Wat Mongkolratanaram, the Thai Buddhist Temple of Tampa, Florida
Wat Mongkolratanaram, in Tampa, Florida, was founded in 1981 and established its current temple location in 1983. Since its construction, Wat Mongkolratanaram has seen roughly 270,960 visitors and receives thousands per month. The temple was founded in response to the increasing presence of the Thai community in the area, which prompted the temple’s sponsorship by the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej. Wat Mongkolratanaram is a Theravada Buddhist Temple, which hosts religious ceremonies, practices, and educational services, but also serves as cultural epicenter for the Thai community.
A little bit of history on Wat Mongkolratanaram
Buddhist temples and monasteries serve as the center of religious and cultural life in Thailand. With nearly 93% of Thailand’s population being Buddhist, specifically Theravada Buddhist, temples and monasteries are locations of religious ceremonies, opportunities to make merit, and education for the community. Laypeople and monks have an intertwined relationship with monks relying on laypeople for almsgiving and laypeople relying on monks for their religious expertise and ability to perform rituals. In the United States, there were limited opportunities for the Thai Buddhists to replicate most of their religious practices without a temple or ordained monks. As the Thai community increased in size in the Tampa area, the need for a Theravada Buddhist temple arose. Like other Thai Buddhist temples in the United States, the temple was initiated with the migration of monks, who were educated and ordained in Thailand, to the prospective location of the temple. Presently, the monks at Wat Mongkolratanaram are a part of a Thai missionary program, which continues to send Thai monastics to the United States.
“Thai people want to have a Thai temple.”
Thai monk Thana Chintanam at Wat Mongkolratanaram
King of Thailand & Thai Buddhism
The creation of Wat Mongkolratanaram was sponsored by the King of Thailand, who acts not only as the head of state, but also the upholder of Buddhism in Thailand. The king operates as a spiritual leader for Thai Buddhists and is symbolically associated with the image of the Buddha. Not only does the king lead the religious community, he is also seen as the protector of the sangha, specifically the clergy. Wat Mongkolratanaram displays the prominent influence of the kingship on Thai Buddhism with its creation of the Main Temple, Ubosoth, which was built in 2005. The Main Temple was built in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 80th birthday and has front and back tympanums with emblems of the Thai Queen. Furthermore, in 2007, Wat Mongkolratanaram was the first US temple to receive the highest honor, the donation of a monk’s orange robes by the King, called Thot Kathin. While all robe presentation ceremonies are significant, the presentation of royal robes is especially revered. Unlike many other Buddhist communities in the United States, Wat Mongkolratanaram and other Thai temples do not hinge upon a specific teacher or founder, but instead are established to mirror religious life in Thailand.
The Theravada Tradition & Wat Mongkolratanaram
Wat Mongkolratanaram follows the Theravada tradition, which claims to be the oldest and most closely associated school with the original teachings of the Buddha. Most of the practices at Wat Mongkolratanaram are centered around Theravada practices, which hinges on an understanding of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and practice of meditation to achieve enlightenment. The Four Noble Truths serve as a cornerstone to all Buddhist teachings and achieving enlightenment, including at Wat Mongkolratanaram. The Four Noble Truths along with the study of the Eightfold Path is taught and studied by monks at the temple. The monks at Wat Mongkolratanaram aim to gain wisdom through right understanding and aspiration, morality through right speech, action, and livelihood, and concentration through right effort, mindfulness, and concentration. All three, wisdom, morality, and concentration, are necessary to achieve enlightenment according to the Theravada tradition. Meditation is a common practice to achieve these attributes because it trains the mind to become pure and calm in order to understand the essence of Buddha’s teachings, which is to see the impermanence of all things and our lack of self, which is the path towards enlightenment
“Chanting makes me feel better, feel good.”
Thai monk Suphat Kongkham at Wat Mongkolratanaram
Meditation
Insight meditation is the common form of meditation practiced at Wat Mongkolratanaram. The temple offers guides on the purpose and practice of meditation, as well as chanting and generic meditation workshops. Chanting is another important part of Theravada tradition, which various Wat Mongkolratanaram monks have spoken on and the temple provides common Buddhist chants on their website. Like meditation, chanting is a way to cultivate mindfulness and are typically some type of sutra.
The Three Jewels
Another important aspect of Theravada tradition, which is prominent in the practices at Wat Mongkolratanaram, is the focus on the “Three Jewels” or “Threefold Refuge” of Buddhism, which consists of the sangha, or Buddhist community, the Buddha, and Dharma, or teachings of Buddha. This idea essentially highlights how Buddhists should “take refuge” in these three to commit to a path in line with the Buddha. Like in other Theravada temples, Wat Mongkolratanaram only permits monastics to perform religious rituals and practices, but most are open for the public to attend. Some practices performed by monks at the temple include daily chanting, chanting services which are open to the public on Sundays, holiday traditions, and luck or “enhance your life” ceremonies. In line with Theravada tradition, services at Wat Mongkolratanaram are performed in Pali, which is the language the earliest written Buddhist canon, or Tipiṭaka, was recorded in. The focus on education and the roles of monks Wat Mongkolratanaram represents how this center is largely reliant on many Theravada principles and has stayed away from many Western deviations of Buddhism.
