Luang Pho Chum: Revered Monk of Ratchaburi
Luang Pho Chum Putthasaro, a revered abbot of Wat Rajakham in Ratchaburi, served the community for nearly 50 years through temple restoration, educational programs, and traditional healing before his death in 1954. His blessed amulets, part
Luang Pho Chum Putthasaro of Wat Rajakham in Muang District, Ratchaburi, was a highly respected Buddhist teacher admired by Ratchaburi residents for his compassion and tireless efforts to help the suffering and heal the sick. He was born on Thursday, June 26, 1879, in Khung Nam Wan Subdistrict to parents Thoum and Lamjai Klin Thepkasem. At age nine, he was sent to study Khmer and Thai with Luang Pu To at Wat Rajakham, and at sixteen he ordained as a novice. At age twenty, he received full monastic ordination on May 1, 1898, at Wat Tha Suwan under the guidance of Phra Achan Phu, receiving the monastic name Putthasaro.
At Wat Rajakham, he studied vipassana meditation under Phra Achan Phu and Phra Achan In. In 1905, when Phra Achan Phu passed away, Luang Pho Chum was appointed abbot and undertook extensive restoration and development of the temple. He commissioned the construction of an ordination hall, teaching pavilion, bell tower, Buddha footprint replica, and notably established a Dhamma school for monks and a public school for local children called Prachaban Chum Prachanukul School. He also assisted other temples in Ratchaburi with construction projects.
Throughout his tenure, Luang Pho Chum earned appointments as abbot (1905), preceptor (1912), district sangha leader (1918), and senior monk (1922). He was skilled in traditional medicine, spell-casting, water blessing, and amulet consecration, and became renowned for his wandering pilgrimages that extended over three years at a time, sometimes reaching Myanmar. He studied extensively under Luang Pu Suk at Wat Makham Tao in Chai Nat around 1903, and later encountered General Chumphon Khet Udom Sakkdi, who visited Wat Rajakham as a fellow disciple. During his travels, he formed a close dharma friendship with Luang Pho Rung of Wat Tha Krabeua.
In his later years, as illness and age took their toll, his disciples cared for him devotedly, though his condition continued to decline. He passed away peacefully on Wednesday, November 16, 1954, at 4:30 a.m., at the age of seventy-seven in monastic years and fifty-seven in ordination, and was cremated on March 24, 1955. He left behind many blessed amulets for his disciples and close followers, including talismanic cloth, metal cylinders, rings, and other sacred objects. Most notably, the first edition amulet coins, created in 1943, were specially commissioned for his closest disciples and relatives and remain highly sought after and cherished.
