FAMOUS

BUDDHIST
FIGURES
1. Luang Phor Tuad
(Thailand)

2. (Somdej Toh) Somdej

Phra Buddhachan Toh
Promrangsi
(Thailand)
3. (Luang Pu Mun)
Bhuridatta
(Thailand)
4. Thich Nhat Hanh
(Vietnam)
5. Maha Ghosananda
(Cambodia)
6. The 14th Dalai Lama
(Tibet)
1. Luang Phor Tuad (B.E.2125)

(Western year 1582)

Wat Changhai, Pattani province
The legend of a high priest, Luang Phor Tuad (LP Tuad)
comes from the Kingdom of Ayutthaya period (it was
Thailands capital from 1350 to 1767). He has lived
during the reign of King Maha Dhammaraja, in the midsixteenth century.
His exact date of birth is not known, most of what is
known were just recounted from his ancestors.
LP Tuad was ordained as a novice at the age of 15 and
as a monk in his early years living at Wat Phra Kho in
Songkhla province.
He decided his pilgrimage travel to Ayutthaya province
to gain more experience.
He resided in an old temple called Wat Rachanuwat
outside the city where he continued to study the Buddhist scriptures.
Miracle Stories of LP Thuad
1. According to legend, when LP Tuad was still a child and hanging in the cradle between
two big shady trees near a paddy field, he was nearly attacked by a large snake which
curled around him. To everyone's surprise he remained unharmed. Instead, the snake
spit out a snake pearl to him and left away.
2. Another miracle is that LP Tuad changed the seawater into drinking water somewhere
in the ocean on the way to Ayutthaya province.
He became the abbot of Wat Changhai in Pattani province, where his remains are kept
today. The date of his death is unknown.
LP Tuad left the world and attained enlightenment worthy of nirvana but still,
accordingly, remains in the human world to help people.

2. (Somdej Toh) Somdej Phra

Promrangsi
(B.E.2331~2415)
(Western year 1788 ~ 1872)
Wat Rakang Kositaram, Bangkok

Buddhachan

Toh

Somdej Toh was born (1788) in Phra Nakhon Si, Ayutthaya

Province.
Somdej Toh was ordained as a novice monk in 1800 at the
age of 12 and is one of the most famous Buddhist monks
during Thailands Rattanakosin period. It is said that he is
the son of King Rama II of the Chakri Dynasty.
At the age of 21 he was ordained as monk under the Royal
Patronage at Wat Praseeratanasasadaram (Wat Prakeo) in
Bangkok. He studied the Buddhist scriptures of the Pali Canon with several Buddhist
masters.
The venerable monk was known to be a good speaker, as well as a highly intelligent and
compassionate person. He was also persistent and patient. He made many Buddha
images for temples.
After becoming a well-known monk, he became the preceptor (a teacher/instructor) for
Prince Mongkut (King Rama IV/ King Mongkut for English speakers) when the prince
became a monk. In 1864 at the age of 76 during Rama IVs reign, Somdej Toh was given
the ceremonial name Phra Buddhacharn Toh Phomarangsi.
Somdej Toh is said to have been the teacher of King Rama V when he was young.
He is known for his preaching skills, for using Thai poetry to reflect the beauty of
Buddhism and for making amulets. He passed away in 1872 at the age of 84. He is
probably one of the most respected monks in Thailand. The highly revered Phra Somdej
amulet originates from Wat Rakang "Temple of Bell" in Bangkok. The amulets were
blessed by Somdej Toh and other respected famous monks in Thailand.

