Ajahn Dtun Biography: The Sacred Equation

Ajahn Dtun Biography: 
The Sacred Equation

Ajahn Dtun paying respect to Luang pu Boonsong in Wat Ratchabophit where both Luang pu Boonsong and Ajahn Dtun were one of the senior monks being invited.

Ajahn Dtun (Thiracitto) was born in the province of Ayutthaya, Thailand, in 1955. When he was six his family moved to Bangkok and he continued to live there until June 1978. From a young age he was a boy whose heart naturally inclined toward having a foundation in moral discipline. 

By the time he was a teenager and during his university years, many small incidents that would fashion his life gradually steered him away from the ways of the world and towards wishing to live the Holy Life. After graduating in March 1978 with a BA in Economics, he was accepted to study for a Masters degree in Town Planning at the University of Colorado, USA. However, while he was preparing to travel abroad, many small insights came together in force, and changed his way of thinking from planning to take his studies as far as he could and then lead a family life, to deciding that after graduation he would remain single and work to assist his father financially until the time was right for him to be ordained as a monk. 

One evening he picked up a Dhamma book belonging to his father: which opened by chance at the last words of the Buddha: “Now monks, I declare to you: decline and disappearance are the nature of all conditions. Strive on with diligence!” 

As he read this over a second and then a third time, the words resonated deeply within his heart, causing him to feel that the time had now come to be ordained, knowing this was the only thing that would bring him any true benefit. He resolved that within two months he would be ordained as a monk, and that his ordination would be for life.

In June 1978 he travelled to the north-eastern province of Ubon Ratchathani to be ordained by the Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong. Resolute by nature and determined in his practice, he was to meet with steady progress regardless of whether he was living with Ajahn Chah or at any of Wat Nong Pah Pong’s branch monasteries. In 1981, he returned to central Thailand to spend the Rains Retreat at Wat Fah Krahm (near Bangkok), together with Ajahn Piak and Ajahn Anan. The three remained at Wat Fah Krahm until late 1984, when Ajahn Anan and Ajahn Dtun were invited to take up residence on a small piece of forest land in the province of Rayong in Eastern Thailand. 

Seeing that this land was unsuitable for long-term residence, Ajahn Dtun chose another piece of land which was made available to them, a forested mountain that would later become the present day Wat Marp Jan. He spent five years assisting Ajahn Anan to establish Wat Marp Jan, and then decided it was time to seek solitude so as to intensify his practice, knowing this to be necessary if he was to finally bring the practice of Dhamma to its completion. He was invited to practise on 80-acres of dense forest in the province of Chonburi, where he remained in comparative isolation for two years. In 1992 he accepted an offer of land for the establishment of a monastery, which he named Wat Boonyawad. At present the monastery covers 160 acres, all kindly given by the faith and generosity of Mr and Mrs. Boon and Seeam Jenjirawatana and their family.

Since 1993 Ajahn Dtun’s reputation as a prominent teacher within the Thai Forest Tradition has grown, and has attracted between 50 to 60 monks to come and live and practise under his 

guidance at Wat Boonyawad.

Cr on Ajahn Dtun Biography: 

The Sacred Equation

28 May 2023