Vajirananavarorasa - Middle Years, 1892-1910

Middle Years, 1892-1910

In 1892, Prince Pavareś died. Vajirañana became his successor as abbot of Wat Pavaraniveśa and as the patriarch of the Dhammayuttika order, while Sa Pussadevo became the new Supreme Patriarch.

On 1 October 1893, the Mahāmakuṭa Royal Academy (Mahamakut Buddhist University) was opened. Vajirañana now could carry out his reforms concerning the study of Pali and the Dhamma. Vajirañana wrote a Pali grammar and several textbooks. He also designed the university's curriculum. It consisted of secular subjects such as reading and writing Siamese, history, and some science beside religious studies and the preparation for the Pali exam, as the new academy also served the purpose of training monks to become teachers. In 1898, King Chulalongkorn ordered Prince Damrong and Vajirañana to find a possible solution for providing the whole country with a primary education. Due to the lack of money the solution was to let the educated monks be the teachers of the villages in the outer provinces. (This plan, however, was not further pursued after 1902.)

In 1894, Vajirañana opened the first Buddhist journal in Siam, the Dhammacakṣu ('Eye of Dhamma'). It contained news of the academy, articles on Buddhism, and sermons.

While the Mahāmakuṭa Royal Academy belonged to the Dhammayuttika order, King Chulalongkorn also strengthened the school of the Mahānikāya order in the Wat Mahādhātu which in 1896 became the Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University. The Sangha unity was also strengthened by the decision to hold the Pali examination in two sets: one at Mahamakuta Academy, where Vajirañana's new curriculum and a written examination format would be used, and one at the Grand Palace chapel, where the traditional oral translations would be heard.

The First Sangha Act of 1902 established a new administration of the Sangha in the whole country. (...)

In 1906 King Chulalongkorn raised Vajirañana's princely rank to krommaluang, although it was not royal custom to promote prince-monks until they reached advanced age. But Vajirañana should not be at a disadvantage in comparison with his brothers.

From 1900 to 1910 the position of Supreme Patriarch of Thailand remained vacant. Reynolds speculates that King Chulalongkorn didn't want to appoint a successor to the 9th Patriarch because a senior monk might have been too conservative to support the ongoing reforms, and Vajirañana might have been still too young to be able to assert his reforms against the will of the conservative senior monks.