ABSTRACT
The Tham Krabok Theravāda Buddhist temple in Phraphuttabat District, Saraburi Province, central Thailand, is far from typical. The Buddhist practices and teachings at Wat Tham Krabok (WTK)1 are unlike those of any other Buddhist institution in Thailand. Indicative of its uniqueness-or at least its inability to gain mainstream acceptance amongst the Buddhist Sangha in Thailand-WTK is not o cially a temple compound, or wat in Thai, according to the Thai governing body for Buddhism in the country, the Sangha National Council (Thera Samakhom in Thai). Instead, it is designated at a lower level, as a “Sangha residence” or samnak song in Thai.2 The sign on the impressive cement archway entering WTK states that it is a wat, even if the present abbot,3 Achan Boonsong Tanajaro, the fourth in the line of this particular tradition (see Illustration 6.1), acknowledges that the sign does not actually refl ect its o cial status.4 This is despite WTK covering over 300 rai (48 hectares), being presently home to about 120 monks and many white-clothed mae chee (‘nuns’), containing numerous massive Buddhist images, and being occupied by monks for over half a century, since its founding in 1957.5 The temple is best known for facilitating-according to WTK’s own records-the treatment of over 105,000 Thai and foreigner drug and alcohol “addicts” since 1959. Some foreigners, mainly former addicts, have been ordained there as monks.
