Luang Phor Khiao

 Luang Phor Khiao 

Today I went to pay my respects to Luang Phor Khiao of Wat Phu Noi, because I had heard that he was a remarkable monk who could communicate with Tao Wessuwan. 

Reaching the temple, I only saw one other vehicle about to leave. The temple was in one of the quietest provinces of Thailand and located in quite an isolated spot so it wasn’t surprising. As we got out of the car, Luang Phor suddenly appeared out of nowhere holding some tools in his hand. 

He turned to us and asked us what our purpose for coming here was, and led us into the main hall. At first, he seemed very strict. And he told us that he was unable to “doo duang” literally “see one’s destiny” or in local talk, perform fortune-telling. 

But later as we chatted and chatted, we realised that the answer he gave was exactly the same as what Ajaan Chai had told us. But he was even more specific than Ajaan Chai by explaining his reasons behind the answer and also the length of time it would take before it would materialise.

So I realised that Luang Phor probably can doo duang after all, but maybe he was just being humble. And later on he finally revealed that he does have a special relationship with Tao Wessuwan, but he said that certain details cannot be released openly, so I can’t write about it here. 

Instead I will write about another interesting aspect of Luang Phor - his ability to remember his past life. Note that this doesn’t involve psychic powers because he was able to remember his past life even when he was a child. 

In Luang Phor’s past life, he was a very famous monk in Southern Thailand. Luang Phor told me who he was, but I’m not going to reveal that here, but suffice to say that most Thai Buddhists would have heard of his name. 

Despite being a very renowned monk, Luang Phor said that he was actually stuck as a spirit and couldn’t get reborn for around 2 years. 

This was because when he passed away, he was still holding on to donors’ monies which were meant for a good cause. 

As he couldn’t ensure that his promise to the donors were fulfilled, he was unable to let go of the obligation and thus not able to move on. Until one day Luang Pu Thuad suddenly appeared and persuaded him to go on almsround or have the morning meal with him. 

So Luang Phor got ready his monk’s bowl and the like and went to wait for the train as per the invitation. But as Luang Phor waited for the train, he started to feel sleepy and fell asleep. 

When he woke up, he found that he was reborn already, in this life as Dek (Child) Khiao. 

Despite being reborn, Luang Phor still had the same feelings he had. He still felt that he was a monk. Therefore, as a young kid, he would perform the morning and evening chanting which would astonish his parents, since he couldn’t even read yet. 

Whenever he wanted to eat, he had to have his father offer food to him first before he would eat. This is because monks cannot eat food unless it is offered. As for his mom, he would make her place it on a cloth before offering it to him (as monks cannot touch women, offerings need to be placed on a cloth). 

After eating, Luang Phor (still a child then) would chant the after-meal blessings for his father and mother. If something like this happened, we would probably be amazed, but Luang Phor’s mom couldn’t stand the strange behaviour of her son. Why didn’t he behave like a normal kid? 

Luang Phor was born to a family of farmers. 

Farmers lead a tough life in Thailand, they have a lot of farm work to be done. Therefore one day, Luang Phor’s mom had enough of him. She had to go do her farming duties and yet here her son was, ready to chant the meal blessings. She couldn’t take it anymore, anger rushed into her head and she slapped him. 

This caused the rice Luang Phor had already chewed to fly out of his mouth and hit the floor, and probably the trauma of it caused Luang Phor (then a child) to lose the memory of his past life for a long period of time, until he started practising meditation after ordination as a novice and his past life memory returned.

The story of Luang Phor is a little long, so I will continue it later, with more emphasis on Tao Wessuwan and Luang Phor's powers, or more accurately how Luang Phor can help those in need.

19 March 2023