Source: The Bangkok Post,http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/219009/forest-monk-passes-away-at-98
Revered abbot Luangtah Maha Bua Yannasampanno (Acharn Maha Boowa Ñanasampanno) has passed away at the Wat Pa Ban Tad forest temple in Udon Thani province. He was 98.
The director of Udon Thani Hospital, Pichart Dolchalermyuthana, said the abbot's condition deteriorated at 2.49am yesterday and he passed away at 3.53am.
Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn was at the abbot's bedside until his last moments and she personally announced his death.
Crowds of followers joined the princess in offering alms to monks yesterday morning in a traditional merit-making ceremony for the abbot.
The princess also presided over a royally sponsored bathing rite on behalf of Their Majesties the King and Queen last night.
Royal wreaths have been placed at a pavilion where the abbot's coffin is laid. His Majesty the King also presented an urn and will sponsor religious rites for the abbot for seven days.
Udon Thani governor Khomsan Ekachai said religious rites would continue for a month before authorities decide on a cremation schedule.
Luangtah Maha Bua expressed in his will, made in 2000, that he wished all donations he received would be spent on buying gold, and that the gold, together with earlier donations, would be handed to the Bank of Thailand to add to the country's reserves.
A committee will be formed to manage Wat Pa Ban Tad's assets and donations received at the funeral. Phra Ajarn Sudjai Thantamano, the temple's deputy abbot, will be the executor.
Luangtah Maha Bua was widely regarded as a living ''arahant'', a monk who has attained spiritual liberation after having extinguished all worldly desires. His official title in the ec clesiastical hierarchy is Phra Dhamma Visuthimongkol.
He used temple donations to support numerous charities, hospitals, schools, homes for the disadvantaged and shelters for abandoned animals.
After the economic meltdown of 1997, Luangtah Maha Bua took advantage of his nationwide popularity to raise over 12 tonnes of gold and about 300 million baht in cash in various denominations to replenish the depleted foreign reserves.
But Luangtah Maha Bua also courted political controversy when, in 2005, he publicly criticised Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Luangtah Maha Bua fiercely questioned Thaksin's appointment of Somdet Phra Phuttacharn, abbot of Wat Saket in Bangkok, as acting supreme patriarch.
He viewed the appointment as a gross violation of royal powers and an attempt to control the clergy.
Luangtah Maha Bua became seriously ill in November. He was treated by physicians at Wat Pa Ban Tad.
HRH Princess Chulabhorn, one of his followers, visited him and worked with the medical team.
He was born in 1913 to a rice- farming family of 16 in the village of Ban Tad in Udon Thani.
He agreed to a request from his parents to be ordained in 1934 when he was 21 years old. It was intended to be a short monkhood, as is customary for many young men, but he soon became committed to a spiritual quest.
Luangtah Maha Bua was a disciple of the late Ajarn Mun Bhuridatto, a charismatic leader of the forest monk tradition in the Northeast.
While urban monks focus on the studies of Buddhist texts, forest monks devote themselves to rigorous meditation and a life of simplicity close to nature as the path to spiritual liberation. Ajarn Mun was also revered as an arahant.
The death of his teacher in 1949 prompted Luangtah to practise rigorously in the seclusion of the forested mountains. His spiritual breakthrough reportedly came six months later.
In 1997, he talked to his followers about death. He said this lifetime was his last and he would never be born again. His followers took this as a confirmation of him becoming a spiritually enlightened monk.
Luangtah Maha Bua also took the occasion to prohibit chanting at his funeral ceremony, calling it unnecessary. He also prohibited the temple from using his dead body to attract visitors and donations. He said he would prefer his funeral to be simple because the Buddha taught simplicity.
Phrakru Atthakit, abbot of Wat Pa Doi Labnga in Kamphaeng Phet province, said the cremation ceremony for Luangtah Maha Bua was expected to be held in early March.
Phrakru Atthakit headed the council of monks which took responsibility for the treatment of Luangtah Maha Bua during his illness.
