On 16 August 2026, Thailand's King Rama X issued a royal command elevating Phra Thamma Vachiradilok (พระธรรมวชิรดิลก), deputy abbot of Bangkok's Wat Suthat Thepwararam Ratchaworamahawihan, to the ecclesiastical title Phra Phrom Vachiramuni (พระพรหมวชิรมุนี) and the senior administrative rank of Chao Khana Rong (เจ้าคณะรอง), a top-tier position within Thailand's Sangha administration. The appointment was published in the Royal Gazette on 17 August and reported by Thai outlets including Thai Post and Thairath; Phra Thamma Vachiradilok was one of 13 monks granted new royal ranks that day.
A Title Vacated by a Promotion to Somdej
The title Phra Phrom Vachiramuni had belonged to Wat Suthat's own abbot, the 85-year-old elder Cherd Jittakuto (เชิด จิตฺตคุตฺโต). On 14 July 2026, the King elevated eight senior monks to Somdej Phra Ratchakhana — the highest rank in the Thai Sangha — and Cherd was among them, receiving the title Somdej Phra Sutthanavachiramuni. That same batch included the British-born monk Phra Ajahn Chayasaro, who became the first foreign-born monk in Thai history to reach Somdej rank, a story we covered previously (see British-Born Monk Becomes First Foreign Somdej in Thai History). Cherd's promotion left the Phra Phrom Vachiramuni title open, and one month later it passed to his own deputy — a clean, single-temple line of succession.
Who Is Phra Thamma Vachiradilok
Born Saengthong Kaeopring on 20 April 1958 in Don Tako, Ratchaburi province, he was ordained as a novice on 1 May 1969 at Wat Mahathat in Uttaradit's Phichai district under preceptor Phra Khru Phichai Thammanurak. He went on to earn Pali Grade 9 (Parian Tham 9), the highest level in the Thai Sangha's Pali examination system, a distinction only a handful of monks nationwide achieve in any given year. He had served in senior administrative roles at Wat Suthat for decades, most recently as deputy abbot, before this promotion placed him among the temple's top leadership.
Why This Matters to Amulet Collectors
Wat Suthat is one of Bangkok's ten first-class royal temples and houses the Phra Sri Sakyamuni Buddha image brought from Sukhothai. For amulet collectors, the temple is best known as the birthplace of the Phra Kring Pavares (see our Phra Kring guide) — the medicine Buddha bell amulets cast under Supreme Patriarch Pae Tissadeva in the late 19th century, still regarded as one of the most prestigious and sought-after Phra Kring lineages in Thai amulet history.
This appointment does not involve any new amulet consecration, and there is no public record tying Phra Thamma Vachiradilok personally to amulet production. But successive abbots of Wat Suthat have historically served as institutional custodians of that legacy, and a smooth, well-documented succession at the top of a temple like this reinforces confidence in the authority behind any future ceremonies held there. For collectors tracking Thailand's lineage of great monks (see our guide to the Nine Great Monks of Thailand), Sangha leadership changes like this one are a useful signal for judging which temples carry ongoing institutional weight.