LUANG POR CHAROEN PARNCHAND

Luang Por Charoen

Luang Por Charoen Panchand was born in 1929, in the province of Lopburi in Thailand. Since his childhood he had to get used to hard work. The experiences he gained on fishing-boats, in markets and gardens, and as a young entrepreneur in the building-business, were very valuable in his later life. At 20 years of age he was ordained to become a monk.

Between 1971 and 1981 Luang Por Charoen was "on tudong", travelling all over Thailand. Like many of the great spiritual teachers in Thailand, he spent most of the time in forests.

Luang Por Charoen is a very creative man: his is a gifted artist and musician, he invents medicine, and he is a researcher and a scientist. His knowledge of rocks and stones is breathtaking. He calls his garden his "Open University": there he researches, and there he receives his disciples, monks and laymen of all social classes, coming to ask for advice and teaching.

Generously he gives away his products, he protects people in danger, and, thanks to his extraordinary powers, he keeps Thamkrabok a safe place.

SPECIAL ACTIVITIES IN THE MONASTERY

Thamkrabok is a monastery. The central activity is the practice of Buddhism. Work is considered to be important on the religious path. The abbot, the monks and the nuns are involved in a process of permanent creative activity. Among the abbot's experiments there are:

The Lava Statues
Luang Por Charoen has invented a furnace to create lava. This "man made basalt" is used to cast statues, many of which adorn the monastery and its surrounds, and give Thamkrabok its distinctive appearance.

The furnace Lava casting Lava statues

The Paintings between Glass
An invention of Luang Por Charoen's are pictures that "happen" when various colors and rock-water are injected between two glass-sheets. The picture is the product of the skills of the artist and the reactions of the injected substances.

The Music of the Earth

Another experiment of Luang Por Charoen's is the creation of music on the basis of natural shapes. Cracks in walls, stones or in the soil are copied onto plastic sheets and then transformed into musical notes. These melodies become the raw material for compositions. According to Luang Por Charoen, Thamkrabok stores sufficient material to generate 16 million 18-bars melodies.

A team of researchers and musicians from Moscow University has created a CD based on Luang Por Charoen's material, which is available at www.yohea.com