Tham Muang-On is a beautiful cave not far from Doi Saket diving steeply and deeply into the earth from its small entrance, which is sometimes guarded by lots of monkeys. Of the three caves I’ve visited in Thailand (the other two being Tham Dokkham and Tham Chiang Dao), I felt that this was the most beautiful.
Like other caves in mountainous northern Thailand, Tham Muang-On is rich in legend and history. According to one such legend, one year during the rainy season the Buddha and a procession of monks came to the cave at Muang-On and were greeted by a great naga, who offered them food. The Buddha then offered a blessing to the naga, who asked for one of the Buddha’s hairs. The hair, it is said, was subsequently enshrined in a chedi at the top of the mountain.
The famous meditation master Luang Por Lee spent time at Tham Muang-On, which was the piece of history that stoked my interest in seeing the cave. I was fortunate to visit the cave with Ajahn Saen, Phra Muenjan, and Naan Vii. It was an extremely good experience for me to explore the cave, see its many sacred images, and for our small group to collectively chant the Buddha’s first discourse—Dhamma-cakkappavattana Sutta—beneath the natural stalagmite chedi in one of the cave’s major rooms.
The four of us eventually exited the cave then followed the secondary path adjacent to its entrance to the top of the mountain. A number of structures were to be found amongst the trees and rocky outcroppings at the top, including the chedi said to house the sacred hair. I was glad to sit alone for a few minutes of meditation amongst the mountain’s very highest rocks, next to a beautiful Buddha image overlooking the mountains and valleys surrounding me.
