Luang Pho Thob and the tradition of Wat Phra Phutthabat Chon Daen
Luang Pho Thob Dhammapanyo, formally titled Phra Khru Wichit Phatcharachan, was a widely respected twentieth-century elder in Phetchabun. Chinese collectors also use the name 龍婆Thob and call Wat Chon Daen 瓦千丹寺. Wat Phra Phutthabat Khao Noi, later formally known as Wat Phra Phutthabat Chon Daen, was the monastery he led and developed for many years. Wat Chang Phueak was where he entered novicehood and where he returned to rebuild in old age. Together, the two monasteries connect his early education with the work of his final years.
Family and birth traditions
A Phetchabun Rajabhat University study of local devotion, together with several Thai biographies, gives his birth as 3 March B.E. 2424, commonly converted to 3 March 1881. His birthplace was Ban Yang Hua Lom, then in Tambon Nayom and now within Tambon Wang Chomphu. His parents were Nai Phueak and Nang In Muangdi, and he was the third of their four children. According to family tradition, the name “Thob” arose from his unusual position at birth, when his head and feet appeared to overlap or emerge almost together.
Another birth tradition tells of his mother's dream before her pregnancy. Someone brought her a white elephant and tethered it to a tamarind tree outside the house. His father took the dream as a fortunate sign that a child of great merit would be born. Later biographies preserve it alongside the account of his naming.
Novicehood and ordination
In B.E. 2440, at sixteen, he became a novice at Wat Chang Phueak under its abbot Phra Achan Si. He learned literacy, chanting, monastic discipline and the daily routines of temple life. Disciples' biographies also describe his studies in Khmer script, meditation, traditional medicine and ritual arts. Si was an important teacher in his early life, and their connection endured. Even after the monastery had fallen into disuse, Thob remembered the place where he had studied and entered novicehood, eventually returning to restore it.
At twenty-one, in B.E. 2445, he received full ordination. Phra Khru Mueang was the preceptor, Phra Achan Pan the kammavacacariya and Phra Achan Si the anusavanacariya. He received the monastic name Dhammapanyo, “one endowed with wisdom in Dhamma.” The three ordaining teachers are consistently named, but there are two versions of the venue. Chon Daen Municipality identifies Wat Ko Kaeo at Ban Nayom, while another biographical tradition names Wat Sila Mong. These are different temples; the venue remains unresolved without the original ordination record.
Wandering and seeking teachers
Following ordination, Thob returned to Wat Chang Phueak and continued to study with Achan Si, Achan Pan and Phra Khru Mueang. Biographies describe his close spiritual friendship with Luang Pho Khian Dhammarakkhito and periods of practice or wandering extending to Vientiane, the Burmese frontier and Cambodian territory. In the stories handed down by disciples, he travelled barefoot for thousands of kilometres, calmed a weretiger through loving-kindness and overcame harmful magic. These accounts remain part of the remembered tradition of his forest practice.
Biographies also name the lay teacher Luang Thotsaban among his instructors, and describe his insight-meditation training with Phra Khru Mueang; tradition says he could meditate for days without food. Other teachers named are Luang Pu Suk of Wat Pak Khlong Makham Thao and Luang Pho Ngao of Wat Si Phum. These teaching relationships are distinct from the three ceremonial roles at his ordination.
Developing local monasteries
Thob subsequently resided at or helped restore monasteries across Phetchabun. Chon Daen Municipality names Wat Sila Mong, Wat Sao Thong Thong Charoen Tham, Wat Ko Kaeo, Wat Sawang Arun, Wat Phra Phutthabat Khao Noi and Wat Chang Phueak. After his early education and wandering, his work drew him into the lives of local monks and villagers. Around B.E. 2500 he began a long period of leadership at Wat Phra Phutthabat Khao Noi, returning to Wat Chang Phueak in B.E. 2516. Accounts differ on the sequence and dates of his service at the other monasteries.
Commemorative biographies credit him with leading the completion of sixteen ordination halls and laying the foundation stone for a seventeenth at Wat Chang Phueak, which remained unfinished at his death. His construction work also included monks' residences, preaching halls, wells, ponds and other facilities serving monastic study and community life. A complete list of the sixteen temples, construction dates, budgets and his role in each project has not yet been assembled; the longstanding account still needs to be matched with the records retained by individual monasteries.
Monastic office and later disciples
In B.E. 2490 he was appointed a monastic preceptor. In B.E. 2497 he became Chon Daen district ecclesiastical chief and received the phra khru title Phra Khru Wichit Phatcharachan. His vision deteriorated severely from about B.E. 2507. According to a detailed biography, he asked to resign when he felt unable to carry out his administrative responsibilities properly, while the provincial Sangha allowed him to retain the title in an honorary capacity. His withdrawal from administration did not end his involvement with local temples, disciples and lay supporters.
His disciple Luang Pu Pring Khantiphalo of Wat Sap Chomphu recalled pounding betel for Thob after his eyesight failed. Once, Thob asked whether he would eat his chewed quid. Pring accepted without hesitation. His teacher laughed, saying it held teachings cultivated through a night of meditation. Pring recounted this as an episode of personal transmission.
