LUANG PHOR OPHASI

WAT LP OPHASI in BANGMOT (2441 - 2498)

LP Ophasi (B.E. 2441~2498) began his monastic studies at 5 years of age and became a novice at Wat Tai at age 13. His teacher noticed that he was a gifted student and advised him to go to a larger city to complete his studies, which made the young LP Ophasi travel to Wat Tah-Po, and then to Bangkok to study Pali. LP Ophassi liked to study and learned several languages.

He was the disciple of the famous LP Kob of Wat Kao Salika in Lopburi. Although they never met physically, they communicated remotely by telepathy during their meditations and thus LP Kob transmitted his teaching to LP Ophasi. LP Kob had developed a technique of meditation based on the concentration on a flame, He had the incredible capacity to maintain such a concentration without interruption for very long periods (40 days without eating or sleeping). LP Kob transmitted this knowledge and technique to LP Ophasi.

When LP Ophassi reached the highest level of study, his behavior started to change in a strange way. He observed the precepts strictly, and in particular refused all the gifts which was made to him. He burnt them by saying that these objects were temptations which will make him unhappy and that the fire was the solution to this problem. On one occasion LP Ophasi failed to put out the fire in the temple and this made the villagers very dissatisfied. They did not understand why LP Ophasi was behaving like this and many villagers thought that he had become insane. The abbot requested LP Ophasi to leave and he was invited to stay at Wat Asham Bangmod in Bangkok. During the years he stayed in Wat Asham Bangmod, LP Ophasi became very famous for his predictions. Faithful disciples came from far to see him from morning to the evening.

In B.E. 2498, LP Ophasi and two of his disciples where invited to a Buddhist gathering in India. LP Ophasi asked his two disciples to leave before him and that he would join them later. He also told them to tell the organizers of his delay and the date of his arrival. Many of his disciples went to the airport to wish LP Ophasi a happy voyage, but he did not appeared. A few days later they were informed of LP Ophasi death. In fact, that evening, LP Ophasi told his disciples that he was going to remain in meditation for several days and not to disturb him under any circumstances. Then he went into his kuti. He stayed there until an anxious disciple decided to go and see whether LP Ophasi was well. He entered the kuti to find LP Ophasi in a state having all the aspect of death.

During this time, in India, the two disciples of LP Ophasi attended the Buddhist gathering, together LP Ophassi. LP Ophasi spoke with many other Buddhists dignitaries and even gave a state education in front of several hundreds of people, with photos of this occasion being taken. LP Ophassi bid goodbye to his two disciples, and told them that he was going to return to Thailand by separate means of transprt. When the two disciples arrived Thailand, they found it hard to believed the news of LP Ophasi death. Everyone thought that they had became insane when they said they had spent the past days with LP. Only the testimonies of several other monks present and the photographs in India of LP Ophasi proved the truth of their incredible story.

Each year, the coffin of LP Ophasi is open, his body has not decomposed and his finger nails and hair are still growing and is cut. It was believed that the monk whom had enlightened, the body will not decompose or if the body was burnt, the bones will turn into stones or diamonds.