In 1971, Venerable Phra Phimoldhamma, a noble venerable Buddhist Scholar of the Royal Academy of Thailand had made an observation and noted during his journey to Europe and the United States that, there was only one Thai Buddhist temple in United Kingdom and there was none in the United States. Venerable Phra Phimoldhamma also found out that there were many Thais and Western Buddhist followers that desperately need the place for worship, Buddhist Ceremony, Buddhist study, and many other religious activities. To fulfill these needs, he proposed to have the first Thai Buddhist temple to be constructed in Los Angeles, CA in 1972. Today, there are 112 temple members of the Council of Thai Bhikkhus in the U.S.A.
To maintain the utmost accurate adherents to Buddha’s Teachings and to establish the systematic order and disciplines by providing guidance of the old tradition Theravada Buddhism, the Venerable Thai monks in the United States have combined the efforts to established CTU to administer all Thai Buddhist temples in the United States.
The CTU is organized exclusively for one or more of the purposes as specified in Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES
The specific objectives and purposes of the CTU shall be:
- To establish policy, providing guidance, and continuously improving the principle practices of all Thai Buddhist Missionary monks and Thai temples in the United States
- To be the Center of Information for the exchange of Buddhist knowledge and culture.
- To establish the Thai Buddhist Centralize Administration for the purpose of working collaboratively with the Thai Supreme Buddhist Order of Thailand.
- To assist and giving guidance on Religion Ceremonies and Cultural Activities to the Thai temples in the United States.
- To provide hospitality and assistance to Thai Bhikkhus who visiting the US on the religious duties and Educational purposes.
- To foster and engaging in full cooperation with other Buddhist Traditions and other great religions in the United States through dialogue exchange, collaboration and understanding.
OUR VISION
To the Thai Buddhists, CTU is broadly recognized as one of the very important Buddhist organization in the United States of America. By spreading the word of Buddha, diffusing the moral conducts and pure principle knowledge of Dharmma will help and foster the young Buddhists to grow up and be a good citizen of the United States.
There is no country like USA on this beautiful planet of ours. The American culture set by our forefathers’ conducive to unmatched in inventiveness, science, etc., and extraordinary social responsibility. In this regards, all of us American have a role and responsibility to cultivate more goodness, virtue, and above all united at keeping/maintaining this PEACEFULL Society.