At noon, Mae Chan took a break in order to breast-feed Pu.  As she walked towards the baby, she saw a a black mass circling the cradle. Mae Chan almost fainted that it turned out to be a cobra. Alarmed, she immediately called out for help. The neighbors, alarmed by her screams, quickly gathered whatever weapons they could and came round. Despite the big crowd, the cobra remained calm but nevertheless, it was stern and did not move. The villages around did not dared to initiate an attack.
Mae Chan finally composed herself and went around the vicinity to gather 7 wild flowers of different colors, put them on a leaf together with rice cakes, threw herself down at the ground and bowed to the cobra with her husband. She closed her eyes and begged: “If the cobra has divinity, please give way and allow the mother to feed her baby”. After a while, the cobra protruded its tongue and spit out a crystal pearl object on the baby’s chest and slithered down the tree and disappeared. The couple quickly moved forward to hold the baby and realized that the crystal ball has manifold brilliant colors. Knowing that it was an invaluable treasure, they kept it prudently. The news of the miraculous incident spread quickly.

The Merchant

It so happened that the couple’s wealthy employer learned about the incident. He thus offered a high price to the couple for the treasure. Originally, Mae Chan did not want to part with the jewel. However, Mae Chan and Nai Woo had benefitted much kindness from the merchant in the past. As such, she reluctantly decided to part with the treasure.
The rich man was elated, but it was only short-lived. He held a feast, inviting all his friends and relatives to show off what he had acquired. Within three days, all members in his family fell ill. His mother was the first to fall sick. Two days later, his wife was next to fell ill as well. 10 days later, he himself followed suit to be badly taken ill. That very night, he dreamt of a ferocious cobra chasing after him and it emphasized that the rightful owner of the jewel belonged to the baby.
With this unfortunate spade of luck, he thought for one whole night and realized the truth. To confirm his ill gotten luck, he went to consult a medium. He was told that he had kept something which did not rightfully belong to him. Only the baby boy, Pu could keep it. The rich man became frightened and immediately returned the crystal ball to Mae Chan. Strange enough, soon after returning the pearl, all members of his family recovered from their illness one by one.

The Neighbour

Gradually, the couple lives improved to a great extent.  About a year later, one of their neigbours got very jealous of them as he saw how the couple’s lifestyle had changed. On a dark windy night, he quietly slipped into their house and stole the pearl from the altar of the main hall which they had enshrined for daily offerings. As he was about to escaped through the window, he heard a frightening noise and discovered the cobra opening its big mouth with emitting raging fire outside and pounced towards him. He was so horrified that he felt down from the window. The thief than made a dash aimlessly which ended him at the top of the hill located behind the house. Through this fear and confusion, little did he know that he had dropped the pearl onto some bushes.
Meanwhile, Mae Chan had a strange dream near dawn that the hill behind her house was glistening with red lights. When she woke up, she felt it was strange and it could be some indication. She then proceeded to offer her morning prayers before alter and was shocked to find the pearl missing. Dismayed, she quickly woke her husband and related the event to him. Recalling her dreams, she quickly went the hill slop behind her house with her husband. Nai Woo was puzzled as to what Mae Chan was doing as she was searching frantically among some bushes. After a while, when Nai Woo suddenly understood what her wife was doing, he too joined in the search. Before long, Mae Chan managed to find it back among the bushes. She was so happy and touched that tears flowed down her eyes.


Sammanaen Pu

The couple then made a pledge that they would contribute all excessive wealth and also food to charity so as to benefit the less fortunate and the Sangha. On top of that, they also pledge to help in construction of temples, mend bridges and improve basic facilities of the village. The couple life went on smoothly and blissfully and in the year 2140, Mae Chan sent Pu to Wat Di Luang to become a novice monk. Pu was 15 years of age at that time and was given the Buddhist name as Sammanaen Pu. As Sammanaen Pu was highly intelligent, he managed to familiarize all the Buddhist Scriptures in less than a year. In order to attain a higher level of knowledge, He joined a larger monastery and had to travel daily across mountains. In year 2145, when Sammanaen Pu was 20, he was ordained as a monk at Wat Saemamuang in Nakhon Srithammarat province and was given the name Samiramo. His preceptor was Phra Maha Thaerathasri. Samiramo went through 3 years of intense study of the Buddhist Scriptures and attained a very high level of knowledge. It was at this time that he parted with his preceptor to return home. After returning home, his father passed away one day at the age of 72.  Sometime after the death of his father, Samiramo told his mother that his knowledge of the Scriptures was still very limited. Hence, He needed to go to the Buddhist University at the capital city Ayutthaya to further enhance his studies.

