Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana

Somdet Phra Ñāṇasaṃvara Somdet Phra Saṅgharāja Sakalamahāsaṅghapariṇāyaka (Charoen Suvaḍḍhano)
"Phra Sobhon Ganabhorn" (Suvaḍḍhano) in 1956
Religion	Buddhism
School	Theravada, Dhammayuttika Nikaya
Other names	Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Somdet Phra Yannasangwon
Dharma names	Suvaḍḍhano
Personal
Nationality	Thai
Born	(1913-10-03)3 October 1913 Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
Died	24 October 2013(2013-10-24) (aged 100) Bangkok, Thailand
Senior posting
Title	Supreme Patriarch of Thailand
Predecessor	Somdet Phra Sangharaja (Vasana Vasano)
Successor	Somdet Phra Sangharaja (Amborn Ambaro)
Signature

Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara (Thai: สมเด็จพระญาณสังวร; rtgs: Somdet Phra Yannasangwon; 3 October 1913 – 24 October 2013), né Charoen Khachawat (Thai: เจริญ คชวัตร) and dharma name Suvaḍḍhano (Thai: สุวฑฺฒโน), was the 19th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand. He was appointed to the position in 1989 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He turned 100 in October 2013, and died later the same month.

Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, the 19th monk since the reign of Rama I to hold the title of Supreme Buddhist Patriarch (Sangharaja) of Thailand, was born on 3 October 1913 in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand (at about 4 a.m., in the modern calendar, 4 October). As a child he was interested in religion and monastic life; it is said that, as a child, he liked dressing up like a monk, and giving 'sermons' to his friends and family. He completed the equivalent of the 5th grade at a temple school near his home, and was then ordained as a Buddhist novice (samanera) at the age of 14.

Instruction in Pali and other fundamentals of Buddhist education were not readily available in his home province (a common problem in Thailand during the early 20th century), so Somdet Nyanasamvara traveled to a temple at Nakhon Pathom, 70 km away, where he spent two years studying Pali and Buddhist philosophy. He then moved to Wat Bovoranives in Bangkok, an important temple in the emergent Dhammayutt Order (Thai: Thammayuttika) reform movement, where he completed his basic studies and completed the highest level of Pali studies then available.