3. (Luang Pu Mun) Bhuridatta

(B.E.2413~2492)
(Western year 1870 ~ 1949 )
Wat Pa Suthawas, Sakon Nakhon province
Luang Pu Mun was born in 1870, in a farming village
named Baan Kham Bong, in present day Si Mueang Mai
District, Ubon
Ratchathani
Province of
northeastern Thailand. He was born into the Lao-speaking
family. He was the eldest of nine children. LP Mun was first
ordained as a novice monk at age 16, in the local village
monastery of Khambong. He remained a novice for two
years.
LP Mun was fully ordained as a monk at the age of 22, in
1893, at Wat Liap monastery in the provincial city of Ubon
Ratchatani.
Venerable Phra Ariyakavi was his preceptor. At his ordination, LP Mun was given the
Buddhist name "Bhuridatta" which means "blessed with wisdom
After ordination, LP Mun went to practice meditation with Archan Sao of Wat Liap in
Ubon, where he learned to practice the monastic traditions of Laos.
Archan Sao taught LP Mun a meditation method to calm the mind.
Archan Sao often took LP Mun wandering in the forests along the Mekong River, where
they practice meditation together.
This is known as "Thudong" in Thai.
LP Mun resided at Wat Baan Nong Pue from 1944 until he passed away at the age of
79. His disciples placed his remains at Wat Pa Suthawas, Sakon Nakhon province.
4. Thich Nhat Hanh Vietnam

Born in central Vietnam in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh

entered the monastic life as a novice monk at the age of
sixteen. As a young bhikshu in the early 1950s he was
actively engaged in the movement to renew Vietnamese
Buddhism.
He was one of the first bhikshus to study a secular
subject at university in Saigon.
The Vietnam War (1946-1975) was a long, costly armed
conflict that pitted the communist regime of North
Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong,
against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United
States. Millions of people died from this war.
During this time, there was a question among some
Buddhist monk groups as to whether they should get
involved in the war or just stay in the temples and
continue a meditative life.
Some monks chose to be politically active.
Thich Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both meditating in monasteries and
helping the people who suffered because of war during the Vietnam War. Because of this,
he founded the Engaged Buddhism movement.
His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of
individuals and society.
Thich Nhat Hanh traveled to US and other countries, spreading the message of peace
and brotherhood, asking for Western leaders to end the Vietnam War (he led a Buddhist
delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969.)

In the last decade Thich Nhat Hanh has

opened monasteries in California, New York,
Vietnam,
Paris, Hong
Kong, Thailand, Mississippi and Australia,
and Europes first Institute of Applied
Buddhism in Germany.
In January 2016, after over a year of
intensive rehabilitation from stroke, Thich
Hanh returned to his hermitage at Plum
Village (Bordeaux in southwest France).
Although he is still unable to speak, and is mostly paralyzed
side, he continues to offer his peaceful, serene and
valiant presence to his community.
5. Maha Ghosananda Cambodia
Maha
monk

on

the

right

Ghosananda is a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist

the Theravada tradition. He served as the Patriarch
(Sangharaja) of Cambodian Buddhism during the Khmer
period and post-communist transition period of
Cambodian history.

in

Rouge
His
He
He

Nhat

Pali monastic name, 'Mah Ghosnanda', means "great joyful

proclaimer".
was

born in to a farming family in the Mekong Delta plains (1913).

showed great interest in religion at an early age, and
began to serve as a temple boy at age eight. He greatly
impressed the monks with whom he served, and at age fourteen
received novice ordination.

He studied Pali scriptures in the local temple high school.

Completed his higher education at the monastic universities in
Phnom Penh and Battambang. He went to India to pursue a doctorate in Pali.
A Sad Story
In 1965, Maha Ghosananda left India to study meditation under Ajahn Dhammadaro, of
Wat Chai Na forest temple near Nakorn Sri Dhammaraj in Southern Thailand, a famous
meditation master of the Thai Forest Tradition. Four years later, while he was still
studying, the United States began bombing Cambodia as part of their attempt to shut
down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and end the Vietnam War.
Cambodia experienced bad things and many became refugees.
Why is it a sad story?

