A Monk's Dream Comes to Life

Phra Viriyang’s connections with Canada began, once again, with a dramatic vision. It was in 1987 that he first dreamed of building a giant Buddha image from the strongest, most lasting material possible – jade – although the chances of finding a suitable block of sufficient size were remote to say the least.

Properly known as nephrite, jade was once considered more valuable than gold by the Chinese who refined the carving of it into a major art form during the Ming dynasty. Today, Canada is one of the few places left on earth where good quality nephrite can still be found and it was here that Phra Viriyang directed his search. He visited the country several times himself and urged his contacts there to continue looking for a solid piece large enough to create his Buddha statue. Despite their vigilance, nothing was found.

Then, on an auspicious day in November, 1991, as he was meditating, Phra Viriyang had another vision. This time, he saw an enormous jade boulder. Immediately, he informed one of his Canadian friends who in turn contacted Kirk Makepeace, president of Jade West Resources Ltd., the largest jade mining outfit in British Columbia. On a date coinciding with Phra Viriyang’s vision, a massive 32-ton jade block had been discovered more or less where he had pictured it – 10 metres below the waters of a river, 70 kilometres away from the nearest jade mine.

Within a week, Phra Viriyang accompanied by his disciple Chaiyot Sombuntham, set off for Canada where they inspected the jade boulder. Happily, they found it to be ideally suited to their purposes. Anxious to begin work on the sculpture, Phra Viriyang considered flying the boulder home to Thailand, but of course, due to its enormous size and weight, this was impossible and he had to settle for the more time-consuming sea voyage.