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Wat Tham Krabok ((タイ語:วัดถ้ำกระบอก), literally ''Temple of the Bamboo Cave'') is a Buddhist temple (wat) in Thailand, located in the Phra Phutthabat district of Saraburi Province, Thailand. The temple was first established as a monastery in 1957 by the Buddhist nun Mian Parnchand (generally known as Luang Por Yai) and her two nephews, Chamroon and Charoen Parnchand, who had both ordained as monks at Wat Khlong Mao in Lopburi Province, Thailand. Luang Por Chamroon, a former Thai policeman, was the first abbot, although Wat Tham Krabok is not officially a Buddhist temple, but is a "Samnak Song", because it follows the teachings of Luang Por Yai, a woman. Still, the entrance claims it is a temple or Wat. The temple is majestic in its appearance, with two elephants supporting a globe marking its entrance. There are many large Buddha images on the temple grounds. ==Hmong refugees== Following the end of the Vietnam War, in the late 1970s, Wat Tham Krabok hosted Hmong refugees in a camp on its grounds, most of whom fled Laos alleging that they were persecuted by the communist government that has ruled Laos since 1975. Many thousands of the Laotian and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers at Wat Tham Krabok had also sought refuge at the Temple after fleeing forced repatriation efforts at other refugee camps in Thailand, because they did not want to return to the Marxist government in Laos that they fled. More Lao and Hmong refugees continued to arrive and seek sanctuary at Wat Tham Krabok until over 15,000 Hmong were eventually allowed, after a long policy battle in both the United States and Thailand, to go to the USA in 2004 and 2005 as political refugees, instead of being forced back to Laos. In the late 1970s Wat Tham Krabok, and particularly its abbot, Luang Por Chamroon, supported the Hmong armed resistance against the Lao PDR government, particularly the Neo Hom led by General Vang Pao and other Laotian leaders, independent Chao Fa groups, and one sub-faction of the Chao Fa led by Pa Kao Her.〔 The Hmong were United States war allies in the Secret War against the communist Pathet Lao, the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. When several Thailand-based Hmong refugee camps closed due to a lack of financial support in the early 1990s, Lao and Hmong refugees in Thailand fled to the temple to avoid repatriation to Laos. The population at the temple quickly grew to about 35,000, although it later declined significantly. Starting in 1993, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis, or The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, (CPPA), and its Executive Director, Philip Smith, made over seven research missions to Wat Tham Krabok and Laotian and Hmong refugee camps in Thailand. Philip Smith, the CPPA, and the Lao Veterans of America, repeatedly conducted U.S. Congressional-backed research missions about the horrific plight of Laotian and Hmong refugees fleeing forced repatriation and human rights violations in communist Laos and Thailand. These joint U.S. Congressional and CPPA research missions sought to review policy developments in Thailand and Laos, and to convey humanitarian offers of support and assistance to the head Buddhist abbott, temple monks, and Hmong and Laotian refugee leaders, from Members of Congress and international human rights organizations. For over a decade, prominent Members of Congress, in bipartisan fashion, also supported U.S. Congressional-backed research missions by Philip Smith and the CPPA to Wat Tham Krabok, and the Laotian and Hmong refugee camps, along the Mekong River and Thai-Lao border. Support for these missions came from a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress, including U.S. Congressman Steve Gunderson (Republican-Wisconsin), U.S. Congressman Bruce Vento (D-Minnestoa), U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) and others. The findings of these missions were frequently discussed in news stories, and at sessions of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos held in the U.S. Congress and Library of Congress 〔Bartl, Tim, Office of U.S. Congressman Steve Gunderson, and Phillip Smith, Center for Public Policy Analysis, "Report to the Congress of the United States: Fact Finding Mission to Thailand Regarding the Status of Hmong/Lao Refugees and Asylum Seekers - December 28, 1994 to January 2, 1995" Washington, D.C.: House of Representatives, 1995.〕〔"Center for Public Policy Analysis (3 January 1993),"Laos, Hmong Refugee Crisis: U.S. Congressional Research Missions to Wat Tham Krabok and Lao and Hmong Refugee Camps in Thailand" http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org〕〔Barber, Ben, Washington Times (22 April 1996)"3,500 Laotians head for U.S. after 20 years in Thailand" http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-56867976.html〕〔Bivins, Larry, USA TODAY / Gannett News, (12 May 2011) "Hmong veteran calls for GI benefits" http://www.armytimes.com/article/20110512/NEWS/105120336/Hmong-veteran-calls-GI-benefits〕 Wat Tham Krabok and its Hmong refugees drew global attention in the late-1980s and mid-1990s, as they became the subject of a major global political debate over their future, and the future of Lao and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. The government of Thailand, with support from the United Nations and the Clinton administration, sought to repatriate the Lao-Hmong at Wat Tham Krabok back to the communist regime in Laos that the Lao-Hmong refugees fled. This effort drew opposition from several human rights groups, and some key Hmong organizations. Lao and Hmong human scholar and advocate, Dr. Vang Pobzeb, of the Wisconsin and Minnesota-based Lao Human Rights Council, participated in a number of research missions with Philip Smith and The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, as well as U.S. Congressional offices,including U.S. Congressmen Bruce Vento and Steve Gunderson, to the Lao and Hmong refugee camps in Thailand and to Wat Tham Krabok during the 1980s and 1990s.〔("Acts of Betrayal: Persecution of Hmong", by Michael Johns, ''National Review'', October 23, 1995. )〕 U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and others in the U.S. Senate were active in raising concerns about egregious human rights violations in Laos and the plight of Lao and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers who fled Laos to refugee camps in Thailand and to Wat Tham Krabok. Michael Johns, a former Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst and aide to former President George H. W. Bush, helped oppose the forced repatriation, labeling it a "betrayal," since many Hmong had aided the United States during the Secret War.〔 While some Hmong were repatriated, most were resettled to the United States in 2004 and 2005, most moving to the U.S. states of Minnesota, California, and Wisconsin. There are presently only a couple of Hmong families living at Wat Tham Krabok. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wat Tham Krabok」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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