LP Yee of Wat Sattahip

LP Yee of Wat Sattahip (2408-2490BE) was the top guru monk of Chonburi province in the pre-WW2 era, most renowned for his Wicha knowledge and making powerful Palakits. He had a few prominent disciples, like LP Tee of Wat Huchang who is still alive today. Above we see the devotees outside the LP Yee Vihara.
The temple counter.
The main altar and LP Yee statue inside the Vihara.
The grand LP Yee Chedi.
Display cabinet with LP Sotorn and old LP Yee buchas.
Mural and statue of LP Yee inside the Chedi.
Portrait of LP Yee and his old Rians.
Outside the Ubosot. There was a temple fair going on when I was there and the place was packed with visitors.
One of the temple gates.
Light tower monument outside the temple.
Black coral Palakits from the current abbot Phra Kru Sattakun.
Roops of Kromluang Chumpon, Founder of the Thai Navy. Sattahip district had an important naval base established by Prince Chumpon.

LP Thon of Wat Khao Noi

LP Thon of Wat Khao Noi Kiriwan, Chonburi province is an 89 yrs old guru monk who has a wide range of wicha knowledge. Seeing that he has blessed many types of amulets over the years, I decided to go have a look. The temple itself is built on a small hill, thus the name "Khao Noi".
Above we see the well decorated Ubosot.
The monks' quarters. Below is the temple counter.
One of the temple gates.
Book of LP Thon's amulets, as well as photo of him when he went for tudong travels.
Various golden Buddha statues in the new Vihara.
Main altar in the Sala.
LP Thon Vihara.
The old drum tower.
Main temple gate.
Golden Chedi beside the gate.
Wua Tanoo amulets of LP Thon.
Unique Kring Prok Po amulets.

Sexy Dance for Phra Prom

Yesterday there was an article in Shinmin paper regarding a Taiwanese lady hiring 4 hot dancers to do a sexy dance in the nude as a way of offering thanks to the Phra Prom shrine in Zhanghua county. Apparently half a year ago she was having a lot of problems in her career in the precision engineering industry; but after coming to this shrine to pray for assistance from the Deva, her prayers were all answered one by one. So in order to fulfill her vows, she decided to show her gratitude in a grand manner - by putting up a sexy dance show in the cold spring weather! The police have learned of this act and subsequently stated that they were going to investigate. The lady was likely to get into trouble with the authorities now.

Why do something like that? I think she probably got her inspiration from the mother of HK celebrity Nicholas Tse, Deborah, who did something similar at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok decades ago. But hers was a special case and for anyone else to imitate that would be considered sacrilegious. This is part of the warped culture of Taiwan where having half naked (at times fully naked) women dancing at funerals and religious thanksgiving ceremonies can somehow be accepted. But anyone with common sense should see that taking off all your clothes at a holy place of worship is outrageously disrespectful. Besides, Phra Prom being a Brahma Deva has completely purified himself of desire; how can he be pleased by such lowly performances? One is more likely to be punished by the guardian deities for disrespect rather than rewarded. The worship of Phra Prom is a part of the Thai Buddhist culture that have taken root in East Asian lands like Taiwan. However it is sad that even this aspect is not spared from the prevalent warped culture there. This shows that their understanding of Buddhism is still painfully lacking.

The only accepted form of dances that one can offer to the Devas are traditional artistic dances, like the ones we can see at Erawan Shrine regularly. That is certainly much more tasteful and respectful than sexy dances. I hope the Taiwanese can educate themselves on what is acceptable and what is not by learning from the right sources - the Thai Sangha. Otherwise they are just going to continue embarrassing themselves by doing such foolish things.

LP Hok of Wat Maplambit

LP Hok of Wat Maplambit in Chonburi province is a 86 yr old master expert in creating wood tiger and palakit amulets. He has recently came out with his first batch of such amulets.
The temple counter. We can see pictures of amulets that he has consecrated in previous years.
LP reblessing the amulets and Palakit bucha that I chowed.
Applying Metta cream onto the Palakit.
The Mai Phaya Niu Dam and Mai Payung Tiger roops.
The Palakit bucha.

Inside the Cave of Wat Tham Tapianthong

Wat Tham Tapianthong in Lopburi province is the temple of LP Thongdam. Although I've visited here a few times, I've not looked inside the cave behind the temple. At the entrance we see the statues of LP Thep Lok Udon and LP Opasi.
Mae Takian shrine beside the entrance.
At the roof of the cave is a hole opening to the hill above.
Statue of Tao Wessuwan guarding the inside of the cave.
The inner part of the relatively small cave. An orb can be seen near the centre of the picture. This the place where LP Thongdam used to meditate and consecrate amulets.
Phra Prom shrine outside the cave.
First batch Pidta amulets of LP.
Subsequent batch of Pidta and Mae Tapianthong Rians.

