Luang Por Khamkhian Suvanno

Luang Por Khamkhian Suvanno was a meditation teacher and village-development monk in Chaiyaphum province, north-east Thailand. Most of what is published about him is in Thai, written by his students.

Phra Paisal Visalo describes him as a monk who had trained under Luang Por Teean Cittasubho and had accompanied him when he taught in Khon Kaen and Bangkok. Luang Por Teean’s method develops mindfulness and self-awareness through movement. Khamkhian chose to teach villagers in the hills rather than city people, though Luang Por Teean disagreed with the move, by Paisal’s account.

By 1980 he had set up a child-care centre at Wat Phu Khao Thong and a rice cooperative for the village of Tha Mafai Wan, which supplied cheaper rice to people who lived far from the roads. Paisal says that when they met at a meeting of people running children’s lunch projects in April 1980, probably nobody there knew he was also a meditation teacher. Paisal later went to practise with him at Wat Pa Sukato and became his student.

Wat Pa Sukato grew into a full practice centre, with a monthly course from 2000. Khamkhian died of cancer on 23 August 2014. Paisal calls him the spirit of the monastery and its refuge for people there.