Kruba Aliyachart

Kruba Aliyachart was born on  9th January BE 2524 in Noi Village which is located in Sarapee District, Chiang Mai Province. He is the youngest child among the three siblings in the family. He was given the name “Suchat”. Something unusual happened when his mother was pregnant, she dreamt of a big white Yant cloth which was very clean and pure during her first dream. She could not help but love it. The second time she had a dream, she dreamt of entering a bedroom while the house was painted in gold colour. When Kruba Aliyachart was born, the doctor told his mother to educate him with proper care as he is believed to be an outstanding talent once he grows up.

The doctor has seen many babies before but he had never seen one babyT with the traits of Kruba Aliyachart. He is born with a beautiful skin color, big eyes, long ears, thin, long palms and feet. The doctor say that he was “Geng”. “Geng” means splendid in Thai Language. Thai people believed in these symbols of blessing (good fortune). Indeed Kruba Aliyachart has white skin and is smart. He learnt faster and understood better in learning when compared to the others at the same age. He never showed off or became arrogant of his cleverness.

Both of his parents worked in the farm, so he had been helping them in the farm since young. His job in the farm included farming, watering, fertilizing, harvesting rice straw and vegetables. He was their best helper.

Between the age of 7 to 8, Kruba Aliyachart saw a fisherman fishing. The fish was struggling in the net and looked painful. However he did not understand why the animals had to be treated like this and thus secretly letting go all the fishes. From then on, he started to have unanswered questions about life. He was kind and always set the animals free since childhood. He would secretly set the animals free whenever he saw his father or neighbour catching fishes or frogs.

At age of 9, his mother was busy with work until she had no time to go to the temple. Thus she would let him send the food for the monks in the temple after preparing it. Therefore upon the age of 12, he was already proficient in reciting Buddhist scriptures than other children of the same age. Kruba Aliyachart loved to make Buddha statues out of muds. His friends always laughed at him and asked whether he wanted to be a monk. However he never answered nor was angry with them. Kruba Alliyachart was not only keen at learning but also hard working. Besides studying in school, he also learnt from monks in the temple during his free time.

He started to learn Dharma at age of 12. After negotiating with his parents, he started to learn Dharma at Wat Chaichana in Lamphun Province. At that time, he had just finished his primary study and had the thought of ordaining as a monk. He voiced out his wish to his parents but was refused by his mother. As she hoped that he could finish his junior high school first before ordained as a monk. Thus, Kruba Aliyachart continued his junior high and raised the issue again to his mother once he finished his study. However, his request was still denied by his mother. It was because his eldest brother was weak in health and the elder brother had already been married. Kruba Aliyachart was the only child left to help at home.  But after his mother found out and understood his thought, she agreed to let him ordained as a monk.

Kruba Chantip knew that Kruba Aliyachart was a clever child and had the blessing of Buddhism. Thus he had passed on all his knowledge to him and taught him to read Lanna script and understand black magic. Kruba Aliyachart learnt it well and his scripture writing was beautiful. Kruba Chantip was satisfied with his performance.

As Kruba Chantip was getting older that time. He would consecrate holy items and let Kruba Aliyachart to write the scriptures. What had been assigned had been done perfectly nicely by Kruba Aliyachart.  It was later proved that the scriptures he wrote had the same efficacious effect as Kruba Chantip. Kruba Aliyachart is a genius in learning Dharma. Kruba Chantip used to say that he had good blessings in Buddhist and named him after Aliyachart. As the word “Aliyachart” has the meaning of wisdom of a wise man.

After Kruba Chantip passed away,  Kruba Aliyachart wrote the obituary himself and pasted it in the temple and around the urban and rural areas. One day, a famous monk from Chiang Mai, Kruba Zhaotieng came to attend the funeral ceremony. He saw the beautiful writing on the obituary and asked who wrote it. Then he met Kruba Aliyachart and had a conversation with him. After their conversation, Kruba Aliyachart who was still in his upper year of senior high school at age 17, decided to become a novice. His Buddhist name is Novice Aliyachart.

