Biography mae chee kaew na

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Ajaan Sao’s down-to-earth manner, serene temperament, and dignified appearance inspired deep devotion in the young girl. She also arranged for the care of her daughter before she renounced.

After becoming a maechi (renunciate), Mae Chee Kaew practiced meditation with various bhikkhus and received a 20-acre plot for the construction of a practice site for her and a small group of nuns.

Her father discouraged her from talking about these phenomena.

According to tradition, she offered daily food to the wandering monks who lived exclusively on alms, so she got in touch with Ajahn Mun, the great master of the forest tradition, in 1917, when he came to stay near his village. Then, once their hearts were calm and clear, he taught them to repeat the mantra buddho, buddho, buddho.

As custom dictated, the villagers reserved part of each monthly lunar observance day for religious activities, visiting the monks to offer food, help with the chores, listen to teachings, and practice meditation.

Every year was a repetition of the same tedium, the same suffering. So when one of her cousins, who had many children, became pregnant again, it was decided that the baby should be given to Tapai to bring up as her own. She finally experienced a supreme radiance and investigated it until she reached the final goal.

Like the experience of the Buddha and Ajahn Maha Boowa after their attainment, Mae Chee Kaew recalled her past lives and reflected on the impossibility of teaching others on how to attain the same achievement.

Being a girl, she was not allowed to mingle with the monks. She did not have a happy marriage as her husband became unfaithful to her.

Finally, one evening, she knelt beside her husband and tried to make him understand how she felt, how she wanted to be relieved of her domestic duties so she could renounce the world and ordain. Little did he suspect, though, that Ajaan Sao’s departure would be succeeded by the arrival of the most revered Buddhist master of them all, Ajaan Mun Bhuridatto.

In 1917, as the annual monsoon season was fast approaching, Ajaan Mun and a group of sixty monks reached the wooded foothills overlooking Baan Huay Sai.

They camped under trees, in caves, under overhanging cliffs, and in nearby charnel grounds. Another qualified teacher would come to guide her. Ajaan Mun saw that Tapai’s mind was extremely active and that she did not yet have sufficient mental focus to meditate safely on her own. A compromise was reached: Bunmaa would allow Mae Kaew to ordain for the three-month rains retreat—but not a day longer.

Mae Kaew was delighted.

Here, in a brief biography adapted from his book, Bhikkhu Silaratano traces Mae Chee Kaew’s determination to ordain and to cultivate a mind of clear awareness.