Dhamma Path Blog: Visiting Wat SamPhao Choei (BE2567) ~ Pay Respect To LP Thong ~ Pattani

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Visiting Wat SamPhao Choei (BE2567) ~ Pay Respect To LP Thong ~ Pattani - Thailand.

Wat SamPhao Choei (where the late LP Thong resided) located in the most dangerous area in southern Thailand of Pattani and is also one of the three most chaotic state capitals in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. This area related to the South Thailand insurgency unrest. Currently the violence started to subsided and more peace in this areas.

Temple Gate of Wat SamPhao Choei. Former for this temple place was originally a vast ocean. After experiencing changes in the earth's crust, it gradually emerged from the water and became a piece of land. The wreckage of several ancient Chinese commercial sailing ships was discovered in this village, so it was named "Baan Sam Phao", which means sailing ship village. Wat SamPhao Choei was originally named Wat ThuSamPhao and was built on the site where the sailboat sank in BE2444. Later, a county magistrate named "Choei" first went to the Buddhist temple to pray for blessings when he took office. His found that the Buddhist temple was too close to the sea and there was a great danger of flooding. So it was decided to move the Buddhist temple into the village, which is where the temple is now. The villagers were deeply impressed when they saw the country magistrate working hard for the Buddhist temple. So after discussions between the villagers and the temple committee, they decided to praise the county magistrate's achievements and put the country magistrate's name after the temple name, that is, after Wat SamPhao, the county magistrate's name "Choei" was added, so the current name came into being.

The old Temple Bell Tower and Pavillion for Phra Buddha statue.

The temple Ubosot of Wat SamPhao Choei.

Photo taken at front and back side of Ubosot, the door was closed during my visited.

Pagoda Dhamma Chedi Silamongkol.

The Sala building of Wat SamPhao Choei.

The funeral ceremony was hold at that time.

The temple kuti building.

Mini Museum of Wat SamPhao Choei, closed during my visited

Blessing place and amulet counter building.

Photo taken inside the counter amulets.

The Wealth Ship of LP Thong (top) and portrait with some catalogs.

LP Thong took over as the abbot of the temple in BE2491 and passed away in BE2554. LP Thong was born on April 5, BE2461 in the Buddhist calendar, and his name was In Thong. He was very studious since he was a child, and often went to the temple to find scriptures to recite. The monks saw that he was so studious and were happy to teach him. LP Thong also has a strong learning ability and can recite scriptures with a photographic memory. He became a novice monk in the Buddhist calendar BE2477. On June 27, the Buddhist calendar BE2482, he officially became a monk at Wat Dom TewanOou. Wat SamPhao Choei presided over PhraKru Vitawat as the ordainer.

Luang Phor Thong established a Thai language school to provide nearby children with the opportunity to receive education. Moreover, if any family encounters difficulties, they will come to Luang Phor Thong and receive assistance, especially financial assistance. Therefore, nearby believers respect Luang Phor Thong very much. Because he responded to all requests, the villagers renamed the master Luang Phor Thong, because "Thong" means gold. The master is indeed very good at attracting wealth, and is definitely worthy of the title "Thong", so he is regarded as the "Southern Thailand Wealth Monk" by believers in southern Thailand.

Photo taken with altar with many statues and LP Thuad and portrait of LP Thong.

The right hand side is the statue of LP Thuad Nuang and the dog & cat. The story started when LP Thong studied meditation techniques from many eminent monks, and also followed many monks into the mountains to practice ascetic discipline. Once in the mountains and forests, he met a practitioner dressed in white. The two discussed the method of meditation with each other. From the conversation, they learned that the white-clothed practitioner was definitely an ordinary person, so they learned meditation from him. This white-clothed practitioner taught LP Thong a technique, which is to summon all spirits to communicate from meditation, that is, the technique of summoning spirits. After LP Thong returned to the temple Wat SamPhao Choei, he practiced the spirit summoning technique diligently.

