I am living not too far from this very interesting temple and was wondering if anyone has studied there or ordained there?

Huge Wiharn built in indian style ... and largeest jade Buddha?

Do you mean Wat Thamamongkon near Suk Roi nung?

Wat Thammamongkhon

Soi 101, Th Sukhumvit; skytrain On Nut to air-con bus No 507, 502

East of Bangkok, this 95m-high chedi resulted from a monk's vision. While meditating in 1991, Phra Viriyang Sirintharo saw a giant jade boulder; at around the same time a 32-tonne block of solid jade was discovered in a Canadian riverbed. Viriyang raised over US$500,000 to purchase the block and commissioned a 14-tonne Buddha sculpture (carried out by Carrara sculptors) to go in a pavilion at Thammamongkhon. An image of this magnitude deserved a massive chedi. The chedi, which contains a hair of the Buddha presented to Thailand by Bangladesh's Sangharaja (head of a Theravada monastic order), features a lift so you can ride to the top. The chedi's grand opening ceremony was held in 1993.

A leftover 10-tonne chunk of jade was carved into a figure of Kuan Yin (the Chinese Buddhist goddess of compassion). Smaller leftovers - a total of nearly eight tonnes - were made into amulets and sold to worshippers for US$20 each, to raise money for 5000 daycare centres throughout Thailand.

source: Lonely Planet

I met someone on the net who had done a 6-month meditation course there and said it changed her life.

You can find the full story of the jade Buddha at http://www.buddhanet.net/wat_m4.htm and a good photo at http://www.chimburi.com/thai23a.htm. In the photo below, the light makes the jade look almost black.

I wish the Italian sculptors had made the facial features a bit more "traditional."

Thanks ... have stopped by there a few times ... will look into courses and ordination there soon

and thank you for the rapid replies

Edited February 6, 200620 yr by jdinasia

I can see this WAT from my balcony every day..... does that qualify me to be a MONK now ?

I can see this WAT from my balcony every day..... does that qualify me to be a MONK now ?

If that were the case there would be a lot more monks in Thailand than there are ....