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This bronze sculpture of a monk is about 18 cms high and was purchased in Thailand in the mid 1960s. It was probably made about that time.
In Thailand important and influential monks are given special honours and there is a tradition of casting some of their images in bronze or making images of them in other media.
Can anyone identify this monk please?
Could someopne please translate the inscriptions on the front and back of the throne on which he is seated please?
Close up pics of these inscriptions will follow in the next posting.

Inscription pics.

Yes, Luang Phor Kasem Kemagoh, from Lampang Province. In the 4th photo from the top (the first of the "inscription pics") it gives a place (which I cannot decipher) in Lampang Province. The bottom line is a date. The day/date I cannot determine but the month is April and the year is 1981.

Final pic.

Hi Phillip,

After looking around the world wide web, I am feeling confident that your statue is a depiction of Thai Guru Monk Luang Phor Kasem Kemagoh. (Nov 28, 1912 - Jan 15, 1996)

Considered one of Thailand's most renowned forest monks, revered and visited by the King of Thailand himself, amulets of the likeness of Luang Phor Kasem Kemagoh are highly sought after, and since I didn't see ANY statues like yours ANYWHERE, it must be rare, and if it is a statue of Luang Phor Kasem Kemagoh, it would seem to be a valuable object to his collectors, especially depending on the particulars of the statue, who made it, and how many were made.

Luang Phor (= reverend father, venerable monk)Kasem was born as Kemagoh Pikku in a family of descendants of the Lampang King from the Lanna Period.
He became a novice monk in 1925 after the death of his uncle, the abbot of Wat Bunyeun. In 1927, he went to Bangkok, Wat Setuwan to study Pali language and after some time he returned back to the North to continue studies in Wat Seelom and Wat Bunyawaht.
After passing his exams in Pali in 1933, he was ordained as a monk at Wat Bunyeun at the age of 21. His preceptor was Tahn Jow Koon Tammajindah.

He met Luang Phor Krubah Gaen, a very famous monk in North Thailand, a forest monk who had rich experience in meditation. Luang Phor Kasem became his disciple and started practising with him in forests and cemeteries.

When the abbot of Wat Bunyeun - Pra Dtomkum left his post and the temple (because of boredom), the villagers approached young Luang Phor Kasem (still deep in practicing meditation) to return to Lampang and fill the post of a new abbot.

Luang Phor Kasem continued his learning dhamma and practicing meditation even when he was the abbot. The more he trained, the more he realised how uncertain the life is. However his duties as an abbot kept him busy the way that was far away from his spiritual intentions more than he thought. Therefore, in 1949 he left the Wat and settled at Susahn Sahlahwangthan, a cemetery surrounded by the jungle at Lampang suburbs.
The area was looking very different to the well developed site we as can see it nowadays. Many people were scared to even go there since it was said to be haunted. LP Kasem was determined to keep practicing the highest meditation right there. He would sit in front of the crematory and watch the burning corpses. Whether in hot sun or raining, Luang Phor would just sit quietly and watched dead corpses being burned to ashes.

Luang Phor Kasem would sit deep in meditation for as long as 3 months, without any shelter under the hot sun or heavy rain. Even though his robes were wet of rain, or during the cold season when the cold wind blew, Luang Phor Kasem would just sit quietly without any complain or request. Also, he would stay without food for as long as 49 days. Since 1971, he only had bathed once a year, but there was no strange or foul odour around him, despite the sweat was pouring down his body under the roasting sun. And more surprisingly, without a shelter or mosquito net, he never suffered from mosquito bites at the cemetery.
In his meditations he was often in touch with his friend Luang Phoo Doo from Wat Sakae, Ayuthaya.

Luang Phor Kasem would always point out that as a forest monk he does not require any property. The only things he owned were an alms bowl, his robe he was wearing and a piece of human bone to practice meditations. He did not even own any shoes or even pillow to sleep. To him, a pillow was a luxury. He used to sleep on the ground at the same spot where he was meditating. Whatever people gave to him, he would give away to the other monks. He was just completely determined to find the truth of life. He asked for nothing in life - although, as a descendant of the royal blood in Lampang, he could enjoy all the luxury.

Luang Phor Kasem passed away on Jan 15, 1996 at the Lampang hospital. He was 84.

URL Title :A video of Luang Phor Kasem Kemagoh

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