Luang Pho Mui and the life of Wat Don Rai
Luang Pho Mui Phuttharakkhito, whose ecclesiastical title was Phra Khru Suwan Wutthachan, was a prominent monk of Wat Don Rai in Nong Sadao, Sam Chuk, Suphan Buri. His monastic name also appears as พุทธรักขิโต and พุทฺธรักฺขิโต. Born Nam Chueam, or simply Chueam, he later took the name Mui. His family name is written both มีศรีไชย and มีศรีชัย. His parents, Muean and Chang, were farmers. Their five children were Nam Oi, Nam Tan, Chong, Chueam and Sakhu; Mui was the fourth and grew up in Ban Don Rai, village number 2. Chinese amulet writing calls him 龍婆妹 and uses 瓦唐萊寺 or 屈多麗 for his temple.
Differing accounts of birth and death
The usual birth date is 5 December B.E. 2431 (1888), but Sam Chuk Public Library gives B.E. 2432. The accompanying Thursday, thirteenth waxing day of the first lunar month and Year of the Ox need checking separately: 5 December 1888 was a Wednesday, whereas 5 December 1889 was a Thursday. The original birth record is still needed.
He died at 7:15 a.m. on 15 January B.E. 2517 (1974). Using the B.E. 2431 birth date gives an age of eighty-five years and forty-one days. Memorial accounts often say eighty-six, possibly referring to his eighty-sixth year. A further version gives B.E. 2441, making him ten years younger and conflicting with the B.E. 2563 commemoration of his 132nd birth anniversary. These dates remain subject to verification. His remains rest in a glass coffin in the temple's memorial pavilion, where devotees come to pay their respects.
Two periods in the monkhood
Mui's childhood was spent among fields and buffalo, helping his farming family. His biography recounts that as a young man he was conscripted and sent to the provincial centre, but subsequently returned for an unspecified reason and did not serve. Around B.E. 2452 he entered the monkhood at Wat Tha Chang in Doem Bang Nang Buat. Phra Khru Sinlakiti, also known as Luang Pho Krit, was his preceptor, with Luang Pho Im of Wat Hua Khao as the kammavacacariya. The name of the third officiating teacher, the anusavanacariya, has not been found.
After about ten or more rains in robes, he disrobed to care for his ageing parents and help with their farm. The story relates that only a few months later he became gravely ill. He vowed that if he recovered, he would dedicate the rest of his life to Buddhism. His condition improved, and he fulfilled his promise by ordaining again. Biographies also place his change of name from Chueam to Mui during this period. His years in the Sangha therefore include an interruption rather than one continuous period from his first ordination.
Two dates are recorded for his second ordination: 3:30 p.m. on 22 March B.E. 2465, and 25 March B.E. 2472. The more detailed account names Wat Takha, now Wat Don Buppharam, in Ban Krang, Si Prachan. It identifies Phra Khru Thammasanraksa, or Luang Pu On, as preceptor, Achan Thuan of Wat Ban Krang as kammavacacariya, and Achan Kun of Wat Don Buppharam as anusavanacariya. The alternative memorial account writes the preceptor's name as An. Its B.E. 2472 date conflicts with the sequence in which Mui reordained and then reached Wat Don Rai in B.E. 2466, though not with the B.E. 2475 appointment as abbot by itself. The original ordination register is needed to settle the date.
Temple development and education
Following his reordination, the biography places him at Wat Nong Sadao for about six months, then at Wat Hua Khao and Wat Dok Bua, before villagers invited him to Wat Don Rai in B.E. 2466. An account of villagers clearing land and building the temple gives B.E. 2456, whereas the local library's temple entry gives B.E. 2465; whether these refer to different stages of establishment remains unresolved. The early temple had modest facilities and changing leadership. Mui took on its development, becoming abbot in B.E. 2475, head of the Nong Sadao subdistrict Sangha in B.E. 2476, and an authorized preceptor in B.E. 2496. In B.E. 2502 he received the third-class phra khru title Phra Khru Suwan Wutthachan.
A later local-government history of Nong Sadao lists Mui as a local sage of village 1, Ban Don Rai, identifying him as Wat Don Rai's former abbot and the Nong Sadao subdistrict Sangha head. In local memory, he was not only a maker of sacred objects but also an example held in public respect.
The work of building the temple depended on village labour. His biography recalls Mui leading ox-cart groups into the forest to obtain timber for monks' residences and the chanting hall. The old ordination hall had unplastered brick walls and a thatched roof; its boundary stones were installed in B.E. 2482. Finding timber, arranging transport and gathering craftspeople all required coordination in a community with limited roads and resources. Temple land also became an important setting for village education, with subsequent abbots continuing to support school construction. The biography also recalls Mui helping repair deteriorating temples both within and beyond his jurisdiction as subdistrict Sangha head.
Wat Don Rai School's history dates its opening in a temple hall to 14 October B.E. 2481. In B.E. 2511, Mui bought land to the south and funded a five-classroom building costing 205,000 baht. It opened for teaching on 1 January B.E. 2512. Before that five-classroom block, Mui and villagers funded three classrooms, completed with a 30,000-baht Kathin contribution arranged by Sa-at Hemsrichat. In B.E. 2515, Mui, Thep and Thawi Nutchanat jointly bought northern land for over ten thousand baht to extend the temple and school.
