Wat Tham Krabok
Encyclopedia
Wat Tham Krabok is a Buddhist
temple
(wat
) in Thailand
, located in the Phra Phutthabat district
of Saraburi Province
.
The temple was first established as a monastery
in 1958 by the Buddhist nun Mae Chee Boonruen. It was upgraded to temple status 17 years later, in 1975. The temple is majestic in its appearance, with two elephants supporting a globe marking its entrance.
, Wat Tham Krabok has hosted Hmong
refugee
s in a camp on its grounds, most of whom fled Laos
alleging that they were persecuted by the communist government that has ruled Laos since 1975. The Hmong were United States
war allies in the Secret War against the communist Pathet Lao
, the Viet Cong and North Vietnam
.
When several Thailand-based Hmong refugee camps closed due to a lack of financial support in the early 1990s, Hmong refugees in Thailand fled to the temple to avoid repatriation
to Laos. The population at the temple quickly grew to about 16,000.
Wat Tham Krabok and its Hmong refugees drew global attention in the mid-1990s, as they became the subject of a major global political debate over their future. The United Nations
, with support from the Clinton administration, sought to repatriate the Hmong at Wat Tham Krabok to Laos. But this effort drew significant opposition from American conservatives
and human rights
leaders. Michael Johns
, the influential former Heritage Foundation
foreign policy analyst and aide to former President George H. W. Bush
, helped lead opposition to the forced repatriation, labeling it a "betrayal," since many Hmong had aided the United States during the Secret War.
While some Hmong were repatriated, most began to be resettled to the United States
, with about one-third of them relocating to the U.S. state
of Minnesota
, though California
, Wisconsin
and other states also received significant numbers.
drug rehabilitation program, which was started in 1959. Over 100,000 heroin and opium addicts have since gone through the unique Wat Tham Krabok detox program, which includes Buddhist meditation, Asian herbal supplementation used for relaxation, induced vomiting, and the consumption of a secret detoxification potion made of over 100 unknown Asian herbs.
After failing in other detox programs, a number of prominent Western drug addicts have sought treatment at Wat Tham Krabok, including British punk rock
musician Pete Doherty
, Irish rock music singer Christy Dignam
of Aslan
, American computer underground personality Patrick K. Kroupa
and British singer songwriter Tim Arnold
.
In 2004, Tim Arnold
's success story was the subject of many news articles in the UK, he subsequently became a permanent Tham Krabok resident and favourite 'son' of the monastery's abbot, Luang Por Charoen.
Because opium is commonly grown and consumed by the Hmong in the highlands of Thailand, many Hmong refugees also have undergone addiction treatment at Wat Tham Krabok.
Wat Tham Krabok also is believed to have served as a conduit for international heroin and opium trafficking and possible arms trafficking to Hmong insurgents in Laos. Responding to these concerns, the Thai military deployed hundreds of troops to surround Wat Tham Krabok in April 2003. Thai military and police have since fenced the Hmong village at Wat Tham Krabok with concertina wire
in an effort to monitor and control entrance to it.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
(wat
Wat
A wat is a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand, or Laos. The word "wat" means "school".- Introduction :...
) in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, located in the Phra Phutthabat district
Amphoe Phra Phutthabat
Phra Phutthabat is a district located in Saraburi Province, Thailand.The district is named after the Wat Phra Phutthabat, meaning temple of Buddha's footprint. In the 17th century a hunter found a puddle of water which looked like a footprint...
of Saraburi Province
Saraburi Province
Saraburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya. Saraburi has been an important town since ancient times...
.
The temple was first established as a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in 1958 by the Buddhist nun Mae Chee Boonruen. It was upgraded to temple status 17 years later, in 1975. The temple is majestic in its appearance, with two elephants supporting a globe marking its entrance.
Hmong refugees
Since the end of the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Wat Tham Krabok has hosted Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s in a camp on its grounds, most of whom fled Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
alleging that they were persecuted by the communist government that has ruled Laos since 1975. The Hmong were United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
war allies in the Secret War against the communist Pathet Lao
Pathet Lao
The Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists...
, the Viet Cong and North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
.
When several Thailand-based Hmong refugee camps closed due to a lack of financial support in the early 1990s, Hmong refugees in Thailand fled to the temple to avoid repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
to Laos. The population at the temple quickly grew to about 16,000.
Wat Tham Krabok and its Hmong refugees drew global attention in the mid-1990s, as they became the subject of a major global political debate over their future. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, with support from the Clinton administration, sought to repatriate the Hmong at Wat Tham Krabok to Laos. But this effort drew significant opposition from American conservatives
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
leaders. Michael Johns
Michael Johns (executive)
Michael Johns is an American health care executive, former federal government of the United States official and conservative policy analyst and writer.-Biography:...
