Thai Amulet Monk luang Phor Sodh

Thai Amulet Monk luang Phor Sodh was born on 10th October 1884 in Supanburi. He was the second son of a humble family of Rice traders. He received his education at the temple as most children of poor families did in those days. His father died when he was 14 years old and he became a successful rice trader himself, but at the age of 19, he declared that he wanted to devote the rest of his life to Buddhism and at the age of 21 he was ordained at Wat Songpeenong close to his home village. His first teacher was Phra Ajarn Dee at Wat Pratusam. During his early years, he often went on solitary spiritual outings in the forest, which are known as Tudong. He began studying Pali and meditation and decided he wanted to deepen his study of meditation and begin studying magic. He moved to Wat Bodhi in Bangkok to do so. He did so well in his studies that he was promoted to a teacher of meditation by his own teachers Ajarn Singha and Phra Kru Yanavitari. On the occasion of the September full moon during his 12th year as a monk, he vowed not to move from his seat in front of the statue of the Buddha until he understood the Dharma fully, as taught by the Buddha himself. As he started his meditation he asked for illumination and guidance from the Buddha, after making a vow to Buddhism. Upon totally surrendering his consciousness and body the full depth of understanding of the Dharma was realized by Luang Phor Sodh. After this experience, he devoted himself totally to teaching Dhammakaya meditation and his followers became thousands. Many accepted him as their respected mentor even though they had never met him in person. After his realization of the Dhammakaya (Dhamma bodies) miracles such as telling the future, past life regression, miracles of healing the sick, out-of-body experiences, and other supernatural abilities happened. Those who practice it are protected from Black magic and are able to return Black power and spells back to the sender of them. In 1950 he started creating amulets as gifts to give in return for donations towards the building of his Dhamma school at Wat Paknam. The monks there were worried because they needed such large amounts of money to complete the building. He instructed them not to worry but to be diligent in their practices of Dhammakaya and it would bring tons of money to the funds. Each donation given got one amulet for the donator, no matter how much they gave. He forbade anyone to receive more than one amulet. The temple was soon full of people waiting to give donations to the scheme. The Dhammakaya means unmanifested, or beyond existence and is associated with supernatural things and events. Luang Phor Sodh stated that each talisman was invaluable and worth more than a billion baht to the person he gave it to. Whoever received the sacred amulet was truly rich. To bless each amulet he called on all the Buddhas to gather and charge the amulets with power through the three months retreat of the rainy season. He said once the Buddhas had finished blessing the amulet they were the greatest amulets in the world. He instructed people on how to use the amulets. The owner of the amulet should gaze at the image until he could picture it in his mind. Then he should imagine the image being at his naval whilst reciting the mantra” Samma Arhang” over and over. Then they should focus on the center point of the image while going deeper and deeper in their mind into it. Eventually, the image will change into that of a crystal Buddha and it will sparkle. They should breathe slowly and lightly and pray for what they wished from the Buddha. Luang Phor Sodh continued to teach meditation in the form of teaching of Vijja Dhammakaya to his students, as revealed during his September full moon realization. It is a form of meditation to bring the realization of the Truth Body of the Buddhas. He rebuilt the monastery at Wat Praknam Bhasicharoen and was responsible for raising donations to build the Dharma school and many other temple buildings. He died on February 3 rd 1959 at the age of 75 but remains one of Thailand’s most popular monks.