Luang Pho Kasem and his life of practice
Luang Pho Kasem Khemako is closely associated with Susan Trailak (สุสานไตรลักษณ์), the cemetery retreat in Lampang, northern Thailand. Chinese collectors also know him as 龍婆格閃 and 龍婆卡賢. Before his life in forests and cemeteries, he served as a temple abbot. His followers remember his austerity alongside stories of compassion, meditation and extraordinary encounters.
Born Chao Kasem Na Lampang on 28 November B.E. 2455 (1912), he came from Ban Tha Kao Muang beside the Wang River. Sources give his father's name in two orders, Chao Nu Noi and Chao Noi Nu; his mother was Chao Mae Bua Chon Na Lampang. His father's family later used the surname Mani Arun. Accounts agree on a connection to Lampang's former ruling family, but differ over the precise generation linking him to its last ruler. The broad description does not establish a complete genealogy.
A local biographical collection describes his father as a deputy district officer and his mother as a jewellery trader. A childhood story recalls a fall from a guava tree that left a scar on his head. He grew up in a prosperous household and completed the fifth primary grade at Boonthawong Anukul School, with the biography placing graduation in B.E. 2466.
Two periods as a novice
In B.E. 2468, he entered the novice order for the funeral of Wat Pa Dua's abbot and returned to lay life after seven days. He became a novice again at Wat Bun Yuen in B.E. 2470, at about fifteen. This time he stayed, studying Buddhist teachings and passing the intermediate Nak Tham examination in B.E. 2474.
Several biographies date his full ordination to B.E. 2475, while the local biographical collection gives B.E. 2476. Both identify Wat Bun Yuen and the monastic name Khemako. A biographical account names Phra Tham Chindanayok (Fai) of Wat Bunyawat Wihan as preceptor; Phra Khru Uttara Wong Thada, also called Khruba Panya Lin Thong, as kammavacacariya; and Phra Tham Chindanayok (Un Ruean) of Wat Pa Dua as anusavanacariya. These are roles recorded in a later biography. The exact date and titles held at ordination still require the original temple register.
His teachers were based at several temples. At Wat Si Lom he studied Pali with Maha Ta Kham and Phra Maha Mongkhon; at Wat Bunyawat Wihan his teachers included Phra Maha Mua Phromwong and Phra Maha Kowit Kowitayano. He subsequently studied Nak Tham at Wat Chiang Rai under Phra Thep Wisutthisophon, passing the advanced examination in B.E. 2479. The biography says he could write and translate Pali but did not sit the separate Pali qualification examination.
Learning in the forest
The meditation teacher named in his biographies is Khruba Kaen Sumano, formerly abbot of Wat Pratu Pong. Kasem approached him to ask for instruction and, once accepted, followed him through forests, hills and cemeteries. During the rains retreat he returned to Wat Bun Yuen; afterwards he joined his teacher again, continuing his training through these successive journeys.
He also learned northern script from Phra Khru Phichai Mongkhon, or Khruba Chanta Chanto, of Wat Phichai. His education thus drew on teachers of different subjects, from Pali and Buddhist texts to regional writing and meditation.
Accounts of his forest routine describe one meal a day, with sweet and savoury foods placed together in his bowl, walking meditation in the afternoon, and sitting practice and chanting at night. He dedicated merit to other beings. According to the biographies, he rested leaning forward rather than reclining in the usual way, with few material comforts.
Leaving office and his mother's journey
After Chao Athikan Kham Moei, abbot of Wat Bun Yuen, died, the monastic community selected Kasem as his successor. Although drawn to solitude, he accepted responsibility for the temple. Later requests to resign were refused, and he eventually left a written farewell before departing for Sala Wang Than. The local biographical collection dates his departure to B.E. 2492. Some longer accounts place both an additional six years in office and his departure within that same chronology, so the sequence cannot be treated as settled year by year.
A biography recounts how villagers waited at the temple, searched for him and found a two-page farewell. They later approached him at his retreat, asking him to return for the rains-retreat offerings, and enlisted his mother's help. He still wished to remain in seclusion. As later recollections describe it, the letter explained that administration was not his vocation and that he wanted to give his remaining life to meditation.
His mother did not bring him back. Instead, she distributed goods from her shop and followed him to Mae Ang with necessities. Villagers built her a hut at the foot of the hill and later another near his retreat. When she developed a forest fever, they summoned a military doctor; the novice Wet also helped care for her.
The deathbed narrative says she entrusted twenty-one baht to the novice. As Kasem chanted, bees circled nearby; she then died, and he wept while dedicating merit. Villagers collected seven hundred baht for the funeral. Accounts differ over the final rites: the Thai biography specifies cremation at Mae Ang, while a Chinese retelling describes burial in a grave.
Cemetery life and remembered encounters
After the funeral, the biography places him back at Sala Wang Than for one rains retreat, then at Na Po, and finally at Pratu Ma, later known as Susan Trailak. The local collection dates his arrival at the last location to B.E. 2495. Trailak refers to impermanence, suffering and not-self, not three temples. Sala Wang Than and Susan Trailak are also distinct places, rather than former and present names for one site.
