Luang Pho Phae Khemangkaro and the life of Wat Pikulthong
Family and childhood
Luang Pho Phae Khemangkaro, born Phae Chaimankhong and ultimately titled Phra Thammuni Sutthasilachan, was one of twentieth-century Sing Buri’s leading monastic educators and civic figures. He was born on 1 January B.E. 2448 at Ban Suan Kluai, Pikulthong subdistrict, Tha Chang. His father was Thian and his mother Nai Chaimankhong. Nai died when he was eight months old, and relatives Bun and Phian Khamwibun adopted him. From his relatives’ care he moved into village temple schooling and later study in Bangkok. Chinese names for the temple include 屈鐵冠燙 and 瓦編冠湯寺; the monk is known as 龍婆培 or 龍婆啤. Another biographical record identifies his birth subdistrict as Thon Samo rather than Pikulthong. How these names relate to the administrative boundaries of the time remains unresolved.
Education and ordination
At about eleven, he studied Thai, Buddhist texts including Phra Malai, Khmer script and traditional inscription at Wat Pikulthong. In B.E. 2461, at roughly fourteen, he joined the Cambodian monk Achan Som in Section 15 of Wat Chana Songkhram, Bangkok, studying sandhi and Pali grammar, and also attended the school at Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit. He is recorded as a pupil of Somdet Phra Wanarat Heng Khemacari Mahathera. This formal training explains his later work as a Pali teacher, examiner and founder of a provincial monastic school.
On 15 April B.E. 2463, aged sixteen, he returned to Wat Pikulthong and became a novice under Abbot Phra Athikan Phan, then returned to Wat Chana Songkhram to study with Achan Thet of Section 10. He passed elementary Nak Tham in B.E. 2466 and the third Pali level as a novice in B.E. 2468. On 21 April B.E. 2469 he received full ordination at Wat Pikulthong. Phra Mongkhon Thipmuni of Wat Chakkrawat served as preceptor, Phra Khru Sitthidet of Wat Chana Songkhram as kammavacacariya, and Phra Athikan On of Wat Champa Thong as anusavanacariya. He received the name Khemangkaro, later passed intermediate Nak Tham, and in B.E. 2470 gained the fourth Pali level through the Wat Mahathat school.
A biographical account says intensive reading inflamed his eyes, leading him away from further examinations and toward meditation at Wat Phra Chetuphon, or Wat Pho. Teaching continued alongside his meditation practice. In B.E. 2471 he taught Pali and Nak Tham at Wat Chana Songkhram, and in B.E. 2474 he was appointed abbot of Wat Pikulthong while still young. He became head of the Thon Samo subdistrict Sangha in B.E. 2482, an ordaining preceptor and national Dhamma examiner in B.E. 2486, also taking on monastery construction affairs in Phrom Buri. He served as acting abbot of Wat Bot in Tha Chang in B.E. 2489 and joined the Thon Samo education committee in B.E. 2493. He became district ecclesiastical chief of Tha Chang in B.E. 2509, formally established Wat Pikulthong’s Pali school in B.E. 2514, and became provincial ecclesiastical chief of Sing Buri's Mahanikaya Sangha in B.E. 2525.
Ecclesiastical titles and honours
Between the titles Phra Khru Si Phrom Sophit and Phra Sunthon Thammaphani came another promotion: in B.E. 2515 he became a first-class district-chief Phra Khru, designated phiset po. This preceded his B.E. 2521 elevation.
His successive ecclesiastical titles accompanied decades of service. He became Phra Khru Si Phrom Sophit in B.E. 2484, Phra Sunthon Thammaphani in B.E. 2521, Phra Ratcha Singhakhanachan in B.E. 2530, Phra Thep Singhaburachan in B.E. 2535 and finally Phra Thammuni Sutthasilachan in B.E. 2539. A box, medal or publication using an earlier title may be exactly right for its date. It cannot be rejected merely for not bearing the final rank. In B.E. 2539 he also received an honorary Bachelor of Education degree in educational administration.
Temple building and public service
Within Wat Pikulthong he oversaw an ordination hall, preaching hall, chanting hall, meeting hall, residences, scripture library, refectory, meditation pavilion, Dhamma hall, crematorium, multipurpose building and river embankment. Beyond the monastery, the Thepsatri Rajabhat University record calls him chair of construction for Tha Chang hospital, district office and police station, the Pikulthong health centre and the temple public school. For the Chao Phraya bridge at In Buri and the Noi River bridge at Tha Chang, it says he chaired fundraising.
His support for Sing Buri Hospital followed a visible sequence: the Luang Pho Phae 80 Years Building in B.E. 2528, the X-ray or Luang Pho Phae 86 Years Building in B.E. 2532, and the Luang Pho Phae 90 Years Building in B.E. 2534. The building names and years in this chronology do not all align with his recorded birth year. The reason remains unresolved; the commemorative numbers alone cannot establish completion dates. He also served in work involving older people, culture, the environment, waterways and national Buddhist observances. Wat Pikulthong thus operated as a centre for education, welfare and provincial coordination as well as worship.
Provincial community organisations
His B.E. 2531 service record also names him chair of the Sing Buri older people's club advisory committee, the provincial cultural subcommittee and the provincial environmental subcommittee. These continuing community responsibilities were distinct from his hospital and bridge projects.
