Temple bakery raises funds for new buildings

• 28 Sep 2016 WRITER: CHINNAWAT SINGHA Bangkok Post 
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Monks prepare their fresh baked bread buns for sale to visitors at Wat Phothiyan in Muang district of Phitsanulok. (Photos by Chinnawat Singha)

PHITSANULOK – Monks at Wat Phothiyan in Muang district have succeeded in a novel enterprise to raise funds for a new public building and a pollution-free crematorium at the temple.

The temple started baking bread four years ago with the target of raising 15 million baht for the project.

So far, the bakery has brought in six million baht in sales and donations and the public building is about 80% built. The temple plans to start work on the new crematorium next year.

The abbot, Phra Khru Sunthorn Rojanakhun, said the monks and some lay helpers produce around 400 buns each day for sale to visitors who want to feed fish in the Nan River, adjacent to the temple. Some also buy the bread to eat themselves.

This brings in 3,000-4,000 baht on weekdays and can be as high as 10,000 baht on weekends.

He said the intent was to provide bread for Buddhists who want to feed the fish. But the bread suppliers sometimes did not make a delivery, so the temple decided to bake its own buns. They make only one kind of bread, one flavour, known as Ros Phra Tham, which means “made by monks”. But the term in Thai is also a synonym for dhamma.

The abbot said the monk-made buns have helped the temple become a learning centre. Villagers and students learn the art of baking, and some people have taken it up as a way to earn a living. 

The monks of Wat Phothiyan in Muang district of Phitsanulok with their trays of fresh baked bread buns. (Photo by Chinnawat Singha)