Monastic & Lay Community
Monks at Wat Mongkolratanaram abide by their precepts, or vinaya, taken at their ordination in Thailand, which is displayed by their shaved heads, orange robes, and two meals a day. The temple’s commitment to Theravada tradition is further represented by the temple’s reliance on offerings, or almsgiving. Admission to Wat Mongkolratanaram and its religious services, workshops, and educational opportunities are all free of charge to the public, but offerings are customary. Like many other Buddhist temples, Wat Mongkolratanaram is reliant on offerings from its visitors for all its needs. While the offerings support the temple and allow monks to study the teachings of Buddha full time, this practice also poses benefits for lay people. Providing offerings is a way to make merit or karmic virtue as temples are a “field of merit” generated by monastic practices. The public is able to give offerings to the temple at all times, but this is especially common during chanting services and holiday celebrations.
Practices, Services, Holidays, & More at Wat Mongkolratanaram
The majority of the Wat Mongkolratanaram community is composed of Thai-Americans. While the temple was originally founded to be the heart of the Thai community in Florida, it is open to anyone. To continue its connection to Thai practices and cultures, Wat Mongkolratanaram works in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University to send Thai teachers to the US to teach children about Thai language, culture, and practices through a summer school program, in addition to its relationship with the Thai missionary program. Similar to temples and monasteries in Thailand, Wat Mongkolratanaram functions as an educational center for youth, but it also provides educational opportunities for adults. In addition to its summer school program, the temple hosts Sunday school programs for all ages and various educational materials available both online and in person. Throughout the year, the temple also hosts a variety of workshops on Buddhist teachings, including chanting practices and guided meditation.
Holidays
Throughout the year Wat Mongkolratanaram celebrates various Thai and Buddhist holidays including the Songkran Festival and the Kathina Ceremony, which are two holidays representative of the continuation of Theravada practices within American society. The Songkran Festival is held each year at the beginning of the traditional New Year, which is in mid April, where Thai Buddhists traditionally give alms to monks to make merit and then children go to visit elders to pay their respects. In addition to these practices, scented water is then sprayed on images of the Buddha in the afternoon, which is done to receive blessings for the new year. The Kathina Ceremony is held in November to mark the end of the “rains retreat,” which is a Theravada tradition that started during the time of Buddha himself. In this ceremony, monastics are presented with new robes because during the time of the Buddha, the robes of monks were damaged due to the heavy rain during their months of intensive meditation. These are just a few of the numerous celebrations held at Wat Mongkolratanaram, which forge cultural and religious bonds within the community through enduring cultural and religious practices.
Photos from the Songkran Festival
Wat Mongolratanaram & tampa
While the vast majority of the constituency of Wat Mongkolratanaram are Thai-Americans, the temple has gained a significant amount of attention from the Tampa community as a whole. Wat Mongkolratanaram advertises that all of their services and workshops are open to the public and the temple also offers public tours. Recently, social media accounts and websites from Wat Mongkolratanaram have pointed to a persistent and growing interest from the general public in the temple’s practices and Buddhist teachings. Wat Mongkolratanaram has gained a reputation within the Tampa community for its friendliness towards newcomers and welcoming nature. To help cultivate more interest and make Buddhist practice more accessible, Wat Mongkolratanaram provides various online resources, which are accessible to anyone. These resources provide basic information for any individual interested in becoming involved in the temple community or learning about Theravada Buddhism, but the temple offers even more in person.
Charity Sunday Markets
However, it is Wat Mongkolratanaram’s Thai Charity Sunday Markets, which are hosted weekly that best demonstrate this attitude and have earned the temple a significant amount of media attention in recent years. Every Sunday, members of the Wat Mongkolratanaram community cook all sorts of Thai food and sell it at the temple, where all proceeds go back to Wat Mongkolratanaram to continue supporting the monastics who reside there and the upkeep of the temple. These weekly markets have generated hundreds across the community to come each weekend to the temple and even gained notice of various travel guides and local news channels. The large number of visitors generates a large volume of donations for the temple but has also provided the Tampa community with an introduction to Buddhist practices leading to increased interest. Wat Mongkolratanaram serves as a religious and cultural center for the Thai community, but has also become a hub for cultural dialogue in Tampa.
By Logan Bullock
Sources
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