Full Circle

I am lucky enough to have the Most Venerable Phra Suthithammanuwat Thiab as my Pali Professor at Mahachulalongkorn University. As well as being the dean of the Buddhist Studies Department, Most Venerable Phra Thiab is also a skilled Pali scholar and an expert of linguistics.

Most Venerable Phra Suthithammanuwat Thiab is also a resident monk at the world famous Wat Pho, where American President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited on their trip to Thailand in 2012. Here is a  short video of the visit.

Here I am, with my classmates, next to Most Venerable Phra Suthithammanuwat Thiab after a tiring day of Pali lessons.

Most Venerable Phra Suthithammanuwat Thiab also taught my father  many years ago. I was raised Buddhist by my father and have been close to Mahachulalongkorn University my whole life. The Buddhist temple I went to as a child was Wat Buddhawararam in Denver, Colorado, which is a missionary branch of Mahachulalongkorn University. When I went off to college, my father moved to Bangkok and became a Buddhist Studies lecturer at the university (just as I am now) where Most Venerable Phra Thiab instructed him in Pali as well.

Life... comes full circle.