*From Bhikkhu Sujato, Australia: Luang Tah Maha Bua was one of the great monks, indeed great human beings, of the last century, and his passing away signals the end of an era. He has said for years that people should not mourn his death, as he has long gone beyond rebirth. Fierce and funny, profound and unique, he was a true original. May he rest in Nibbbana!
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Revered abbot Luangtah Maha Bua Yannasampanno (Acharn Maha Boowa Ñanasampanno) has passed away at the Wat Pa Ban Tad forest temple in Udon Thani province. He was 98.
The director of Udon Thani Hospital, Pichart Dolchalermyuthana, said the abbot's condition deteriorated at 2.49am yesterday and he passed away at 3.53am.
Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn was at the abbot's bedside until his last moments and she personally announced his death.
Crowds of followers joined the princess in offering alms to monks yesterday morning in a traditional merit-making ceremony for the abbot.
The princess also presided over a royally sponsored bathing rite on behalf of Their Majesties the King and Queen last night.
Royal wreaths have been placed at a pavilion where the abbot's coffin is laid. His Majesty the King also presented an urn and will sponsor religious rites for the abbot for seven days.
Udon Thani governor Khomsan Ekachai said religious rites would continue for a month before authorities decide on a cremation schedule.
Luangtah Maha Bua expressed in his will, made in 2000, that he wished all donations he received would be spent on buying gold, and that the gold, together with earlier donations, would be handed to the Bank of Thailand to add to the country's reserves.
A committee will be formed to manage Wat Pa Ban Tad's assets and donations received at the funeral. Phra Ajarn Sudjai Thantamano, the temple's deputy abbot, will be the executor.
Luangtah Maha Bua was widely regarded as a living ''arahant'', a monk who has attained spiritual liberation after having extinguished all worldly desires. His official title in the ec clesiastical hierarchy is Phra Dhamma Visuthimongkol.
He used temple donations to support numerous charities, hospitals, schools, homes for the disadvantaged and shelters for abandoned animals.
After the economic meltdown of 1997, Luangtah Maha Bua took advantage of his nationwide popularity to raise over 12 tonnes of gold and about 300 million baht in cash in various denominations to replenish the depleted foreign reserves.
But Luangtah Maha Bua also courted political controversy when, in 2005, he publicly criticised Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Luangtah Maha Bua fiercely questioned Thaksin's appointment of Somdet Phra Phuttacharn, abbot of Wat Saket in Bangkok, as acting supreme patriarch.
He viewed the appointment as a gross violation of royal powers and an attempt to control the clergy.
Luangtah Maha Bua became seriously ill in November. He was treated by physicians at Wat Pa Ban Tad.
HRH Princess Chulabhorn, one of his followers, visited him and worked with the medical team.
He was born in 1913 to a rice- farming family of 16 in the village of Ban Tad in Udon Thani.
He agreed to a request from his parents to be ordained in 1934 when he was 21 years old. It was intended to be a short monkhood, as is customary for many young men, but he soon became committed to a spiritual quest.
Luangtah Maha Bua was a disciple of the late Ajarn Mun Bhuridatto, a charismatic leader of the forest monk tradition in the Northeast.
While urban monks focus on the studies of Buddhist texts, forest monks devote themselves to rigorous meditation and a life of simplicity close to nature as the path to spiritual liberation. Ajarn Mun was also revered as an arahant.
The death of his teacher in 1949 prompted Luangtah to practise rigorously in the seclusion of the forested mountains. His spiritual breakthrough reportedly came six months later.
In 1997, he talked to his followers about death. He said this lifetime was his last and he would never be born again. His followers took this as a confirmation of him becoming a spiritually enlightened monk.
Luangtah Maha Bua also took the occasion to prohibit chanting at his funeral ceremony, calling it unnecessary. He also prohibited the temple from using his dead body to attract visitors and donations. He said he would prefer his funeral to be simple because the Buddha taught simplicity.
Phrakru Atthakit, abbot of Wat Pa Doi Labnga in Kamphaeng Phet province, said the cremation ceremony for Luangtah Maha Bua was expected to be held in early March.
Phrakru Atthakit headed the council of monks which took responsibility for the treatment of Luangtah Maha Bua during his illness.
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