‘Left-field’ life: Briton becomes Thailand’s top foreign monk

BANGKOK, Sept 24 — From a working-class childhood on the southern English coast to the top foreign-born monk in Thailand, Shaun Chiverton’s quest for a better life has taken him further than most.

Five decades after he travelled to India to follow the Buddha’s teachings, the 68-year-old this summer became the first non-Thai to be elevated to the rank of Somdet Phra Rachakhana, or royal monastic leader — the second-highest level in Thailand’s monkhood.

“My father said, ‘Well, we always knew he’d do something weird, we just didn’t know what kind of weird it would be’,” the monk, now known as Ajahn (Teacher) Jayasaro, told AFP with a smile.

But he understood: “My dad said, ‘Look, I just want you to be happy’.”