Phor Than Khloi and the Khao Or tradition
Luang Phor Kloy, also known as Phor Than Khloi Anomo, was an elder of Wat Phu Khao Thong in Phatthalung. Chinese collectors call him 龍婆蓋 or 龙婆盖. His life in the Khao Or tradition brought together religious study, ritual knowledge, teaching and local monastic responsibilities. Hun Phayon and Phra Pidta introduced many collectors to his name; visitors to the monastery also knew him as a teacher who welcomed devotees and cared for the temple.
Born Khloi Thong-o, he was the son of Saeng and Iat. Biographies give his birth as 9 February B.E. 2472 in Makok Nuea, Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung. He attended Wat Sai Ngam School in Nang Tung, completing the fourth primary grade. Some accounts also specify a Sunday birth. Older dating conventions and the recorded ages remain unresolved, so the corresponding Gregorian birth year is not yet certain.
He became a novice at Wat Don Sala on 15 July B.E. 2491 under Ajahn Iat. On 1 March B.E. 2493 he received full ordination at Wat Khuan Pan Ta Ram. Phra Khru Rattanaphirat, also called Ajahn Ne, was his preceptor; Phra Maha Choem Thitapemo served as kammavacacariya, and Phra Khru Kachat, also called Ajahn Bun Thong, of Wat Don Sala was anusavanacariya. Novice training had led him into the next stage of monastic life as a fully ordained monk.
Religious education and the Khao Or teachers
After ordination he returned to Wat Don Sala, progressing through the Nak Tham religious curriculum and attaining Nak Tham Ek in B.E. 2497. He later taught at both Wat Don Sala and Wat Phu Khao Thong, bringing his years of study into the classroom. Nak Tham Ek belongs to the monastic education system; it is not a modern university degree.
Ajahn Iat taught him directly. Thai biographies also describe Khloi as Iat's lan, while some Chinese accounts specify an uncle-and-nephew relationship; the precise kinship still requires confirmation. The manuals and practices passed through Iat connected him to Thong Thao and Ajahn Pan Paladhammo of Khao Or. This describes a tradition inherited through his teacher, rather than a record of personal study with every ancestral master.
At Phrom Khantiko's ordination at Wat Ban Suan on 21 June B.E. 2504, Khloi served as kammavacacariya and Khong of that temple was preceptor. Khong was also Phrom's principal teacher. The connection recorded between Phrom and Khloi is the latter's role in this ordination.
Prince of Songkla University's local-history database records another ordination connection. On 1 July B.E. 2539, Phor Than Hong Thammawaro received full ordination at Wat Khao Or with Khloi as his preceptor. Hong later became acting abbot there in B.E. 2549. The account identifies their ordination relationship specifically.
Another monk reported to have studied with Khloi is Phra Ajahn Phon Techaphalo of Wat Khao Huai Haeng, Trang. His biography describes learning first with Ajahn Yi, then seeking Khao Or instruction from Khloi. Yi was also his ordination kammavacacariya; Khloi appears in this account as a teacher.
The abbacy and the temple's educational setting
According to his biography, Khloi became abbot in B.E. 2501, monastic head of Makok Nuea in B.E. 2518, and received the title Phra Khru Phiphit Worakit in B.E. 2522. He became district monastic chief of Khuan Khanun in B.E. 2542 and received a further promotion in B.E. 2546. His responsibilities gradually extended from the daily affairs of one monastery to the wider local monastic community.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' southern master list also records “Phor Than Khloi, Phra Khru Phiphit Worakit” alongside Wat Phu Khao Thong in Phatthalung, preserving his name, ecclesiastical title and temple affiliation in an official register.
Wat Phu Khao Thong's connection with education began before his abbacy. A local-history study relates that Phra Thamma Warom, Seng Uttamo, returned to his home area, saw the difficult journeys children faced and arranged a school in B.E. 2472. A shortage of teachers prompted the establishment of the temple in B.E. 2473 to support education. On 5 February B.E. 2544, Khloi, by then abbot and district monastic chief, gave the researcher an interview about this local history. Seng initiated the school; Khloi's teaching and support belonged to a later period.
Construction and restoration during his abbacy included the preaching hall, monks' quarters, cremation facilities, walls, bell tower and ordination hall. Biographies date the start of the ordination hall to B.E. 2522, while later fundraising accounts still mention repairs and unfinished sections. Years of use brought continuing maintenance needs; these buildings were not all completed in a single year.
