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Fan Ajaro (ฝั้น อาจาโร)
Thai-Pali.
Name of a
Luang Poo and
Phra Mahathera
Theravada
Buddhist
monk in the
Thai Forest Tradition
established by
Phra Ajaan Man
(fig.)
and that focuses on
kammataan.
He was born on Sunday 20 August 1899 AD into the family Suwanrong (สุวรรณรงค์),
a well-off
Phu Thai
family in Ban Muang Khai (บ้านม่วงไข่), a village in the
tambon
Phanna (พรรณา), a sub-district of the
amphur
Phanna Nikhom (พรรณานิคม) in
Sakon Nakhon
province. He was the fifth son of
Chao
Chai Kumaan (เจ้าไชยกุมาร), a village headman nicknamed Mao (เม้า)
and himself the a son of a former ruler of Phanna Nikhom, while his
mother's name was
Nang Nui (นุ้ย).
Fan’s education started in the village temple,
where he was ordained as a
novice.
At the end of the
Buddhist Lent,
known as
owk pansa,
the abbot took Fan and the other young monks on a
thudong.
In 1920, he met Ajaan Man when he stayed near Fan’s village.
Impressed by his clear articulation of the
dhamma, he anticipated to
become this wandering meditation monk's disciple, but lacking proper
traveling gear, he could not yet follow him right away. He later
became a follower of Ajaan Luang Poo Sing Khanaentuyahkmoh (สิงห์
ขนตยาคโม), another important teacher in the early
Thai Forest Tradition
movement. Initially, the elders
of the
Sangha
did not see the Laotian wandering meditation
monks of
Isaan
as a significant group within the Thammayut order, though after they
increasingly gained the support from the local populace and some
monks received visits from the royal family, many forest monks
became well known nationwide and the upper echelon of society began
to seek them out, soon rising from the bottom of the national Sangha
hierarchy to the top. Fan is said to have been knowledgeable in
herbal medicines and the powers of concentration to cure illness,
and today
amulets
with his depiction are sought-after charms.
Fan
passed away on 4 January 1977 at
Wat Pah
Udom Somphon (อุดมสมพร)
at the age of 78 and 58
phansa,
i.e. 58 years ordained as a monk,
according to the
Puniyanusatti.
His funeral on 21 January 1978 was attended by King
Bhumipon Adunyadet
and Queen
Sirikit, and
at the spot of his cremation pyre a 27.9 tall memorial
chedi
with a museum
was later built.
See also POSTAGE STAMP.
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