a.) Buddhism was seen as useless part of the past by the Khmer Rouge.
b.) Monks were viewed with suspicion and disdain as part of the intellectual class, and
targeted for especially brutal treatment and "re-education".
c.) Monks were removed from monasteries and forced to disrobe and become farming
peasants, or were tortured and murdered outright.
d.) Some monks were forced to violate their vows at gunpoint. By the time the Khmer
Rouge reign of terror ended, there were no monks alive in Cambodia, and most temples
were in rubble.
e.) Refugees and victims began to move out of Cambodia and stay in refugee camps
along the Thai border.
In 1978, Maha Ghosananda left his forest meditation in Thailand, and went down to the
refugee camps near the Thai-Cambodian border to begin ministering to the first refugees
who stayed across the border.
Maha Ghosananda's appearance in the refugee camps surprised the refugees who had
not seen a monk for years.
The Cambodian refugees openly wept as Maha Ghosananda chanted the ancient and
familiar sutras that had been the bedrock of traditional Cambodian culture before the
bad times.
He distributed photocopied Buddhist scriptures
among the refugees, as protection and
inspiration for the battered people.
His entire family, and countless friends and
disciples, were massacred by the Khmer
Rouge.
a.) Maha Ghosananda helped in restoring
Cambodia and in reviving Cambodian
Buddhism.
In 1980, he served as a representative of the
Cambodian (nation-in-exile) to the United
Nations.
b.) Maha Ghosananda was one of only 3,000 Cambodian
Buddhist monks alive, out of more than 60,000 at the start of the
reign
of
terror in 1976.
c.) Throughout 1979 Maha Ghosananda established wats in refugee camps along the
Thai-Cambodian border and ordained monks.
d.) In 1980 Maha Ghosananda and the Reverend Peter L. Pond formed the Inter-Religious
Mission for Peace in Cambodia. Together they located hundreds of surviving monks and
nuns in Cambodia so that they could renew their vows and take leadership roles in
Cambodian temples around the world.
He had been called "the Gandhi of Cambodia. Maha Ghosananda was nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize.

He was
work in

again nominated in 1995, 1996, and 1997 for his

bringing peace to Cambodia.

He

He

also acted as an adviser to the Buddhist

Peace Fellowship and resided part-time in the
Palelai Buddhist Temple and Monastery in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
died in Northampton, Massachusetts on March 12, 2007.

6. The 14th Dalai Lama Tibet

Given Name: Lhamo Thondup
Buddhist Name: Tenzin Gyatso
Who is the DALAI LAMA?
In Tibetan Buddhism:
The Dalai Lamas are believed by Tibetan Buddhist
followers to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or
Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron
saint of Tibet.
Bodhisattvas are believed to be enlightened beings who
have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take
rebirth in order to serve humanity.
In Tibetan Government:
He is the political leader of Tibet.
The Dalai Lamas have functioned as both the political and
spiritual leaders of Tibet for 369 years since 1642.
Lhamo Thondup was born on 6 July 1935 to a farming
and horse trading family. How did he become the 14th
Dalai Lama? People from the earlier Dalai Lama visited different locations--one group
went to North-eastern region after following the direction of the head of the 13th Dalai
Lama.

Posing as pilgrims, its leader monk, pretended to be the servant and sat separately in
the kitchen.
He held an old rosary that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and the boy Lhamo
Dhondup, aged two, approached and asked for it.
The monk said "if you know who I am, you can have
it." The child spoke with him in a language the boy's
mother could not understand.
The next time the party returned to the house, they
revealed their real purpose (finding the next Dalai
Lama) and asked permission to subject the boy to
certain tests. One test consisted of showing him
various pairs of objects, one of which had belonged
to the 13th Dalai Lama and one which had not.
In every case he unhesitatingly chose the Dalai
Lama's own objects and rejected the others. It was
reported that he had correctly identified all the items
owned by the previous Dalai Lama, exclaiming, "It's
mine! It's mine!
Thus, the boy was chosen to become the next Dalai Lama.
Giving public talks for non-Buddhist audiences and interviews and teaching Buddhism to
large public audiences all over the world, as well as to private groups at his residence in
India, appears to be the Dalai Lama's main activity.
Despite becoming 80 years old in 2015 he maintains a busy international lectures and
teaching schedule.
The 14th Dalai Lama is also: An author of many books; tours to countries to give
lectures; interested in science; attended/attends interfaith dialogue; active in
promoting/fighting social issues; he also received a lot of awards for his actions and
accomplishments.

****END****