The B.E. 2556 Mang Mi Si Suk appeal supported a bell tower and a mondop for a life-size portrait statue. Consecration was scheduled for 19 February at 1:09 p.m., with Khloi lighting the candle and nine Khao Or monks participating. A 1 October foundation ceremony is also mentioned, but its printed year is incomplete.
A broom and a welcome for visitors
In later life, when he had no engagement elsewhere, Khloi often swept the leaves outside his quarters himself. Visitors remembered the small-framed elder with his broom. He explained that a clean, orderly monastery made people feel welcome, while sweeping gave him some exercise.
He welcomed visitors regardless of their standing and liked to weave Buddhist teachings into stories of earlier days. Before they left, he would ask an attendant to bring amulets, then jokingly warn the recipients to look after them and not be tricked into giving them away. Teacher and visitors would laugh together. He repeatedly urged people to remain mindful before and during action, speech and thought, and to treat living beings with kindness.
Amulets and stories of a white-clad guardian
Objects associated with him include the B.E. 2535 Chan Phen Phra Pidta series, Phra Kring images, lotus-petal powder amulets, Sangkachai images, takrut and Hun Phayon. Collector records also describe a B.E. 2543 first medal, a designation for that medal series; other kinds of amulet were associated with him before it. Biographies place him among the monks participating in early Jatukham Rammathep consecrations in B.E. 2530.
The catalogue divides the nava-loha Chan Phen issue into Phung Yup, Phung Lui, Chalut, Klip Bua and Phra Bua Khem forms. It also lists Phra Kring Phiphit; white- and black-herbal Maha Wet Maha Mongkhon pieces, yantra Pidta and Ta Pa Khao figures; and Maha Ut, Krasun Khot and Maha Metta takrut. Materials and forms still require issue-by-issue comparison.
A lineage account says that Khloi followed Khao Or's older manuals and involved monks of that tradition in consecrations. He remembered Iat's warning that making amulets was not enough on its own: they had to be made well. In that teaching, the maker would incur demerit if the objects failed those who used them.
His Hun Phayon figures use the form of Ta Pa Khao, the white-clad practitioner. Accounts of their production connect them with older Khao Or practices and fundraising for an unfinished preaching hall. Within this belief tradition, red clothing signifies protective, intimidating power, while white clothing expresses hopes for benevolent assistance, livelihood and the protection of one's interests. These are devotional meanings, not guarantees of safety or income; clothing colour alone cannot establish an object's age, authenticity or ritual provenance.
One story tells of a white-haired, red-trousered elder offering his protection while Khloi meditated in a cave, seeking earth for amulets. Another describes a family returning from a week's holiday: neighbours had seen someone inside their empty home, yet nothing was missing. Khloi attributed the figure to Hun Phayon. Other wearers recalled sleeping more easily after removing the amulet.
In the cave tradition, the elder emerges from white smoke and says he has long guarded the hills of Khao Or and Wat Phu Khao Thong. Khloi asks to learn how to help others; the elder offers protective knowledge. The encounter is linked to his later Ta Pa Khao figures.
An account of the Muen Yan ceremony on 25 September B.E. 2555 names Khloi as the lighter of the principal ritual candle. Several Khao Or monks took part, including Ajahn Phaeo of Wat Phu Khao Thong. These shared ceremonies record another part of his connections with monks from other temples; ritual collaborators and directly instructed pupils remain distinct relationships.
The Mongkhon Chakkrawan Maha Yan medal has a two-stage ceremony account: 25 September B.E. 2555 at Wat Phu Khao Thong, then 9 October at Khao Or’s Chatthan Banphot cave. Lay master Plian Hatthayanon directed the rites, with funds intended for temple repairs. A shared ceremony date alone does not establish that differently named issues are identical.
His death and the memories that remained
Circulating biographies record his death in his quarters on 14 December B.E. 2557 at 4:19 p.m., giving his age as eighty-five. That reported age still needs comparison with the birth record. Descriptions of him as eighty-four preserve wording from an earlier stage of his life, not evidence that he was still alive when those descriptions were republished.
Memories of Khloi survive in his pupils' studies, the monastery's teaching and buildings, and the conversations and laughter remembered by visitors. Many first encountered his name through amulets and gradually came to know the elder who taught, handled monastic responsibilities and swept his own temple grounds. Stories of Hun Phayon continue to circulate among devotees alongside those memories.