Teachers and training
Luang Pho Im was both an officiating teacher at Mui's first ordination and, according to his biography, a teacher of meditation and other disciplines for one rains retreat after his reordination. Luang Pu On, his second preceptor, taught traditional medicine and sacred scripts. Mui also studied medicine with Achan Kun of Wat Ban Thueng. According to the biography, Kun was still abbot when Mui studied with him, and disrobed later. Mui passed Kun’s ya hom formula on to a disciple; its later transmission became associated with Reusi Song Ma remedies. Luang Pho Plang of Wat Wimon Phokharam is another teacher remembered in the local tradition.
A widely retold lineage story concerns Luang Pu Suk of Wat Pak Khlong Makham Thao in Chai Nat. In this account, Luang Pho Im took Mui to study under Suk. Im is said to have learned half a volume, while the younger Mui learned one and a half. Later accounts consequently place Mui among Suk's important disciples and discuss his training alongside the lineage associated with Prince Abhakara of Chumphon. This recollection of his search for knowledge has remained part of the stories told about him.
Disciples and transmission
Among those he ordained was Luang Pho Sanong Katapunyo of Wat Sanghathan. Sanong's biography dates his ordination at Wat Don Rai to 29 April B.E. 2507, with Mui as preceptor, Phra Bun Song as kammavacacariya and Phra Bun Yok as anusavanacariya. Sanong subsequently trained in meditation with Luang Pho Sangwan; his relationship with Mui here was through ordination.
Luang Pho Phayung Suntharo of Wat Ballang is also remembered as a student. His biography places his training under Sod at Wat Paknam and Tao at Wat Nam Phu before a period studying ritual knowledge with Mui at Wat Don Rai. He then returned to Wat Pu Chao; villagers later invited him to Wat Ballang in his home community.
Ceremonies and devotee stories
Disciples remember Mui as quiet, disciplined and reluctant to boast. A story from the consecration of the Yutthahatthi amulets describes Supreme Patriarch Chuan asking about his celebrated spiritual power. Mui is remembered as answering that any power he possessed came from goodness, because he had done no wrong since entering the monkhood.
Another story places him with Luang Pho Kuay at Wat Tha Tian. Strong winds threatened the auspicious moment for lighting the ceremonial candle. Kuay is said to have meditated, whereupon the wind stopped and Mui lit it in time. Afterwards, Mui gave Kuay a portrait statuette and said they would probably not meet again.
A Kamphaeng Phet woman reportedly carried home unfamiliar eggs and was chased by a king cobra. She crouched under a sheet of metal, remembered Mui and prayed to the carved lion she wore. The snake circled until villagers lured it away with a chicken and shot it. She later recounted the escape to Mui. This is a devotee story; keep clear of snakes and seek trained assistance.
A devotee story recounts that Prasan Warinin received holy water and a Somdet from Mui before serving in Vietnam. A landmine reportedly threw him into the air and burned his clothes, yet left no shrapnel wounds. Fellow soldiers asked about his amulet; more departing soldiers subsequently sought holy water. This story is no basis for taking risks or testing protection.
Returning to the temple in old age
In B.E. 2516, ill in old age, Mui spent the rains receiving treatment at a physician disciple's clinic. He returned to Wat Don Rai before Kathina, welcomed by his disciples. He died at the temple the following January.
Sacred objects and collecting names
The sacred objects associated with Mui include Somdet tablets, pressed portraits, medals, ringing Buddha images, rings, takrut, yantra cloths, maharach flags and carved lions. Descriptions of a hundred moulds convey their diversity rather than a verified production total. They include temple-organized objects, outside commissions brought to him for consecration, objects made over several years and posthumous commemorative issues. They were not necessarily all made by his own hand.
An early pressed portrait is known as mai tho. Its nickname is said to derive from the mould spelling his name มุ้ย rather than มุ่ย, using a different tone mark. Previously dated to B.E. 2497, it was later assigned by a collecting catalogue to around early B.E. 2503, with an estimated production of five hundred. The catalogue describes a principal front-and-reverse mould set altered during production, resulting in double- and single-sanghati forms. These dates and quantities are catalogue conclusions awaiting supporting temple production records.
Chaek mae khrua, meaning distributed to the kitchen workers, names more than one kind of object. It appears on a round-medal attribution dated B.E. 2502 and on the third pressed-portrait type. The latter catalogue entry distinguishes a version without a rattle around B.E. 2507 from a rattling version around B.E. 2512, reportedly brought to the temple by a man named At. The medal and statuette are separate objects despite the shared nickname. B.E. 2512 collecting categories also include Chai Mongkhon, sema, oval and na wua forms; a B.E. 2507 issue commemorates the ordination hall's foundation stone. Sponsors, workshops and distribution histories must be matched to each issue rather than inferred from its name alone.
The powder tablets include Somdet song sian bat, song phra prathan, song chedi than sing and fan yot-backed forms. Some are described as containing small gold, silver and nak alloy inserts. Others have insignia-shaped or clip fittings on the reverse, and some types were made intermittently around B.E. 2510–2516. Mixtures, surfaces and fittings can consequently differ. Cloths, flags, takrut and carved lions likewise have their own production histories. Examining an individual object requires its front, reverse, edges, dimensions, weight, material and provenance; one mould feature alone cannot establish authenticity.
Unresolved chronology
Differences remain over Mui's birth year, second ordination and the forty-five rains given in some accounts. Ordination registers, temple memorial volumes and appointment documents are important to resolving these dates. Until they can be reconciled, the different versions remain part of the record.