On my last morning in Doi Saket recently, we were at Wat Nong Bua to say goodbye to Ajahn Saen and Ajahn Insorn. While sitting for tea with Ajahn Insorn, we shared some of our reflections from our recent experiences teaching at his school for novice monks. He expressed his appreciation and offered us some parting gifts, including two traditional cloth bags holding local honey harvested by one of our new Doi Saket friends—a man we affectionately call “The Beekeeper.”
Ajahn Insorn also gave me a curious amulet with a picture of a youngish monk clad in red robes. “Is he from Myanmar,” I asked, since Thai monks usually wear robes of varying shades of orange—not red. No, he’s Thai, was the reply. His name: Kruba Boonchum.
I was curious why Ajahn Insorn had chosen to give me an amulet of this monk I’d never heard of. After some inquiry, I learned much about the fascinating character of Kruba Boonchum.
As a boy raised in the far north of Thailand and quite near the border with Myanmar, he quickly gained a reputation for his keen interest in intensive meditation practice. Myanmar is famous for having many monks with meditation practices yielding profound results. By the time he took bhikkhu ordination at Wat Suan Dok in Chiang Mai, the young monk already received the title “Kruba,” which is the Lanna (northern Thai) equivalent of “Phra Ajahn”—an honorific suggesting depth of experience.
Kruba Boonchum undertakes solitary intensive 3-month meditation retreats in caves every year during the Rains Retreat, and I’m told that this forest monk once underwent an intensive solitary cave retreat that lasted more than three years, during which he emerged only to receive food offerings left by supporters at the cave entrance.
Kruba Boonchum currently resides in Myanmar but has gained a considerable following in Thailand, Laos, China, and Bhutan as well. He is also renowned for his virtue and for his generosity, giving away everything he’s given. He is a lifelong vegetarian, and eats only fruit and biscuits offered to him by supporters.
Kruba’s fame skyrocketed recently during the multi-week saga of the soccer team trapped in the flooded Chiang Rai cave when he not only correctly prophesied that the team was safe and would be rescued soon but also accurately predicted the day on which they’d be found by the rescuers.
Learning about this super-interesting monk I’d never heard of got me to thinking: how many masters are out there that we’ll never know existed?
