DAY 10 –Sunday 16
We left the temple very early and stopped at Luangpoh Sudhiro’s brother’s house in Khon Kaen where we had breakfast and said goodbye to one of our group heading back to the UK. We headed east over to Ubon for the second leg of our trip.
The 16th January is a very special day for the followers of Ajahn Chah, as this is the anniversary of his cremation nineteen years ago.
Ajahn Chah has inspired a large number of branch monasteries, both in
Thailand and around the world, including four in the UK.
Over 1000 monks and 15, 000 lay supporters gathered at his monastery Wat Nong Pah Pong to mark this event. Everyone circumambulated three times around his chedi, built on the site of his cremation.
The group were fortunate enough to be able to take part in this overwhelming event and then to travel to the nearby Wat Pah Nana Chat to pay respects to Ajahn Sumedho.
We were joined here by two new members who quickly became part of our group.
Some of the group spent the night at Wat Nong Pah Pong listening to Dhamma talks.
The rest spent the night at Luangpoh Sudhiro’s sisters’ house, and we all shared food there the next day.