Luang Pho Thongsuk of Wat Tanot Luang
Luang Pho Thongsuk Inthachoto of Wat Tanot Luang (วัดโตนดหลวง), Phetchaburi, held the title Phra Khru Phinit Sutthakhun. Chinese collectors call him 龍婆燙蜀 or 龍婆通蜀; the temple also appears as 瓦諾寺. His life led from martial arts and performance to ordination, study and wandering, before becoming closely tied to this old monastery. Lac-coated talismans, portrait medals and disciples’ stories all preserve parts of that history.
His lay name was Suk Dilert, and his parents were Chu and Thim. There are two birth accounts: a retelling citing a monastic document gives B.E. 2421, while a commemorative book gives 19 May B.E. 2420 and a different birthplace. The latter is more widely repeated; the originals still need checking before the full date and age can be settled.
As a boy he studied at Wat Pho, practising boxing and staff and sword arts in his spare time. After moving to Ratchaburi he spent a period in performance, then became involved with violent companions. In his biography, these unsettled years lead into the decision that changed his life.
The account tells of three days hiding from arrest in a forest without food. Hungry and exhausted, he reconsidered his life and decided to change course. He subsequently ordained at about thirty-two; the recorded date is 12 July B.E. 2452, at Wat Pramot in Samut Songkhram. Contemporary ordination records are still needed to confirm the precise date.
Teachers and journeys
At his ordination, Tad of Wat Bang Wan Thong served as preceptor, Tui of Wat Pramot as kammavaca teacher, and Khong of Wat Kaeo as anusavana teacher. He first studied discipline and meditation with Tui, who later directed him to Tad for further instruction. His education thus developed through successive teachers.
Biographies describe four rains at Wat Pramot, two at Wat Kaeo and a further residence before he set out with the novice Chan. His young companion later became an elder at Wat Maruekhathaiyawan. Accounts differ over the last temple in this sequence, and the year-by-year route remains unresolved.
On one journey, Thongsuk and the novice encountered a herd of white buffalo. Disciples tell how the animals charged, but he stopped and recited instead of running on. Before long they turned back to graze, leaving the travellers unharmed. The incident became one of the stories remembered from his wandering years.
Other wandering stories describe arrows shot towards his umbrella-tent in Kanchanaburi falling near its cords, and a large tiger circling his camp at Bang Saphan in Prachuap Khiri Khan without harming him. These belong to separate journeys.
A monastery and its neighbours
When he reached the Cha-am area, Wat Tanot Luang needed an abbot, and villagers invited him to stay. The usual appointment dates are B.E. 2457 and 2458. Another version gives 2448, which conflicts with its own ordination chronology and abbatial list. He went on to spend many years restoring the monastery and teaching monks and laypeople, making it his settled home.
His support also reached Wat Chang Thaeng Krachat, Wat Tha Kham and Wat Khao Luk Chang. Biographies mention assistance with school buildings on three occasions, alongside accounts of roads, bridges and ponds. These projects connected monastic work with everyday village needs, although individual school names, dates and project scales still require documentation.
People also came to the monastery for remedies and ritual help. Yon remembered so many visitors that it resembled a small hospital. Serving his teacher as a boy, he encountered traditional remedies and practices through this daily work. The comparison describes a place of care, not the formal foundation of a hospital.
Stories from the journeys and the community
Disciples preparing medicinal leaves were writing characters on them one at a time. According to the story, Thongsuk saw their slow progress, asked them to stack the leaves and wrote only on the top one. When separated, every leaf beneath reportedly bore the same characters. The incident was remembered alongside accounts of his herbal practice.
The account is attributed to pupil Prasit Phuangphi, deputy head of Nikhom Khuean Phet School. He placed it at Wat Tha Kham, with Son Phuangthong, head of Ban Hup Kaphong School, present. About twenty maka (มะกา) leaves were stacked; the characters were Na Mo Phut Tha Ya. These names and details belong to the transmitted recollection.
In a timber-cutting legend, he wrote a na character on a tree. Disciples repeatedly chopped at it, but the mark reportedly remained until the tree fell.
Another journey took him to a temple celebration by moonlight. As he bent to drink, hunters mistook him for a tiger. The story says that twice they pulled the trigger, but neither shot fired. Recognising a monk, they hurried to apologise, and he urged them to stop killing animals. These are transmitted protection stories.
