The Abbots Who Built the Temple

Wat Chulamanee passed through both an age of flourishing and an age of decline before it was revived and built up to the beauty seen today, through the faith and perseverance of abbots who carried on their resolve from one to the next — from Luang Pho Chaem to Luang Pho Nuang and Luang Pho Itthi, the present abbot.

The age of decline and the revival

Wat Chulamanee once flourished in the time of an abbot of bright and keen intelligence, namely Phra Athikan Niam, reckoned to be the second abbot as far as can be traced. The elders relate that he was expert in the Khom script and could impart meditation (kammatthana) to those keen on practice, and was also a teacher of letters, so that lay folk sent their children and grandchildren to study in great numbers, to the point that a school teaching Thai and Khom letters could be set up in the temple. But when he passed away around the year B.E. 2459 (1916), Wat Chulamanee nearly became an abandoned temple, with only a few monks in residence, until it fell into ruin for the most part.

The villagers could not bear to see the temple in such a declining state, and so met to consult one another, with the headman of Pak Ngam Subdistrict (today Bang Chang Subdistrict) presiding, and agreed to go and request Phra Achan Chaem (Solos) — a monk of Wat Bang Kaphom of sufficient seniority and qualification to govern the temple toward flourishing — from Luang Pu Khong (Thammachoto), abbot of Wat Bang Kaphom. When Luang Pu Khong learned of their wish, he raised no objection, and sent Luang Pho Chaem, a disciple well trained and instructed in the practice of the Dhamma, to be abbot of Wat Chulamanee.

Luang Pho Chaem (Solos)

When Luang Pho Chaem arrived, he set about constructing monastic dwellings and a sermon hall, completing them in the year B.E. 2483 (1940), and carried out his religious duties for the people with compassion, following in the footsteps of Luang Pu Khong, his preceptor, in full measure. Until the year B.E. 2489 (1946), when he passed away at the age of 84, and his cremation was held in the year B.E. 2491 (1948).

Luang Pho Nuang (Kowitho)

When the cremation of Luang Pho Chaem was completed, the provincial Sangha saw fit to appoint the monk Nuang (Kowitho) to succeed as abbot — he who became Phra Khru Kowitsamutkhun in later times. He was a disciple of both Luang Pu Khong (Thammachoto) and Luang Pho Chaem (Solos), in that order.

Luang Pho Nuang's original name was Nuang Thaosuwan, born on 14 February B.E. 2452 (1910), the Year of the Rooster, at Ban Khlong Yai, Phraek Nam Daeng Subdistrict, Amphawa District, the son of Mr. Thomya and Mrs. Tap. He took higher ordination on 29 July B.E. 2475 (1932) at the ubosot of Wat Bang Kaphom, with Luang Pu Khong (Thammachoto) as preceptor and Luang Pho Chaem (Solos) as ordination-proclamation teacher. Later, in the year B.E. 2496 (1953), he was granted the ecclesiastical rank of Phra Khru with the title "Phra Khru Kowitsamutkhun."

The renown of Luang Pho Nuang as a meditation master spread far, reaching even into the royal palace. On 27 January B.E. 2520 (1977), King Rama X (Vajiralongkorn) (then HRH the Crown Prince), together with HRH Princess Soamsawali, made a private royal visit to pay homage to Luang Pho Nuang; and on Saturday 16 October B.E. 2525 (1982), HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn made a private royal visit to present the kathina robes.

Luang Pho Nuang restored Wat Chulamanee until it became a shaded and tranquil sacred place, and initiated the building of the three-tiered cruciform marble ubosot, with a construction cost numbering in the tens of millions of baht. He oversaw the construction with meticulous care for more than 20 years, until it was nearly complete — only a few window panels and part of the marble floor remained — and then, on 27 November B.E. 2530 (1987), at 06:20, Luang Pho Nuang passed away peacefully, leaving behind only the work of making the temple shaded and tranquil, a further 29 million-odd baht in cash, and the marble ubosot nearly complete, for the new abbot to carry on, amid the grief of his disciples.

By the fullness of his accumulated merit, even after he passed away, the body of Luang Pho Nuang did not decay. It is today enshrined incorrupt in a glass coffin on the temple's sermon hall, where the faithful may continually come to pay homage for auspiciousness.

Luang Pho Itthi (Bhaddacaro)

After that, Phra Achan Itthi (Bhaddacaro), a disciple of Luang Pho Nuang, rose to the position of abbot at the age of only 32, with 12 years in the monkhood, through two rounds of voting, in both of which the devotees of Wat Chulamanee gave their overwhelming support, and he was appointed by the provincial ecclesiastical head of Samut Songkhram to hold the position of abbot on 14 January B.E. 2532 (1989).

Luang Pho Itthi's original name was Sompoch Amonratthanabodi, born on 1 August B.E. 2499 (1956) in Amphawa Subdistrict, Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province. He took novice ordination on 14 June B.E. 2514 (1971) at Wat Bang Kaphom, and higher ordination on 17 June B.E. 2520 (1977) at Wat Chulamanee. He was later appointed ordination-proclamation teacher in the year B.E. 2533 (1990) and preceptor in the year B.E. 2537 (1994), until in the year B.E. 2567 (2024) he was granted the royal patent conferring the ecclesiastical rank of ordinary-grade ecclesiastical dignitary of the meditation (vipassanā) branch, with the title "Phra Samut Wachirasophon."

Luang Pho Itthi's first work was to take 30 million baht to establish the Luang Pho Nuang Kowitho Foundation, to bring its proceeds to support the monks, develop the temple, and aid public charity as appropriate. He then carried on the unfinished work of building Luang Pho Nuang's ubosot to completion — the laying of the jade-stone floor, the building of the window panels of lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the painting of the murals (read the details on the "The Ubosot and Its Art" page).

In addition, it is told that Luang Pho Itthi once had a vision of Tao Wessuwan taking him to view the underworld. He therefore made a resolution that when he returned to the human world he would build an image of Tao Wessuwan in the temple — the origin of the Tao Wessuwan image of Wat Chulamanee, which later became the flagship of the faith that people stream in to venerate and ask for blessings to this very day (read more on the "Tao Wessuwan" page).