A Buddhist Place in Ubon Ratchathani Province

On maps of Thailand you sometimes find places marked as 'Buddhist Place' or 'Buddhist Centre'. In Thai they would usually be spoken of as 'Somnak song' (written as Somnak Sangka). They are not really wats because mormally no monks are resident there, though confusingly road signs pointing to them often refer to them as Wat Something or Other. They are quite common throughout Isan, though only a few are shown on maps. The reason for their prevalence in Isan is that they are associated with the forest monk tradition which had its strongest roots here, and still has, though finding suitably quiet and remote places to practise meditation is becoming more and more difficult.

There is one such Buddhist place near Phana, in Si Muang Mai District, Ubon Ratchathani Province. Si Muang Mai is a few kilometres off the road between Trakan Pheutpon and Khong Chiam, and Wat Phu Lon, as the road signs refer to the place, is some 20 kms beyond Si Muang Mai, on top of a low mountain ridge, close to several very small villages.

At the foot of the mountain there is a large car park, empty on the two occasions I have been there. There are also toilets and a large wooden sala. Clearly the place is busy and used for certain festivals and other Buddhist occasions. You climb the steps made of local laterite blocks to reach a flat, rocky area at the top. From the top you have fine views of the surrounding countryside: rice fields to the south and west, fields and large lakes to the north, and another ridge across a valley to the east. Not far beyond this second ridge is the Mekong River.

It doesn't take long to discover why this remote place makes it onto local maps. The entryway has been touched up a bit, but otherwise this very small cave is one used by the most famous of all the forest monks, Phra Acharn Mun Bhuridatta . He wandered all over Isan and there are many places similar to this as well as forest wats and even the occasional urban wat which still commemorate his staying there. Phra Acharn Mun (sometimes written as Phra Ajaan Man Phuurithatto) was a famous meditation master and he instituted a long line of revered meditation masters who had studied under his guidance. The last of this direct line is Phra Maha Boowa, himself very old now but still teaching.

 

Phra Maha Boowa has written a biography of Acharn Mun. In it, he has said: '

The life and passing of Achan Man is full of accounts of encounters with tigers and other forest creatures, stories of overcoming fear, and miracles. His biography paints a vivid picture of his ascetic life close to nature and how he was revered by the people. In Thailand, regional pride takes various forms. The story of Achan Man is not only an archetypical story of a forest monk but also a picture of a major figure who emerged from the Northeast (Isan).'

 

 

Relics of Phra Acharn Mun are enshrined in this that on the mountain. He was born in Ubon Ratchathani Province in 1870 and died in 1949. He became a novice when he was 15, but was fully ordained after a break at the age 22. He was ordained at Wat Leab in Ubon and given the name Bhuridatta, which translates as 'Gifted with Knowledge'. He studied insight (vipassana) meditation under Phra Acharn Sao Kantasilo at Wat Leab.

This strange building is at one end of the flat area at the top of the mountain.

Inside is a shrine room, the door always open, and a visitors book:

Outside, a rocky alcove shelters this Buddha Image and statues of two monks. The one on the right may be of Phra Acharn Mun.

And finally, here is some good advice which, like the car park, suggests that this place is sometimes frequented by a large number of people:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Catherine]

That's the kind of place I would enjoy visiting. I imagine the chatter from the birds and insects would be incredibly present (my preference).

[Lawrence]

Catherine, plenty of noisy insects (and neighbouring humans as I mention in my next post) but birds are a bit of a rarity around here. We did see a family of squirrels, though, playing in the open space outside the shrine-room. It is a really quiet, calm place, and the difficulty of getting there (as seems to me, but of course much more difficult when Acharn Mun was there) adds to its charm.