Luang Pho Lek’s Legacy Honored With Famous Amulet
Luang Pho Lek Pussathevo, former abbot of Wat Sam Chin in Samut Songkhram, is honored for his religious leadership, temple improvements, and creation of the famous Naga Khieow amulet. His life spanned monastic study, teaching, and extensive building projects that benefited the local community. He died in 1969 at age seventy after fifty years as a monk.
Luang Pho Lek began his education at Wat Sam Chin school, studying Khmer script and later the Mūlakaccayana treatise at Wat Koh Yai. At age sixteen he became a novice at Wat Koh Kaew, then returned to lay life at eighteen to assist his parents in trade. In 1920, at twenty years old, he received full ordination at the sima of Wat Sam Chin, with Luang Pho Phet as his preceptor, Luang Pho Mon of Wat Klang Nuea as the chanting instructor, and Phra Kru Yang of Wat Koh Yai as the doctrinal teacher. After two rainy seasons he moved to Wat Mai Yai Paen in Thonburi to study Buddhist scriptures at Wat Mahathat, earning the third level of Nak Tham certification. He later taught Buddhist scriptures at Wat Wai Niao in Kanchanaburi, then returned to Wat Sam Chin in 1926 to resume teaching and began wandering through the forests of Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi, Tak, and Chiang Rai as part of his monastic practice. Upon the illness and passing of his mentor Luang Pho Phet in 1929, the village and temple committee invited him to become abbot in June 1931. As abbot he revitalized the temple, emphasized education for local children, and established a primary school in 1936. He renamed Wat Sam Chin to Wat Tri Chindawatthanaram in 1940, repaired the main hall and prayer hall, and built several bridges over local canals. He oversaw the construction of a new Tripitaka hall in 1945 and a new ordination hall in 1955, completing the boundary stones in early 1957. Luang Pho Lek passed away peacefully on 5 November 1969 at 4:00 am, at the age of seventy, having completed fifty rainy seasons. He is remembered for creating the celebrated Naga Khieow amulet, based on a yantra discovered by his mentor Luang Pho Phet in a cave in the Shan State and copied during the mentor’s wandering years. His likeness amulets also remain popular among devotees.
