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Crossing the Border from Arizona to Thailand, at Wat Promkunaram

Sunday morning, March 5, 2006, I had one day off from work and school. It was a good day to wander around and do my research on the “border” inside Phoenix. I cooked some foods that I could bring to the Buddhist temple. I got ready and headed to the west side of the town with two friends, one guy is Thai and another lady is Japanese. Of course, I am Thai and I am also Buddhist. Our destination was “Wat Promkunaram (Temple Promkunaram)” which is located at 17212 W. Maryland Ave. Waddell, AZ 85355.  The place could be called “The Phoenix Border with Southeast Asia”. Much like Latin American markets around Phoenix serve as meeting places for Hispanics, Wat Promkunaram is a place for Southeast Asians to meet each other.

According to the monks’ rules, monks can get food only from Buddhists who want to make a merit. Monks are not supposed to cook or buy food. That’s the reason why I brought food to the temple so I can provide them lunch. There are three monks who live at the Buddhist temple at this time.  After all three monks finished their lunch. I had a chance to talk to one of them, Abbot Winai. He was born and raised in Thailand and became a monk when he was 16 years old. He first started as a Buddhist missionary abroad in 1984 in the Netherlands after he finished his religious studies. In 1987, he moved to Los Angeles, CA to work at the Thai Los Angeles Temple.

Unfortunately, an unexpected tragedy happened at Wat Promkunaram on Aug 10, 1991, very early in the morning. All nine residents of the temple were shot to death in Wat Promkunaram without reason. Abbot Winai was consequently appointed to be an Abbot at Wat Promkunaram in Phoenix since then.

Generally, I learned from Abbot Winai that Wat Promkunaram was established informally in July 24, 1984 by Thai, Laotians, Cambodian, and American Buddhists. Eventually, Wat Promkunaram was registered as a non-profit organization on August 25, 1983. The purposes of establishing this temple were, first to encourage the practice of religious activities, also to support child/adult education, culture and traditions. Second, Wat Promkunaram is to be a place where all Buddhists can get together and exchange their opinions about Buddhism and also they might be able to help developing this temple for the betterment of others. Lastly, this temple can be used for religious ceremonies. After I have heard about the purpose of building this temple I was wondering if they still remain in contact with any organizations in Thailand and if they get financial support from homeland. I got an answer from Abbot Winai who told me that since the establishment of the temple, the monks and the Temple board of Direction received much guidance and advice from Lord Abbot of Wat Sra Kesh in Bangkok and members of Thai Sang Council in Thailand.

            According to “Holy Communion: An Interview with John File by Lenore Yarger”, he wrote how John Fife and his congregation helped refugees from Central America. Yarger explained how North America Christian can help immigrants (Yarger, 76). However, in the case of Thai people and the temple in America, Thai people need to help the Thai temple. For example, monks have to adhere to 227 rules after devoting themselves to be a monk. There are some rules that are not practical while staying abroad. Monks are not allowed to cook. They can only eat what is given from people. But the fact is that here in the US nobody is going to the temple everyday. It is hard for them to live their lives the same as the monks in Thailand due to all the lack of facilities and inconvenience here. I think Thai people should do something to support the Buddhist temple, at least providing the basic needs to the monks.

            In 1992, The Thai Association of Arizona was established by Mr. Prapuk Wuthikrai. The members get together by meeting once a week on Sunday at the Thai Temple "Wat Promkunaram". All members volunteered time to help others in the Thai community. Until 1994, the community registered the association as a non-profit organization. The mission of the association is to strengthen the Thai community living in Arizona.

            In order to maintain Thai culture and traditions, the Thai Association of Arizona always creates activities to help Thai people get involved with their community. For example, Thai New year, April 13-15 of every year, they have “Song Kran Festival” at which is provided Thai traditional foods and a beauty pageant just for fun. For Buddhism religious days, they always have activities in order to unite people to participate in important ceremonies. In the near future, they are going to have “Thai class” activities including learning Thai language, Thai Dancing, and Thai Boxing. The volunteer teachers will come from Thailand to Wat Promkunaram. I am really glad that even though we Thai people are far away from our homeland we are still united and retain our culture in a foreign country.

            The reason why Thai people came all this way to live in Arizona is for a better quality of life. Similar to Maquiladoras inMexico, discussion by Rick Ufford-Chase (International Director, Borderlinks) from the article “Glimpsing the Future: Why Christian must resist the global economy”, there are factories and sweat shops that operated by foreign company in Thailand. Did you know that GAP, NIKE or Abercrombie Fitch have factories in Thailand? To produce the products in Thailand it is much cheaper than in America because of the lower wages. Therefore, like many Mexican migrants some Thai people come to the U.S. for a better life.