Sacred Amulets News – Luang Por Pai Loh Coin, 'Clearing the Old Forest' Edition B.E. 2486

Luang Por Pai Loh Chanthasoro was a renowned meditation master at Wat Kamphaeng in Phrasicharoen District, Bangkok, celebrated in the Bangkhunthian area. He was born on a Tuesday in the sixth month of the Year of the Goat in B.E. 2403 into the Thonglueah family in Samut Prakan Province, growing up in an agricultural household. At age eight, he studied Thai and Khmer script under Luang Por That at Wat Singh. During his youth, he was brave and had many friends, but the neighborhood was rife with gang violence. Due to his reputation among local toughs, his worried parents asked him to ordain for one rainy season.

He was ordained at Wat Kamphaeng with Luang Por That as his preceptor. Receiving the monastic name Chanthasoro, he devoted himself to studying Buddhist scripture, memorizing chants with precision, and deepening his faith. After the first rainy season, he declined to disrobe and instead pursued advanced meditation and doctrinal studies. He learned esoteric practices including the 108-ingredient medicinal powder from Luang Por Phuang at Wat Kok and sacred cloth-making with Luang Por Dit at Wat Kamphaeng.

Despite his extensive knowledge, he remained humble and unpretentious, maintaining simple living and strict discipline with the monastic code. Though offered the title of Phra Kru, he refused, saying he preferred to teach himself rather than oversee other monks. Similarly, he reluctantly accepted administrative duties only because villagers insisted, as many brought their sons to ordain under him due to faith in his virtue and desire for his blessed amulets.

In B.E. 2478, his disciples commissioned a celebratory merit-making ceremony for his birthday and produced a medal-cast amulet in the shape of a spade. The spade symbolized an essential agricultural tool that farmers and gardeners depended upon. Beyond the popular spade medal, egg-shaped amulets were also cast in bronze and brass with intricate consecration rituals far more elaborate than stamped medals.

He possessed powerful spiritual concentration. Once, Phra Phutthaput Phayakorn, a senior disciple of Luang Pu Eiam at Wat Nang, was invited to oversee an amulet-casting ceremony. He sat in meditation at his dwelling without traveling to the temple, yet when the consecration began, those officiating saw his meditating form present at the ritual—an extraordinary occurrence that became widely discussed.

Luang Por Pai Loh regularly chanted the 'Seven Crystal Fortress Incantation,' reciting passages invoking the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as refuges. He passed away peacefully in B.E. 2482 at age 79, having spent 59 rainy seasons in the robes. At his funeral, countless people gathered. A remarkable incident occurred when disciples lit firecrackers and sparklers, but they all extinguished suddenly because he disliked loud noise. After the ceremony ended, they relit them, and they burned with tremendous noise—a tale still recounted today.