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Thailand · TH

Wat Phra That Sila

Wat Phra That Sila (วัดพระธาตุศิลา) is an active Theravada Buddhist temple serving a farming village in Tambon Sum Sao, Amphoe Phen, in Udon Thani province. The name translates roughly as "Temple of the Stone Relic Stupa," and the wat belongs to the Mahanikaya order as a wat rat — a community temple maintained by local laypeople rather than a grand royal monastery. Its setting in the rice-country villages north-east of Udon Thani city gives it the quiet, everyday character of Isan village Buddhism. This is not a packaged tourist attraction but a living place of worship, home to a small resident sangha — five monks in residence for the 2024 rains retreat, led by the abbot Phra Athikan Haeng Chandako. Visitors come mainly to see how a local temple operates, to join merit-making, and especially during festivals such as the annual Kathin robe-offering, when the wat opens its gates to donors from the surrounding villages.

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Buddhist temple

Thailand · TH

Wat Phra That Sila

Wat Phra That Sila (วัดพระธาตุศิลา) is an active Theravada Buddhist temple serving a farming village in Tambon Sum Sao, Amphoe Phen, in Udon Thani province. The name translates roughly as "Temple of the Stone Relic Stupa," and the wat belongs to the Mahanikaya order as a wat rat — a community temple maintained by local laypeople rather than a grand royal monastery. Its setting in the rice-country villages north-east of Udon Thani city gives it the quiet, everyday character of Isan village Buddhism. This is not a packaged tourist attraction but a living place of worship, home to a small resident sangha — five monks in residence for the 2024 rains retreat, led by the abbot Phra Athikan Haeng Chandako. Visitors come mainly to see how a local temple operates, to join merit-making, and especially during festivals such as the annual Kathin robe-offering, when the wat opens its gates to donors from the surrounding villages.