Luang Pu Sodh of Wat Paknam: History, Teachings, and the Phra Phong Amulets

Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro (rank title Phra Mongkol-Thepmuni; 10 October 1884 – 3 February 1959) was a Thai Mahanikaya monk and the abbot of Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen in Thonburi, now part of Bangkok, from 1916 until his death [1][3][4]. English Wikipedia describes him as a well-known meditation master who played a significant role in the development of Thai Buddhism in his period [3]. The Dhammakaya tradition regards him as the rediscoverer of Vijja Dhammakaya, a meditation method it holds was used by the Buddha himself, while English Wikipedia describes him as the founder of the Dhammakaya tradition [3][9]. Under his abbacy Wat Paknam grew from a neglected temple with thirteen monks into a centre of Pali study and meditation with about five hundred monks [4].

In the history of Thai amulets he is known for the Phra Phong Khong Khwan ("gift powder tablets"): three batches of 84,000 small rectangular powder tablets, pressed in 1950, 1951 and 1956 (BE 2493, 2494 and 2499) and given to donors of 25 baht or more towards a Pali school building [8]. Their distribution ran from 1950 to 1971, so part of it took place after his death [8]. A Khaosod newspaper amulet column (2019) describes all three batches as very popular [11].

Early Life and River Trade in Suphan Buri

Sodh Meekaewnoi (สด มีแก้วน้อย) was born on 10 October 1884 (BE 2427) at Ban Song Phi Nong, in Amphoe Song Phi Nong, Suphan Buri Province [1]. His parents were Ngoen and Sudjai Meekaewnoi [1][3]. The family were rice merchants [3][7].

He began his schooling in the temple of his home village, taught by an uncle who was a monk, and later learned to read Khmer script under Ajahn Sap at Wat Bang Pla in Nakhon Pathom [1][3]. When he was fourteen his father died, and he took over the family business, which shipped rice by boat from Suphan Buri to mills in Bangkok and Nakhon Chai Si [1][3].

The Thai Wikipedia biography recounts an episode on a short-cut canal known as Khlong Bang Ithaen, where robbers were common. Sodh was bringing an empty boat home with the proceeds of a rice sale; he thought of death and vowed that, if he survived, he would be ordained for life [1]. The same account has him reflecting that people spend their lives earning wealth that cannot be taken past death, and concluding that ordination was the better course [1]. Both Wikipedia articles place the start of this resolve at about age nineteen [1][3]. He then worked to save enough money for his mother's upkeep [1], and English Wikipedia adds that he left the business in the hands of employees he trusted [3]. The Dhammakaya Foundation's short biography gives his age at ordination as twenty-one, while Thai Wikipedia says he was approaching twenty-two [1][7].

Ordination and Studies in Bangkok

In July 1906 (BE 2449), approaching age twenty-two, he was ordained as a novice and then as a monk at Wat Song Phi Nong in his home district [1]. According to Thai Wikipedia his preceptor was Chao Athikan Di of Wat Pratu San, with Ajahn Nieng Intachoto of Wat Song Phi Nong as kammavacharya and Luang Por Nong Inthasuwanno of the same temple as anusavanacharya, and he received the Pali name Candasaro [1]. Thai Wikipedia gives the founding of Wat Song Phi Nong, in Tambon Ton Tan, as BE 2212 (1669), in King Narai's reign [5].

He spent his first rains retreat there. A Pali word, avijjapaccaya, whose meaning nobody nearby could explain, made him decide to continue his studies in Bangkok, and after the retreat he moved to Wat Phra Chetuphon (Wat Pho) to study the scriptural branch of the Sangha's work [1][3]. On the waxing 8th and 15th days he sought out meditation teachers, and Thai Wikipedia names Phra Sangwara-nuwong (Iam) of Wat Ratchasittharam, Phra Khru Chanwirat (Po) of Wat Pho and Ajahn Singh of Wat Lakhon Tham [1]. English Wikipedia says he studied scripture and meditation at about eight Bangkok temples over roughly ten years, and notes that sources differ over whether an early meditation development happened at Wat Ratchasittharam or at Wat Lakhon Tham [3]. It adds that in his first years at Wat Pho he found it hard to get food on the traditional alms round and resolved to build a kitchen for monastics one day [3].

The Retreat at Wat Bot Bon

The Thai biography says that in his twelfth rains retreat Phra Sodh asked leave of the head of Wat Pho to spend the retreat at Wat Bot Bon (วัดโบสถ์บน) in Tambon Bang Khu Wiang, Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi, in search of a secluded place suited to practice [1].

