Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro
| Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (Phramongkolthepmuni) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Buddhism |
| School | Theravada, Maha Nikaya |
| Other names | Luang Por Sodh Luang Pu Sodh Luang Pu Wat Paknam |
| Dharma names | Candasaro |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Thai |
| Born |
October 10, 1884 Song Phi Nong, Suphanburi, Thailand |
| Died | February 3, 1959 (aged 73) Bangkok |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, Thonburi, Thailand |
Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (10 October 1884 – 3 February 1959), also known as Phramongkolthepmuni (Thai: พระมงคลเทพมุนี), the abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, was the founder of the Thai Dhammakaya meditation school in 1916. As the former abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, he is often called Luang Pu Wat Paknam, meaning 'the Venerable Father of Wat Paknam'. He became a well-known meditation master during the interbellum and the Second World War, and played a significant role in the revival of Thai Buddhism during that period. He is considered by the Dhammakaya Movement to have rediscovered Vijja Dhammakaya, a meditation method believed to have been used by the Buddha himself. Since the 2000s, some scholars have pointed out that Luang Pu Sodh also played an important role in introducing Theravada Buddhism in the West, a point previously overlooked.
Luang Pu Sodh was born as Sodh Mikaewnoi on 10 October 1884 to a relatively well-off family of rice merchants in Amphoe Song Phi Nong, Suphanburi, a province 102 km west of Bangkok. His father was called Ngen and his mother Soodjai. He received part of his schooling in the temple of his uncle, a Buddhist monk, when he was nine years old. He therefore became familiar with Buddhism from an early age. He also showed qualities of being an intelligent autodidact from an early age. When his uncle moved to Wat Hua Bho, his uncle took him with him to teach. After a while his uncle left the monkhood, but Ngen managed to send Sodh to study with Luang Por Sub, the abbot of Wat Bangpla. This is where Sodh learnt Khmer. When he had finished his Khmer studies there, he returned home to help his father, who ran a rice-trading business, shipping rice from Suphanburi to sell to rice mills in Bangkok and Nakhon Chai Si District. At the age of fourteen, Sodh's father died, and he had to take responsibility for the family business, being the first son. This had an impact on him: thieves and other threats brought home to him the futility of the household life, and he desired to ordain as a monk. He had to take care of his family first though, and saved up money for them to be able to live without him.
...
Wikipedia