The Miracles At Sea

As there were no proper roads in the past to travel to another district, Mae Chan arranged for Samiramo to travel by boat. Along the way, a rough thunderstorm arises and the boat was rocked back and forth violently. It was after enduring the storm for 3 days and 3 nights that the weather calmed down and everyone was out of danger. Unfortunately, the supply of food and water in the boat were totally exhausted. Nai In, the owner of the boat was very worried and gathered his attendants immediately for a discussion on what should be the next course of action. In the middle of the discussion, someone brought up that all the previous sailing were always smooth and uneventful. It was then that everyone began to think that the current ill fortune could be brought upon by the present of a monk in the boat. As a result of this, the simple minded Nai In was influenced. He quickly issued an order to expel Samiramo, and arranged a small boat for Him to leave. Samiramo was unperturbed by what was going to happen. However, just before stepping out, he said, “It is the will of heaven for this disaster and it is not your own doings. Although all drinking water has been consumed, do not worry as there is still plenty of drinkable water under the boat. It cannot be fully consumed. As soon as the passengers heard what Samiramo had said, their anger was aroused as they thought the monk spoke nonsense. How could there be clean water for consumption when all the surrounding water was sea water? Nai In was even more furious upon hearing what he had heard and ordered his attendants to send Samiramo away.. As such, Samiramo was sent to the smaller boat. After descending to the smaller boat, He stood still for a while. The next thing that happened was a miracle that was to change the whole situation and the attitude of everyone towards Him. Samiramo, then raised one of his foot and placed it into the sea. Immediately, a ring of white light appeared in the water just below his foot. At that time, one of the attendants who was an ardent Buddhist devotee, was standing nearby. Samiraro then requested him to scoop some water from within the ring to taste it. Half believing, the attendant scooped some and tasted it. Amazing, the water was not salty at all and was also clean to drink.  Nai In was surprised and he came personally to taste the water, Not fully convinced as he suspected that maybe the boat had sailed into clear water bay, he went to the front of the boat, scooped a cup of the water there to try. “Wahh… The water is so terribly salty!” Nai In exclaimed. Everyone laughed as he spat the remaining salty water from his mouth.  After that, the attendants quickly filled up all their containers with water from below the foot of Samiramo for later use. And it was then that everyone realized that Samiramo was no ordinary monk. From there, the situation changed and everyone gave Him a warm welcome aboard the boat again. Nai In began to realized his folly and when Samiramo was well seated, Nai In led all his attendants to see Samiramo. All of them knelt down to seek forgiveness and expressed their repentance for their sins. The compassion Samiramo only gave a smile and conferred his blessings to everyone. After that, the rest of the journey was smooth and they finally reached the capital city safely.

The Irony
Samiramo went ashore and walked for 2 miles before he came upon a spectacular temple. As He thought He wanted to spend the night there, He entered and saw the chief monk. The chief monk look at Samiramo and saw that He was wearing a thoroughly worn out robe and with patches all over. Without much consideration, he quickly told Him the temple was unable to accommodate Him as all the rooms in the temple were fully occupied. As such was the situation, Samiramo continued to look for lodging somewhere else.  Half a mile further up, he came across an old temple. Ironically, the old keeper welcomed him and offered him board and lodging after He indicated his intention. He stayed there to study Buddhist scriptures, to pay homage to the Buddha and to practice meditation (This temple is the present Wat Rachanuwat or Wat Kae in short) He did this for half a year before he left. Thereafter, Samiramo often visited the temple frequently.

The Great Challenge

In the Buddhist calendar year 2156, a significant incident occurred in Ayutthaya. During that period, Ayutthaya and Ceylon were in dispute over some religion issue. Soon, the King of Ceylon conjured an idea to invade the land of the big city. However, to avoid innocent killings and taking the city by force, he concocted what seems to be a perfect idea.  First, he took out all gold pieces from his treasury and gave order to his craftsman to turn them into 84,000 square gold pieces. When the works were completed, he handed the gold pieces to the Brahman missionaries to inscribe it with scripture text to create a Tripitaka. After the inscription work was done, the King of Ceylon arranged 7 boats of treasure and proceeded to the capital city for the challenge. Upon reaching their destination, the 7 Brahman holding 7 trays of gold pieces, sent by their King, proceeded to issue the letter of challenge and handed over to the Thai King, Phra Maha Thammaracha.
These scripture puzzles were to be reassemble into its original Tripitaka within 1 week. If the task was accomplished, King of Sri Lanka would present Thailand with the 7 boats of treasures. However, should the task be unsuccessful, Thailand would have to surrender its sovereignty to Sri Lanka and became Ceylon’s colony. The Thai King found it difficult to reject such a challenge. The reason is because Thailand would be the laughing stock of the Buddhist world and of the world at large if refused. The Thai King then gathered all his country's well-known learned monks, scholars and subjects with exceptional skills to deal with the problem. Many tried but were unsuccessful to solving the puzzle and were rendered helpless. This made the King very depressed and worried.
Announcement was made by the court to look for someone capable of dealing with the task. On the 4th night, the King had an auspicious dream. He dreamt of a white elephant roaring loudly with dazzling light into the sky. Early next morning, he summoned his official to interpret his dream. He was told: “The dream is a sign of good omen. A wise person would come and help the King resolve the national crisis.” Upon hearing that, the King was more at ease and became more positive. Nevertheless, the national crisis was far from over. On the 6th day the King seems disturbed again as the deadline was drawing near. The situation was pressing and all hopes seem to close up again.
On the same morning, Luangpu Thuad was seeking alms at the Royal Palace. It so happened that the Royal family was talking about the challenge from Ceylon. When they saw the monk, they quickly offered him food immediately. It was then that they suddenly realized that the monk had a unusual aura and knew he was not an ordinary monk.  They probed further and came to know that Luangpu Thuad was doing advance studies in Buddhism.
 Immediately, they sought his advice and said to him: “Our country has always been well known for Buddhism, we are now confronted with challenge by Ceylon. It seems that no one is able to help resolve the problem. The capital city cannot just end like this; can the venerable monk be able to resolve the national crisis?”
Luangpu Thuad replied: “I am a humble monk with limited knowledge. However, for the sake of the country, I am prepared to give it a try.”
The officials were overjoyed when they heard the reply from Luangpu Thuad. They wanted to take Him to see the King immediately but Luangpu said that the matter cannot be rushed and need careful thoughts. Luangpu suggested seeing the King the next day instead. The officials broke the good news to the King and he was extremely happy to hear that, with everyone in the palace seeing a ray of new hope.

