Description
Wat Pa Nong Phai (วัดป่าหนองไผ่) is an important temple in Sakon Nakhon, as the Nong Phai forest was where many important monks who founded the Thai Forest tradition went to meditate, pray, and walk the woods. The Thai Forest tradition started out as a renegade ascetic movement (separate from official Thai Buddhism), but now it is viewed by many as a purer form of Buddhism, and it has been embraced by the Buddhist hierarchy.
Wat Pa Nong Phai history stretches back to 1926, when Ajarn Mun Bhuridatta arrived to pray, meditate, and teach the dharma. He was soon followed by other disciples who wandered the Nong Phai forests of the Phu Phan Mountain Range, while meditating and living the ascetic life. The temple grounds cover 700 rai (276 acres), most of which is forests.
From Wat Pa Nong Phai, you can walk to the nearby Phu Pha Daen Forest Park (วนอุทยานภูผาแด่น), which is located on the banks of the Huai Dan Buang Reservoir. Paths continue around the reservoir, and if you feel like walking for about 30 minutes, you'll finally arrive only a couple hundred meters from Tee Phak Song Phu Dan Bok. When going on a forest walk in Sakon Nakhon (or Thailand in general) it is best to walk near a reservoir or stream, so as to ensure that you don't get lost. That is, unless you are following a well marked path at the Phu Phan National Park.
Wat Pa Nong Phai has a forest style Ubosot with a statue of Ajarn Mun and a Buddha shrine. This Ubosot also serves as an assembly hall for local Buddhists, who come to listen to the dharma of the monks and make merit. About 200 meters from the temple is the Museum of Professor Khun Ranjuan Intarakamhang, a highly revered monk from Surath Thai who moved to Wat Pa Nong Phai in 1995 and was instrumental in helping the sacred grounds become an official (royally sanctioned) temple in 2000.
Prior to the year 2000, Wat Pa Nong Phai was considered an unofficial temple or "samnak song" like the nearby Dan Hin Kham Priest's Camp Site, one of our favorite samnak song in Sakon Nakhon.