One story tells of a night-time thief struggling to remove his mosquito net. Kasem helped, offered bedding too and urged the man to leave before others found him. Versions differ over the tools used, additional gifts and the episode's mosquito details.
Another story circulating among Chinese collectors concerns an Indian visitor. Kasem spoke words the bystanders could not understand, then left. The visitor said he knew no Thai but felt he had been asked to wait. Kasem soon returned to him; the encounter is remembered as a moment of unspoken understanding.
A commemorative account recalls a funeral sermon interrupted by chatter. Kasem used an empty butter tin to project his voice and attract attention. His teaching also drew on comparisons that listeners could take away and ponder for themselves.
An extraordinary meditation story concerns spinal surgery: he reportedly asked for time to enter meditation, underwent the operation without anaesthesia and afterwards blessed the medical team. The date, physician and medical record remain unidentified; this devotional account is not a medical basis for replacing anaesthesia with meditation.
A devotional story tells of a meditator seeing a diamond net over Thailand. When asked about it, Luang Pu Doo of Wat Sakae reportedly identified it as Kasem's protection of the country. Followers transmit the story alongside memories of the two monks' mutual respect.
Amulets and the work of supporters
Different organisations commissioned objects bearing his name. One account of early issues identifies B.E. 2514 examples including portrait medals from Wat Nang Liao and Wat Khatuek Chiang Man, and the Kaeo Patimakon Phra Kring associated with Wat Ko Walukaram. Here, “early” does not establish the first-ever issue across every category. The histories of the issuing temples must remain distinct.
The same account names Chao Prawet Na Lampang as the initiator of the five-cycle issue for Kasem's sixtieth birthday in B.E. 2515. Familiar later classifications include the B.E. 2516 bell medal, B.E. 2517 Lampang Battalion medal and B.E. 2518 cast portrait. Other temples issued Phra Kring and Phra Pidta around the same period. A shared portrait or date therefore does not establish that two objects came from the same production.
A collector recalls craftsmen from Uthai presenting cast portrait samples around B.E. 2516, though he was unsure of the year. Kasem jokingly asked whether they wanted beauty or wealth, prompting laughter. He then wrapped the casts in his robe for blessing and gave them to visitors who asked for them.
Novices, attendants and lay supporters took different roles in daily care and amulet production. Chao Prawet Na Lampang appears both in recollections of Kasem's life and as an organiser of amulet issues. His work as a supporter and organiser is documented; whether he received instruction in a particular practice remains unresolved.
The local biographical collection describes disciples establishing an educational foundation in his name, มูลนิธิการศึกษาของหลวงพ่อเกษม เขมโก. Interest from donated funds and amulet proceeds supported organisations, educational institutions and people in poverty. This work was carried forward by the foundation and disciples; its original rules, individual school projects and amounts still require fuller documentation.
Death and continuing remembrance
Kasem died in the intensive care unit at Lampang Hospital at 7:40 p.m. on 15 January B.E. 2539 (1996). From a birth date of 28 November B.E. 2455, his completed age was eighty-three. The eighty-four often printed in biographies reflects a different age-counting convention and should not automatically shift his birth year. Eighty-five is inconsistent with this pair of dates.
His body was retained at Susan Trailak for veneration. Later supporters and local organisations also commemorate him through food distribution and educational assistance: the B.E. 2565 birthday event included food distribution, while the thirtieth death anniversary in B.E. 2569 included one hundred and fourteen educational awards and offerings to monks.
At the memorial on 15 January B.E. 2569 (2026), the Trailak Khemaka Bhikkhu Foundation awarded 114 scholarships of 3,000 baht each. Lampang Rajabhat University recorded three first-year recipients from its Thai and English programmes. This educational support, carried forward by later supporters, gives students a tangible benefit from the continuing remembrance of Kasem.
On 5 March B.E. 2568 (2025), Lampang's public-health authorities opened the Luang Pho Kasem Upatham Building (ตึกหลวงพ่อเกษมอุปถัมป์). The official report lists a dental clinic, a one-stop health-product and service centre, and a Thai-traditional-health promotion centre; the dental clinic had been operating since B.E. 2563. It is a contemporary public-health facility named in Kasem's honour, not evidence that he built or managed the health services during his lifetime.
Lampang's provincial cultural office describes a large roadside statue of Kasem and a Thai-style pavilion containing a life-size seated wax figure. His kuti stands beside it. Visitors can pay their respects to his likeness and encounter the setting in which he lived.
His life moves from textual study to forest journeys, from responsibility for a temple to parting with his mother. Memories of cemetery life, brief remarks treasured by disciples and stories of extraordinary encounters continue to accompany pilgrimages and commemorations. Collectors wishing to understand a particular amulet issue can follow its production records, manufacturing characteristics and provenance into the history of that individual work.