After a period of practice, one day while practicing in the Buddha's house, an old monk suddenly appeared. The old monk had a kind face. The question came from where did the old monk come from? The old monk said: "I have never left, so how do I know where I came from?" LP Thong was confused for a while, and asked: "Where is your master from?" Seeing the sincerity on LP Thong's face, the old monk also said out of one's own origin. It turns out that the old monk came from Ayutthaya period and was born in BE2073 in the Buddhist calendar (earlier than Luang Phor Thuad) and he was a good friend of Luang Phor Thuad (Wat ChangHai). When he was in middle age, the Burmese army was attacking. With a patriotic heart, he decided to put on white clothes and white trousers and devote himself to fighting the enemy. He used the magic skills he learned to help the soldiers avoid swords and guns, and marched forward bravely, defeating the Burmese army and retreating back to Burma. After helping the country against the enemy, the old monk put on his cassock again, and his achievements were praised by the King at that time, and he was named the Monk Emperor of Ayutthaya. When the old monk reached old age, he decided to take off all his monastic badges, return to his identity as an ordinary monk, and go out to sea on a boat to find a quiet place to practice.

Later, he came to a small island in southern Thailand. The old monk climbed up the mountain to live and went down the mountain regularly every day to beg for alms. However, the mountain road is steep and the body is often bruised and bloody. Once, the old monk scratched his arm. The wound became inflamed and could not heal, and a lot of pus flowed out. Due to the underdeveloped medical technology at the time, worms soon appeared in the wound. However, the old monk was compassionate and insisted not to dig out the worms, because if they were dug out, they would have no place to live and would die, so the old monk allowed the worms to survive in the wound. When the old monk went down the mountain to ask for alms, the villagers saw worms crawling around the old monk's wound, so they called the old monk "Luang Phor Thuad Nuang". "Thuad" means his great-grandfather, means a respected elder, "Long Phor Thuad" is a respected holy monk, and is an honorific title for the old monk. The free translation of "Nuang" is "worm". He was a very compassionate monk who raised two domestic animals, a dog and a cat. Every morning, when LP Thuad Nuang goes down the mountain to beg for alms, they will follow him down the mountain and help pick up some things and bring them up the mountain. In the later stage, Master Chong was too ill to go down the mountain to beg for alms in person, so the puppy went down the mountain to beg for alms with the Buddha's bowl in its mouth, and the kitten followed. When the villagers saw the puppy biting the Buddha's bowl, they knew that the puppy was LP Thuad Nuang pets. Those who came to ask for alms put food into the Buddha's bowl. Some idle villagers will personally bring food to the mountain to feed LP Thuad Nuang. However, suddenly there were no puppies or kittens coming down the mountain to ask for help for several days, so the villagers started talking a lot, thinking that LP Thuad Nuang must have encountered something unexpected, and decided to go up the mountain to look for LP Thuad Nuang. When they arrived at the mountain, they saw LP Thuad Nuang sitting on a big stone in meditation. When the villagers came to express their condolences, they found that LP Thuad Nuang was unresponsive. It turned out that LP Thuad Nuang had already passed away. So the villagers immediately prepared for the funeral arrangements.

They moved big stones from the mountain and arranged them next to the Master's Dharma Body. They mixed honey and lime powder to seal LP Thuad Nuang's Dharma Body and built it into a square spiritual pagoda. A few days later, LP Thuad Nuang's puppies and kittens also lay quietly beside the tower and died. Since the master passed away, the puppies and kittens were unwilling to eat and followed the master faithfully. After the old monk finished explaining his origin, he even told LP Thong that his place of residence was Kao Maluar, the mountain behind the Buddhist temple. The old monk said that he often visited this temple, but unfortunately he had no place to stay. If he could stay here, he could teach LP Thong many spells. So LP Thong decided to cast a statue of the old monk and enshrine it in the temple. LP Thong also learned a lot of magic from the old monk. Not long after the statue of LP Thuad Nuang was cast, there were often sounds of dogs barking and kittens meowing near the statue, and they kept wandering around the temple. So LP Thong consulted the old monk through channeling and learned that it turned out to be the puppies and kittens raised by the master when he was alive. When they learned that he was stationed here, they came to accompany the old monk. After LP Thong learned about it, he felt that he should make more statues of these two little animals, so he cast statues of puppies and kittens and enshrined them next to the statue of LP Thuad Nuang. From then on, the sounds of dogs barking and kittens meowing was never heard from again.