Luang Phor Mui (Puttaratito)
Wat Don Rai, Si Prachan, Suphan Buri • B.E. 2431–2517 (1888–1974)
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Luang Phor Mui, born Cherm on 5 December B.E. 2431 (1888, Year of the Ox), grew up in a farming family in Suphan Buri—fourth of five children of Por Mueng and Mae Chang. As a teenager he helped in the fields; briefly selected for military service, he was inexplicably discharged and never served a day. He then turned to the robe: in B.E. 2452 (1909) he was ordained at Wat Tha Chang under LP Kanod (preceptor) with LP Yim of Wat Hua Khao as Dhamma instructor.
A quick study with steady temperament, he advanced in meditation and scripture. After about thirteen rains he disrobed to support his aging parents. Not long after, severe illness struck. He made a vow: if I recover, I will return to the robe and never turn back. He recovered fully, changed his lay name from Cherm to Mui, and kept his promise.
Re-ordained in B.E. 2465 (1922) at Wat Tak Kah, Si Prachan, his preceptor was LP Oon, with Phra Ajahn Goon and Phra Ajahn Tuan of Wat Ban Krang as his teachers. He received the monastic name Puttaratito. From there his training widened: he learned wicha akom (esoteric disciplines) and protective arts under LP Yim, who then brought him to his own master, the famed Luang Pu Suk of Wat Makhamtao (Chainat). LP Suk praised Mui’s calm wisdom—second only, he said, to his lay disciple Admiral Krom Luang Chumphon Khet Udomsak, son of King Rama IV.
Over the years LP Mui met and learned from many renowned teachers, among them LP Plang of Wat Wimonphotaram, LP Ben of Wat Derm Ban (teacher of LP Guay), LP Plem of Wat Plow, LP Kanod, LP Oon, and the white-robed ascetic Ajahn Goon—then widely known in Suphan Buri. The through line was restraint, loving-kindness, and practical blessing for ordinary people.
Those who knew him describe a soft-spoken monk of few words, wholly devoted to practice, kind to animals he regularly fed at the temple. His reputation for efficacy grew not from showmanship but from quiet results—devotees credited his blessings and sacred disciplines, many inherited from the Makhamtao lineage, with protection and recovery in difficult times.
LP Mui passed away in B.E. 2517 (1974) at Wat Don Rai, aged 85 years and 41 days. His body remained incorrupt and is preserved in a glass coffin for devotees to pay respects to this day. In Suphan Buri memory, he is held up as the exemplar of a vow kept: fall ill, rise again, return to the robe, and spend the rest of a long life in service of the Dhamma.