The great Buddha and museum
The approximately forty-two-metre outdoor blessing Buddha, Phra Phuttha Suwan Mongkhon Mahamuni, is another emblem of temple development under his leadership. Government tourism and statistical material presents the image, a meditation garden and the Luang Pho Phae museum as provincial learning and visitor sites. The museum displays his life and monastic requisites, allowing visitors to encounter his daily monastic life through personal objects and biographical displays. Academic tourism research also notes that local people commonly call Wat Pikulthong “Wat Luang Pho Phae,” showing how his memory became attached to the landscape itself.
Ritual teachers and early amulets
Later biographies name several teachers associated with his study of meditation, sacred script and powders, including Phra Khru Pitok Kliang, Luang Pho Si of Wat Phra Prang and Luang Pho Chui. These accounts span scriptural learning and ritual training; the dates and subjects of each teaching relationship are not fully recorded.
An account of his early amulets recalls Phae asking Si about financing the ordination hall’s restoration. Si suggested cast lotus-petal amulets and rings for male and female donors. Phae reportedly spent fifteen days learning casting, then made the objects at his temple and brought them to his teacher for consecration.
Later pupils and the first portrait medal
Accounts of later pupils include Luang Pho Montri Thitawiro of Wat Thep Mongkhon. He reportedly studied with Phae at Wat Pikulthong before becoming abbot of Wat Thep Mongkhon, and was already known to Singaporean devotees during his Pikulthong years. The account gives neither study dates nor a complete curriculum.
An issue history connects the B.E. 2502 first portrait medal to another temple's repairs. Achan Chan, abbot of Wat Wihan Khao, sought permission to commission donor gifts. Following Phae's directions, he took them to Suang and Sawan for consecration before returning them to Phae. The medals were then shared between the two temples.
Amulet series and collecting history
Phae’s sacred-object output spans more than half a century, so the numbered powder tablets are only one part of it. Modern competition catalogues list B.E. 2494 cast-brass Somdet forms and trial impressions, B.E. 2499 weekday Buddha images, a B.E. 2502 first portrait medal, a B.E. 2508 first pressed portrait, B.E. 2509 Keson 108 and Traimat (three-month rains-retreat) powder amulets, a B.E. 2511 first Traimat phra kring, and numerous Somdet, phra pidta, Siwali and portrait types from the 2510s. These dates are a catalogue framework, not automatic authentication of every object bearing the name. Sponsor, mould, materials, pressing location and distribution purpose remain to be checked series by series.
Standard catalogues usually place Phae Phan, Phae Song Phan and Phae Sam Phan in B.E. 2510, 2511 and 2512 respectively. The words are neither simple prices nor necessarily mintages. One explanation says Phae refers to Luang Pho Phae while Phan honours Phra Athikan Phan, the abbot who admitted him as a novice; the later numbers then developed into a series convention. This explanation still requires a contemporary temple leaflet, box or committee account. B.E. 2516 also has entries called Rae Phae-Phan and Rae Phae Sam Phan, which must be separated by material and date rather than folded into the original group.
Current association lists generally place Phae Si Phan and Phae Ha Phan in B.E. 2534. Variants are described in flower-pollen, palm-leaf and mineral powders, with different temple-stamp sizes and sometimes three embedded takrut. Later labels include six, seven, eight and nine thousand, as well as centenary issues. The latter include objects commemorating Wat Pikulthong's hundredth anniversary, such as an old-style cast Somdet catalogued under B.E. 2534 and a Sangkachai under B.E. 2535; these names do not mean Phae was then one hundred years old. For Phae Hok Phan, two catalogues list a small khanaen pollen-powder Somdet under B.E. 2535 and a Somdet under B.E. 2536 respectively. A shared series name therefore need not identify the same form or year. These are still lifetime issues, but their production scale, delegated labour and market environment differed greatly from the B.E. 2510–2512 group. Personal consecration does not mean that every stage was performed by the monk himself.
Collectors also tell a story about traders reselling Phae Si Phan at an excessive price. According to this account, the monk ordered roughly two hundred additional impressions, this time with a larger temple stamp. This is one transmitted explanation for the small- and large-stamp forms. An individual object still needs to be considered through its mould, mixture, shrinkage, stamp size and ink, takrut count, thickness, provenance and original packaging; stamp size alone cannot establish authenticity.
The story behind the M16 medal
A devotee story links the second-issue Traimat medal of B.E. 2513 to visiting paratroopers arriving by helicopter. One doubted its protection; when a companion fired, bullets reportedly fell from the muzzle. Hence the nickname “M16 medal.” This is a transmitted story; firearm testing must not be imitated.
Stories of the trees and river fish
Chinese devotees also tell of trees and river fish under his care. Those who damaged the plants, caught fish or took river water reportedly suffered misfortune; one tale describes a vehicle radiator overheating after being filled from the river. In these stories, Phae's care extended beyond visitors to the life surrounding his monastery.
Death and remembrance
Luang Pho Phae died at 12:36 p.m. on 10 February B.E. 2542, aged ninety-four with seventy-three rains. The Sing Buri Provincial Office of Buddhism continues to join the annual memorial at Wat Pikulthong. Devotees remember him with such honorifics as “modern king of Somdet” and “deity of the Noi River basin.” Pali study, more than seven decades in robes, provincial Sangha administration, schools, hospitals and temple development form part of that remembered life, alongside the sacred objects passed down among his followers.