Luang Por Liem Ṭhitadhammo

Luang Por Liem Ṭhitadhammo was born in Sri Saket province in north-eastern Thailand on 5 November 1941. He took full ordination at twenty and spent his early years in village monasteries in the north-east. In 1969 he joined the forest tradition and began training under Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong in Ubon Ratchathani province, where he became one of Ajahn Chah’s closest disciples.

In 1982 Ajahn Chah became severely ill and could no longer carry out his duties. He entrusted Luang Por Liem with running the monastery, and the Sangha of Wat Nong Pah Pong then appointed him abbot. The monastery’s own website names him as its abbot today. Through that role he leads the monastery that heads the branch monasteries of the Ajahn Chah lineage in Thailand and abroad.

He is also a teacher and guide to the English-speaking monks of Wat Pah Nanachat, the international forest monastery that Ajahn Chah founded nearby. He teaches in Thai, and the recordings of his talks abroad listed below carry an English translation. The Abhayagiri book published for his 80th birthday in 2021 says he had by then been ordained for sixty years and teaches Dhamma all over the world.

Wat Nong Pah Pong publishes its website in Thai only. Foreigners wanting to practise in this lineage in Thailand usually start at Wat Pah Nanachat, which has guest information in English.