Luang Pu Khao Analayo

Luang Pu Khao Analayo was born Khao Khoratha on 28 December 1888 in the village of Baan Bo Chaneng, in Amnat Charoen district (then part of Ubon Ratchathani province), the fourth of seven children of a farming family. Ajahn Maha Bua’s biography of him says he married at twenty and had seven children, and that the breakdown of his marriage led him to ordain. He was ordained on 2 May 1919 at Wat Bodhi Sri in his home district. After six years there, troubled that the monks around him were lax in discipline and meditation, he left to take up the wandering dhutanga life.

He set out to find Ajahn Mun, whom he reached at Tha Bo in Nong Khai, but he had only a short time with him before Ajahn Mun left for the north. Years later he followed Ajahn Mun to Chiang Mai. After about a year of searching, he met Ajahn Waen, and together they found Ajahn Mun at Wat Pa Miang Huay Sai in Phrao district. For several years Ajahn Mun let him camp nearby and come for instruction, and later let him stay with him through the rains retreat. Ajahn Maha Bua’s biography of Ajahn Mun says he spent many years with him in Chiang Mai.

In early 1958 he came to Wat Tham Klong Phen, then deep in jungle in what is now Nong Bua Lamphu, and stayed there for the rest of his life, training the monks and novices. He died in 1983. The monastery keeps a museum of his relics and requisites.

His biography describes his teaching as starting from constant training in the four purities of morality (catu-pārisuddhi-sīla), and shows how he relied on the meditation word buddho in his own practice. That book, Venerable Ajaan Khao Anālayo: A True Spiritual Warrior, is free as a PDF from Forest Dhamma Books.