Ajarn Wutai of Wat Donsala

Ajarn Wutai of Wat Donsala, Pattalung province, is the current abbot of the temple. He is not the same as Ajarn Wutai of Wat Wihansung, though they have the same name. This master is the disciple of Ajarn Nam and junior of Ajarn Si Ngern, the previous abbot. Although I've visited Wat Donsala a few times, this is the first time I met the abbot who is in his 80s.
AJ blessing the Ajarn Nam bucha that I chowed at the temple.
A shot taken with AJ after he gave us a blessing.
The Ajarn Nam 5" bucha. As we all know he is 1of the 5 famous masters of Kao Or lineage.

LP Sawat of Wat Po Thep Prasit

LP Sawat of Wat Po Thep Prasit in Lopburi province is a master in making Deva amulets and he has recently came out with a batch of them to help renovate his temple.
LP Sawat is a disciple of both LP Jant and LP Doh. He invited 8 other famous guru monks to help him consecrate this batch of amulets, including LP Thongdam, LP Suang, AJ Dew and LP Som.
LP Sawat drawing Akaras onto the Rians that I chowed.
And also on the powder amulets.
Having a shot taken with LP. He said there were devotees from Malaysia who came to chow the amulets as well.
The Phra Narai riding Hanuman amulets.
2 of the Phra Prom Rians.

Karma and the Jurisdiction of the Gods

The Book of Changes say:

"The gods punish the arrogant and reward the humble."

Belief in gods and deities that reward and punish humans according to their good and evil has been present since the beginning of every major civilization, and the Chinese are no different. How does this belief in a divine system of reward and punishment measure against the law of Karma in Buddhist doctrine?

In modern day Buddhism, there are 2 kinds of wrong views about karma being proliferated. One is the thinking that the Buddha is like some sort of God who controls the law of karma. This kind of thinking is shared by the ignorant who does not understand the karma is the law of nature that works by itself and cannot be controlled by any being. They also do not see that there is no such thing as an omnipotent God who is above all things. Everyone is subject to his or her own karma, even the highest gods in the realms of form and formlessness.

The other type of thinking is the belief that there is only the law of karma and that gods and deities who reward and punish people are nonsense. They think that beings who get punished for their evil deeds suffer solely due to the effect of karma, and has nothing to do with gods and deities. This is a kind of atheistic Buddhism popular among the highly educated. However, it is quite obvious they are only seeing one side of the picture. If a person commits a crime and get sentenced to jail, of course he is reaping the fruits of his own karma. But how can anybody neglect the fact there is a judge to dish out punishment to him according to the law? To say that there is karma without any gods is just the same as saying a criminal goes to jail without any judiciary system. Certainly this is not a logical way of understanding karma.

Karma and judgement have always worked hand in hand and they are never in conflict. It is just like any country with laws to maintain order. Who upholds the laws and dishes out the punishments? Naturally it is the police officers and the judiciary system. The netherworld is no different. It is by one's own karma that one goes to the netherworld. And it is according to your own karma that King Yama and his judges decide where you'll go next. Karma is simply natural law and the upholders of the law are all the gods and deities that we know, for they themselves are subject to it. One might argue that if karma is self-executing, why do we need gods to uphold it? It is just the way things are. Let me give you another example: let's say you stole somebody's money and get caught. You are arrested by the cops and then a judge sends you to jail. That is karma and judgement working together. What if you didn't get caught? Later in the future you get conned by others and lose all your money, end up as a beggar on the streets. That is karma working by itself. Although karma can take effect with or without judgement, yet every country needs its own set of laws to keep things in order. Can you imagine a country with no government and no police? It will be total anarchy! Whether in the heavens or in the netherworld, it is the same everywhere. There is always some big boss running things with the help of his subordinates. And FYI, the judiciary system in the netherworld is much fairer than that of the human world. There are never any cases of misjudgement because one can neither bribe the judges nor are there any lawyers to argue your case. Every good and evil deed you ever did in your life shows up in the record books of the judges without fail. So evidence is always clear cut and never insufficient. You can be sure you will get a fair deal when you stand before King Yama one day.

As such, a wise Buddhist should not only revere the Buddha and his teachings, he should also respect all the gods, deities and Dharma protectors in heaven and earth who help to maintain order and facilitate the workings of karma. Always share merits with them and they will in turn help us in our lives.

LP Pathum of Wat Krua Tanoo

LP Pathum of Wat Krua Tanoo, Suphanburi province is one of the top disciples of LP Doo Wat Saket. He is famous for his Deva amulets like Hanuman riding Singha, Phra Prom and others. His temple, however is quite modest, with relatively few visitors. Above we see the 7-day Buddha statues outside the Ubosot.
Naga statue at the gate.
Banner of LP Pathum's Phra Prom amulets, made in 2552.
Outside LP's kuti.
Main altar in the kuti.
A shot with LP Pathum. Unforuntately there was nothing left in the temple to chow.
Mitmor Arkom from LP Pathum which I chowed at some other place.