Mae Chee Kaew Memorial Stupa

The Mae Chee Kaew Memorial Stupa stands on a raised stretch of ground next to the forest nunnery at Baan Huay Sai, in Kham Cha-ee district, Mukdahan province. It honours Mae Chee Kaew Sianglam (1901-1991), who settled at the nunnery with six other nuns in 1945. As a girl she met Ajahn Mun, and from 1951 she was guided by Ajahn Maha Bua.

After her funeral, Ajahn Inthawai Santussako, a senior monk from a nearby village who had known her since childhood, set out to build a memorial. According to her biography, he designed it with a group of railway engineers from Bangkok. It rises nearly 80 feet and sits in a circular pool of lotuses, with gardens around it. Her relics are kept on the altar, and the building holds three statues of her. Ajahn Maha Bua presided at the opening on 21 May 2006, when he called her a noble disciple of Ajahn Mun and said that the attainment of arahantship does not depend on gender.

A 2024 academic article in Global Buddhism treats the stupa as a rare memorial to a woman whom devotees regard as an arahant, and describes how it is promoted as a religious tourism site at local, provincial, national and international levels.

This is a pilgrimage site and a nunnery, not a retreat centre. Neither source gives visiting rules, so check locally before you go.