Luang Pu Sin of Wat Lahan Yai
Luang Pu Sin Phatthacharo is associated with Wat Lahan Yai (วัดละหารใหญ่), known to Chinese-speaking collectors as 屈啦霞曳, in Ban Khai district, Rayong. He studied closely with Luang Pu Tim of nearby Wat Lahan Rai (วัดละหารไร่), or 屈啦霞麗. Despite their similar names, the two monasteries have their own abbots and lines of transmission.
Born Sin Sukmak to farming parents named Sia and Chan, he came from Nong Bua in Ban Khai, Rayong. Biographies and later birthday accounts give 21 February B.E. 2471 as his date of birth. Its exact Gregorian equivalent remains subject to confirmation from an early birth record.
According to his biography, at about seven he began studying Thai and Khmer script at Lahan Yai's local school, founded and taught by Pheng Sasano, a former abbot. Buddhist learning was also part of his childhood. After school he helped on the family farm, then entered military service at around twenty. He served for two years before returning home and eventually ordaining.
Ordination and three teachers
He ordained in B.E. 2494, receiving the monastic name Phatthacharo. Several biographies locate the ceremony at Wat Lahan Rai. Lat, also written Rat, of Wat Nong Krabok served as preceptor; Pheng Sasano of Wat Lahan Yai as kammavacacariya; and Phra Khru Kliang as anusavanacariya. Each held a distinct responsibility in the ordination ceremony.
The year is relatively consistent, but both 14 July and 6 July appear in the accounts, sometimes within the same biography. Another version places the ceremony at Wat Lahan Yai rather than Wat Lahan Rai. Both the date and location still need to be checked against the original ordination register.
Tim was not his only teacher. Pheng taught him as a child and remained an elder he studied with after ordination. Lat transmitted the goat-amulet tradition, which passed from Am to Lat and then to Sin, continuing the teachings associated with Wat Nong Krabok.
The proximity of the two monasteries allowed Sin to attend and study regularly with Tim at Wat Lahan Rai. Sakhon of Wat Nong Krap studied with the same teacher and was an important fellow monk during this period of learning.
An account of his training describes Tim teaching chants after the midday meal, one passage at a time. Sin had to memorise each passage before his teacher introduced the next. He is said to have continued this gradual course of study and practice for eight years.
Temple responsibilities and local support
His biography also describes a steady routine of morning and evening prayers during the rains retreat, which he regarded as a monastic duty. He received visitors seeking vehicle blessings, rites for averting misfortune or offerings to the Sangha, and accepted invitations to consecration ceremonies when his health permitted.
According to his biography, after Pheng died in B.E. 2508, lay supporters proposed Sin as the next abbot of Wat Lahan Yai. He subsequently took responsibility for its affairs.
On 30 April B.E. 2568, Sangha Supreme Council resolution 348/2568 approved his appointment as adviser to Rayong's provincial ecclesiastical chief. It identifies him as Wat Lahan Yai's abbot, holding Nak Tham Ek, the highest of the Nak Tham examinations in Buddhist studies for monks.
His support extended beyond his own monastery. At his ninetieth-birthday celebration on 21 February B.E. 2561, he donated two million baht to Wat Ban Khai for monks' accommodation.
At that gathering, Rayong's provincial ecclesiastical chief presided for the monastic side and Governor Surasak Charoensirichot for the lay side. Thousands of monastics, officials and local people joined the water-blessing and queued for commemorative amulets, giving the anniversary a clear community as well as temple dimension.
On 27 August B.E. 2563, Sin joined the consecration of the Heng Hok Lok Siw Garuda issue for Provincial Police Region 2 Training Center. He also contributed inscribed metal sheets. The project sought funds to replace wiring around the training ground and purchase training equipment; his support took the form of contributing to the amulets' consecration.
On 21 February B.E. 2567, Rayong Provincial Office of Buddhism personnel visited Wat Lahan Yai to honour his ninety-sixth birthday. The office's account also records his position as abbot.
At the same ninety-sixth-birthday gathering, followers offered meals and free haircuts, and distributed commemorative Eight-Cycle Khun Phaen amulets. A report from the day describes long queues: the supply ran out within half an hour, and some disappointed attendees argued with those handing them out.
In B.E. 2567, Wat Lahan Yai held a Khun Phaen consecration and fundraising event for Sin's eighth cycle and seventy-second rains. The report described its purpose as contributing toward an eighth-cycle memorial hall budgeted at 1.8 million baht; only any surplus was intended for repairs to deteriorated permanent temple structures. This records the announced use of the fundraising, not that the hall was completed, the full sum was raised or the repairs were finished.
Amulets and devotees' memories
Collector records list portrait medals, Phra Pidta, Khun Phaen, goats and Hanuman, including sema medals dated B.E. 2540–2541, turtle-back medals of 2546 and Khun Phaen of 2549. Such entries guide issue-specific research. Commissioning, consecrating and personally making an object are different roles; a biography cannot authenticate individual pieces.
Devotees pass down stories of protection associated with his amulets. One tells of a wearer emerging unharmed after a vehicle rolled three or four times; another concerns holy water blessed using a portrait medal and employed in an exorcism. These experiences form part of the stories shared among his followers.
Another devotee recalled making a wish while holding one of Sin's goat amulets, promising to obtain a hundred more if he won the lottery. Still unfamiliar with Sin at the time, he said that he subsequently won, honoured his promise, and gave the amulets to relatives, friends and colleagues to share his faith in the monk.
Teachings attributed to Sin emphasise keeping the five precepts, doing good and never using sacred objects to justify harming others. He saw faith as a source of confidence and perseverance through difficulty, but did not regard wearing an amulet as a guarantee against injury. Respect for sacred objects should go hand in hand with goodness in everyday life.
His ninety-eighth birthday
A birthday observance was held for Sin on 21 February B.E. 2569. The account of that occasion marked his age as ninety-eight and his monastic seniority as seventy-four rains retreats; attendees also left a record of paying their respects.