Ajarn Chum From family teachings to Khao Or
Ajarn Chum Chaikhiri was a lay teacher of the Khao Or tradition. His story encompasses Khun Phaen amulets and ritual demonstrations, but also years of monastic study, the gathering of scattered manuscripts, family life after disrobing and teaching in Bangkok. Making and distributing amulets alongside monks was another way his work reached pupils and devotees.
Biographical tradition connects Chum's family with Khun Chaikhiri of Phatthalung. One story places his birth during a gathering of local elders attended by his father. Phra Ajarn Khong of Wat Chai Mongkhon named him Chum, evoking that gathering. Another account describes royal ancestry, although the family line behind that claim remains unclear.
According to a childhood story, Chum began learning from his father at an early age. At five he could stop snakes and dogs from biting. Two years later, a friend of his father's visited with a gun, and the boy performed a ritual involving it. The gun is said to have burst when subsequently used. This is one of the accounts passed down about his childhood.
Biographical accounts place Chum's ordination and study under Phra Ajarn Khong at Wat Chai Mongkhon. Khun Phan helped him gain acceptance under Ajarn Iat of Wat Don Sala, and he also consulted Ajarn Pal. Iat was initially hesitant, accepting him after Khun Phan vouched for him. Khong Sirimato of Wat Ban Suan, with whom Chum maintained close contact and conducted ceremonies, was a different monk from his earlier teacher.
The biography also records Nak Tham Ek study, a reputation for preaching, and his collection and reorganisation of scattered Khao Or manuscripts for later learners.
Another apprenticeship story describes three years spent visiting and caring for an elderly teacher. The teacher repeatedly asked whether Chum trusted him before finally passing on two short incantations. Neither the teacher's name nor the year of instruction is given, but the account preserves the long period of attendance that preceded the teaching.
Practice and writing after the monkhood
Later Thai biography describes a married trader who retained a pattern of religious practice: wearing white during the rains retreat, seeking quiet in temples, caves or mountains, then gathering with pupils for teacher-honouring ceremonies and Kathin offerings. Leaving the monkhood did not, in this account, mean leaving his religious community.
After disrobing, the biography says, he married Bunsueb, who chiefly supported the household. They lived in Phatthalung before pupils helped them settle in Bangkok, eventually in their own home.
Alongside teaching and consecration, Chum also wrote about the tradition. A scholarly study of Khao Or's cultural heritage identifies his B.E. 2511–2512 book, *Creating Amulets for Free Distribution Nationwide*, as an early written record. The study says that the book used two local legends to organise Khao Or's history, named ten important teachers and their characteristic teachings, and included traditions concerning sesame oil, herbal bathing, black sticky-rice rites and herbal treatment. It therefore shows Chum working as a compiler of lineage stories and local knowledge as well as a participant in amulet work.
A recollection of his Bangkok teaching places the Samnak Kunchae Saiyasat school in his home at Saphan Khwai. It describes selective admission: students were expected to show maturity, genuine commitment and dependability, with an approximate age of twenty mentioned rather than immediate acceptance of every applicant.
Amulet distribution with temple networks
Historian Nonthawut Rachakhawi places a B.E. 2511 Khao Or amulet project within the Cold War. Chum appears among its organisers. Recipients included soldiers, police, officials, volunteers and people in troubled areas. This setting helps explain the objects' role as sources of reassurance and morale, alongside their religious significance.
Table 29 in another research report records twenty-two distributions in B.E. 2511–2512. Its Bangkok entry for 1 July B.E. 2511 lists 6,000 amulets for troops going to Vietnam, naming Chum alongside Khong of Wat Ban Suan as participants in this shared work.
The same local religious history describes 100,000 herbal-and-powder amulets made at Wat Ban Suan in B.E. 2511, depicting former Khao Or abbot Thong Thao and Kaccayana. Khong, Chum and other Khao Or practitioners also participated in a separate amulet-making ceremony in Chumphon.
Amulets returning from the Chao Phraya
A temple talk preserves another story: Chum pours 84,000 amulets into the Chao Phraya and waits at a temple for their return. Two remain missing; the local guardian spirit is said to have kept them. The speaker links the amulets to distribution to soldiers, without naming an issue or ceremony date.
Thepnimit amulets and a story of levitation
Thepnimit amulets carry stories of visionary guidance. An account passed among collectors associates a B.E. 2496 issue with Wat Banphot Phinit in Phatthalung. Its materials include offering flowers, moss from stupas and a Bodhi tree, and old amulet powder. In the accompanying tradition, the spirit of Khun Phaen's teacher Khong joins the ceremony through a medium.
One story tells of Chum asking his pupils to close their eyes during a consecration. A pupil peeks and sees amulets hanging in the air. When he asks for one, an amulet drops into his hand. The pupil's name is not preserved in the telling.
Another version, circulating in Chinese, tells of Chum dreaming of Khun Phaen's teacher and then seeking materials and making amulets under his guidance. Thai accounts also describe visions, but differ over who experienced them, the temple names and other details. The ancestral encounter belongs to the dream story, distinct from the instruction Chum received from teachers at temples.
Transmission within the family
Chum's son, Ajarn Narongrit Chaikhiri, also inherited the family teachings. A pupil's account describes him watching a lesson as a boy and asking to learn. Once accepted, he reportedly completed a turmeric-and-lime demonstration without the lime turning red. Chum did not force his children to study; in this story, his son took the initiative.
In later years, students also came to Narongrit to learn the family teachings. The lineage thus includes Chum's own pupils, those taught by his son and practitioners of subsequent generations, each contributing to its continuation.
Differences in the surviving biographies
Chum's age at disrobing and year of death are recorded differently. One Chinese biography gives twenty-two and B.E. 2524; a Thai version gives thirty-five and B.E. 2525. These produce different sequences of monastic and family life, and the original records are still needed to resolve them. The visionary, spirit and protective episodes belong to religious storytelling: they are not guarantees of protection from blades or bullets, medical effectiveness, or the authenticity of an individual amulet.