Bour Kry

Bour Kry
Samdech Preah Sanghareach Bour Kry at Wat Khémararam
Religion	Buddhism
School	Theravada
Lineage	Dhammayuttika Nikaya
Personal
Nationality	Cambodian
Born	(1945-01-11) January 11, 1945 (age 72) Battambang, French Indochina
Senior posting
Title	Sangharaja
Predecessor	Chuon Nath

Samdech Preah Sanghareach Bour Kry (Khmer: បួរ គ្រី, IPA: [ɓuə kriː]) (born January 11, 1945) is the seventh and current Supreme Patriarch of the Thammayut order of Cambodia.

Bour Kry was born in Battambang and was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1963. His early years in the monkhood were devoted to the study of the Pali Canon. In the following years, he was given the spiritual post of Secretary of the Mekon and appointed to the head of a monastery on the Thai-Cambodian border.

The rise to power of the Khmer Rouge in 1975 began a grim and violent period for the country, and the existence of the Cambodian Sangha was put in critical danger. Bour Kry managed to flee, arriving in France in 1976. In 1977, he founded the Association Bouddhique Khmer (Khmer Buddhist Association) with a small group of expatriate monks and laypersons. The growth of this religious community in the following years led to the establishment of Vatt Khémararam at Créteil, a suburb of Paris, in 1980. Bour Kry's continued support for the Southeast Asian refugee community saw the foundation of Secours Bouddhique International (International Buddhist Assistance), a humanitarian organization independent of the monastery, in 1982.

Prince Norodom Sihanouk appointed Bour Kry to the rank of Spiritual Eminence (Khmer: សម្តេចព្រះអង្គគ្រូ) in 1987. Following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 1991, King Norodom Sihanouk further appointed Bour Kry to the head of the Cambodian Buddhist Dhammayuttika order with the title of Supreme Patriarch (Khmer: សម្តេចព្រះសុគន្ធាធិបតី).