The Great Victory
Next morning, the King sent a special carriage to bring Luang Phor Thuat to the palace. On arrival He was escorted by the ministers to the entrance. The moment He entered the main hall, the bricks which he stepped on beneath his feet, broke into pieces. The King and the ministers were all astonished and in complete silent at the sight. The ministers brought forward the 7 trays of the gold pieces and placed before Luangpu Thuad. Luangpu remained in a meditative position and was calm. In fact, Luangpu Thuad was praying to the three main principles. These were prayers to the Buddha, his masters and the celestial beings for their guidance and blessings to help the capital city in overcoming the crisis so that the people would avoid sufferings.
About half an hour later the 7 Brahmins from the neighbouring country came in and were about to demand for the handover of the capital city, when the 7 bowls of the gold words were poured on the table. Luangpu Thuad closed his eyes and applied his great magical skills and arranged the scripture text of the Tripitaka with both hands to its proper order. About a quarter of an hour later, at the final stage, He announced that 7 words were missing… These 7 indications were: Sang, Wi, Ta, Pu, Ka, Ya and Pa
Those 7 Brahman did not respond and remained in silence. He then warned who anyone did not quickly take out those missing words would die of cracking of the skull. The Brahman by then had already learnt of the tiles on the floor which broke into pieces after Luangpu had stepped on them. Frightened, they quickly took out those missing words hidden in their hairs and quickly handed over. With his eyes closed Luang Phor Thuad exercised the supernormal power to continue arranging the words. The sutra was completed in a little while. Realizing that Thailand was invincible and that their challenge had been defeated, the seven Brahman presented those 7 boats of treasures together with the Tripitaka to the King of Ayutthaya.
However, Phra Maha Thammaracha was kind and did not accept the treasures. Instead, he returned it all to the King of Ceylon. With the national crisis over, the King and everyone were much relieved. Luangpu Thuad was arranged to be rewarded and He was conferred the title of “Phraramuni Samiram Kumpramachan.” Please do note that this title was only given to Luangpu Thuad till date. No other monk had received such an honour after that.

Wat Phra Kok

It was said that during later year, after Wat Phra Kok was constructed, Luangpu Thuad had stayed there for 10 years. He was said to be of an advance age of 90 at that time. One day, an elderly man from nowhere handed a lotus flower to a novice monk and said to him, “This flower will not wither as it is a celestial flower; it is for a holy monk”.  After saying thus, he vanished.  Without delay, the novice monk went on a mission to locate the holy monk  so as to have his mission accomplished. Then, as guided by fate, he arrived at Wat Phra Kok one night. As he stood by the door of the main sanction, a group of monks entered for an evening chanting. He enquired and discovered that there was another old monk in the hostel. Immediately, he requested to see him.
Finally, the old monk was none other than the old monk he was looking for all along. It was Luangpu Thuad. Luangpu saw the flower the novice monk was holding and asked how it came about. He knew at once, it was a celestial flower. The young monk, upon hearing Luangpu query to him, instinctively knew that the old monk was the holy monk. He respectfully handed the flower to Luangpu Thuad at once. Upon receiving the flower, the holy monk went into meditation for a while. When Luangpu completed his meditation, he invited the young monk into his room and closed the door. From that day onwards, Luangpu was never seen again. It has remained a mystery till this day and nobody really knows the truth….

To be continued….

Write by: Clement Lim