Famed abbot of Wat Saket dies aged 85

The body of the revered abbot, who was widely known as Somdej Kiew – the most senior monk in terms of the Sangha Supreme Council’s monastic rank – was moved to Wat Saket today for the royally sponsored bathing rites, which will begin at 5pm. A seven-day royally sponsored Abhidhamma recitation will be hosted at Wat Saket until August 18, however, rituals will be suspended for one day tomorrow. 

Somdej Kiew had been ill with a blood infection for more than five months and had spent the last of those months in hospital. 

Nopparat Benjawatananun, director-general of the Office of National Buddhism, said Somdej’s passing away represented a great loss for the Thai Buddhist Sangha because the late monk had always been determined to firmly establish Buddhism, not just in Thailand, but also abroad. Somdej Kiew was one of the most important Buddhist leaders to establish greater awareness of Buddhism in the US and Europe, said Nopparat. 

Somdej Kiew was born on March 3, 1928 in Surat Thani’s Koh Samui district. He was named Kiew Chokchai, the fifth son of seven children belonging to coconut farmer Ouilian Saeyow (Leun Chokchai) and his wife Yee. According to some sources, serious illness led to him being ordained in 1941 as a novice monk in Koh Samui at the age of 12. He was later ordained as a monk at Wat Saket in 1949. 

Somdej Kiew served many key positions. In early 2004, he was appointed as acting Supreme Patriarch after Supreme Patriarch, His Holiness Somdet Phra Yanasamvara Suvaddhana Mahathera, was admitted to Chulalongkorn Hospital in early 2002 due to illness.