Ajahn Sao Kantasilo

Ajahn Sao Kantasilo was born in about 1860 in the Ubon Ratchathani area of north-east Thailand; Thai Wikipedia names the village as Ban Kha Khom. It also says he was first ordained in the Mahanikaya and later re-ordained in the Dhammayut order, both in Ubon. Sources differ on his exact years, so none are given here.

Access to Insight says Ajahn Sao and his student Ajahn Mun established the Kammaṭṭhāna tradition, and calls him a true forest-dweller. The translators of Ajahn Thate’s autobiography describe him as Ajahn Mun’s original teacher. Ajahn Thate, who stayed with him, recalls the cave across the Mekong in Laos where Ajahn Sao and Ajahn Mun had gone together when they first set out in search of solitude, and writes that Ajahn Sao generally did not give formal Dhamma sermons: when he did, it was more like a consultation.

He left no written record of his teaching. Access to Insight notes that another student, Phra Ajahn Phut Thaniyo, recorded some of it in Ajaan Sao’s Teaching: A Reminiscence of Phra Ajaan Sao Kantasilo, which gives a glimpse of a terse and powerful teaching style. Ajahn Thate also writes that he persuaded Ajahn Sao, against his reluctance, to be photographed once, and that this appears to have been the only photograph ever taken of him.

Thai Wikipedia says his cremation was held at Wat Burapharam in Ubon Ratchathani in April 1943.