By Arjanyai
Wat Dhammaram ‘The Thai Buddhist Temple' is the legal English name as it appears in the Certificate of Incorporation granted by the Department of State of Illinois to the Thai Buddhist temple in Chicago. The name came into legal effect on May 17, 2519/1976, which is the date of the official establishment of the Temple. Later, the Temple was granted by His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand an honorary Thai name of ‘Wat Dhammaram' which the Temple usually uses as its popular name in publicizing its activities and circulating its publications in the Thai language.
The Thai Buddhist Temple in Chicago may serve as an example of the gradual development of a Thai Buddhist organization in the United States. Like New York City, Chicago is a big city where-a large number of Thai people, approximately the same number as in New York City, live, work and study. In 2512/1969, ‘The Thai Association of Greater Chicago' was founded to encourage and to coordinate the activities of Thai people and to maintain their unity. In the middle of 2515/1972, some groups of Thai Buddhist monks, on the way to visit places of interest and Thai communities in the United States, arrived at short intervals in Chicago. It was the "Thai Association of Greater Chicago" that took the responsibility for the reception of these first monk visitors. Merit-making ceremonies, sermons and talks were held at a Japanese temple where a surprisingly large number of people came to attend. Following this, Thai people in Chicago invited a monk from the Thai Temple in Los Angeles to officiate on occasions of religious observances, ceremonies and celebrations. Lacking a place for ceremonial assembly of their own, the ceremonies and celebrations had to be held at the Japanese temple which a number of Thai relied on for religious and spiritual purposes even before the coming of Thai Buddhist monks. At that time, Thai people in Los Angeles began to collect funds for the founding of a Thai temple in Los Angeles. To contribute to this meritorious effort, some Thai Buddhists in Chicago helped in collecting donations from devotees in Chicago and sent the donations to Los Angeles. All These events and activities led to more and more frequent meetings of devoted Buddhists until at last they decided that a Buddhist organization should be formed to take charge of providing arrangements, funds and other facilities for all Buddhist activities in Chicago. A period somewhat over one year from the middle of 2516/1973 to the later part of 2517/1974 saw the development of this organization from the conception of the idea through an informal organization into a legally full-fledged corporation. It was on September 13, 2517/1974 that the aforesaid group of Thai devoted lay Buddhists in Chicago had the organization filed under the General Not for Profit Corporation Act of the State of Illinois under the name of ‘The Thai Buddhist Center'.
Then, the Center further developed the idea of setting up a monks' residence, a so-called temple, in Chicago. Besides providing arrangements for Buddhist activities, the Center encouraged Thai people in Chicago and nearby areas to create such an establishment and collected funds, mainly through contributions, for this purpose. After a period of about two years, in spite of the effort and a large amount of collected funds, the dream of having a Thai monks' residence remained far from reality. Then, early in 2518/1975, the Center invited two Thai monks who at that time were staying at Vajiradhammapadip Temple in New York to come to conduct Buddhist activities and lead the people in the effort to found a Thai temple in Chicago.
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