, the influential former Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
foreign policy analyst and aide to former President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, helped lead opposition to the forced repatriation, labeling it a "betrayal," since many Hmong had aided the United States during the Secret War.
While some Hmong were repatriated, most began to be resettled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with about one-third of them relocating to the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, though California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and other states also received significant numbers.
Drug rehabilitation and trafficking
Wat Tham Krabok has also gained global notoriety for its heroin and opiumOpium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
drug rehabilitation program, which was started in 1959. Over 100,000 heroin and opium addicts have since gone through the unique Wat Tham Krabok detox program, which includes Buddhist meditation, Asian herbal supplementation used for relaxation, induced vomiting, and the consumption of a secret detoxification potion made of over 100 unknown Asian herbs.
After failing in other detox programs, a number of prominent Western drug addicts have sought treatment at Wat Tham Krabok, including British punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
musician Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
, Irish rock music singer Christy Dignam
Christy Dignam
Christy Dignam is the lead singer of the popular Irish rock-band Aslan. His career of over twenty-five years has been characterized by numerous successes on the Irish charts as well as recurring problems with drug addiction and recovery.-Life:...
of Aslan
Aslan (rock band)
Aslan are an Irish rock band from Dublin who formed in 1982. Comprising Christy Dignam, Joe Jewell, Billy McGuinness, Alan Downey and Rodney O'Brien, the band has released five studio albums - Feel No Shame , Goodbye Charlie Moonhead , Here Comes Lucy Jones , Waiting For This Madness To End and...
, American computer underground personality Patrick K. Kroupa
Patrick K. Kroupa
Patrick Karel Kroupa is an American writer, hacker and activist. Kroupa was a member of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker group and co-founded MindVox in 1991, with Bruce Fancher...
and British singer songwriter Tim Arnold
Tim Arnold (musician)
Tim Arnold is an English singer-songwriter, composer, producer and musician from Soho, London. He is currently a solo artist, but first achieved success as the singer and songwriter of Britpop band Jocasta in the mid-1990s. He runs the record label TA Music and has released thirteen albums, one...
.
In 2004, Tim Arnold
Tim Arnold (musician)
Tim Arnold is an English singer-songwriter, composer, producer and musician from Soho, London. He is currently a solo artist, but first achieved success as the singer and songwriter of Britpop band Jocasta in the mid-1990s. He runs the record label TA Music and has released thirteen albums, one...
's success story was the subject of many news articles in the UK, he subsequently became a permanent Tham Krabok resident and favourite 'son' of the monastery's abbot, Luang Por Charoen.
Because opium is commonly grown and consumed by the Hmong in the highlands of Thailand, many Hmong refugees also have undergone addiction treatment at Wat Tham Krabok.
Wat Tham Krabok also is believed to have served as a conduit for international heroin and opium trafficking and possible arms trafficking to Hmong insurgents in Laos. Responding to these concerns, the Thai military deployed hundreds of troops to surround Wat Tham Krabok in April 2003. Thai military and police have since fenced the Hmong village at Wat Tham Krabok with concertina wire
Concertina wire
Concertina wire or Dannert Wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina. In conjunction with plain barbed wire and steel pickets, it is used to form military wire obstacles....
in an effort to monitor and control entrance to it.
Global intrigue
Wat Tham Krabok's historic role in harboring Hmong refugees in the 1990s, and its global reputation for unique Buddhist approaches to lifestyle management and detoxification, have made the temple an increasingly popular destination for foreign tourists in Thailand. Thai officials, however, have sought to keep tourists at a distance from the Wat Tham Krabok grounds, citing suspicion that the temple is a likely source of international heroin and opium trafficking. There are also concerns that Wat Tham Krabok has played a role as a conduit for weapons and military support to Hmong military insurgents, who are engaged in a military conflict against the communist Pathet Lao government in neighboring Laos.Resources
- Wat Tham Krabok Monastery Official Web Site.
- Independent Information about Thamkrabok Monastery including library of related articles.
- "Yearning to be Hmong".
- "Derivations of the Hmong Diaspora".
- "Acts of Betrayal", by Michael JohnsMichael Johns (executive)Michael Johns is an American health care executive, former federal government of the United States official and conservative policy analyst and writer.-Biography:...
. - "Friends of Thamkrabok - Addict Support Community".
- "New Life Foundation : Mindful Recovery Community for ex-Thamkrabok addicts".