Somdet Kiaw (3 March 192910 August 2013) was a Thai Buddhist monk who served as the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Wat Saket Wat Saket Ratchawora Mahawihan (), usually shortened to Wat Saket, is a Buddhist temple (''wat'') in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district, Bangkok, Thailand. The temple dates back to the Ayutthaya kingdom, Ayutthaya era, when it was known as Wat Sak ...

and the acting

Supreme Patriarch of Thailand __NOTOC__ The Supreme Patriarch of Thailand or Sangharaja () is the head of the order of Buddhism, Buddhist bhikkhu, monks in Thailand. His full title is ''Somdet Phra Saṅgharāja Sakalamahāsaṅghapariṇāyaka'' (). Ancient history As ea ...

Name

Somdet Kiaw (; ) was born Kiaw Chokchai (). His Dhamma name, in the

Pali language Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravād ...

, was Upaseṇo (), and his highest monastic title was Somdet Phra Buḍhācārya (; ). His previous monastic titles were as follows: *Phra Medhisuddhibongsa (), 1958 *Phra Rajavisuddhimedhi (), 1962 *Phra Debgunabhorn (), 1964 *Phra Dharmagunabhorn (), 1971 *Phra Brahmagunabhorn (), 1973

Acting Supreme Patriarch

Somdet Kiaw was appointed acting Supreme Patriarch in 2005 due to the failing health of the incumbent Supreme Patriarch Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana. He was a monk of the

Mahanikaya The Mahā Nikāya (literal translation: "great order") is one of the two principal monastic orders, or fraternities, of modern Thai, Laotian and Cambodian Buddhism. The term is used to refer to any Theravada monks not within the Dhammayuttika N ...

order, and was of

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais) are persons of Chinese people, Chinese descent in Thailand. Thai Chinese are the largest mixed group in the country and the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a popul ...

descent. His appointment provoked severe criticism from Luang Ta Maha Bua (of the

Dhammayuttika Nikaya Dhammayuttika Nikāya (Pali; ; ; , ), or Dhammayut Order (), is an order of Theravada Buddhist ''bhikkhus'' (monks) in Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma, with significant branches in the Western world. Its name is derived from Pali ''dhamma'' ("teac ...

order) and

Sondhi Limthongkul Sondhi Limthongkul (born 7 November 1947) is a Thai media proprietor, conspiracy theorist, pro-Beijing anti-democracy reactionary activist, demagogue, and leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). In 2009 he was elected leader of the N ...

, who claimed that the appointment created two Supreme Patriarchs and contravened the royal prerogative of King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any List of Thai mo ...

. On 4 March 2005, Maha Bua even petitioned King

to remove all of Kiaw's royal titles.ผู้จัดการรายวัน
ถวายฎีกาถอดสมเด็จเกี่ยว
, 4 มีนาคม 2548

References

1929 births 2013 deaths People from Surat Thani province Thai people of Chinese descent Thai Buddhist monks Thai Theravada Buddhist monks {{Thailand-bio-stub