On the full-moon day of the tenth lunar month, BE 2460 (1917), Thai Wikipedia and the Foundation place the event that the Dhammakaya tradition counts as the rediscovery of Vijja Dhammakaya [1][7]. The Thai biography narrates it as follows. After his alms round Phra Sodh entered the ordination hall, resolved not to rise before the midday drum, and repeated the phrase "samma araham". After a struggle with pain and restlessness his mind came to rest at a single point and he saw a clear sphere about the size of a chicken's egg yolk. In the evening, after the fortnightly recitation of the monastic code, he sat again, and after about half the night or more he saw a succession of spheres, which in his account led to the Dhammakaya [1]. English Wikipedia summarises it as three hours on the mantra, after which his mind became still at the centre of the body and he saw "a bright and shining sphere of Dhamma" followed by new spheres, each "brighter and clearer" [3][6].

The Dhammakaya tradition holds that this was the true Dhamma-body and that the method had been lost five hundred years after the Buddha's final passing [3][7]. Scholars have connected the method with the older Yogavacara tradition [9]. According to the Foundation, after that rains retreat he went to Wat Bang Pla in Nakhon Pathom and taught there for the first time [7].

In Dhammakaya meditation, several techniques focus the attention on the centre of the body [6]. Luang Pu Sodh described that centre as a point two finger-widths above the navel [6].

Abbot of Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen

Wat Paknam is an old temple. Thai Wikipedia describes it as founded in the middle Ayutthaya period, between BE 2031 and 2172 (1488–1629), while English Wikipedia gives 1610 [2][4]. It lies at the mouth of Khlong Dan where that canal branches from Khlong Bang Luang, and takes its name ("mouth of the water") from that position [2][4]. It is a third-class royal monastery of the common type in the Mahanikaya order [2]. By the early twentieth century it had deteriorated and had no resident abbot, only caretakers from other temples [2][4].

Thai Wikipedia states that in 1916 (BE 2459) the Sangha, through Phra Sakyabutti-wong (Phuean Tissadatto), later Somdet Phra Wanarat, sent Phra Samuh Sod from Wat Pho to be abbot [2]. English Wikipedia adds that he was first appointed caretaker for a temporary three months, and shortly afterwards was made full abbot [3]. The Foundation's biography instead dates his appointment to BE 2463 (1920) [7]. English Wikipedia says that in 1921 Somdet Phuean gave him the title Phrakhru Samanadham-samathan, which was tied to the post [3]; Thai Wikipedia lists the same year among his rank titles [1].

On arrival he found a near-abandoned temple, with orchards, a very old sala, a few small teak huts and thirteen resident monks who were lax in both study and practice [1]. He is quoted as saying that building people is hard and building structures is easy, so people must be built first [1]. Thai and English Wikipedia both say he enforced strict adherence to the monastic discipline [2][3].

The following changes are recorded:

• Study. He established what Thai Wikipedia calls the most modern Pariyattidhamma school of its day, with both Dhamma and Pali departments, and monks, novices and lay people came in large numbers to study and practise [2]. English Wikipedia says he set up a Pali Institute at Wat Paknam, financed through amulet production, while its article on the temple says he built a Pali school in 1950 that became a leading institute of the country [3][4].
• Kitchen. English Wikipedia credits him with a kitchen that fed resident monks and novices, and also lay visitors, and says this left monks with more time to study [3].

English Wikipedia records that in 1954 he ordained the Englishman William Purfurst (Richard Randall) as Kapilavaddho, described as the first Englishman ordained in Thailand [3].

Titles, Death and Succession

Thai Wikipedia, citing the Royal Gazette, lists his ranks as Phra Khru Samanadham-samathan (BE 2464, 1921), Phra Bhavanakosolthera (BE 2492, 1949), Phra Mongkol Ratmuni (BE 2498, 1955) and, from BE 2500 (1957), Phra Rajakhana of the Thep grade with the title Phra Mongkol-Thepmuni [1].

He fell ill and was unwell for more than two years before he died on 3 February 1959 (BE 2502) at 15:05 in the Mongkol Chanthasorn building at Wat Paknam, aged 74 years, 3 months and 24 days [1]. His body was not cremated and is kept in a coffin at the temple [4].

From 1959 to 1965 (BE 2502–2508) Pun Punnasiri, who later became Somdet Phra Wanarat (from 1961) and Supreme Patriarch (1972–1973), was acting abbot [2][10]. Thai Wikipedia on Pun Punnasiri says that in 1912, aged sixteen, he moved to Wat Pho to live with Phra Sod, who was his uncle [10]. Somdet Phra Maharatchamangalacharn (Chuang Varapuñño) was abbot from 1965 to 2021 [2].

Today the temple is known for the Maharatchamongkhon stupa, finished in 2012, and a large bronze Buddha image completed in 2021, which English Wikipedia says have made it a popular attraction for international tourists [4].

