Maechee Boonruen Tongboonterm — A Venerated Female Ascetic of Thailand
Wat Awutwikasitaram, Bangkok • Born B.E. 2437 (January 4, 1895) — Passed B.E. 2501 (December 7, 1958)
Born in Ban Khok Krathin, Thonburi (present-day Bangkok), Maechee Boonruen embraced the renunciant life early. Though Theravāda custom did not recognize bhikkhunī ordination in her era, she lived steadfastly as a Maechee, observing the Eight Precepts with quiet resolve. She made Wat Awutwikasitaram her home for decades, where her deep samādhi, refined mindfulness, and luminous compassion drew seekers from across Siam. Visitors spoke of a gentle teacher whose presence steadied fear and softened suffering; many returned with accounts of healing after receiving her sacred water and blessings.
Her practice was simple and exacting: long hours of seated meditation, scrupulous truthfulness in word and thought, and unflagging service to the sick and distressed. Contemporaries described periods when she sat unmoving in jhana, her attention clear and cool, coupled with a gift of abhiññā—insight that seemed to pierce directly to people’s needs. Without seeking status, she became a quiet point of reference for monastics and laity alike, offering counsel that balanced karmic understanding with everyday practicality.
Although she never “produced” amulets in the manner of famous monks, items associated with her devotion—takrut, Phra Kring blessed at the temple, yantra cloths, and especially her holy water—came to be cherished as extensions of her metta. Collectors still speak of their reputational properties: healing, loving-kindness, and a subtle karmic purification that encouraged clarity and moral steadiness. Yet she remained wary of fame, turning attention back to practice, precepts, and the care of those who arrived at Wat Awut in need.
In later years her renown widened; annual commemorations took form at Wat Awutwikasitaram, and stories circulated of precise advice offered to strangers—names, places, and hidden causes recounted with disarming accuracy. Upon her passing on December 7, 1958 (B.E. 2501), aged sixty-three, devotees reported the manifestation of sarira (relics) at her cremation—understood traditionally as a sign of refined cultivation. Today a shrine within the temple grounds preserves her memory; pilgrims come quietly to pay respects, to pour water, to sit, and to be reminded—by example—that disciplined kindness is its own miracle.