Another pupil, Luang Pu Phuang Thanawaro of Wat Nam Phu Samakkhi, is described in his biography as helping Thob inscribe, roll and braid takrut. Thob also personally introduced him to Luang Pho Khian for further study. His apprenticeship thus involved both receiving teachings and helping with the everyday work of making sacred objects.
The history of Wat Chon Daen
Wat Phra Phutthabat Chon Daen was initially called Wat Phra Phutthabat Khao Noi, or Wat Khao Noi, after its location. Nai Pan Konphon donated the land and entrusted Thob with its development. Temple histories trace building activity to B.E. 2490, while biographies commonly place Thob in charge from about B.E. 2500. The Ministry of Education formally recognised it as a temple on 26 March B.E. 2516. It received a formal monastic boundary on 11 March B.E. 2517, held the boundary ceremony on 15 March, and had offered pariyatti education since B.E. 2512. These dates concern different stages: initial building, his leadership, legal recognition and the establishment of the ritual boundary. However, the history published by Phutthabat Subdistrict Administrative Organisation gives the establishment year as B.E. 2515 and the boundary grant as 11 February B.E. 2517, differing from the B.E. 2516 and 11 March version above. The original notices are needed to settle both dates.
Returning to his first monastery
Around B.E. 2516, Thob left Wat Phra Phutthabat Chon Daen, assisted briefly at Wat Sila Mong and returned to a Wat Chang Phueak that had been largely abandoned for decades. Disciples relate the return to Achan Si's remembered request that he come back late in life and not let the old monastery remain deserted. His final three years were devoted to its revival. Thailand's Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration also dates the restoration from B.E. 2516. The glass coffin and memorial housing his preserved body are at Wat Chang Phueak.
Death and remembrance
The Phetchabun Provincial Office of Buddhism participated in the fiftieth anniversary of his death at Wat Chang Phueak on 14 March B.E. 2569. This agrees with municipal and most biographical accounts giving his death as 14 March B.E. 2519. Using the commonly printed conversion of his birth to 3 March 1881 and his death to 14 March 1976 produces ninety-five years and eleven days. Biographies usually give ninety-five years and seventy-four rains, with ordination in B.E. 2445. The birth date's correspondence between the older calendar and the Gregorian calendar still requires an original record, so these remain the customary figures rather than a verified civil-age calculation. A local biography says he died at about 4 p.m. near Na Chaliang while being driven to Bangkok for treatment. Another forty-sixth-anniversary article instead gives 19 March; the reason for that discrepancy is unresolved. The biography published by Phutthabat Subdistrict Administrative Organisation also gives 19 March and says he died at the temple, rather than during the journey for treatment. Both accounts of the location remain unresolved.
Disciples are said to have followed Thob's instruction not to cremate his body. It is preserved in a glass coffin and memorial structure at Wat Chang Phueak for veneration. Devotees also tell stories of his body remaining incorrupt and of cameras being unable to photograph him, and revere him as having attained arahantship.
Sacred objects through the years
Thob's associated objects are numerous and belong to ceremonies at different monasteries. Two portrait-medal formats, oval and phum khao bin, issued at Wat Song Tham in Thap Khlo, Phichit, in B.E. 2483 or 2484 are often regarded as his earliest or first medals. The year differs by one between collecting accounts. The event was an outside-temple fundraiser involving several monks, distinct from an issue made by Wat Chon Daen itself. Familiar reference points include the B.E. 2491 Wat Chon Daen “older face” and “younger face” medals, the B.E. 2500 pressed portrait nicknamed “parachute” and the traditional cast portraits of B.E. 2505. “Parachute” comes from a later story about a serviceman who wore one, rather than an original production designation.
The B.E. 2505 cast portraits comprise several forms. Competition catalogues of the Thai Buddha Image and Amulet Collectors Association distinguish high base, match-head high base, medium base, named medium base, low base, alms-bowl, large and small beckoning forms, double-sided bell, small bell and flat-backed sema forms. Issues from B.E. 2516–2519 add the coconut-strike type, ninety-fourth-year commemoratives, the Wat Chang Phueak “jikko” casting, powders, medals, phra kring, takrut and rings. Objects sharing a name still require comparison of measurements, weight, alloy, casting gate, base, file marks, die features, issuing temple and provenance. A catalogue name alone cannot establish the authenticity of an individual object.
Thob's name also appears on outside commissions, multi-monk ceremonies, disciple-sponsored objects and posthumous memorials. These involve different roles: initiating an issue, permitting use of his name or portrait, presiding over or joining a ceremony, or blessing an object individually. Objects made after B.E. 2519 belong to posthumous commemoration rather than his lifetime.
A lasting local memory
From a boy in Ban Yang Hua Lom to a preceptor and district ecclesiastical chief, and finally an elderly monk returning to restore his old monastery despite failing sight, Thob's life linked many temples and enduring teacher-disciple relationships. Wat Phra Phutthabat Chon Daen recalls his long years of development work; Wat Chang Phueak connects his education with his final home. The wandering stories cherished by devotees, the buildings left to local communities and the objects preserved by collectors each offer a way to follow that life.