The Phra Phong Khong Khwan: Purpose and Distribution

Almost everything below about the tablets' making comes from the Dhammakaya Foundation's article on the Wat Paknam powder tablets [8], supplemented by the Khaosod amulet column [11]. Where the two differ, the text says so. The Foundation's page also attributes spiritual powers to the tablets; this encyclopedia records that only as the tradition's own belief and does not repeat or assess it.

The Foundation says Luang Pu Sodh planned the tablets as a way to raise funds for the Pariyattidhamma school, giving one to each person who donated 25 baht or more, and himself named them "Phra Khong Khwan" (gift amulets) [8]. Each batch was 84,000 pieces, a number the Foundation equates to the 84,000 Dhammakhandha (sections of the teaching), making 252,000 pieces across the three batches [8]. The rule was one tablet per person, however much was donated, taken by the recipient in person; a tablet could not be collected by proxy, and a lost one was not replaced [8]. The Khaosod column agrees on the one-per-person rule and describes the handing-out as free of charge [11].

The Foundation adds that Luang Pu Sodh donated 25 baht himself before taking the first piece [8]. The Foundation says Batch 1 was consecrated through the Vijja Dhammakaya method during the 1950 rains retreat, from the first waning day of the eighth lunar month to the full moon of the eleventh [8]. This is the tradition's own account.

The first handing-out of Batch 1 began on the 6th waning day of the eleventh lunar month, which the Foundation connects with his birthday and which Thai Wikipedia gives as his birth date in the lunar calendar [1][8]. The Foundation says he consecrated Batch 3 during his lifetime, though it was handed out only from 1962, three years after his death [8].

Moulds and Design

According to the Foundation, the first edition used ten rectangular brass moulds that Luang Bhuminat-sanit (Sueb Tangkarat) had carvers make and present to Luang Pu Sodh [8]. The ten impressions are alike or similar and differ in the face, the arms, the placement of the hands and other details [8].

The tablets measure roughly 1.4 cm wide, 2 cm long and 4–6 mm thick; the Foundation gives Batch 3 deep-impression pieces as roughly 1.3 by 1.9 cm and 6 mm thick [8]. The obverse shows the Buddha seated in a flat cross-legged meditation posture, in the first-sermon gesture, inside a pointed-top "ruen kaew" canopy [8]. Khaosod describes a lotus base with inverted and upright petals and straight radiating lines in tiers around the canopy [11]. The reverse carries the Khom (Khmer-script) letters "ธรรมขันธ์" (Dhammakhandha) [8][11].

For Batch 3 the Foundation says the old Batch 1 moulds were used at first, but after two batches they were worn shallow, so the temple had them retouched by craftsmen; collectors call the two groups "shallow" and "deep" or "raised" impressions [8]. The Khaosod column instead says new moulds were cut for Batch 3 [11]. The two accounts therefore differ.

Materials and Condition

The Foundation says the tablets are made from dried flowers used for the morning and evening Buddha offerings, such as jasmine, lotus and flower pollen, ground and mixed with flour, together with strands of Luang Pu Sodh's hair; the mix was kneaded into lumps and pressed in the moulds [8]. Khaosod names special powders such as Phong Maharaj, Pathamang and Itthije [11].

Batch 1 is mostly soft and crumbly, though some pieces are hard and dense; colours run from white and cream to yellowish white, with some brownish pieces [8]. For Batch 3 the Foundation says binders such as tang-iw oil and banana were added so the body would be firmer, and shallow-impression pieces are mostly yellow, cream, light brown or dark [8]. Khaosod explains that the first batch had no tang-iw oil binder, so pieces that got wet could dissolve; it says Luang Pu Sodh then had the remaining Batch 1 stock dipped in lacquer, and Batch 2 was made from the old moulds and lacquered throughout [11]. This agrees with the Foundation on Batch 2 and on the mostly unlacquered state of Batch 1 [8][11]. Neither source describes a shellac dip applied to Batch 3.

Points Where Sources Disagree

• Wat Bot Bon retreat: BE 2460 (1917) in Thai Wikipedia and the Foundation, 1916 in English Wikipedia [1][3][7].
• Start of his abbacy: BE 2459 (1916) in the Wikipedia articles, BE 2463 (1920) in the Foundation [1][2][3][7].
• Age at ordination: twenty-one (Foundation) or approaching twenty-two (Thai Wikipedia) [1][7].
• Date of the Pali school: 1939 or 1950, in two English Wikipedia articles [3][4].
• Batch 3 moulds: reworked old moulds (Foundation) or newly cut (Khaosod) [8][11].

Key Facts: Luang Pu Sodh and Phra Phong Wat Paknam