The name of the temple, Wat Mongkoltepmunee, comes from the ecclesiastical title of Luang Por Wat Paknam – The Most Venerable Phra Mongkoltepmunee – who aimed to build a temple in England before falling ill. So, the community sees this temple as the first American branch of Wat Paknam. The story of the temple’s establishment begins in 1983, when an abbot of Wat Paknam, Phra Thammathirarajamuni, traveled to the US to perform religious duties.
During this time, he stayed in the Philadelphia area, and the area’s sangha complained about their inability to study Vipassana meditation because there were no temples to gather or monks to teach them. In response, Phra Thammathirarajamuni sent two more monks to the US for the celebration of Buddhist Lent, donated the initial $2,000 toward establishing a new temple, and then returned to Thailand to register the temple.
The local community responded in kind and donated enough to cover the first year of establishment efforts. The Sangha Supreme Court approved the new temple in May of 1983. A few years later, in March of 1986, the land ownership for the temple was established. Soon after, the temple was opened by Phra Dhammapanyabodee and M.R. Kasem Samoson Kasem Sri. Since then, the temple and its community have continued to operate and practice. The temple has even expanded its land twice becoming less of a single temple and more of a campus, with the construction of Vipassana Hall (an ordination and multi-purpose hall) and monks’ residence in 1992, and the temple is surrounded by a community center and a park where festivals are held. About 5 to 7 monks usually reside at this temple at once. Presently, the temple hosts 5 missionary monks from Thailand, though it does not seem that any nuns reside there.
Wat Mongkoltepmunee is modeled after the Wats in Thailand, featuring bright red roofs and interiors with many golden intricacies along the roofing and windows. The temple celebrates traditional imagery, as the inside displays a Buddha adorned in gold leaf. The beauty of the halls are enhanced by the surrounding park which includes trees that blossom in the spring. Some say that visiting this temple is like visiting a small temple in Thailand itself.
The community also stays true to its Thai roots by focusing on Theravada Buddhism, as well as Thai language and culture. It is the only Theravada temple in the Philadelphia area, so it is not only an important center for Thai Buddhism in this area but it is also an important center for the East Coast in general. Practitioners come mostly from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Thai language and culture are taught at kids’ or adults’ Thai Buddhist Sunday School. Even the website is mostly written in Thai to describe upcoming events, history, and chanting books. 
The temple is described as an “anchor for the local Thai community,” and most of the community is Thai. The focus on Thai language and culture illustrates the temple’s dedication to the Thai community’s immigrants and descendents, but the temple is also very welcoming to any new visitors. In fact, many buildings are open to the public, though the main temple is usually reserved for special rituals or holidays.
At Wat Mongkoltepmunee, both monastics and practitioners have a full calendar of events to attend at the temple. Daily at the temple, there are morning and evening chants.
Monks perform these chants at 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., and laypeople have the chance to join the prayers in the Sala Hall. While the majority of the chants focus on Buddha or his relics, all three refuges appear in different chants, especially the dharma, and the sangha as well.
On a weekly basis, meditation practice is held on Saturday evenings, for about two hours. The abbots have listened to the complaints that lead to the establishment of the temple, and they focus on Vipassana meditation. They emphasize finding one-pointed focus to reject the mental drift caused by our aggregates in order to return to the pure centered mind. Practitioners claim that meditation can help with finding calm, self-confidence, and eventually a deep understanding of the truths in life. No matter the meditation posture, the meditation practice should include a mantra, short repeated phrase, and visualization, so that the mind does not wander. A common mantra at the temple is “Samma-Araham,” and it is repeated after visualizing each part of the body. A common visualization is the crystal ball, perhaps representing the clear, centered mind. After entering the meditation posture and relaxing all muscles, the practitioner should close their eyes and imagine nothing is around them, like a clear blue sky, which is meant to encourage a feeling of openness and joy. Many practitioners feel that this meditation has the ability to heal illnesses, even cancer, by making the mind more pure and positive.
Also ongoing (throughout the school year) is the Thai Buddhist Sunday School, which offers language and culture classes to children above seven and conversation practice for adults. Many say that Sunday is the busiest day at the temple. While Sunday is the day of full weekly service (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), meditation instructions are given in English on Friday and Saturday evenings (for about two hours). Also roughly every month there is an additional chanting of the abhidharma on a Sunday, later in the morning than daily chants, and there is a meditation retreat.
Not as regularly, but close to monthly, the temple provides different sermons, all focused on the Dharma but with different applications.
Those who attend the temple clearly revere their monastics and abbots because both birthday celebrations for current abbots and memorials for past abbots are observed with a temple-wide event.
Another less frequent event is the temple’s holiday celebration. Festivals and/or rituals are held for different holidays, including the US New Year, Thai New Year (Songkran), Buddhist Lent, and the four important stages in Buddha’s life (birth, enlightenment, first teaching, and death)(also known as Vesak Day). Songkran festival offers a blend of celebrating Buddhist tradition and Thai culture. Laypeople bring large gifts of food to make merit, and the food often consists of traditional Thai dishes known for their health benefits such as aid in digestion or preventing infection. Once monks have their fill of the food, it is distributed amongst the laypeople. Attendees celebrate good food, good health, and merit-making throughout the festivities.
Festivals at the temple are important, not only because this is the only Theravada temple in the area, but also because it provides a time for education, merit-making, and celebration. Festivals may celebrate Thai culture, such as art, food, or history, while other festivals are more Buddhism focused, including robe presentation ceremonies, Thai Sarat Festivals, and celebrations of Buddha’s life. Festivals bring in large crowds – as many as several hundred people may attend – so it is also a celebration of community.
The community is funded a few different ways, but mostly through donations. Outside of donations, the Thai Buddhist Sunday School costs $150 per person (adult or child) for one school year, and paying the price is mandatory for enrollment. Similarly, but less strictly, the temple offers Sunday lunch, but those who eat are encouraged to donate $5 or $10, though donation is voluntary, unlike for the school. Like many temples with monastics who reside there, the temple accepts food donations from its practitioners (dana). Wat Mongkoltepmunee was built on the donations of the community, and continues to accept and put the sangha’s donation to good use. In fact, in its history, the construction and maintenance of the temple is credited to the unity of the sangha. Even on the website, the temple encourages its practitioners to donate in order to make merit and earn a better life in the future.
So, the practice of the community is very traditional. The community follows Theravada Buddhism, the practice of the elders and the oldest form of Buddhism still practiced. We can see the dedication to traditional Theravada practices because the practitioners revere the monastics, through donations and celebrations, and the whole sangha (including laypeople) also believes in karma and rebirth. Merit-making is one of the main advantages to laypeople who come to practice, according to the temple. Not only is the reminder of merit-making present on the temple’s donation page, but also many festivals and rituals afford the opportunity to make good karma.
For example, the Sarth Ceremony occurs in the middle of the year, and it affords the opportunity for practitioners to make merit by expressing gratitude for their ancestors as well as for the kindness of the community around them. This ceremony not only adds to the merit of the practitioner, but they also hope for peace for their ancestors and dedicate the merit to be shared amongst them. Much like the donation page, those who are not able to attend the ceremony are encouraged to donate to still gain merit, and those who have attended should donate to increase their merit.
Additionally, merit-making is a focus of chanting rituals, administered by monks. Thus, this temple returns to the classic village temple exchange of goods and donations to the monastics for merit and education for the laypeople.
Report by Allie Roe
Sources:
https://watmongkoltepmunee.org/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wat-mongkoltepmunee
http://www.jivaka.net/finder/mongkoltepmunee-buddhist-temple/