, assistant abbot of Wat Mahadhatu, and proponent of Somdet Chuang's appointment, held a protest of over a thousand of Thai monks in the Phutthamonthon Park, as a response to the postponing of the appointment. He demanded that the Thai junta not interfere with the Sangha's affairs, in particular the appointment of the next Supreme Patriarch. The junta responded by sending soldiers to control the site, and it came to a few scuffles. At 9 pm, the protest was ended when the monks announced they would repeat their protests if their demands were not met. However, the junta saw the protests as another reason to stall the appointment.
  In response to the rising tensions, eventually junta Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha intervened and brought an end to the attempt to revive the embezzlement case: it had already been closed in 2006 by the th
caption: Somdet Chuang Varapuñño presiding over a ceremony.
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