Another story concerns a pupil chased by buffalo in Uttaradit. Thongsuk reportedly paused his conversation at the monastery to help in meditation; the returning pupil described the animals suddenly fleeing. This is separate from the teacher and novice’s encounter.
Another tradition concerns a man from Pak Tho, Ratchaburi, whose wife’s luk krok had disappeared. After about ten minutes of meditation, Thongsuk reportedly said he had returned it to a basket of worn pillows in a corner of their home. The man reported another disappearance about three months later. In the story, Thongsuk retrieved it again and added protection; the man did not return with the same request.
Pupils and the continuation of temple life
Phaew Pandito was the pupil who later took charge of the monastery. His biography dates ordination under Thongsuk to B.E. 2494, followed by study of discipline, meditation and traditional remedies. When the teacher died in B.E. 2500, monks and villagers invited Phaew to become abbot and continue caring for the temple.
Yon Dhammavamso had lived alongside his teacher since childhood. His family placed him at the monastery, where he arranged meals, served the elder and learned through temple life. His biography dates ordination to B.E. 2499, followed by years of wandering before his return as abbot in B.E. 2538. The boy who had served his teacher eventually came back to care for the monastery himself.
Yon’s recollection includes an unexpected bargain. Still absorbed in fishing work, he said he would ordain only if his teacher performed the ceremony at three in the morning. Thongsuk agreed. The account places the rite after the night of 11 July, in the early hours of 12 July B.E. 2499, ending at dawn.
Mian Pannasaro also left an account of learning from the elder. According to his biography, he studied with Thongsuk for three rains after ordination in B.E. 2497. When he prepared to wander, the teacher gave him a monastic umbrella and explained the hazards of choosing a campsite. Mian set out with those instructions in mind.
Luang Pho Un Sukhakamo of Wat Tan Kong, known in Chinese as 龍婆溫, is another pupil with an account of sustained study. After formally becoming a pupil, he repeatedly stayed at Wat Tanot Luang for about fifteen days, studying the ten kasina practices and sacred powders and accompanying his teacher to mountain cremation grounds. Chinese biographies also describe these journeys between the temples.
Educational work continued after the teacher’s death. Thanod Luang Witthaya’s own history records initial classes on 2 June B.E. 2518 and formal approval on 4 June, with Phra Khru Phawana Watcharophat and local partners driving its establishment. This was an undertaking in Phaew’s time, not a school founded by Thongsuk during his lifetime.
The school history records about thirty-seven rai secured by Phaew and the committee, and six temporary classrooms costing 108,000 baht, excluding land and site preparation. Thirty pupils initially used the temple school’s library. At the move to the new site on 30 August B.E. 2519 there were seventy-one pupils: educational work developed in the next generation.
Objects and later memory
Objects associated with Thongsuk include lac-coated takrut and luk om, rings and portrait medals, made in different materials, forms and issues. The second medal of B.E. 2498 was associated with a monastic residence celebration. Collectors distinguish sara i loi and sara i tit varieties by details of their lettering, not by differing levels of spiritual efficacy.
The first medal is dated to B.E. 2492 in production accounts, marking the ordination hall’s roof-finial ceremony and thanking donors. Copper and gilt copper are listed, without a mintage. In 2498, Chan of Wat Maruekhathaiyawan, formerly the novice travelling companion, reportedly reused the second issue’s sara i tit die for his own temple’s restoration. Brass, alpaca alloy and copper are listed, about three months after the second issue. Similar designs therefore belong to distinct fundraising occasions.
Other stories connect Chai Muangmongkhon’s ring with a shark reportedly unable to open its mouth, and describe consecrated sarika takrut floating in circles inside an alms bowl.
The production account says copper medals were struck first. A shifted die then left excess metal at the sara i near the rim; silver and gold followed and shared this feature. No definite mintage is recorded. This explains the variety names, while individual objects still require separate examination.
Thongsuk died on 13 December B.E. 2500. Common biographies give eighty years of age and forty-eight rains, although the age depends on the birth account used. The monastery and his pupils continued to commemorate him: objects dated B.E. 2505, for example, are posthumous rather than lifetime issues. His legacy survives in talismans and stories, the restored monastery and the later work of his pupils.