Wat Tha Mai

Its story begins in 1977, when the Department of Religious Affairs permitted the “Phothitham Rangsi (Tha Mai) monastic retreat”. Its founder, Phra Ajarn Yot Upatisso from Wat Nong Phan Thao in Kanchanaburi, bought 4 rai of land and was given 2 more; villagers helped build the monks’ quarters, and the retreat became a focus of local faith.

According to the Samut Sakhon tourism and sports office, Phra Ajarn Yot was a wandering monk who camped at the mouth of Khlong Khok Mu on the Tha Chin River, where devoted villagers built him a shelter. The temple belongs to the Mahanikaya order. Its land has grown from the original 6 rai to about 26 rai, bordered on the north by the Tha Chin River.

In 1984 Phra Prasit was sent to look after the retreat. In 1989 Phra Ajarn Yot left on a wandering pilgrimage and never returned. The retreat was officially established as Wat Tha Mai on 28 February 1989 and received its consecrated ordination boundary in 1994.

The tourism office gives a more detailed sequence. In 1981 Phra Ajarn Yot moved on and the retreat lay abandoned for about four years, until in 1984 Phra Ajarn Prasit and Phra Wirat from Wat Nang Sao took charge. In 1987 Phra Ajarn Surasing Surasilo came to recover from illness, then formally joined and began building an ordination hall. After the retreat became a temple in 1989, he was appointed abbot on 1 September 1990, and in 1991 the hall’s foundation stone was laid and the building completed that same year. This account dates Phra Ajarn Yot’s departure differently from other sources, which give 1989.

The temple has had three abbots: Phra Ajarn Yot Upatisso; Phra Khru Silasakhon Wimon (Surasing Surasilo); and the current abbot, Phra Khru Palat Uthen Sirisaro, known as “Luang Phi Uthen”. In 2019 13 monks lived there.

After Phra Khru Silasakhon Wimon (Surasing) died, Phra Uthen Sirisaro moved from Wat Tha Krabue to become abbot in 2006, at about 31 and some nine years after his ordination. Under him the temple grew rapidly to national fame.

Luang Phi Uthen was born on Saturday 25 October 1975 in Nakhon Pathom, the middle of three children. His family was so poor that it relied on temple rice around his birth. He worked from first grade and finished only sixth grade. He was ordained on 5 July 1997 at Wat Tha Krabue, Samut Sakhon, meaning to stay briefly to make merit for his mother, who had cancer, but remained a monk at her request. He later completed the highest level of Dhamma studies and studied philosophy at Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University. Known for his fortune-telling, he often receives visitors in front of the abbot’s residence.

The temple has many shrines, to Rahu, Guanyin, Ganesha, Indra, Brahma and Chao Mae Takhian, and visitors like to pay respects at all nine stops. There is also a statue of Luang Pho Sod with a museum dedicated to him, a large Buddha image (Luang Pho To) and the ordination hall. Rites offered include fortune readings, karma-clearing, merit-making, fortune-boosting and zodiac-clash remedies, and visitors often feed the fish and cows.

The temple has many buildings. The ordination hall’s principal image is a replica of Phra Phuttha Chinnarat; the sermon hall houses Phra Phuttha Hirunyarat. The Hall of Teachers has likenesses of four famous monks: Luang Pu Thuat, Somdet To, Phra Phithi Wutthachan (Luang Pu Rung) and Luang Pho Yit. There are also the Dharma Wheel Hall; the Thewa Phitak Hall, home to the Rahu shrine and used for rites; a hall with a large Guanyin; halls for Phra Mae Siri Mahamaya, the Chinabanchon chant, Pu Thuat and Pu Waiyathat; a Tripitaka hall; a monument to King Chulalongkorn; the refectory, drum and bell towers and an amulet hall. The grounds also feature a naga garden, Ganesha images in various poses and a hermit statue. (Some monks’ names are transliterated from an English article and may be imprecise.)

Two major projects stand out. The Maha Parinibbana ordination hall, a new building blending Burmese and Ayutthaya styles, houses a 12-m sandstone reclining (parinibbana) Buddha and a Phra Phuttha Chinnarat image with a 108-inch lap, and serves for monastic rites and meditation. The Phra Maha Chedi Setthi 9 Koti received relics of the Buddha on 12 August 2010.

The “Wat Tha Mai” stickers come in two colours: yellow for those keeping precepts and white for those who come to worship and make merit. Devotees believe the blessed stickers protect drivers. The abbot says they were inspired by the marble ordination hall stickers of Luang Pho Sothon in Chachoengsao, and the temple explains that they identify followers, help locals notice outsiders and let followers look out for one another on the road. He stresses that they do not exempt anyone from traffic law outside Samut Sakhon. Wikipedia says more than 30,000 are produced a month, and critics call it commercialised Buddhism.

The temple grew famous partly because many celebrities came to pay respects and consult the abbot; media have named stars such as Aum Patcharapa, Aof Supachai, Nadech and Yaya, as well as some politicians.

On 1 May 2019 the temple ran a “Wat Tha Mai repays the land” event, giving away more than 7 tonnes of durian to make merit for King Rama IX on the occasion of King Rama X’s coronation and to help durian growers. Queues caused heavy traffic, and the temple apologised and rebutted a fake post about conditions for receiving fruit. In June 2019 Luang Phi Uthen (named by Post Today with the title Phra Yanawikrom) presided over the monks at the casting of Ganesha images marking the Fine Arts Department’s 108th anniversary at Phutthamonthon Sai 5, Nakhon Pathom, with nine Wat Tha Mai monks chanting.

Giveaways have become a temple tradition. For Labour Day on 1 May 2019 the temple ordered 7 tonnes of Monthong, Chanee and Puangmanee durian from Rayong and Chanthaburi, handed out with rice, eggs from its own farm and khanom jeen noodles; tens of thousands came and traffic backed up more than 3 km. On 15–16 January 2022, as pork and vegetable prices rose, it gave away 500 one-kilo bags plus 300 kg of lean pork, 800 kg of pesticide-free vegetables, 1,000 fresh chickens and another 1,000 kg of vegetables, with officials and village health volunteers screening recipients under COVID-19 rules. On Labour Day, 1 May 2026, it gave away durian, pineapples and 10 tonnes of rice and held a durian-eating contest with prizes of up to 10,000 baht.

In March 2022 the temple made headlines during the case of actress “Tangmo” Nida Patcharaveerapong’s death. On 16 March 2022 “Por” and “Robert”, two of the five people on the boat, were ordained as white-robed Brahmin ascetics at the Wimoksiwalai Dhamma centre in Suan Phueng, Ratchaburi, a branch of Wat Tha Mai. This drew fierce public criticism, clips of people scraping the temple’s stickers off cars, and parody stickers online. On 18 March 2022 Luang Phi Uthen held a press conference with the two, saying they would speak the truth after leaving the robes. Around the same time he apologised on behalf of a DJ couple who had skipped the funeral, saying it was on his advice.

Affiliated bodies include the Sirisaro Luang Phi Uthen Foundation and the Wimoksiwalai Dhamma centre in Suan Phueng, Ratchaburi, for meditation practice.

The Wimoksiwalai Dhamma centre is in Huai Phak subdistrict, Suan Phueng, Ratchaburi, on 70 rai, with 16 resident monks and 50 huts for white-robed ascetics, for people coming to meditate and keep precepts.

The temple is open daily about 07:00–19:00 (per Wongnai); phone 064-217-3724. There is parking. Dress modestly. Weekends and Buddhist holy days are very crowded; if you hope to meet the abbot, come early and check the temple’s page for his schedule.