Sayadaw Ajhan Vijhan Jayadhammo passed away at Bangkok’s Chawphya Hospital at the age of 76 and vasa of 56, having suffered from years of diabetes, hypertension, and heart problems.
Sayadaw was sent to the hospital after participating in an early morning chanting ceremony at Wat Chanasornkran.
“He [Sayadaw] was sent to [the] hospital as he was not feeling [well], after he had attended the chanting ceremony for the palace,” said a devotee, Nai Wonsa.
“The corpse of Sayadaw will be brought back to the Wat Prok on July 30th. According to [Thai] tradition, his corpse should be kept for 100 days for homage-paying, and then his cremation will be held. But, at the moment, the actual decision [for the cremation] has not been made yet,” said Nai Wonsa, in an interview with IMNA.
During Sayadaw’s 33 years serving Sarsana at Wat Prok, the temple has served as a popular location for Mon people to stay and meet when they visit Bangkok, says Sayadaw’s younger brother Nai Kalaw.
“Because Sayadaw put a lot of his efforts [into the] Mon people, Sarsana, and society, and when his name as Sayadaw Vijhan and [he is from] Wat Prok mentioned, there are no Mon people, who have been to Bangkok, [who] do not know him. And, the temple has also become the place where Mon students and Mon resistance groups [have met] since 1988, when they are in Bangkok,” said Nai Kalaw.
Sayadaw received higher ordination as a monk in 1958 at Wat Chedi Thong, in Pathum Thani district, Thailand. After obtaining two years of Vasa, he was then appointed as assistant abbot at Wat Prok, by the temple’s former abbot.
According to Nai Kalaw, after passing his Buddhist scriptures exam in Mon language, Sayadaw left for Thailand as a novice, to go into monsoon retreat; a sojourn taken during Buddhist lent.
Known as Min Yaing in his childhood, Sayadaw was the fifth of six children born to Nai Puu and Mi Law, from Kalawtaw Village, Mudon Township, Mon State. Sayadaw was first ordained as a novice monk in Hnee-padaw Village, Mudon Township.
