Biography of
Master Nun Thongsook Samdaengpan
The First Teacher of the Great Master who founded Wat Phra Dhammakaya
1. Birth and Childhood
Master Nun Thongsook Samdaengpan or Maechee Thongsuk Samdaengpan was a reputed meditation teacher. She was born on August 1, 1900, at Ban Saphan Lueang, Bangrak District, Bangkok.
The maternal ancestry of Master Nun Thongsook Samdaengpan was from a royal family in the palace. Her father was a son of a billionaire in the Hua Lampong area. There was so much land and money that the family had to put gold and money in baskets. Even the rice bowl for the alms offering was made of real gold. Master Nun Thongsook lived happily with wealth until she was 5 years old. Then, there was a major change that turned her life upside down. Her parents died, so she was an orphan from a very young age.
After the parents passed, their relatives took advantage of her and took all the money, gold, clothes, and her belongings. Since then, Master Nun Thongsook has changed from one household to the another. She had to work hard to do housework for the people she lived with. She was bullied and taken advantage of by others, but could not complain to anyone. She was so despaired that she committed to hang herself for the way out. While she walked to her hanging, a cousin saw her and asked, ‘where are you going?’ She replied, “I will hang myself to death. I am not as rich as you. You are rich. You have a lot to eat and can sleep comfortably. You have many servants. But I am so poor that I am confined to eating and sleeping in the basement.” After listening to her, the cousin took pity on her and handed over 1 baht to her. The cousin told her not to commit suicide because it was a great sin that would lead her to hell.
2. The beginning of the pursuit of perfections
After that, Master Nun Thongsook came to live with her uncle and married a surgeon at Chula Hospital. They had 2 children together. But not long after, her husband passed away. The burden of raising two small children had to fall on her, even though she had no money. The director took care of her, so he gave her a job in the hospital. However, the income from the hospital job was not enough, so she quit the job to sell coconuts instead. That was when she heard the legend of Luangpu Sodh Candasaro (Phramongkolthepmuni). So, she went to meet him and pay him respect. She also went to study meditation, but did not make much progress unlike all her meditation classmates, who progressed and achieved the Dharma.
3. Attained the Dhammakaya
Around 1935, she felt hurt that her meditation experience still did not progress much. She attributed her lack of progress and not attaining Dhamma to the sins of her past lives. At one point, she became so angry that to calm down, she collected all the potty from the entire temple to scrub. While scrubbing, she complained to herself: “Because of so many defilements in the mind, I need to scrub them away. It hurts so much that I am the only one who still does not attain Dhamma. I need to remove my defilements from my mind as I scrub these pottys clean.” When she finished scrubbing and cleaning all the potty, she meditated and reached Dhammakaya during that session. After that she was ordained as a nun and began to study the Dharma until he finally reached the Dhammakaya and then came to be ordained as a Buddhist nun at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen to study the Dhammakaya with Luangpu Sodh. While she was at Wat Paknam, Master Nun Thongsook was assigned the night shift of the Dhammakaya workshop. Her meditation was so advanced that she could easily visit heaven or hell. When Luangpu taught his students new knowledge or technique, Master Nun Thongsook would be the first to volunteer to try them every time. An example is a temporary gender change that she succeeded in. She could create a lunar eclipse or extinguish any star from the sky. She could remove any celestial object that was a threat to humanity by applying the power of her mind.
When Master Nun Thongsook Samdaengpan came to teach the Dhamma at Mrs. Liab’s house, she also became the first teacher to teach the Dhamma to Master Nun Chand Konnokyoong, who later founded Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Master Nun Thongsook was the person who took Master Nun Chand to study the practice of Dhamma with Luangpu at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen.
4. Spreading Buddhism and Vijja Dhammakaya
In 1940 her knowledge and skills were mature. Luangpu Sodh assigned her to go on a mission to teach Dharma and meditation. She was an excellent teacher, and her teaching was very detailed. She devoted herself to emphasizing and reviewing Dharma for her students tirelessly. She used her physical and spiritual strength to teach her disciples so that they could learn, remember, and understand the Dharma. She succeeded as a teacher and proved to be worthy of the trust of Luangpu.
Master Nun Thongsook could teach. When asked by her students, she was able to answer them in a way that they understood. She advised and suggested solutions to various problems and obstacles with kindness. She taught her disciples not to tense or press their eye lids with force.
Visualize a crystal sphere within and repeat a mantra in mind. We must be aware that our mind is at the center of the body. Just follow these basic instructions. Do not be anxious.
Keep being indifferent and eliminate curiosity, desire for inner experience, and all worries. Do not be sad if we have not experienced inner peace. Keep practicing with the correct steps and persevere. Dhamma is real. When it is time, we will experience it. But avoid feeling too joyful, since inner peace can be lost.
When she taught, she would compose her words to flow from causes to effects and from easy to difficult concepts so that her disciples could understand the essence of the subject and she would use analogies to clarify the content, such as her following teaching:
“Our minds are refined, and not coarse. Although our minds are no longer distracted, it is still difficult to force the minds to remain still all the sudden. We must gently nudge our minds little by little to stay still. Over time, they will finally give in to stopping still. It is like catching chickens in a coop. If we run towards them to catch them, they will sprint away from us. But if we walk slowly toward the chicken and call them in gently, they will be tamed and allow us to catch them easily. They are like our minds. When we focus too much, our minds will not stop. But, if we take a softer approach by gently keeping the crystal sphere within, which may appear clear or not clear, or may not even appear, eventually, our minds will stop at their home, which is the center of the body.”
Master Nun Thongsook spread Vijja Dharmakaya according to the instructions of Luangpu in many places including Wat Paknam, Bang Pakong, Chachoengsao, Chonburi, Ban Bueng, Phanat Nikhom, Phanomsarakham, Prachinburi, Nakhonpathom, Ratchaburi, Singburi, Nakhonsawan, Tapanhin, Phitsanulok, and Chiang Mai.
Therefore, she had many followers. Those who had reached the Dhammakaya within, number in the one thousand range. She had not once abandoned the duties assigned to her by her master, Luangpu, until the end of her life.
5. Discoverer of the food offering to Lord Buddha
Master Nun Thongsook was the discoverer of the food offering to Lord Buddha. This offering has allowed the disciples to make great merit from the era of the small meditation house within Wat Paknam, to the Dhammaprasit house, and to Wat Phra Dhammakaya. At present, the offering ceremony is broadcast live from Wat Phra Dhammakaya to the world on the first Sunday of each month.
6. Passed away
At the end of her life, she passed away peacefully on February 3, 1963, at 7:35 p.m. in her residence in Wat Paknam, surrounded by relatives, friends, and disciples. Her life spanned 63 years, of which 23 years were in nunhood.
7. The number one promoter of Vijja Dhammakaya
Master Nun Thongsook was a great promoter of Vijja Dhammakaya of Luangpu. Hence, her disciples honor her as one of the Great Masters.
Master Nun Thongsook Samdaengpan is one of the Great Masters and the number one promoter of Vijja Dhammakaya rediscovered by Venerable Phramongkolthepmuni (Sodh Candasaro) Luangpu Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen. She was the first meditation teacher of Master Nun Chand Konnokyoong, the founder of Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
