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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National

Ajahn Jayasaro becomes first foreign-born Somdet

Thailand King Charles III
Ajahn Jayasaro has become the first foreign-born monk to receive the royal ecclesiastical title of Somdet Phra Ratchakhana. (Photo: Facebook page of ธรรมะ โดย พระอาจารย์ชยสาโร/ Dhamma by Ajahn Jayasaro)

His Majesty the King has promoted Ajahn Jayasaro, a renowned British-born monk and disciple of the late Luang Por Chah, one of the most revered figures of the Thai forest tradition, to the rank of Somdet Phra Ratchakhana, making him the first foreign-born monk in Thai history to receive the royal ecclesiastical title.

The rank of Somdet Phra Ratchakhana is second only to the Supreme Patriarch in Thailand's nine-tier ecclesiastical hierarchy.

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