Kruba Aliyachart ordained as a novice at the age of 17  and lived in Wat Chaimongkol for a period. He wanted to travel and practice, finding a teacher to learn Buddhist scriptures and magic. It was not simple for a 17 year-old novice to practice outside but he intended to complete it himself staunchly. In Thailand, the northern practice is not strict as southern practice. In general, in the religious field only monks could leave the temple to walk and practice Buddhism. Kruba Aliyachart was not at the level of a monk that time but he insisted on doing the practice alone. He went to Phrae Province to learn Dharma. In his own learning, he needed to go into a deep mountain to practice or meditate in a crude hut. He heard that Ajarn Manid had great magic power and then he headed to Wat Bandid to learn the magic from Ajarn Manid. Ajarn Manid was building a temple at that period of time so he learnt magic and helped him build the temple at the same time. After his learning was complete, he proceeded to learn Dharma from Ajarn Bud.

Kruba Aliyachart faced many obstacles during his travel practice. Sometimes he would practice in the forest or graveyard at night but he was not afraid at all and never gave up. In the process of his practice, he met two nuns in Nan Province. They were both close people to the Prince and had helped Kruba Srivichai to build the road up to Dot Suthep. When the two nuns saw Kruba Aliyachart, they told him to take good care of himself as he would have developed in Buddhism in future. He is someone with blessings from Buddhism. Meanwhile, the two nuns called the young novice as Kruba Aliyachart. Their disciples agreed and followed to call him Kruba.

During his practice, he seldom had contact with his family. Therefore, his family was worried about his situation and thus asked someone to deliver the message that his mother was sick and had been hospitalized for a few days. He was worried and upset so he canceled his practice right away and went home to visit his mother. When he returned home, he then only knew that his family was worried about him and wanted him to finish his Dharma study first before leaving for practice. He understood their anxieties and agreed to go practice after finishing his learning.

His family worried that he would be hurt or in danger as he was very young and had not finished Buddha Dharma. They hoped that he could finish Buddha Dharma first and then do practice. He understood his family so he promised his mother that he would finish learning.

In BE 2542, the abbot of Wat Chaimongkol passed away.  Kruba Aliyachart was 18 years old at that time and had to return to Wat Chaimongkol to temporarily take over the temple. However, on 28th April BE 2544 he was officially ordained as a monk.

On 9th May BE 2549, when Kruba Aliyachart was at the age of 25 years old, he decided to build his own temple. As Kruba Aliyachart pursued the practice of the well-known Kruba Srivichai. Therefore, he had built a self-image statue of Kruba Srivichai in his temple. His purpose of building the temple was to make it a convenient place for monks living in the northern part of Thailand to practice without the hardship to go to Chiang Mai. At the same time, it also allows the devotees of Kruba Srivichai to come to Wat Sang Kaew Phothiyanand to pray.

As Kruba Aliyachart is older now, he had experienced a harder time than other monks since he had entered the Tudong alone in earlier age. He did not regret his choices but instead he is more hardworking in practicing now.

In northern Thai there are many experienced monks aged up to 90 and remain practicing in deep mountains. They occasionally go down mountains and are seen in town. Kruba Aliyachart would grasp the opportunity to get advice in Dharma from them. He received guidance not only from guru monks but also famous white robe masters. He never stopped and had fairly extensive learning. He even practiced in seclusion. He used to isolate himself for 13 days by digging a 3 meters hole underground and meditated over there. He was able not to eat nor drink since he had a deep practice level. This is countered as an achievement for one monk of his age.

Peacock is the symbol of the temple and Kruba Aliyachart. It is because the symbol he drew is similar to a peacock image and the scripture symbol has the protection result. He would consecrate it to have the effect to avoid danger and disaster. The symbol had then automatically become his representative and he is named as King of Peacock.

Kruba Aliyachart is good at using the peacock scriptures on his holy items. He has a special affinity with peacocks. As peacocks are known as the king of birds. It not only represents the symbol of wealth and power, it is also very auspicious and deeply loved by his devotees.