Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang stands in the old walled city of Chiang Mai. Wikipedia dates the building of its great chedi to the 14th century, begun by King Saenmueangma as a resting place for his father’s ashes and finished in the mid-15th century. An earthquake in 1545 collapsed the top of the structure, and the part that stands today is a partial ruin that was reconstructed in the 1990s. The Emerald Buddha was kept in its eastern niche from 1468 until 1551. The city pillar is also kept on the grounds.

Ajahn Mun, the teacher at the head of the modern Thai Forest Tradition, spent a rains retreat here at the wish of Chao Khun Upali, who hoped to hand the running of the monastery over to him. Ajahn Thate’s autobiography says Ajahn Mun stayed for that one retreat and then left for the forest, and that Chao Khun Upali died in Bangkok during it. Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo, who attended Ajahn Mun that season, dates it to 1931, “the year Chao Khun Upali died”. After the funeral a letter came asking Ajahn Mun to become abbot as well as a preceptor; he told Ajahn Lee he had to leave, and when Ajahn Lee came back from a retreat in the hills he was gone. English Wikipedia dates the appointment to 1928, which conflicts with Ajahn Lee’s first-hand account.

Today the wat is a busy city temple. Wikipedia and a 2017 travel article describe daily “monk chats”, where visitors sit with monks, usually young students, to talk about Buddhism or Thailand while the monks practise their English. It is a conversation, not meditation instruction.

If you came for the Forest Tradition, Wat Pa Sutthawat in Sakon Nakhon is where Ajahn Mun died. For meditation instruction near Chiang Mai, see Wat Ram Poeng.