THE THAI BUDDHIST TRUST OF
CHRISTCHURCH

WAT BUDDHA SAMAKHEE CHRISTCURCH

วัดพุทธสามัคคี ไครส์ทเชิร์ช นิวซีแลนด์

History

Wat Buddha Samakhee temple was built with the faith of Buddhists, including Thais, Cambodians, Laos, and the faith of Buddhists of all nationalities. Hence the origin of the name means "Unity of Buddhists"

Counting back to September 1998, a Thai person who was settled with his family in Christchurch, New Zealand for a long time passed away. The relatives had to invite monks from Wellington far away to travel to perform a merit-making ceremony and preachings to soothe the souls of relatives who lost him, from that event it became a driven force and faith of desiring to have a Thai temple in Christchurch to be used to perform religious ceremonies as the center of the mind of the Buddhist, then agreed to build a temple on behalf of a Buddhist group called “The Thai Buddhist Trust of Christchurch”

On November 6, 1998, “Phra Kru Thammathorn Setthakit Samahito” (currently Phra Kittisoponavithes Abbot of Wat Nakprok, Phasi Charoen, Bangkok), who was a religious fellowship missionary monk of the Thai Sangha Assembly in the United States. He was invited to come and teach meditation at a Mahayana Buddhist temple of the Chinese people, and while he was walking across the road one day, Thai people living there who were not familiar saw him and came to pay respect to him. They had a little discussion about the Dharma and then invited him for lunch at a Thai restaurant. After lunch, they spoke about their desire to have a temple in Christchurch In which he gave advice on building a temple by studying the laws of the country as well.

with his compassionate mind, he then took the burden to establish a temple here as well. Then he traveled back to Thailand, to pay homage to the most venerable "Phra Sophonthammawong" (Phra Thep Wisutthaphon (now deceased), Abbot of Wat Intharawihan, Bang Khun Phrom, Bangkok, to let him be one of the forces and preside over the construction of the temple along with many venerable monks joined as a consultant in the construction of this temple.

When the preparation was complete, the Pha-pa ceremony was set to raise funds for the construction of the temple for the first time on December 20, 1998. After the ceremony was finished the board meeting was held. The meeting resolved to provide a place to build a temporary temple first. Therefore, he signed a contract to buy a house to use as a temporary temple on May 5, 1999, and received grace from the most venerable Phra Sophonthammawong and named the temple “Wat Buddha Samakhee”, a temple built from the unity of international Buddhists.

Until the Board of The Thai Buddhist Trust of Christchurch has already chosen a suitable place for the permanent construction of the temple. It was then agreed to set up a remittance fund for the construction of the temple, and requested a loan of 350,000 New Zealand dollars from the Bank of New Zealand to build Wat Buddha Samakhee temple on April 28, 2000, and continued the construction of the ordination hall (Uposatha), monks residence, and other buildings until it was complete. Therefore, the Thai Buddhist Organization in Christchurch and Wat Buddha Samakhee temple was the owner of the place completely, with the purpose of using temple in performing rituals, Thai traditional culture, and the important thing was to make a center of propagating Buddhism and teachings of the Buddha in the cold land, like "planting lotus on a snowfield" to spread and flourish throughout the South Pole.